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Week in Review: Goldwater’s Win Grabs National Spotlight

March 19, 2022

The Wall Street Journal is shining a spotlight on the Goldwater Institute’s massive victory over the biggest tax increase in Arizona’s history! The Journal makes it clear: Goldwater struck a resounding blow against leftists who sought to transform the Grand Canyon State into the next California—a high-taxing, reckless-spending, and job-killing state. And as the WSJ says, other states should take notice.

The Institute’s win against Proposition 208 was the culmination of a years-long battle against unions and progressive forces who wanted to impose an additional 3.5 percent income tax on small-business owners and individuals making over $250,000 a year. “Tax competition has helped Arizona draw residents and businesses from neighbors like California, but the surtax would have sent the Grand Canyon State down a Golden State path,” The Journal noted.

Out-of-state special interests funneled $25 million into a campaign of class warfare and false information in their efforts to turn Arizona into one of the highest-taxed states in the nation. But after the Institute spearheaded a legal challenge, a Maricopa County judge barred enforcement of the job-killing measure. And our victory is sending an anti-tax, pro-economic growth message to the entire country. As The Journal put it: “Taxpayers in other states, take note.”

Read more here.

Patient Advocate: I’ll Do Anything to Make Sure Other Parents Don’t Have to See Their Child Die

Two-year-old Keira Riley’s family had only one option available to save her life after she was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease: personalized gene therapy—in Italy. Today, the Riley family is advocating for Goldwater’s Right to Try for Individualized Treatments so that other patients with serious illnesses have a chance at hope.

“If I can help another parent not see their child die at an early age, I’ll do anything for that,” Keira’s mom, Kendra, told Arizona’s Family this week.

The Riley family had to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and travel overseas to access the life-saving care, since the specialized treatment had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Now, Keira’s mom is pleading with lawmakers to pass Goldwater’s Right to Try 2.0 reform, which protects patients’ right to try to save their own lives by seeking treatments tailor-made for them that have not yet been FDA-approved. “The fact that there was a chance, and there was one little slice of hope that we had for Keira, was amazing,” Kendra told lawmakers on the Arizona House Health and Human Services Committee. “That’s the impact that this could have on so many families. … They deserve that chance at life, that chance at hope.”

Read more about the Riley family’s story and Goldwater’s Right to Try 2.0 reform here.

AZ Senate Passes Goldwater-Backed Academic Transparency Reform

The Goldwater Institute scored a major victory this week for parents, students, and the public K-12 education system with passage of the nation’s most robust academic transparency legislation through the Arizona Senate. Senate Bill 1211 establishes parents’ right to know what is being taught in public schools by requiring those schools to post on a publicly accessible portion of their website a listing of the specific learning materials used at each institution.

Goldwater’s academic transparency legislation is currently under consideration in more than 20 other states and offers a direct policy solution for the 84 percent of voters who believe that parents should be able to see the curriculum plans and materials for their children’s classes. Crucially, it also ensures that for the first time, parents have the ability to identify and distinguish between schools pushing radical politics versus those affirming core academic principles before they’re forced to choose where to send their children.

Read more about Goldwater’s push to enact this common-sense reform here.

 

 

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