Austin VanDerHayden
Jenna Ridgeway
On April 4, the PebbleCreek Republican Club had its annual barbeque and was honored with Austin VanDerHayden, Municipal Affairs Liaison from the Goldwater Institute, as its guest speaker. Austin assists Arizona’s local governments and school boards to find free-market solutions to problems they face, while trying to promote limited government principles. He explained programs in which the Goldwater Institute is deeply involved, including:
The Voter Protection Act (Prop 105) where large cities can now determine what is on the ballot. When initiatives receive enough signatures to appear on a ballot and then receive enough votes to become law, the legislature cannot repeal them and amending them is nearly impossible. The Geographic Distribution Requirement Act would address these issues by requiring a percentage of registered voters from each legislative district to express their support for a ballot. This way a larger city and a smaller city have the same opportunity to voice what will be on the ballot. Arizona is used as a testing ground for this policy.
The Homeless Tax Credit Act will be on the ballot for businesses to offset homeless destruction with a portion of their property tax to be rebated.
Other concerns for the Goldwater Institute include Housing First to convert hotels and motels into housing for involuntary homelessness, Squatter’s Rights where the Goldwater Institute is looking into legislation to assist the homeowner and the Office of Digital Government where censorship is being used on employees’ personal social media and training of employees with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) philosophies being required.
The moving and disbanding of Arizona’s “Homeless Zone” is an example of a recent accomplishment of the Goldwater Institute.