While You Were Sleeping, Arizona Lawmakers Voted "YES" On a Bill that Will Legalize Age Discrimination

Arizona has been notorious for presenting policies that set the American people back. In 2010 Senate Bill 1070 gave the state legal authorization to profile brown people for their citizenship status, in 2014 Senate Bill 1062 almost passed to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people and now in 2019 Arizona House Republicans are coming after college students. If you have not heard the word on the curb Senate Bill 2523 is a bill that would legalize paying full-time college students nearly $4 dollars below the minimum wage of $11 dollars if they are under 22 years of age and working less than 20 hours a week. Like the previous bills stated above, these bills are promoted under the guise of creating opportunities for Arizonans but in reality they harm the most marginalized people who reside within the valley of the sun. It doesn’t seem that the majority of the general public is aware of this most recent vote made by House Republicans so I am doing my part to share this information with members of the community. I use the term House Republicans as 100% of them approved this bill on the vote on February 28th. Don’t take my word for it, here is a link to the bill so you can read it yourself. Go ahead, you made it this far, read it and come back.

*Sips Tea*

(Scroll down, I am about to read)

To be clear, I am not here to complain but if you see something say something. It is our civic duty to engage with our elected officials to ensure they are creating the best policies for the American people. If you live in Arizona you can click here to see who your House Representatives are. Better yet, since this has been approved and sent to the Senate please be sure to call the Arizona Senators. I plan to after this post goes out.

So without further ado, these are a couple reasons why I believe SB 2523 is trash:

1. It Provides Incentive for Students to Not Pursue Education

   Students between the ages of 18-21 whether you believe it or not are adults who may have real living expenses. Young people often have the challenge of not having work experience which often pushes them into entry level low paying part-time jobs. This becomes more challenging if they happen to be parents, if they are pushed out of their homes at an early age for being LGBTQ or they don’t have parents that are able to support them financially once they reach 18. Young students who need the income from their job may have to choose between eating and continuing their education. As I see it, if it’s not broken- don’t fix it. This may not make much of a difference for full-time students who work for extra income that have support from their parents but I digress. Could there be a reason that Arizona Republicans are seeking to have less educated voters in the future? #REDforED made national news last year because the powers that be decided an increase in teachers salaries was not within the state budget. Let’s do everyone a favor and not dumb down Arizona.

2. Shouldn’t Equal Work = Equal Pay?

   Why should full-time students settle for less? Employers benefit by hiring people who are working towards increasing their competencies. College is not just about the coursework itself, students must juggle their schedules, do group projects and meet deadlines. Learning is a very vulnerable process and it aids in the development of emotional intelligence which is a highly underrated skill that is useful in almost every market whether it is in customer service or information technology.

3. It Could Result in Less Full-Time Jobs for Young People

   Let’s be Frank for just a second.

   If a company has the authorization to pay people less wages, they will. The restaurant industry has been getting away with this for decades. I can totally see businesses opting to create more part-time jobs in place of full-time positions so they can make cuts to pay and benefits. Representative John Fillmore of Apache believes that “minimum wage is socialism and young people don’t want to work anyway.” I wonder if this is reflective of his hiring policies at the Weather Shack or if Republican business owners would be seeking to use this bill for their own self-interests. I personally would not use essential statements like Fillmore has because there happens to be variety in young people, and although this may be true for some, it is certainly not the case for all. The only reason why I stated all republican house leaders in the beginning of this post is because it is a matter of public record. The votes are available to the public and as my Big Brother Dominion says “Facts are Facts.”

4. Lawsuits

   As a Arizona resident I believe my tax dollars would be better spent on things than frivolous lawsuits. I can guarantee this will result in a lawsuit like the other bills that came before it. Shouldn’t we be putting this money into education, providing aid to the homeless and programs for our veterans?

5. Harm to the Economy

   If students qualify for grants on the basis of their income, then Arizona could be milking the federal government for more money. Let’s take a second to think about the unintentional consequences. The oppression of young Arizona students will leak into the lives of students across state lines. Would we then have less students opting out of transferring to our major institutions? Students provide growth to the local economy and they are a major demographic in cities such as Tempe and Downtown Phoenix. I wonder what impact this will make since there has been a significant increase in rent in the Tempe and Phoenix markets. There are also many businesses that surround apartment communities that depend on their student clientele base.

6. Reputation

   SB 1062 almost made the NFL pull out of Arizona which would have been a major economic blow to the state. It is too early to tell which businesses oppose this bill but it is already not a good look. Maybe instead of traveling to Phoenix via Sky Harbor, tourists will soon have to jump into a time machine instead- as we are moving backwards more rapidly than some of us are willing to accept.

It’s 2019, and I can assure you that the truth has not been cancelled in 2019. Make sure you engage with your representatives and let them know what your thoughts are on this. They work for us the people, and your personal stories matter.

Is this an issue that will sway your voting decision for House Representatives in the future? Let me know in the comments section below.