The Arizona Legislature adjourned on June 15, 2024. This session saw 330 bills passed, 258 of which were signed into law, and Governor Hobbs vetoed 73.
Policy Perspective - May 2024 Legislative and Policy Update
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks on the state and federal level for new laws impacting the disability community, so let’s get rolling!
Fighting discrimination in healthcare:
On May 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights, finalized a rule that prohibits discrimination based on disability in healthcare settings.
Policy Perspective – April 2024 Legislative and Policy Update
It’s official: Pluto is now Arizona’s State planet, thanks to Gov. Hobbs, who signed HB 2477 in late March. Pluto was discovered right here in Flagstaff by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. All other planets were first cataloged in Europe. The astonishing discovery ignited the world. Classrooms started teaching the nine-planet model. However, it was downgraded to a dwarf planet by 2006.
Welcome to March - we hope everyone had a great St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17, the anniversary of the “Apostle of Ireland’s” death in the fifth century. In the United States, the holiday is typically used to celebrate an individual’s Irish heritage and eat Irish bacon (commonly known as corned beef) and cabbage. March also means that March Madness is upon us! Congratulations to the University of Arizona Wildcats and the Grand Canyon University Antelopes, both of whom made the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Two Moms’ Vision Now a Reality: Parents as Paid Caregivers in Arizona
by Jason Snead, Research and Communication Specialist
When the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) asked Arizonans for ideas on how to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, two mothers of children with disabilities, Brandi Coon and Lauryn Van Rooy, had a perfect idea: allow parents to continue being paid caregivers of their minor age children, as they had been since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.