Arizona voters are set to flock to the polls — or mail in their ballots — at this year. This surge in voter turnout comes amid a once-in-a-century pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 220,000 Americans and counting, and delivered tremendous economic turmoil.

It took years for the Great Depression to elevate domestic unemployment to near 20%. It took a month for the virus to bring unemployment from record lows hovering around 4% to just short of 20%.

Our economy is struggling, and not just in the abstract. Working- and middle-class folks are suffering as their wages are cut and the bills keep piling up. Students have been affected, too.

As a result of these socioeconomic conditions, students are cracking under the burden of mental, physical, and monetary pressures. USA Today, many students are simply choosing to drop out. This will have a sustained downward effect on future economic productivity and wage growth, something policymakers will have to contend with sooner rather than later.

At a time when Arizona’s economy needs an accelerant, some special interests are attempting to throw cold water on any chances of a recovery.

Here in the state of Arizona, teachers unions and out-of-state activist groups worked hard to get Proposition 208 on the ballot. Drafted in Portland, Oregon, Prop. 208 aims to dramatically increase income taxes and route the revenues to teachers and classrooms. Full of good intentions, 208 fails the test of good policy: results.

The initiative raises Arizona’s top income tax bracket by 77.7% — from 4.5% to 8% — to increase K-12 spending.Only 50% of revenues generated will even make it to classrooms and, even then, the exact allocation is specious since the definition of who’s eligible for funding is incredibly broad. Further, there is not a cent headed directly towards our state universities, save for 3% of revenues assigned to the Arizona Teachers Academy Fund. 

Worse yet, and critical to understanding the negative impacts of the proposition on Arizona students, the additional taxation applies to pass-through entities like LLCs, sole proprietorships, and more. This is primarily how small businesses, which employ 58% of Arizona private sector workers, are organized. Chances are, many of us will go to work for one of these job creators after we graduate.

It’s also not even clear if this tax would increase revenues at all. A published by the renowned Goldwater Institute concluded that Prop. 208 would cause Arizona to lose a “minimum of $2.4 billion in state and local tax revenues”.

In other words, Arizona voters are being asked to kneecap small businesses amid a public health crisis and economic disaster in order to deliver minimal results for students, families, and workers.

As college students, we’re all on board for increasing funding for education and ensuring that students, families, and teachers are fully accounted for. But this isn’t how we do it.

We are entering one of the worst job markets in decades. If Prop. 208 passes then small business will be crushed, wage growth will decline, and career opportunities will shrink. Don’t force us, the next generation of educated Arizonans, to move out of state after graduation. Now is the time to gas up and go, not slam on the brakes.

Sincerely, Arizona students

Joe Pitts is a sophomore at Arizona State University.

Jack Piekarz is a freshman at Northern Arizona University.

Alton Zhang is a sophomore at the University of Arizona.

Abhinav Kolli is a freshman at Duke University, registered to vote in his home state of Arizona.

Justin Groth-Roberts is a junior at Northern Arizona University.

Stephen Matter is a sophomore at Arizona State University.

Alyssa Kihoi is a senior at Arizona State University.

Matthew Martinez is a sophomore at Grand Canyon University.

Clay Robinson is a sophomore at Arizona State University.

Mackenzie Kirby is a senior at Northern Arizona University.

Allen El is a sophomore at the University of Arizona.

Cameron Decker is a sophomore at Arizona State University.

Taylor Hersch is a junior at Arizona State University.

John Touhey is a junior at Northern Arizona University.

Saular Rahimian is a freshman at Arizona State University.

Arjun Rondla is a sophomore at Arizona State University.

Jessica Carpenter is a senior at Arizona State University.

William Noll is a freshman at Arizona State University.

Cooper Ashton is a freshman at Arizona State University.

Ryne Bolick is a freshman at Arizona State University.

Frank Pauls is a freshman at Arizona State University.

Diego Píña is a junior at Arizona State University.

The post Students: Beware Prop 208’s effect on workers and young professionals appeared first on 91Ö±˛Ą.

As wildfires flare across the West, Arizona’s congressional leaders are calling once again on the federal government to press forward on an ambitious plan to reduce forest fires in the state.

Sen. Martha McSally (R) and Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D) led a bipartisan group of Arizona’s congressional members to send another request to the U.S. Forest Service to step up the pace on the second phase of a huge RFP. The is part of a public-private partnership called the Fourth Forest Initiative, or , whose goal is to restore 2.4 million acres in Northern Arizona.

McSally has sent similar requests for over a year. 

Forest officials said the delays are due to industry and partners’ requests to amend the RFP nine times to make it more attractive to potential bidders. 

Attracting investment proved challenging in the first, smaller, phase.  

While the changes added delays, they “dramatically improved the request for proposals,” said Jeremy Kruger, CEO of the 4FRI project for the Forest Service.

Time is running out  

There is no more time to waste, McSally and the other congressional members said in a September 25 letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. 

“In Arizona this year, there have been more than 1,600 wildfires and more than 700,000 acres burned, which is more land burned than in 2018 and 2019 combined,” they said. “Entire communities, industries, and businesses across the state are waiting on the 4FRI project to move forward.” 

Eight other members are signees: Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D) and Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (D), Paul Gosar (R), Andy Biggs (R), David Schweikert (R), Ruben Gallego (D), Debbie Lesko (R), and Greg Stanton (D).

“Originally, Phase 2 was going to be awarded in December 2019.  We have learned that the earliest we may see an award is December 2020, but that this could slip into 2021,” they said.

Long term contracts now available for companies 

The RFP is one of the largest – if not the largest – stewardship contract ever for the agency. It’s also the first 20-year contract it has ever offered. 

It calls for awarding contracts to companies to mechanically thin 605,000 to 818,000 acres of forests in Northern Arizona. 

The Forest Service plans to spend $550 million over the next 20 years to work in four national forests: Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino, Kaibab and Tonto. Business and industry are needed to harvest, process, and sell wood products. 

The RFP will be available to both small and large reforestation businesses and seeks proposals that are “sustainable, innovative, feasible, and cost-effective to increase the pace and the scale of forest restoration.”

Biomass energy companies wanted 

Biomass companies are included in the proposal. These are facilities that can burn woody forest debris – called biomass – and transform it into energy for the electric grid. Biomass energy produces significantly less emissions than traditional burning of debris or fossil fuels.  

As home to the largest contiguous tract of ponderosa pine forest in the world, Arizona is a prime location. But currently, there is only one biomass facility in the state, NovoBio in Snowflake. It’s not nearly enough.  

New bill adds incentives for business 

To help encourage more interest from industry, McSally introduced a bill last month that would free up some of the regulatory barriers and reduce some costs. 

Called the Forest Health and Biomass Energy of 2020, it would advance forest restoration by incentivizing biomass energy development in fire-risk regions. 

“One of the biggest challenges we’ve had in forest restoration in Arizona is the crushing expense of removing low-value biomass like branches, slash, and undergrowth from the forest,” McSally said during a hearing on the bill before the Senate Natural Resources Committee last month. 

The bill includes measures that would:

• Advance forest restoration and fire resilience by incentivizing biomass energy development as a method to reduce hazardous fuel build-up in fire-prone forests
• Direct the federal government to assess the biomass energy fuel potential in U.S. forests with a focus on identifying the most viable sources for energy use such as ladder fuels and by-products of forest restoration including branches, slash and other low-value biomass
• Establish a fund using a percentage of timber sale revenues to assist timber operators and biomass energy producers with the collection, harvesting and transportation of biomass material out of high hazard areas

Reforestation will brings jobs, tax revenue

Since 2010, the Forest Service and the other 4FRI stakeholders have spent more than $220 million in reforestation in the region. Over the past decade 4FRI has treated over 140,000 acres with mechanical treatments designed to restore forest health and reduce the likelihood of severe fires damaging key watersheds.

During the first phase,13,000 acres were thinned out, generating more than $150 million in economic development benefits including $50 million in labor income, Kruger said.

The second phase is expected to create hundreds of new jobs and tax revenue for rural communities in the region, partners in the project said. 

Public-private partnership to restore forests and watershed

The 4FRI project is unique in that it is the first collaborative effort of its kind. The Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Arizona Commerce Authority, Arizona Department of Forestry, Salt River Project, and private organizations are working as a team to protect Arizona citizens, structures, natural areas, streams and lakes from high intensity wildfires.

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