Journalists’ Roundtable 07-23-21: Referendum on tax cuts and COVID mitigation in schools

Time now for the Journalists’ Roundtable and for an update on the possibility of voters overriding a tax cut made by state lawmakers, and back-to-school COVID mitigation policies, we welcome Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services and Mary Jo Pitzl of the Arizona Republic.

This week’s journalists’ roundtable covered:

• • Referendum on Tax Cuts
  • Lawmakers vs. Open Meeting Laws
  • COVID Mitigation in Schools
  • Paul Boyer vs. Donald Trump

Referendum on Tax Cuts

Howie Fischer: “I’m not buying the argument that somehow you can’t refer this. Because if in fact they get 118,000 signatures by September 28. What that means is the state will be collecting more money than it needs, rather than less.”

Mary Jo Pitzl: “This tax cut amounts to $1.5 billion less in state support. So, it will be interesting to see how legal arguments play out in court.”

COVID Mitigation in Schools

Howie Fischer: “The Governor is arguing that a law approved by the legislature’s part of the budget precludes quarantines. I don’t think he read the law. The law says that you can not require vaccinations, and you can not require masks…I think this is the governor kissing up to some of his right wing friends.”

Mary Jo Pitzl: “We’ll just need to watch, specially a school that has children in very confined spaces who are not vaccinated, when you have a big outbreak and what kind of strains this will put on the school nurse, if there is one at the school, and school administrators.”