Co-chair of the Hispanic Caucus in the State Legislature shares his hopes for the new session

Hispanics make up about one-third of Arizona’s population. Horizonte host Jose Cardenas talked about issues important to that community with State Representative Andres Cano, a co-chair of the Hispanic Caucus at the State Legislature.

“I am saddened that we are still waiting for leadership from our governor’s office and our state department of health to be able to get folks vaccinated and to encourage testing, I think right now the issue is not a matter of whether folks have access,” Cano said.

He continues that, “we have access in America and in Arizona, I think regrettably we are pitting our philosophical debates against those of our medical communities, our doctors, our nurses, our first responders who by in large are telling us the best way to avoid these kinds of surges we’re experiencing is to get vaccinated, get routinely tested, and to wear your mask.”

Cano feels that masks, testing and vaccinations tend to be controversial issues among the Arizona legislature. He added that as we head into this new session we need to find solutions to these problems not “finger-pointing.”

“The notion that mandates ought to be banned at the state legislature I think is a time and tested practice that ultimately strips the hands of local elected officials and jurisdictions,” Cano said.

Cano expressed that the more employers are able to encourage and require vaccination, “it’s a win-win for us.”

“If folks just hear a little bit more about the vaccine, the hesitation numbers go down, that’s what we know,” Cano said.

He hopes within this new legislative session they are able to work on non-partisan issues such as the water shortage, housing shortage, education, voting rights etc. but ultimately he encourages Arizonans to pay close attention to what is happening within the legislature.