Happy Holidays,
The Pima County Board of Supervisors will hold their final meeting of 2014 on December 16th, 9 am at 130 W. Congress. At this meeting the Board will discuss and vote on the County Administrator's plan to ban the hiring of new employees who use nicotine. In addition, the initiative will penalize current County employees who use nicotine by increasing their insurance premiums 30% in 2015, 40% in 2016 and 50% in 2017. This proposed policy has made National news coverage and articles have been printed in over 40 publications across the US.
The County Administrator proposed this plan and is legally able to do so following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act which allows employers to increase healthcare premiums on individuals who use tobacco products. The State of Arizona is one of 21 states that does not have a law declaring nicotine users as a protected class and therefore the County Administrator can include a ban on hiring new employees who use nicotine products.
The Board is also supposed to be voting on the new Discretionary Spending policy at the December 16th meeting. Originally, we were to vote on this on December 9th but it was postponed until the meeting this coming Tuesday.
While Supervisors Carroll, Bronson, Elias and Valadez continue to allow the option of using taxpayer monies from their budgets to be donated to their favorite charities, I have repeatedly urged the Board to stop the practice altogether. The Goldwater Institute has stated that the current practice is a violation of the Arizona Constitution's gift clause and I firmly believe monies spent without a contract for public benefit lacks transparency in our local Government; Pima County is the only County in Arizona who allocates funds in this way.
I know many of you are busy, working and preparing for the holiday but if you are able to attend this Tuesday's meeting and wish to comment on either of these items, you can do so at the Open Call to the Public. The Board recently voted unanimously to move the call to the public to the beginning of the meeting so please keep that in mind if you plan to speak.
At the most recent Board meeting, I had placed an item on the agenda for discussion and vote in regards to contracts and background material for agenda items. In my 2 years in office I have found that we often have contracts that come to the Board for vote that have serious administrative errors and lack pertinent information. Supervisors Valadez and Bronson shared my concern in regards to this process and following a discussion it was agreed upon that changes are needed. Going forward, the County Administrator will work with the Clerk of the Board so that we can be better informed with more accurate information on agenda items for the Board meetings. As a result, the Board voted 4-1 (with Supervisor Elias voting against) to have changes made to the agenda submittal process including the need to show more thorough information highlighting public benefit on contracts that come before the Board of Supervisors.
Although it will most likely be a rainy day, I hope to see many of you at the
Oro Valley Holiday parade this Saturday at 9:30 am and I wish you
and your families a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for allowing me to serve you in 2014!
If you would like more information or have questions/comments, please contact my office (520) 724-2738 or send me an email at [email protected].
