Legislative accomplishments for Arizona families

The Charity Tax Credit was included as part of Arizona's welfare reform legislation in 1996. A credit of up to $200 is allowed for anyone donating to a non-profit organization that provides direct services to low income people. The purpose of the tax credit is to help enhance the resources of those organizations working with the poor.

Arizona is the first state in the nation to implement the charity tax credit. Already millions of dollars have been donated to worthy organizations here in Arizona that are helping the poor. The United Way of Arizona created a new fund called the "helping the working poor" fund which earmarks dollars for qualified programs and allows donors to take the tax credit. As more and more Arizonans have become aware of the tax credit, the ability of non-profits to expand their services to more needy people has increased.

Charitable Choice

Representative Anderson was the prime sponsor of HB2423 in the 1999 legislative session. This bill was called charitable choice and it sets up the ground rules for churches and faith-based organizations to contract with the state to provide services. The federal welfare reform legislation of 1996 included a section 104 that became known as Charitable Choice. Congress included this section because they wanted to reach out to the churches and faith-based organizations and enlist their help in moving folks from dependency to self-sufficiency.

Often churches and faith-based groups do an excellent job of helping the poor with very little resources. However, in the past the churches have been reluctant to work with the state due to the fear of government intrusion into their faith and activities. With charitable choice, the integrity of the religious organization is protected. The religious freedom of the clients is also protected. These guidelines have been in place now since 1996 and have not even been challenged in court because they are clear and fair.

Arizona felt it was important to adopt similar language here to show the faith community that we want to have them come to the table and do even more to help the poor and disadvantaged in our community.

As word of the charitable choice legislation spreads in the churches and synagogues, a greater spirit of cooperation can be expected, which will allow more low income and needy Arizonans to be helped.

Tuition Tax Credit

One of the most well-known and controversial bills sponsored by Representative Anderson is Arizona's tuition tax credit law. This legislation was designed especially to help low-income children have the same opportunities as children from wealthy families when it comes to choosing an education. Tuition scholarship organizations have been around in Arizona for a while offering scholarships to children to attend private and religious schools. With the passage of the tuition tax credit, now donations to those tuition scholarship organizations are essentially free, because the entire amount up to $625 can be taken off the tax liability of the donor.

The legislation, passed in 1997, was opposed by the teacher's union and other groups who felt it would lead to a deterioration of the public schools. They challenged the law in the courts and lost the challenge when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the law was constitutional. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case leaving the Arizona Supreme Court decision final.

The law also allows for a tax credit up to $250 for donations to a public school for extra-curricular activities. The public schools have been utilizing the tax credit to raise millions of dollars to help with band uniforms, field trips, sports activities, etc.

The tuition tax credit is being looked at by lawmakers in other states as a model. There is tremendous interest in promoting more choices for parents, especially parents who are stuck in inferior schools and can't afford private education.

Disruptive Pupils (HB2094)

This legislation empowers teachers to control their classroom and remove disruptive pupils. The problem this legislation addressed was the continued returning of disruptive pupils to a classroom by the principal. The teacher easily could lose control of the classroom when disruptive students were returned and learning was made difficult for all the other students in the class. This new law allows teachers to "override" the principal. A committee of teachers in each school would make a final decision if there was still a disagreement. Teachers appreciated this legislation since it recognized the importance of maintaining control in each classroom.

One Church One Child

Several Years ago, Representative Anderson obtained an appropriation of $100,000 to fund a new program modeled after the "One Church One Child" program in place in several other states. This was an effort to reach out to churches and facilitate a church congregation adopting a child in state care. The Aid to Adoption of Special Kids organization won the contract and placed 67 children in permanent homes in the first year. The program is now called Communities for Children. A year later, Anderson asked for an additional $200,000 each year for the next 2 years to increase the number of placements. There are over 6,000 children in the custody of the state and permanent homes are needed.

Compulsive Gambling

Representative Anderson has been the leader in the legislature in recognizing the dangers to the public of compulsive gambling. As the number of casinos continues to rise in Arizona, the impact of gambling increases. For many people, gambling is simply a form of entertainment (a somewhat expensive form). But for 5% of the population, gambling is an addiction that can lead to very harmful results. The number of incidents involving family breakdown, crime committed to feed a gambling addiction, savings lost, and even suicide is increasing.

Representative Anderson argued for two years that the state had an obligation to fund counseling, treatment, and prevention programs and a toll free emergency hotline for compulsive gamblers, since the state is in the business of gambling with the Lottery. Finally, in his third year, Anderson was able to convince the legislature to approve $500,000 in the budget to be used for compulsive gambling programs.

Now, with the passage of Proposition 202 on the ballot, funding will come to the Arizona Department of Gaming to fund additional treatment and prevention services for compulsive gamblers.

Kids & Internet Pornography

Representative Anderson was the prime sponsor of legislation to require that public schools install filters on all computers that would access the internet to protect students from harmful pornography. The legislation also required public libraries to adopt a policy that would restrict minors' access to pornography when using public library computers. The law has worked well in protecting children in spite of initial opposition from the American Library Association.

Welfare Reform

Representative Anderson has been one of the key architects of Arizona 's welfare reform efforts. As Chairman of the Human Services Committee, he oversaw the Department of Economic Security and the EMPOWER program, as well as the ARIZONA WORKS privatization program in the East Valley . After it became known that Congress was going to transfer the federal welfare program to the states to run, Anderson asked the Speaker of the House to form a special committee just to focus on this issue in order to design the best welfare program possible. The Speaker created the Block Grants Committee and Anderson was asked to Chair the committee. That committee, along with the Government Reform Committee in the Senate, began to draft comprehensive legislation to help welfare families make the transition from dependency to self-sufficiency. The welfare rolls have been reduced 47% since 1996. Most of these have left to find jobs, and to begin climbing the ladder of success.

There is still much work to do because many still left on the rolls have multiple barriers to leaving. Also, the economy in rural Arizona is not as healthy as in the two metropolitan areas, and jobs are much harder to find, especially on the large Navajo Indian reservation. Several years ago, Anderson authored HB2620, which included many programs aimed at addressing the barriers that mothers receiving welfare face, such as lack of transportation, lack of quality child care, lack of basic life skills and training, etc.

Anderson has become known nationally for marriage-strengthening legislation and for efforts to support the institution of the family. He has testified to Congress on this issue and has organized a task force of state legislators from around the nation to lobby Congress asking for marriage and family formation to be a priority of welfare reform.

Prison Transition

Chairing a committee looking for solutions to the problem of homelessness, Anderson was informed that the prisons often dropped prison inmates off at the homeless shelter upon release from prison. They were given $50 and an ID card with Offender in bold red letters printed on the card. This did not seem like a good transition policy and in fact, it had led to a high recidivism rate. After some research, Anderson drafted SB1291 which created a transition program for non-violent drug offenders which required offenders to develop a plan for being successful on the outside upon release. The offender would work with an advisor to find housing, to prepare for work and possible re-unification with family and any necessary services such as drug treatment. The incentive was that successful offenders would be released 90 days early. The savings from the early release paid for the program and have resulted in much lower recidivism from those offenders in the program and savings to the Department of Correction budget.

Strengthening Marriage

When chairman of the Human Services Committee, Anderson recognized the inordinate amount of taxpayer money that is spent trying to repair the damage caused by the breakdown of families as a result of the high divorce rate.

Instead of only focusing on the problem after it occurs, it only made sense to work to prevent divorces from happening by giving couples the tools they need to make their marriages strong.

The legislation authored by Anderson allocates $1 million federal welfare dollars to provide marriage skills education courses throughout the state. These courses are neither therapy nor counseling, but rather provide key communication skills to prevent the conflicts that eventually can lead to divorce.

Along with the courses, a Marriage Handbook was developed to provide all couples applying for marriage licenses with a resource. The handbook contains general advice and more importantly contact information for marriage skills providers and other helpful counseling organizations.

The legislation has been recognized nationally and Representative Anderson was invited to testify to Congress regarding the Arizona model. Congress has finally reauthorized the TANF (welfare) block grant and has provided $150 million dollars for innovative programs which promote family formation and marriage.

Representative Anderson has also been invited to sit on several national task forces--the National Advisory Committee on Responsible Fatherhood and the TANF Reauthorization Task Force to help shape national policy on these important issues.

Anderson has spoken at numerous conferences around the nation on marriage policy and has had articles published in daily newspapers on the topic.

Constitutional Commemoration Committee

Representative Anderson sponsored a bill to create an official state committee to promote observances and commemorative educational events celebrating the U.S. Constitution.

The committee was formed and Representative Anderson served as the Chairman for the first two years. The committee has been instrumental in motivating and training cities around the state in forming their own commemoration committees and observing Citizenship Day and Constitution Week. Every year the committee hosts a dinner to celebrate the Constitution and the ideals of the Founders.

Paid for by Anderson for Congress