Arizona's 56th Legislature
2nd Regular Session – 2024
Laws and regulations impact YOUR business every day. The Greater Phoenix Chamber works with elected officials at the state, local, and federal levels to ensure the voice of business is heard on important policy decisions. Here’s how your Chamber membership helped influence those decisions this year at the Arizona Legislature.
General Session Information
“The Greater Phoenix Chamber takes pride in our responsibility to the state and community in providing our members with business advocacy in support of their most important priorities. Our approach involves engagement from our members in crafting our position on critical issues and engaging our public policy professionals to interface with elected officials and others in representing the business community in critical initiatives that affect them most.”
-Scott Smith, TowerHunter, Inc.
Key Successes
- Defeated numerous mandate bills that would have impeded business’ ability to set appropriate workforce policies for their business models and employees
- Championed efforts to expand economic development and investment through continuing vital state agencies and programs
- Supported measures to enhance the state’s housing supply for families and those entering the workforce
- Promoted efforts to continue investments and ensure infrastructure is in place for Arizona’s water future
- Advocated for the passage of enhanced penalties for repeat offenders of organized retail theft
Issue Spotlight
SB 1411: Organized Retail Theft Task Force
The rise in organized retail theft is unfortunately an issue plaguing business across the nation. This serious offense has negatively affected business owners, their employees, and the state of public safety. House Speaker Representative Ben Toma and Senator David Gowan introduced legislation to address this problem in Arizona. SB 1411 would create the Organized Retail Theft Task Force to investigate and combat crimes related to stealing, embezzling, or obtaining retail merchandise for the purpose of reselling the items. This task force would be formed via the Arizona Attorney Generals office and include membership from federal, state and local law enforcement. There were other measures introduced during this session addressing organized retail theft and repetitive offenders that the Chamber hopes to continue to work on in next legislative sessions.
HB 2210: State Agencies; Continuations; Duties
As this session came to a close legislative leadership garnered bipartisan support that allowed for the five year continuation of the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) along with other important state agencies including the Department of Administration and the State Personnel Board. The business community worked tirelessly throughout the 160 days of session to ensure legislators reached a solution for continuing the ACA. The state’s economic development successes, continued growth, investment in workforce development, and attraction of large investments by leading industries would not be possible without the public-private partnerships the ACA is able to foster in Arizona. The Greater Phoenix Chamber is thankful that they can continue their important work in order to ensure Arizona’s future remains bright.
