From Campus to the Capitol
Gen Z has a lot to say, but Arizona's politicians aren't always willing to listen.
Lobbying Arizona’s lawmakers can be intimidating, even for those high-paid, special-interest-backed professionals who usually populate the halls of the Capitol.
This week, college students swarmed the House and Senate to lobby their lawmakers about the bills that would directly impact their lives on campus, and a 14-year-old transgender girl’s meeting with a Republican state senator helped kill an anti-trans measure that would have put her rights up for debate on the November ballot.
It’s easy to believe your politicians don’t care what you think. Sometimes, that’s the truth. Civic engagement is hard work, and a lot of times, it amounts to nothing.
But every once in a while, even the most inexperienced volunteer lobbyists representing the most vulnerable groups can help change the course of history.
Every year, dozens of college students from universities and community colleges across the state descend to the Capitol to lobby as part of a program for the Arizona Students’ Association, a nonprofit that pushes for affordable access to higher education.
Arizona’s conservative lawmakers can be uncompromising and downright hostile to citizens they disagree with, and longtime political observers note that the decorum has diminished significantly in recent years. This year, one lawmaker falsely accused a speaker of illegally lobbying and another told a speaker opposing a Republican bill to “get out of my room.”
But the students got sit-down meetings with Republicans and Democrats to talk about their priorities as young adults and their biggest political fears.
The college lobbyists tried to convince lawmakers to oppose SB1198, which would allow people to carry guns on college campuses, and HB2178, which would let students determine which clubs their tuition goes toward.
They also supported adding $40 million to the higher education budget for Arizona Promise Program scholarships and HB2671, which never got a hearing but would allow students to register to vote with their college IDs.
For the most part, the conversations weren’t very fruitful. The Democrats they met with didn’t need any persuasion and the Republicans weren’t open to being swayed.
We wanted you to hear from the student lobbyists directly, so we recorded our interviews and pulled a couple of short clips.
Liam Busch, 22, is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Arizona
But there was one Republican lawmaker with a mind open to persuasion. And with Republicans’ razor-thin majority at the Capitol, one vote can make all the difference.
Mya1, an eighth-grade transgender student, was among a group of kids and parents who recently lobbied Republican Sen. Ken Bennett to vote against SCR1013.
The legislation is Sen. John Kavanagh’s attempt to ask voters if teachers should have to get parent permission to use a student’s preferred pronouns and if transgender students should have to use different bathrooms and locker rooms than their peers.
While Bennett voted for the same measures as regular Senate bills, he turned down the concurrent resolution that would bypass Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto and put the question directly to voters in the November election. Given Hobbs’ certain veto on the other measures, trans advocates saw SCR1013 as the real threat to trans people’s rights and safety, since it would have put trans rights at the center of the November election.
Bennett told us meeting with Mya and the group was “impactful” and influenced his vote with a convergence of other factors, like how he has nephews and nieces who would be affected by the legislation.
For Mya, it was a moment she’ll probably remember forever.
“I felt extremely powerful,” Mya said. “And very proud of myself knowing that I helped a lot of trans youth in Arizona. And I felt really happy. And I felt empowered.”
Her experience, however, is the exception. Not the rule.
In public testimonies at committee hearings, lawmakers have compared non-binary people to chickens and called drag shows evil. While giving testimony for his bills, Kavanagh said parents should know if their child is transgender because they have “psychological problems” and could commit suicide.
Charlie Dors, 22, is studying political science and sociology at Northern Arizona University
The college students lobbying this week didn’t walk away from the meetings feeling like most lawmakers valued their opinions.
Liam Busch, a 22-year-old graduate student seeking his Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Arizona, said Republican Rep. Teresa Martinez defended SB1198 as a Second Amendment protection after the students said it doesn’t make sense to allow guns on college campuses when they aren’t allowed in other educational settings. The stakes are particularly high given the dozens of mass shootings that happen at universities and the recent on-campus murder of a professor at the UA.
As for HB2178, it’s a way to stop anti-semitic clubs from emerging, Martinez told the students, ignoring their concerns the measure would snuff out funding for smaller clubs.
“She responded by throwing out accusations at us, such as saying that we were just cowards who were afraid of guns,” Busch said. “We certainly got the impression that she was not listening to us.”
Young voters are increasingly deciding elections. But it’s rare for 20-somethings to meet one-on-one with lawmakers, to testify in committee hearings about bills or even know they have the option to do so.
21-year-old Mukhtar Abdulqader, who’s studying political science at Phoenix College, grew up seeing his family in political positions in Jordan and Sudan, and said he wants to be a voice for other students by supporting subsidized education.
But he said it’s hard for students his age to take on political advocacy on top of piles of coursework.
Northern Arizona University student Nilay Jones was part of a group that spoke to Kavanagh about the guns on campus bill, and said he “kept bringing up the fact that young women on campus would feel safer, and maybe would get molested less if they were able to carry guns.”
The group of students disagreed, but Kavanagh insisted that the Young Republicans, a conservatively aligned group of students, would probably support it, Jones said.
Nilay Jones, 21, is studying political science at Northern Arizona University
The dismissive responses made the students, who are politically involved or are actively studying government operations, feel they had a tough time getting through to some legislators. Even Democrat Rep. Laura Terech seemed to think Busch’s groups’ ideas were “very idealistic,” he said. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes added to that pile on:
“He was like, you guys follow this, putting his hand on his chest. However, we need to make our decisions with this, pointing to his forehead,” Busch said.
It’s also easy to fall victim to political apathy, the students said. As Jones puts it, “I think it's really hard to continue caring when it feels like there's so much working against you,” like a shaky future for Social Security, health care and the ability to buy a home, she said.
That’s a lot to overcome for someone trying to have a say in what their future looks like. But it doesn’t mean it’s not important.
You can lobby as a citizen by requesting an appointment with a lawmaker, registering your position on bills online or even calling your senator and representatives directly to tell them what you think, Busch suggests. It doesn’t always take a trip to Phoenix to make sure your voice is heard.
“You could just wallow in your misery, say that all of the systems are rigged against us anyway. This is all so depressing, I can't do anything about it. And it's that last part that I want people to know, is fundamentally wrong,” Busch said. “You can do something about it.”
We’re keeping Mya’s last name out of this story to protect her identity.
Positive change, especially when those in power oppose it, is always hard. And progress can require many failures to have a single success. But youthful energy is a critical part of these changes. I hope that these students keep pushing despite the failures, and that they take encouragement from the success that did happen. And the more experienced among us play our role by pointing out the limitations - both roles are necessary for positive change.
It may not be helpful to say this...but, Arizona would be a better place if John Kavanaugh would just go away.