Union leaders are currently touring the country making misleading arguments about a bill you may not have heard of, but that—should it pass—would make radical and harmful changes to your workplace. 

The bill is called the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Put simply, it’s a wish-list for labor unions desperate to add new members. Rather than facilitating growth in the face of rising inflation and other economic headwinds, the legislation would instead rewrite our nation’s labor laws in at least 51 different ways, damaging businesses and hurting workers. 

The PRO Act has already passed the House, and President Biden can’t wait to sign it. Only the Senate is holding the line, and one key reason for that is that Arizona’s Senators, Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, have not signed onto this bill, which has 47 Senate co-sponsors—all Democrats. 

Senators Kelly and Sinema deserve credit for not supporting such highly partisan legislation. Their willingness to withstand organized labor’s ongoing pressure campaign speaks to their independence and commitment to do what is right for Arizona, rather than cave to unions. 

While it is not a household term, the PRO Act would impact millions of Arizonans by reshaping the relationship between employers and their employees. 

A particular concern is that the PRO Act would nullify right-to-work laws that exist in Arizona and 26 other states. That means workers could be forced to pay union dues—or be fired from their jobs. Right-to-work laws enjoy widespread public support, according to Gallup, with 71 percent of Americans supporting right-to-work laws versus only 22 percent who don’t. 

This dangerous legislation would also upend the traditional secret-ballot election process for choosing whether to have union representation at a workplace, a process in place since 1935. Instead, under the PRO Act, if a union loses it can claim the employer “interfered” in the election and demand recognition using signature cards. Those cards would be signed in public, right in front of union organizers, who are known for their relentlessness. 

The PRO Act would require employers to hand over to unions personal information about their employees, including their home addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses.  It doesn’t take much imagination to picture unwanted visits by organizers demanding that you sign a card. 

In addition to undermining union representation elections, this bill would authorize secondary boycotts, which have been illegal since 1947. For example, if a union were trying to organize one of your customer’s businesses, they could launch pickets and protests not against their target, but against you. The intent is to pressure you into demanding that your customer accept the union, or to force you to stop doing business with them. If dragging a neutral party into a labor dispute like this seems unfair, that’s because it is. 

Secondary boycotts led to countless strikes and economic upheaval, which is why Congress outlawed them nearly 75-years ago. We don’t need to turn back the clock, especially with our current economic struggles.  

For good measure, the PRO Act also would adopt a restrictive California law that undermines workplace flexibility and earning opportunities by forcing businesses to reclassify independent contractors as employees. The law, known as AB-5, has caused widespread turmoil in California. Were it to become federal policy, it would cause many of Arizona’s one million independent contractors to lose their livelihoods. 

The PRO Act would overturn Arizona’s right-to-work protections, undermine workers’ rights, and open the door for harassment of both employers and their employees. It is a partisan bill that should not pass, and its fate largely depends on Arizona’s two senators. 

They deserve thanks for not signing on to this radical and harmful proposal.

Danny Seiden is president and CEO of the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce & Industry. Glenn Spencer is senior vice president of the Employment Policy Division at the U.S. ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce. 

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The Arizona Statesman, bringing you all the Arizona news and events from the week you need. Hosted by 3 free market friendly Gen Z’s speaking on today’s current issues with expert guest commentary. In last week’s inaugural episode Joe Pitts, Program Director for the Arizona Junior Fellows program at the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Foundation joined us to talk about the ���ϳԹ���’s new programs.

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Recently I visited the U-Haul company website to check on the cost to rent a 20-foot-truck to go from Phoenix to Los Angeles. Answer: $157. Then I checked the same trip but in the opposite direction–from Los Angeles to Phoenix–and the cost was almost nine and a half times higher-$1,483.

Why the difference?

You get a steep discount moving to Los Angeles because so many trucks from L.A. have piled up in Phoenix that you are doing the company a favor to drive a truck back where they are badly needed. Meanwhile, the demand for moving trucks is much higher in L.A., so they charge a great deal more.

When you compare the education statistics between Los Angeles County and Maricopa County, they make you wonder when the rest of L.A. might arrive in Arizona.

Stanford University has linked state academic results across the country and created a handy data tool to allow visual comparisons. Academic growth–student progress over time–is a key measure of school quality. Maricopa schools educate almost 67% of Arizona students, and Los Angeles County is likewise the giant of California.   

Below I compare Maricopa County (circle 1) with Los Angeles County (circle 2) in the context of academic growth rates for every county in the country. While I could display a repeated beatdown across multiple subgroups (White, Hispanic, Black students), we’ll keep things simple and simply divide students into low-income and non-low-income.

Low-income students in Maricopa County learned at a rate 12% higher than the national average. Similar students in Los Angeles County learned at a rate 5% below the national average. A similar gap appears among non-poor students in the figure below.

Middle-to-high-income Los Angeles students fell one percent below the national average in academic progress. Similar students in Maricopa County made academic gains 16% above the national average during this period. Interestingly, both groups of students (low-income and middle-to-high-income, respectively) saw a gap of the same size, a 17% advantage for Maricopa County students.

We cannot definitively say why students learn faster in the Phoenix area than in L.A. A distinguishing feature of Arizona’s K-12 system is the prevalence of charter schools and the widespread participation of districts in open enrollment. The Brookings Institution measured the percentage of students with access to a charter school during the 2014-15 school year. California came in with a nationally respectable 45.8%. Arizona led the nation with 84%.

districts demonstrates a very dynamic system of schooling. Open-enrollment students, defined as district students attending a district school other than the school assigned by their zip code, outnumbered charter school students nearly two to one.

Arizona school districts, much to their credit, are leading the way in providing out-of-zone education options to Arizona families. In other words, despite the tenor of the debate by various advocacy organizations, the reality is that choice is being done by districts rather than to districts.

Much work remains to be done, and many Arizona K-12 policies and practices look increasingly antiquated given the very high mobility of students. Despite a majority of students attending non-zoned schools, for example, we continue to give exclusive transportation taxing authority to districts. Districts continue to primarily bus kids around within their attendance boundaries, and thus most students do not benefit from funding to which everyone contributes. Such an antiquated system looks like an 8-track cartridge in a Spotify world. Just imagine what we might accomplish with a modernized and rational system of student transport.

In the meantime, it looks like a continuing flow of Angelenos will continue to transport themselves to Arizona despite the steep price for moving trucks. 

 Dr. Matthew Ladner is the executive director of the Center for Student Opportunity

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey joined Glenn Hamer, Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce and Industry president and CEO, on stage for a Fireside Chat at the ���ϳԹ���’s Legislative Forecast Luncheon last Friday. Ducey gave an exclusive preview of Monday’s State of the State address, confirming his commitment to keep taxes and regulations low in Arizona and make it easier for people to open, operate and expand their businesses in the state.

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At the outset of the 21st century’s third decade, the Arizona economy is now at its healthiest point ever and is getting stronger.

The state is one of the nation’s leaders in job growth, Maricopa County is the country’s fastest growing county, Phoenix is one of the nation’s fastest-growing big cities, and new announcements of major job-creating investments are a regular — and welcome — occurrence in every corner of Arizona, whether it’s Tucson emerging as a top city for tech firms, Pinal County becoming a center for advanced auto manufacturing or the West Valley becoming a new hub for spiked seltzer.

Clearly, Arizona is open for business.

It’s against this rosy backdrop that the Arizona state Legislature prepares to begin another session.

It wasn’t always like this. A decade ago, Arizona bore the brunt of the great recession, losing more than 300,000 jobs. State government wasn’t spared. Revenues plunged dramatically and budgets were slashed.

But Arizona emerged stronger, with an economy more resilient than it’s ever been. The success hasn’t been accidental or because of pure luck, but because specific, intentional policies were enacted to position the state for the robust growth that has defined the last several years.

The Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce and Industry and the Arizona Manufacturers Council led the charge in the business community for the implementation of those job-creating policies, so as we enter 2020, it’s a role we’re eager to reprise. Arizona’s job creators are ready to partner with Gov. Doug Ducey and lawmakers from both parties to ensure Arizona’s economic momentum continues.

That means assessing where we can enhance our competitiveness, responsibly confronting challenges and positioning the state for future success. It also means resisting misguided efforts that could reverse our progress.

Don’t California my Arizona

We know public policy can make the difference between economic expansion or contraction. Just take a look at the latest United States Census projections, where Arizona is poised to secure a new congressional seat. States like California and New York (my native state) meanwhile, two states that have been hostile to job creation, are shrinking.

The Arizona ���ϳԹ��� in 2020 will oppose any efforts, whether at the state capitol or at the ballot box, that would attempt to bring to Arizona other states’ failed policies that have stifled digital innovation, threatened labor mobility or driven up the cost of living.

A talent pipeline for today and tomorrow’s jobs

Arizona’s growth hasn’t come without its unique challenges, though.

We have many more jobs than people to fill them, for example. Arizona needs a robust and reliable talent pipeline in order to meet the demands of today’s job market and the jobs of tomorrow.

To achieve this goal, the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� will continue its advocacy for increased investments and smart reforms in K-12 education, including the final installment toward the 20% average statewide teacher pay increase, the restoration of additional assistance dollars, Results-Based Funding and the expansion of Career and Technical Education (CTE) dollars.

Our members are focused on higher education, too, including the Arizona Board of Regents’ New Economy Initiative and expanded funding for industry-aligned centers like the Aviation Technology Center at Pima Community College and Maricopa Community Colleges’ work to bolster the health care talent pipeline.

A tax code that encourages job creation

Much of Arizona’s growth over the past decade can be attributed to the tax reforms successfully championed by the Arizona ���ϳԹ���, including those approved by Ducey and the Legislature in 2019, which have proven to be the key to the expansion of Arizona’s economy.

Our tax climate is now the most competitive in the state’s history, with our corporate and personal income tax rates among the best in the nation.

Not only is state government well positioned to meet its ongoing core responsibilities, but the Rainy Day Fund is at an all-time high at $1 billon, and there is a cash balance that will allow lawmakers and the business community to work together to make our tax code even more conducive to investment (a reduction in the commercial property tax assessment ratio, for example) and to address other key priorities in 2020 that will make the state a better place to build a business, get an education and raise a family.

Regulatory rollback

In addition to supporting a pro-growth tax agenda, we have consistently pursued efforts to roll back the regulatory state.

A regulatory moratorium combined with other reforms like universal occupational licensure recognition have reduced unnecessary government-imposed obstacles for entrepreneurs, innovative start-ups and established companies.

In 2020, the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� will continue its efforts to lift the regulatory burden on job creators, which includes making clear that new rules and regulations should be rooted in Arizona law.

A civil justice environment built for jobs

A predictable legal environment has also been important to Arizona’s reputation as a jobs-friendly state.

The Arizona ���ϳԹ��� will continue to play a pivotal role in fostering an environment that ensures Arizona employers can remain focused on investment and expansion, not on hiring lawyers to fend off dubious lawsuits. We’ll focus on ensuring that reforms backed by the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� that increase transparency over state-level outside counsel contracts apply to all levels of government.

Water is economic development

Last year’s passage of the Drought Contingency Plan was a bipartisan bright spot at the state capitol and in U.S. Congress.

The Arizona ���ϳԹ��� and the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Foundation were proud to have played a key role in convening business sector stakeholders and helping educate public officials on the complicated subject of water stewardship. As the conversation begins to shift from surface water to groundwater, the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� will remain engaged. Like my former boss Sen. Jon Kyl says, water is economic development.

Transportation, trade, and tourism

The U.S. is on the verge of implementing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, so now is a good time to make smart investments in projects like Interstate 11 and others that promote freight mobility and reduce congestion.

The same goes for tourism, a gateway industry for Arizona that is ready to pop thanks to USMCA and two of our top inbound travel markets, Mexico and Canada.

We’ll also want to continue to elevate Arizona’s profile on the global stage and efforts that over the last few years have resulted in new trade offices in Mexico City, Chihuahua, Guanajuato and Tel Aviv, Israel.

A health care sector built for a growing state

Essential to safeguarding Arizona’s quality of life will be our ability to ensure key sectors like health care are keeping pace with a growing state. We will work to make sure Arizona is maximizing its share of federal health care dollars so we can continue to attract some of the nation’s leading-edge care providers.

Trade and immigration priorities on Capitol Hill

At a federal level, we look forward to moving into the implementation phase of USMCA.

No state is better positioned for economic success under USMCA than Arizona. Not only are trade volumes through Arizona’s international ports poised to rise, but so are the amount of jobs tied to trade with Canada and Mexico, which already number 228,000 according to  released by the Arizona ���ϳԹ���, the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Foundation and the Arizona-Mexico Commission last year.

The Arizona ���ϳԹ��� was the state business community’s leading advocate for the adoption of USMCA, and we’ll do the same when it comes to forging closer trade ties with China and the United Kingdom.

Not only is China a major export destination, but it’s also a major source of students at our state universities. And the U.K. is one of our top sources of foreign direct investment. Trade deals are percolating with both countries, and the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� will be there to advocate for their advancement.

We will also continue to work with the state’s congressional delegation in seeking a favorable and durable solution to make certain that individuals living in Arizona in an undocumented status — but who were brought to the United States as minors — can do so free from the threat of deportation and can access higher education and become productive contributors to the Arizona economy.

For too many Arizonans, the future is uncertain, but Congress and the Trump administration can rectify that. The formula is simple: more border security and a coherent, reliable system to keep and welcome productive people to our country.

We will work with Congress and the administration as we continue to pursue our longstanding goal of visa reform for all skill levels. Let’s take advantage of the fact that the best, brightest and hardest workers on the planet (like my wife, Tali, originally from Israel) want to live in the United States.

Arizona has made the right policy moves for over a decade. Other states have pursued the wrong ones, and their economies have suffered as a result. Let’s keep the momentum up in 2020. Arizona’s job creators can’t wait to get started.

Glenn Hamer is president and CEO of the .��

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We’re hours away from ringing in 2020! But before the ball drops and before we pop the champagne, it’s time for Arizona’s favorite year-end tradition, Glenn Hamer’s Ham(m)er Awards, where the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce and Industry president and CEO looks back at the people and events of 2019.

If you’ve been reading Glenn’s commentaries throughout 2019, you can probably guess what this year’s theme is going to be.

Trade, trade, trade. We’re on the edge of the adoption of the most important trade deal in a generation and there’s a lot of praise to go around.

We also had a big year on water with passage of the Drought Contingency Plan. Finally, the state continues to be at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to education funding and reforms that drive results.

When you add it all up, we live in one of the fastest-growing states in the country, with the fastest-growing county (Maricopa) and big city (Phoenix), with now more jobs than people to fill them.

Here’s who and what stood out to me in the year that was…

The Jim Kolbe Congressional Trade Hero Award

This Ham(m)er is named for my first boss in Arizona politics. (I was a law school fellow, but he says I was an intern.) Former U.S. representative Jim Kolbe was essential to getting the original trilateral trade agreement, NAFTA, through Congress. He will always be royalty in trade circles.

The award goes to Rep. Greg Stanton. The so-called freshman stepped up early and often to make the case for USMCA among his fellow Democrats. I call him a “so-called” freshman because few lawmakers on Capitol Hill arrived on the job with his level of insight into one of the most important issues before Congress.

He and 13 of his Democratic colleagues penned a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August on the importance of bringing USMCA up for a vote. He tapped into his experience as the former mayor of Phoenix, where he led 18 trade missions to Mexico—our friend, neighbor, and ally. He brought the relationship between Mexico and Arizona back and elevated it.

Mexico and Canada are Arizona’s top trading partners—by far—and our state needs these countries to continue to invest, travel and trade with us to be successful. Few understand that better than Rep. Stanton.

Most Deserving of Nobel Peace Prize Award Award

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

In a meeting with about a dozen Arizona business leaders in 2018, Ambassador Lighthizer said that he wanted a revised trade deal with Mexico and Canada that would pass overwhelmingly in Congress and receive the endorsement of Tom Donohue, the head of the U.S. ���ϳԹ���, and Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO. Let’s just say that this seemed like a stretch at the time.

Well, both men did endorse the deal and the USMCA passed the House with the most votes of any trade pact since the very first U.S. free trade agreement, which was signed with Israel way back in 1985. For his work, Ambassador Lighthizer gets a Ham(m)er.

The Trade Supergroup Award

Think of this Ham(m)er Award as recognition of a group effort—a supergroup effort along the lines of the Traveling Wilburys. Many inside and outside the Beltway had a hand in the House’s passage (and soon-to-be Senate passage) of the USMCA. The U.S. ���ϳԹ���’s Myron Brilliant, John Murphy and Neil Bradley all did outstanding work, as did the National Association of Manufacturers’ Linda Dempsey. The Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, under the leadership of the swashbuckling Duncan Wood and his partner in crime Chris Wilson, puts out useful content on a daily basis.

The best chamber of commerce trade advocate outside of D.C., Paola Avila of the San Diego Regional ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce (home to the Western Hemisphere’s busiest land border crossing!), positioned the agreement for success. A Ham(m)er is also deserved by our friends in Mexico, starting with José Andrés Garcia for scheduling an insane amount of high impact meetings for business leaders. At a state legislative level, Arizona state Rep. César Chávez was an important leader inside and outside of Arizona advocating for USMCA and giving the deal some bipartisan chops. Thanks also go to Arizona Morena leader Lorena Schmit and my volunteer Spanish-language publicist and the owner of Pescaderia el Puerto de Guayman Irayda Flores. Finally, I want to thank Garrick Taylor of our shop who does a better job of articulating the case for trade and explaining tariffs better than anyone I know.

The Paul Fannin Legacy Award

This Ham(m)er Award goes to the Arizona-Mexico Commission, the best run gubernatorial commission in the U.S. Under the direction of Gov. Doug Ducey, Senior Advisor Juan Ciscomani, President Jessica Pacheco, and secret weapon and consultant Luis Ramírez, the commission is tremendously effective on every level. Paul Fannin, the former Arizona governor, founded the organization 60 years ago, and in 2019 the AMC lived up to his vision in major ways.

Start with its work on USMCA, where the commission developed a special website that outlined trade’s importance to all 50 states. No U.S. governor was more active in pushing USMCA than Gov. Ducey. His fireside chat with Ambassador Lighthizer moderated by U.S. ���ϳԹ��� President Suzanne Clark, energized the nation’s top chamber leaders at a September meeting and motivated the business community to make a final push for the agreement’s passage.

Beyond USMCA, the AMC’s work on behalf of Arizona’s ports of entry helped secure $150 million for San Luis. Our chamber joins the AMC in its continued advocacy for important initiatives on tourism, transportation, education, streamlined cargo inspections—you name it. Kudos to the AMC for a great, Ham(m)er Award-winning year.

Albert Einstein Leader of the Year

This Ham(m)er Award goes to our senior senator, Kyrsten Sinema. She’s a genius. Her poll numbers are sky-high and it’s no wonder. She has the most bipartisan voting record in the U.S. Senate. In addition to running in endurance races all over the world (she set a personal record at Ironman New Zealand) and being a model of bipartisanship, she is putting points on the board. Take a look at her recent win on a seven-year reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank—a huge deal for Arizona manufacturers who want to reach customers beyond U.S. shores. Her work on rebalancing trade policy powers between the executive branch and Congress can be legacy-type stuff.

The Ping-Pong Diplomacy Award

Give the Phoenix Suns a Ham(m)er for their return to Mexico City. It was a big deal. The game against the Spurs was an overtime thriller before a sold-out crowd of 20,013 fans who loved the game. (The same can’t be said for the officiating.) Kudos to my friend Maria Lourdes Delgado of Visit Phoenix for leading a business group to the game, and to the team at Molera Alvarez and Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association boss Kim Sabow for helping pull the trip together.

Sports are a great export industry for us. The Yankees and Red Sox headed to London in 2019, but give me Mexico any time. I can’t wait for the Diamondback to play ball in Mexico City in 2020 in the first regular season games ever in that country.

Bipartisan Accomplishment of the Decade Award

The Drought Contingency Plan.

What a way to close out the 21st century’s second decade. Start with the work of Gov. Ducey, Central Arizona Project’s Ted Cooke and Arizona Department of Water Resources honcho Tom Buschatzke, who grinded out a deal on a water stewardship plan that earned near unanimous approval in the state Legislature. Ensuring the health of Lake Mead and the Colorado River requires adult leadership, which is what Senate President Karen Fann, House Speaker Rusty Bowers, House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez, and state Sen. Lisa Otondo delivered. When the baton was passed to Capitol Hill, Sen. Martha McSally and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva grabbed it and got the Drought Contingency Plan through Congress.

Outside the elected officials, the efforts of Valley Partnership President and CEO Cheryl Lombard were indispensable, as were her fellow members of the Governor’s Steering Committee and Water Augmentation Council. They all deserve Ham(m)ers for ensuring that Arizona’s water future remains secure.

Best Motivational Speech on Education Award

It’s not quite a Grand Slam championship, but tennis great Andre Agassi deserves a Ham(m)er. He wowed a crowd of charter advocates at the 25th anniversary gala of the Arizona Charter School Association with his reflection on why he entered this arena: to give kids quality educational choices.

It was a special evening for the Association, which honored education choice pioneer Lisa Graham Keegan and named an award in her honor. The work of the Charter School Association—now under the outstanding leadership of Jake Logan—and the entire education choice movement has changed lives for the better.

The Tony, Tony, Tony Award

State Rep. Tony Rivero.

No, it’s not a 90s R&B throwback. This award is named for the state legislator who once again proved to be the driving force at the Legislature for raising Arizona’s global profile.

Rep. Rivero has led the effort to increase Arizona’s trade presence in Mexico and, in 2019, he was the prime mover for the establishment of a trade office in Israel, a world tech superpower.

A few years ago, he led a bipartisan delegation of about 15 lawmakers to Mexico. This year he topped that with a group of 18 lawmakers to mark the opening of the trade office. For all of that, he certainly deserves a Ham(m)er.

The Art of the Deal Award

State Rep. Ben Toma.

This Ham(m)er goes to the lawmaker who put together the most significant tax reform deal since the original jobs package that marked the beginning of the decade of economic recovery and chart-topping growth.

The deal that Rep. Toma shepherded to passage included massive simplification, a reduction in our top individual income tax rate, and a reform to online sales tax collection.

My Main Man Award

A.P. Powell gets the nod. A.P. has created an environment where, by working with veteran advocates like Admiral Hal Pittman, various groups are working together to improve policies at all levels of government for our military veterans. There’s nothing ordinary about A.P.’s background—it’s fascinating. Give him a follow on Instagram and you’ll see what I mean and why I love rolling with him…and why he deserves a Ham(m)er.

The Tom Seaver You Can Come Home Again Award

Every year I sprinkle in some baseball heroes of my youth. This year’s edition is named for the Cy Young Award winner and Hall-of-Famer whose long career included two stints with my hometown New York Mets. This Ham(m)er goes to former state treasurer Jeff DeWit, who’s now the COO at NASA. DeWit returned to Arizona in October for Manufacturing Month to deliver an update on the space agency before a packed Arizona Manufacturers Council audience.

Don’t be surprised next year if we recognize the contributions of Barbara Barrett, the former Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Heritage Award winner whose nomination to be secretary of the Air Force sailed through the confirmation process, or ASU’s Dr. Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, who’s been nominated to be the next director of the National Science Foundation. All three are making Arizona proud on a different stage.

Art of the Selfie Award

Karin Jimenez.

Formerly of the Arizona-Mexico Commission and now with the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association, Karin has helped me develop a special appreciation for the art of the selfie photo. (My kids have put the kibosh on me taking any selfies involving them.)

Karin is everywhere and, in every selfie, looks happy and proud to be representing her organization—and she is! Karin is a great champion of trade, tourism and the relationship with Mexico, too.

We end the year on all sorts of positive. Wishing all a healthy and Happy New Year. Let’s make the 20s our best decade yet!

Glenn Hamer is president and CEO of the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce and Industry.

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As a young person pursuing computer science at Arizona State University and running a family-based technology development center for youth in North Scottsdale, I am extremely invested in the future of technology.

Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to attend DesTechAZ, a two-day conference that welcomed some of the world’s greatest technology innovators and advocates to celebrate Arizona’s accomplishments in the technology sector.��I was enthused to be immersed in discussions surrounding the topics and projects at the forefront of the industry. It was invigorating to hear from the undeniable leaders who are actively shaping the future of tech.

The event was jam-packed with topics; each could have spanned a conference of their own, featuring workshops in emerging technology areas such as autonomous vehicles, drones, and robotics.

Additionally, we heard from promising Arizona-based startups and electrifying panels surrounding innovation in the tech space. Conversation throughout the night included space travel, immersive and creative uses of technology, replicating humanity in artificial intelligence, and more.

The technology industry is growing at an astronomical rate, demanding a technically skilled youth. As an ambassador for Waybright Technology Academy, I hope to see this young passion in future DesTech events.

The initiative to empower young people to pursue STEM fields was championed throughout the conference by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

‘Woz’ is doing incredible work in this initiative — through his philanthropy, education advocacy and efforts with WozU, Wozniak is providing access to technology education on a large scale. As leaders in technology, it is our responsibility to create learners equipped with the technical and problem-solving skills they need to thrive in the modern-age.

Ten years ago, Waybright Academy was founded with the same vision of revolutionizing the technology education space. It all began with a family driven to provide a STEM club for their daughter, Meredith, who could not find any programs available to her.

“We knew that there was a potential for something bigger, a way to give children access to higher levels of tech. It’s essential,” said Waybright Academy co-founder Kent Kuhler, who received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to working as an electrical engineer at Ball Aerospace, Kent Kuhler leads the management team with his wife, Diane Kuhler, and their three gifted children.

Together, Diane and Kent Kuhler have created specialized programs in which children across the Valley can experiment with cutting-edge concepts at a higher level and get inspired among a community of like-minded students.

The Waybright Academy team focuses on a personal approach, with one-on-one private lessons or one-to-four ratios in small-group courses. By providing each learner with an individualized space to experiment with their excitement for technology, Waybright Academy hopes to ignite the spark that will lead them towards a bright future in STEM fields.

To do this, Waybright Academy provides a pathway to any student’s future career with three comprehensive tracks: programming and gaming; engineering and robotics; and animation and digital media.

In the spirit of Steve Wozniak’s passion for building computers, Waybright Academy offers courses for students to build their own custom computers — BYOPC — and learn the inner workings of the world’s most common devices. At Waybright Academy, no subject is out of reach.

DesTech was an incredible opportunity, not only to hear about the new strides made by those at the forefront of the industry, but to participate in the excitement for the future of technology shared by all.

More than anything else, the future lies in the hands of our youth. Therefore, it is critical that we continue to empower students with STEM education and inspire them to reach new heights.

Madison Kuhler is a software developer for the Waybright Academy.

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The 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) saw mixed results for Arizona student achievement.

NAEP, a project of the National Center for Education Statistics, has given academic exams to representative samples of students in all 50 states since 2003. The exams cover fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading, and occasionally other academic subjects. NAEP released new results for 2019 on Oct. 30, and news proved bad nationally and mixed in Arizona.

Between 2017 and 2019, Arizona students had a statistically significant improvement in fourth-grade mathematics and a decline in eighth-grade reading, while fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math results remained statistically unchanged. These short-run results, on net, are nothing to celebrate nor to lament, especially when examining the trends in other states.

Taking a broader look over the last decade, Arizona stands as one of the few states showing progress over time.

The chart above tracks eighth-grade math and reading gains and losses from 2009 to 2019 for Free and Reduced Lunch-eligible students. As you can see, a majority of states saw declines in both math and reading for these students (lower left quadrant). Arizona stands among a minority of states with improvement in both eighth-grade math and reading.

Taking the lens back to the beginning of when NAEP began testing in all 50 states allows us to track Arizona’s rise across student subgroups. The figure below sequentially shows eighth-grade math scores for 2003 and then 2019 for Anglo students, then Hispanic students in 2003 and 2019, and then Black students in 2003 and 2019. Some states did not have a sufficiently large Hispanic or Black population to report scores and thus are not included.

In 2019, Arizona’s Anglo, Hispanic and Black students were all demonstrating a mastery of mathematics approximately equal to what their 2003 peers would have landed as ninth-graders. Because of these gains, Arizona’s Anglo students ranked 10^th, our Hispanic students ranked 20^th and our Black students ranked fourth on eighth-grade math, compared to their peers in other states.

Arizona was also one of only a handful of states to show academic progress for students with disabilities over the last decade. The figure below shows that, while Arizona students with disabilities made progress on eighth-grade math, the trend in a large majority of states showed declines in scores. The trend is the same for Arizona and nationally with regards to eighth-grade reading.

Arizona has a lot of work yet to do in order to build a world-class system of education.

We’ve faced huge challenges over the past decade. We will face new challenges in the decade that looms ahead. We do, however, have a decade of improvement at our backs.

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“What do I need?  Moreover, how can I find it?”

These are just a couple of the questions asked about resources that incentivize and support cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Mexico — in particular, the states of Arizona and Sonora — during the third annual Arizona & Mexico Town Hall hosted Oct. 4 at the Hotel Lucerna in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

At least 50 Arizonans and Sonorans attended the roundtable discussions and were tasked with exploring the landscape of cross-border resources available in the marketplace. The attendees were asked what could be done to create a digital guide, or “one-stop shop,” that can make such resources more readily available to a broader group of individuals and companies interested in creating new business or expanding existing business.

The Arizona Town Hall has now been hosting the Arizona & Mexico Town Hall in Hermosillo since 2017, with the financial support of its premier sponsor — Jennings, Strouss & Salmon — and other key partners, including Salt River Project, the Arizona-Mexico Commission, Visit Tucson, CANACO, The Nelson Family Trust and RL Jones.�� The Arizona Town Hall’s commitment to the Arizona-Mexico relationship is in direct response to a recommendation from the statewide 108th Arizona Town Hall on Arizona and Mexico it hosted in Tucson in 2016. That should come as no surprise, given the economic importance of the relationship to Arizona’s economy.

In 2019, Mexico catapulted itself up the rankings and is now America’s top trading partner, in large part due to American and Mexican companies capitalizing on the existing trade dispute tempering trade relations between the U.S. and China.

Trade between the U.S. and Mexico totaled $671 billion in 2018. As of August 2019, total trade between the two countries reached $414 billion.

As border states, Arizona and Sonora are geographically positioned to capture a large percentage of the economic benefits of this robust relationship.

Statistics don’t lie: According to the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, exports from Arizona to Mexico during the second quarter of 2019 totaled $2.1 billion (up 13.6 percent from Q2 of 2018), and total U.S. trade with Mexico via Arizona’s border ports of entry totaled $8.2 billion during Q2 of 2019 (up 14.2 percent from Q2 of 2018).

I am very proud of the contributions that the Arizona Town Hall has made to support ongoing cooperation between Arizona and Mexico over the last three years. The participants at the 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall vigorously engaged in panel discussions focused on available cross-border trade, investment and business attraction resources aimed at driving economic development in the Arizona and Sonora region and the result was a list of key recommendations that I believe will help drive cross-border trade and investment between Arizona and Mexico.

Another strategic recommendation that resonated from the Arizona & Mexico Town Hall was the creation of a private advisory council composed of professionals in Arizona and Mexico who are engaged in cross-border trade and investment that would provide businesses interested in or engaged in cross-border trade and investment with critical information about such topics as: business organizations; banking, credit, or private equity; cross-border tax accounting; real property; and intellectual property, among others. Attendees envisioned that the advisory council could serve as a networking group that helps engage and mentor businesses and could disseminate highly important information to those involved in cross-border initiatives.

The plan is for the Legal Financial Services Committee of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, along with colleagues at the Comisión Sonora-Arizona, to take the recommendations from the 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall and evaluate how best to implement them into a cross-border digital guide or “one-stop shop.”

The proposed advisory council may likely be the conduit that ultimately helps bring the collective goal of the Arizona Town Hall and the Arizona-Mexico Commission to fruition.

“Arizona and Mexico must do everything possible to maintain and strengthen relationships with each other,” said Tara L. Jackson, president of Arizona Town Hall. “The Arizona & Mexico Town Hall is one way to effectively achieve that goal, and I hope that the recommendations from the 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall are the springboard for further action.”

To see the 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall report on the Arizona Town Hall website,

is a member of Jennings Strouss Law Firm, where he practices commercial litigation, construction litigation and fidelity and surety litigation. He is a delegate on the Financial and Legal Services Committee of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, actively involved with promotion of U.S.-Mexico cross-border trade with assistance from his extensive familiar and professional network in Mexico.

Header photo by .

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Host Garrick Taylor sat down with Roy Herrera and Courtney Shadegg on the latest episode of Request to Speak to discuss why we see politicians change their minds on different issues, the relevancy of ideological identifiers and their book recommendations.

Read/Watch/Listen:

• Roy Herrera recommends a book: “Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration” .
• Courtney Shadegg recommends a book: “Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution” .
• Garrick Taylor recommends a graphic novel: “A Fire Story” .

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