The Round Up: All That and a Bag of CHIPS Funding
The Round Up: All That and a Bag of CHIPS Funding
Biden comes to Phoenix, GOP is moving (again), and lawsuits galore.
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In this edition of the 1912 Round-Up: Federal dollars finally begin to flow to domestic chip manufacturers, the state’s business lobby sues the EPA, Texas continues to battle the federal government over immigration policy, and the AZ GOP moves headquarters in the run-up to the 2024 election.
Federal Funds Start to Flow to Chip Manufacturers
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will be receiving upward of $5 billion in federal grants to develop its chip manufacturing plant (“fab”) in north Phoenix. Investments in Arizona began in May 2020. President Joe Biden announced that Intel will also receive federal dollars to support that company’s fabs, including its factories in Arizona alongside three other states.
“The CHIPS Act is a game changer for Phoenix for at least a generation,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego in an interview, championing the legislation that brought these grants about.
These funds were appropriated as a result of the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan — at least in the House — piece of legislation that, among other things, provides $39 billion in subsidies for chip manufacturing on U.S. soil. It also allocates funding for R&D related to semiconductors. It was supported by all of Arizona’s congressional Democrats, Independent U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, and no Arizona Republicans.
Here’s what Arizona lawmakers had to say:
Independent Sen. Krysten Sinema: “Arizona leads in American semiconductor manufacturing. By working with both sides in Washington, we are bringing historic investments from our bipartisan CHIPS and Science law to Arizona – ensuring our state remains a global semiconductor leader, creating strong Arizona careers, and strengthening our national security”
Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton: “I proudly championed the CHIPS and Science Act in the House because I knew no state in the country stood to benefit more than ours. Arizona is well-positioned to compete for and take advantage of this once in a generation investment — and add even more high-wage, high-tech jobs.”
Lake and Richer Suit Settles
Last year Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder, sued Kari Lake for defamation over her claims that the 2022 gubernatorial election was not secure and that Richer was at fault. The County Recorder is responsible for keeping public records and for voter registration and early voting. Richer’s responsibilities over managing voter registration and early voting is why Lake made comments against him.
As of last week, Lake is effectively walking away from the case rather than taking part because she claims that the proceedings would validate what she described as a political witch hunt against her. According to the Guardian, Lake “asked a Maricopa county judge to quickly set a hearing for a “default judgment” against her and move to hold a hearing to determine what damages, if any, she should have to pay.”
“This might shock you, but I have no great insight into the mind of Kari Lake,” Richer said in an interview with The Daily Beast. Richer, an attorney, was shocked by Lake’s legal decision. “She will not play the lawfare game,” said a representative for Lake. “Just like they went after President Trump, they’re now targeting Kari Lake.”
For her part, Lake has no intention of defending against Richer but maintains that she has always told the truth. She also denies the framing of this legal decision as a “concession.” In an X post Wednesday, Lake challenged Richer’s claims that Lake was conceding. “I didn’t surrender,” Lake argued: “I simply cut-to-the-chase [sic]. We filed papers demanding a hearing in 30 days for Stephen to prove how my words harmed him. I am ready to go to court now, Stephen. Are you?”
Richer claims that Lake falsely accused him of “intentionally [printing] 19-inch images on 20-inch ballots.” She claims this resulted in the counting of 300,000 “illegal, invalid, phony or bogus” early ballots.
Her concession of the case, according to Richer, means that her claims of a lack of election integrity are false.
Lake also made claims that this suit was an attempt to interfere with the 2024 election.
Currently, Lake is a front-runner for the Senate seat that Sinema is vacating, running against Rep. Ruben Gallego.
What people are saying:
Stephen Richer: “For the last seven months, I have been subjected to constant harassment, intimidation, and threats to my and my family’s lives because the defendants in this case were spreading falsehoods about me, my work, and our elections.”
Kari Lake on X: “The public has a 1st Amendment Right to access public court proceedings. Meaning the public has the right to see your damages evidence, Stephen. Why do your lawyers from New York and DC keep asking for a confidentiality agreement? Why do you have New York and DC Lawyers at all? What don’t you want the public to see? Is that why you filed suit in your “personal capacity” — to dodge Arizona’s public records laws?”
DHS Distributing More Funds for Border Security
The Department of Homeland Security received $650 million for border communities as part of the recently passed $1.2 trillion spending bill, the result of a successful last-minute attempt to stave off a government shutdown. As a result, Pima County will be receiving funds after March 31st. Initially, it seemed that Pima would run out of funds after the end of the month.
The funding will be received and administered through the Shelter and Service program, a subset of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This program distributes funds for non-federal actors that provide services such as sheltering to migrants who have been released from custody but are waiting for the outcome of their immigration proceedings. The additional funding will uphold this system in Pima County.
Pima will be receiving almost $70 million. Since 2019, the county has sheltered over 400,000 people in partnership with Catholic Community Services in Tucson.
This funding came not a moment too soon. Experts had warned that not acquiring funds could have resulted in the release of the migrants into Arizona communities. It would likely have decreased the available space in migrant shelters, as well as the potential release of numerous migrants and asylum seekers at bus terminals and similar spots in less-populated areas lacking adequate transportation systems.
What AZ lawmakers are saying:
Rep. Ruben Gallego: “This funding is particularly important for Pima County, which serves as the fiscal agent for itself and surrounding counties in Arizona’s Tucson sector — currently the busiest sector of the southern border.” He also added that Pima County was able to "minimize street releases that risk public safety and further strain the resources available for local services. This has remained true even during historic migrant surges.”
Senator Krysten Sinema: “As Washington partisans fail to secure the border, Arizona border communities pay the price for their inaction — shouldering the burden of a crisis they did not create. I’m proud to secure critical resources to support our border communities, reducing the number of migrant street releases and keeping Arizona families safe.”
The Arizona Chamber Sues the EPA
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the state’s premier business lobby, joined Republican State Senate President Warren Petersen and Republican House Speaker Ben Toma last week to file a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent regulation concerning fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5.
PM 2.5, among the smallest air pollutants at 2.5 microns, the equivalent of one-half of the width of the fingernail, can enter a person's bloodstream. These pollutants have long been recognized as harmful, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent regulations, announced this month, lowered the target levels from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 micrograms, a milligram is 1000 times the size of a microgram. These rules would require businesses to further restrict their output of air pollutants.
This is not the first time the Arizona Chamber has opposed the EPA on this front. They did so in November in conjunction with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The Chamber sent a letter to the EPA opposing its then-proposed ruling citing concerns over decreased production by manufacturers in the state. According to NAM, this ruling could result in the loss of 852,100 to 973,900 jobs and between $162.4 billion and $197.4 billion worth of economic activity. NAM previously filed a suit against the EPA in early March citing these same concerns.
Danny Seiden, CEO of the Arizona Chamber, noted in the letter that significant contributors to air pollution in Arizona, such as wildfires, are uncontrollable. Wildfires have been linked to a decrease in air quality in the West. In the last decade, wildfires have accounted for nearly half of particulate matter pollution in the Southwest. To account for pollutants caused by wildfires, Seiden argued, businesses will have to decrease their production significantly.
The EPA’s new PM 2.5 regulation is a significant change in standard and is far ahead of other nations. The EU plans to lower their standard to 10 micrograms per cubic meter by 2030 and the UK aims to do the same by 2040. The dramatic change required by the EPA has the potential to harm manufacturing across the nation. Arizona arguably does not have the required infrastructure to sustain its production under these conditions. GOP leaders warn that to continue production under the new EPA ruling will likely mean increased costs for consumers.
What people are saying:
NAM Chief Legal Officer Linda Kelly: “In pursuing this discretionary reconsideration rule, the EPA should have considered the tremendous costs and burdens of a lower PM2.5 standard. Instead, by plowing ahead with a new standard that is vastly more restrictive than any other national standard, including that set by the EU, the agency not only departs significantly from the traditional NAAQS process, but also gravely undermines the Biden administration’s manufacturing agenda — stifling manufacturing investment, infrastructure development and job creation in communities across the country. The NAM Legal Center is filing suit to protect manufacturers’ ability to obtain permits, expand facilities and pursue long-term investment plans, and defend our country’s competitive advantage.”
AZ Senator Warren Petersen: “This rule will create unnecessary hardships for job creators and hardworking Arizonans. It will detrimentally impact our power grid and create even more red tape for both small and large businesses. We have no choice but to ask the courts to provide relief from this tyrannical, arbitrary, and illegal move by the EPA.”
Full disclosure: The author of this round-up is currently employed part-time by the Arizona Chamber. He did not coordinate with the Chamber in his publication of this round-up.
Texas Continues to Buck Biden
Last week, the Supreme Court allowed Texas to enforce SB 4. The bill, which was approved by the Texas legislature in 2023, allows Texas police officers to arrest illegal migrants crossing the border, making illegal border crossing a felony under state law. Although SCOTUS allowed enforcement, a federal appeals court blocked it late on Tuesday night. SCOTUS ruled that the law could be enforced while the legal battle continued, essentially deferring to the decision of the lower courts. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, joined by Justice Brett Kavanagh, noted that SCOTUS’s intervention at this stage would be premature and therefore opted not to rule on the bill’s constitutionality.
The reasoning behind legal opposition to SB 4 is that immigration is generally considered to be a power delegated exclusively to the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.
Proponents say that the bill would make it easier for immigration authorities to secure the border, as it authorizes state and local officers to arrest illegal crossers and judges to issue deportations for illegal migrants convicted of other crimes.
The bill’s opponents cite concerns over abuse of power and argue that the state of Texas does not have the authority to defend its border. There are worries as well that asylum seekers will be disparaged by the new bill because officers are authorized to arrest those seeking asylum — provided they do so before the illegal migrants surrender themselves to the proper authorities. The efforts against the bill have been spearheaded by the ACLU and human rights activists. The Biden Administration has also sued Texas, citing these concerns.
“The Texas government’s efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations. SB 4 is invalid and must be enjoined,” the Justice Department wrote in its claim.
What people are saying:
Justice Barrett: “That puts this case in a very unusual procedural posture. . . . I think it unwise to invite emergency litigation in this Court about whether a court of appeals abused its discretion at this preliminary step—for example, by misjudging whether an administrative stay is the best way to minimize harm while the court deliberates..”
Adriana Piñon, legal director at the ACLU of Texas: “We disagree with the court’s decision and the implementation of this unconstitutional and extreme anti-immigrant law will likely be disastrous for both Texans and our legal system. S.B. 4 threatens our most basic civil and human rights as citizens and non-citizens alike and we recommend anyone threatened by this, including people who fear racial profiling, to remember their rights. We will continue our efforts to halt this hateful law.”
AZ GOP Moves Headquarters
The AZ GOP is leaving its headquarters in downtown Phoenix, citing limited access for volunteers and campaigns. The location of the headquarters made it difficult to access the space for volunteers because their floor was inaccessible without a badge. The Executive Committee, the body in charge of the AZ GOP, voted 38–4 in favor, with 4 abstentions, to sell their lot.
The office was also potentially a financial liability: The GOP was paying $11,300 per month in HOA fees alone. Swoboda seeks to find a new location in a central location, as well as other offices in the East and West Valley. This move signals a strategic shift for the AZ GOP, which recently found new leadership in Swoboda after Jeff DeWitt resigned in January.
What people are saying:
AZ GOP Chair Gina Swoboda: “This board is always going to follow the wishes of the body. Strategically relocating the office is another great step in moving the party forward. We are focused on one thing and one thing only: winning.”
Daniel Scarpinato, President of Winged Victory Agency on X: “A great move by @GinaSwoboda — this was a horrible location for a party HQ. Impossible to park. No access to the building. Try getting volunteers in there. Another step in the right direction.”
Garrett Archer, Journalist for ABC15 on X: “@azgop held a meeting this weekend and voted to sell their Central Phoenix HQ. It's billed as [a] strategic decision, but I've been told it had become a serious financial liability. Chairwoman @GinaSwoboda tells me the move ensures the party will remain both strong and stable.”
Other Relevant Headlines
State Senate committee to hear bill to reverse economic progress (March 21): “The state Senate Government Committee on Thursday is scheduled to consider an amendment to a bill that would dismantle the Arizona Commerce Authority, the state’s lead economic development agency.”
Arizona lawmakers walk out of Senate committee in protest of tough immigration bills (March 20): “Some Arizona state lawmakers walked out the House floor Wednesday during a committee hearing for two immigration bills, HB 2748 and HB 2821.”
Swiss semiconductor company to establish U.S. headquarters in the Valley (March 26): “A Geneva, Switzerland-based semiconductor company is establishing its U.S. headquarters with an assembly and testing center in the Phoenix metro. It was drawn to the area by the state's burgeoning semiconductor industry.”
President Biden signs $1.2 trillion US spending bill (March 23): “President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a $1.2 trillion spending package, keeping the U.S. government funded through a fiscal year that began six months ago.”
This round up was written by Joseph Kavetsky, a student at ASU studying civic and economic thought and leadership and political science. He is currently a reporter for Chamber Business News at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Kavetsky is originally from Huntington Beach, California.