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By Regina Romero
HB2579 represents blatant legislative overreach into local decision making. Proposition 202, passed by voters in 2006, clearly establishes that regulating nonwage benefits is a local issue. Ironically, many of the GOP politicians who are trying to subvert local control are the same complaining about top-down governance from Washington.
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, nearly 1 million Arizona citizens — almost half of all state workers — lack access to earned sick days. Those without this basic employee benefit are primarily low-wage workers, especially in the service and restaurant industries. And, no surprise, they are disproportionately women (70 percent) and people of color (62 percent).