Sundareshan, Kuby express concern over Republican’s lack of civics education and their push to send SCR1022 to the ballot

Arizona State Senate 

1700 W. Washington St. 

Phoenix, AZ 85007 

Press Release

PHOENIX – Senate Concurrent Resolution 1022 (SCR1022), sponsored by Republican Senator Jake Hoffman, is a ballot referral that would require the state, every decade, to conduct an unnecessary and duplicative census of only U.S. citizens in Arizona. Senators Priya Sundareshan and Lauren Kuby, Democratic members of the Senate Government Committee, released the following statements: 

“As elected members of the state senate, we find it alarming how little our Republican colleagues actually understand about our nation’s government. As required by the Constitution of the United States, the census counts people—all people, regardless of status —because the federal government has the responsibility to ensure the states have the needed resources to provide for their occupants,” Senator Priya Sundareshan (LD18) said. “This duplicative state census effort—and entirely unnecessary ballot referral—was crafted by Republicans to depress participation in the federal census and ensure that voters are stripped of their right to choose their own representation. Please hear me clearly: The radical Arizona Freedom Caucus is leading the charge to redraw our legislative maps to handpick the voters they want, while stirring up further hate for undocumented immigrants to hide their true intent. I invite the Senate Republicans, if they are truly upset that the Census Bureau under the first Trump administration mismanaged their duties and left Arizona with less federal funding and underrepresented in Congress, to put their money where their mouth is—take it up with the current Trump administration and leave Arizona voters alone. Without fail, Republicans prefer to burden voters with irresponsible and unworkable proposals like this that will only further exacerbate our strained state resources."   

Senator Lauren Kuby (LD8) added, “At this point, Arizona voters should brace for another 2-page ballot in 2026. The Senate Republican caucus, rather than conduct a simple google search or open a high school history textbook, are giddy to send SCR1022 to the voters with the end goal of ensuring the legislature wields the power to gerrymander legislative districts for their own political benefit.  

It cost nearly $14 billion to conduct the last nationwide census. Based on Arizona's population, the State of Arizona would need to spend a little under $300 million to complete its own census, not even accounting for the fact that Arizona does not have the pre-existing infrastructure of the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite the worryingly moderate $158 million estimated in the fiscal note, this stunt would gut the voter-created Citizens Clean Elections Fund and still not cover the true cost, passing it onto the taxpayer another do-nothing Republican pet project.”