The Phoenix City Council today will consider a package of ordinances targeting the city’s struggling hospitality industry with mandates on hiring, leave policies, cleanliness and more.

The ordinances are proposed by pro-union Councilmembers Betty Guardado, Carlos Garcia and Laura Pastor.

Branded as the “Phoenix Healthy Tourism and Hospitality Measures,� the three items contain a host of new regulations that the city’s tourism sector is concerned will harm an industry already reeling from the financial fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Included in the proposal are strict rules for employers regarding how and when to bring furloughed employees back on the job; how many square feet a worker may clean during the workday; the establishment of a “public hygiene training program� to be conducted by a third-party organization that will deliver no less than six hours of instruction and preside over an examination of hospitality workers; paid leave provisions that go far beyond anything already in state or federal law; and much more.

Kim Sabow, the president and CEO of the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association, says the proposal will hurt an industry that has been the hardest hit during the pandemic.

“Now is not the time to be adding costly regulatory burdens on businesses that are trying to make payroll and keep their doors open,â€� Sabow said. “Each one of the items makes it more difficult for hoteliers and the rest of the hospitality industry to recover. We are extremely disappointed that the Phoenix City Council decided to fast-track a series of job-killing ordinances that will place onerous regulations and increase costs on an industry that is struggling to financially survive the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The ordinances will not apply to entities that enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a labor union.

Guardado is an organizer for Unite Here Local 11, a labor union for the hotel, airport and food service industry. The union’s political action committee supported Guardado’s successful 2019 campaign.

Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce & Industry President and CEO Glenn Hamer the union exemption sends the message that organized labor believes it is powerful enough to dramatically alter the business environment of the state’s largest city.

“If they can get away with this for the hotel and lodging industry, good luck for Arizona getting these great conventions. Good luck for great groups to be able to sell Arizona if we have those types of regulations,� Hamer said.

The proposal, which was only made available to the public for review on Friday, will appear before the Council without input from other councilmembers or from members of the affected industry.

“These proposed laws were only posted on Friday with no industry engagement or time to review. This is after the Arizona Restaurant Association had sent all members of the Phoenix City Council a letter seeking to engage in any process impacting the hospitality industry,� ARA COO Dan Bogert said. “This request was clearly ignored, and the plan is to push the ordinance through with as little public input and notice as possible.�

Hamer says the rest of the Council should strongly reject the proposed ordinances.

“It’s terrible process, terrible policy. It’s time for Mayor (Kate) Gallego and the Phoenix City Council to say no,� Hamer said. “Come on. In the middle of a pandemic to put this thing last second into an agenda, and then to have that exemption—give me a break.�

The Phoenix tourism industry is organizing its opposition to the proposal at, where users can send emails to their councilmembers to voice their opinion.

The Council will meet at 10:00 am today.

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This piece was originally published in the Arizona Capitol Times on January 24th. You can find the original piece .

As we embark upon a new decade, it’s hard to miss the technological advances happening all around us. Arizona in 2020 is a state ripe with investment in cutting-edge technology, one where entrepreneurship is thriving and the breakthroughs of tomorrow are happening right in our own backyard.

Arizona’s autonomous vehicle sector is a prime example of how our state has positioned itself to be on the leading edge of the future. After all, it’s where The New York Times said “self-driving cars go to learn.�

While it’s easy to imagine a future zipping around the state in driverless cars, what hasn’t been simple is measuring the actual economic impact of this future for our state. But economist Jim Rounds crunched the numbers and recently released a report for the Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ Foundation on the various models and assumptions for Arizona. One thing they all point to? By leading other states, Arizona is poised to reap a disproportionate share of the billions in economic growth and investment this new industry will bring.

Rounds estimates – conservatively – that a $6.1 billion investment in autonomous vehicle research and development would lead to over 75,000 new Arizona jobs across the industry itself and in supporting industries by 2026. To put this in perspective, the growth alone in autonomous vehicle-related work in the next few years will employ more than double the number of Arizonans working in state government.

Much of this growth can be attributed to the way Arizona has uniquely positioned itself among the states to provide a welcoming environment to innovators. For example, thanks to an executive order from Gov. Doug Ducey, the Arizona Commerce Authority now houses the Institute of Automated Mobility, a team that bridges government, innovating companies, and higher education institutions to facilitate the safe development of these technologies.

Higher education is actually a critical part of this consortium. By training students for a high-tech industry poised to grow here at home, Arizona’s colleges and universities are simultaneously meeting the industry’s demand and retaining Arizona’s best and brightest.

We are investing in a workforce designed to grow with the autonomous-vehicle industry, positioning our state as the top location for additional investments by companies working in this space.

In fact, Arizona’s universities are partnering with the firms pioneering this technology to graduate engineers and software developers. That means the students we are investing in at our state universities are staying here, working here, and keeping their economic contributions here in Arizona.

But it’s not just our universities. Community colleges in Phoenix’s East Valley and Pima Community College in Tucson have developed training programs in cyber-security and autonomous truck operation that are training Arizonans directly for high-demand jobs in the workforce.

With more Arizonans taking jobs in this promising, high tech field, and companies like Waymo and Intel – which in 2017 purchased Israel-based autonomous tech firm Mobileye – expanding their research, development, and manufacturing footprints to support that growth, there is also substantial benefit to the state and local governments in tax collection over the next decade.

If we continue to support the growth of autonomous-vehicle technology in Arizona, it will yield significant resources to state and local governments that can be re-invested in priorities like education and public safety. Rounds estimates that an additional $250-350 million in taxes could be collected by 2026 in autonomous-vehicle sector growth alone, using a conservative approach to modeling the calculations. Those are substantial resources for reinvesting in our state’s priorities.

Rounds’ calculations give us a clear vision for Arizona’s economic future if we continue on the path of welcoming the forward-thinking industry. It’s an Arizona with 75,000 more people working in good-paying jobs, an Arizona training our students for the jobs of the future, and an Arizona that’s reaping the benefits of a growing, successful tax base.

But perhaps more important than any of the economic growth that Arizona will gain by being a leader is the potential impact to road safety we stand to gain. Over 800 people die in fatal car crashes in Arizona each year. Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to bring that number down dramatically by reducing the human error that is the cause of so many accidents. It’s why groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Safety Council have partnered with Waymo here in Arizona. We owe it to ourselves in Arizona to welcome technologies that have potential to keep our roads safer and save lives.

As this new analysis methodically predicts, Arizona can anticipate a bright, safe, and economically prosperous future if we continue to welcome innovation and resist overregulation.

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2178 Monday at Churn, a locally-owned homemade ice cream shop in central Phoenix.

The bill requiring restaurants and ice cream shops to obtain a license before making and selling frozen desserts and frozen dairy products for consumption on-site.

“It’s been a to make certain that government operates at the speed of business,� Ducey said. “I’ve been accused of having a bias toward a favorite dessert, and when I heard that government was getting in the way of Arizonans enjoying delicious ice cream I knew we needed to act and act quickly.�

Ducey was a partner and CEO at Cold Stone Creamery, an Arizona-based ice cream parlor chain, until he and his partners sold the company in 2007. At that time, the chain had grown from a single shop in 1988 to more than 1,400 locations in the United States and 10 other countries.

Churn is operated by the Phoenix-based restaurant group , which also runs Churn’s nextdoor neighbor, Windsor, as well as Postino, Federal Pizza and Joyride Taco House.

“Local scoop shops like Churn make fantastic ice cream from scratch on their premises, and it’s something I have some knowledge about,� Ducey said. “But under Arizona law they were facing regulations that were meant for larger dairy manufacturers that would have put their from-scratch business, which produces a higher quality product… in jeopardy.�

Lauren Bailey, CEO and co-founder of Upward Projects, and Craig DeMarco, co-founder, stood behind Ducey for the signing.

Ducey said signing HB 2178 means Arizona ice cream shops can create their desserts without “daunting and misapplied regulations getting in the way.�

Also present were bill sponsor (LD-17) and Steve Chucri, president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association.

“I want to thank everyone who came together… to bring this law forward and allow these businesses to thrive, especially Rep. Jeff Weninger, who has been a protector of these organizations, the United Dairymen of Arizona [and] the Arizona Restaurant Association,� Ducey said.

Ducey said he wants entrepreneurs and small-business owners to know that “Arizona is listening to your concerns and proving once again that we are the best state in the nation in which to found, scale and grow a business.�

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