by Greer Trotter Warren, LD10 PC Precinct 107
Arizona Civics and Request to Speak (RTS) trainings held at PCDP Headquarters in January and February were popular with both new and experienced RTS users. A total of five trainings have been held at HQ to date. These trainings were put on by Greer Warren, Meg Pradelt and Bryna Koch. Close to 30 people have participated in these trainings.
The Request to Speak (RTS) system allows Arizona citizens to register opinions of legislation pending in the state legislature. Anyone can sign up to use RTS, whether or not they are registered voters. This allows part-time Arizona residents, people not registered to vote, and young people under 18, to use the system.
Opinions registered via the RTS system remain part of the public record for the current, past and future legislative sessions. The RTS system is not hard to use but it helps to have live training and some hand-holding, especially when one first activates an account.
Arizona Civics and RTS training go together well. Many of us didn’t grow up in Arizona and didn’t learn about the Arizona government. Some of us did and we don‘t remember! So, to get the larger picture, we first talk about the structure of the Arizona government and the lifecycle of a piece of legislation, then we do a training on how to use the RTS system.
The Arizona Legislature has a 100-day session, from January through April. Time is quickly running out for concerned citizens to weigh in on pending legislation for the 2019 session. There will be at least one more AZ CIVICS 101 + RTS TRAINING in March. We are also planning to hold a series of these training sessions in the fall, to get citizens geared up for the start of the 2020 election cycle.
Tamar Rala Kreiswirth, of The Arizona Ground Game, videoed one of the February sessions. Watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylbtrFF1kf0&feature=youtu.be
For those who already have an activated RTS account but want some help and companionship while doing RTS, we are holding RTS “office hours’’ on Monday mornings through March, 8:30-10:00, at the Pima Dems Headquarters, 4639 E. First St. Please stop by if you need RTS help or have questions about the system.
For more information, please call or text Greer Warren at 520-204-4899.
LD 10 PCs Buddy Up for RTS
By Donna Johnson, LD 10 PC Precinct 96
Legislative District 10 is busy helping our state legislators by using Request to Speak to voice our opinions on particular bills.
During the last legislative session, I signed up for RTS at an LD10 meeting, with the Arizona Advocacy Network’s help. But it didn’t quite “click,’’ maybe because I didn’t ask for more help. This legislative session I doubled down and got an “RTS buddy,’’ Erik Ebert. We help each other understand the issues better and use RTS more effectively.
Erik wanted to make his voice heard beyond the ballot box, and thinks that RTS is an important way to let our lawmakers know what their constituents are thinking. It allows us to keep active in the government process. The RTS buddy group helps us do that. We also debate the finer points of legislation, and so far have used RTS almost 200 times to vote on committee bills.
Erik and I welcome everyone in LD10 to this enlightening process. We have upped the ante and now monitor certain House and Senate Committee legislation. We encourage folks to attend Monday morning RTS help sessions at PCDP headquarters.