ballotpedia.org

Doug Ducey

“

Safety and Security for All Arizonans
Just a few years ago, families were hurting, and Arizona was $1 billion in the red. Today, Arizona is growing, and we are investing in what matters most — like K-12 education and public safety.

Whether it’s taking the fight directly to the cartels on our southern border, combating the scourge of addiction, reducing recidivism in our prisons, or ensuring that law enforcement has the resources they need to properly investigate sexual assaults, Doug is working every day to ensure the safety and security of all Arizonans.

Border Security
Immediately after his swearing in, Doug got to work creating the Arizona Border Strike Force – a partnership with local, state and federal law enforcement to enhance security along Arizona’s southern border, aimed at drug cartels and human traffickers. Working directly with our border sheriffs, federal agencies, and now the Arizona National Guard, we have made 3,199 arrests and seized over $10 million in cash and tens of thousands of pounds of meth, marijuana, and heroin.

Doug will continue the fight against these criminals over the next four years – bringing more resources and technology to our border.

Justice for Sexual Assault Victims
Doug helped survivors of sexual assault by reducing the state’s backlog of untested rape kits with a plan now in place to totally eliminate the backlog. Eight rapists have already been caught and are now facing criminal charges as a result of the kits being tested.

Opioid Epidemic
This year, Doug signed the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act, a comprehensive and bipartisan legislative package aimed at saving lives by combating the opioid epidemic from all angles.

The legislation will:

  • Improve access to substance abuse treatment for all Arizonans, including the uninsured or underinsured
  • Enhance education for opioid prescribers
  • Crack down on forged prescriptions, pill mills, and manufacturers who defraud the public about their products
  • Limit the first-fill of an opioid prescription to five days for patients new to opioids, with exemptions that protect chronic pain suffers, cancer, trauma or burn patients, hospice or end-of-life patients, and those receiving medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder.

Child Safety
The troubled Department of Child Safety (DCS) had more than 16,000 inactive cases in their backlog when Governor Doug Ducey took office. Under the governor’s leadership, the agency has been turned around. Now, the backlog is cleared, DCS has safely reduced the number of kids in foster care by over 20% and the agency has been given an “Excellence for Children” award by national foster-care nonprofit Casey Family Programs.

Catching Child Support Evaders
Doug’s program to catch child support evaders by posting their information on social media has resulted in over 100 deadbeat parents now making their payments totaling over half a million dollars.

More Money for Schools
Just a few years ago, families were hurting, and Arizona was $1 billion in the red. Today, Arizona is growing, and we are investing in what matters most — like K-12 education and public safety.

Investing in the health, safety, and success of our schools is paramount to the long-term success of our State. That is why Doug has made school safety and school funding his primary focus.

School Safety
Following the tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida, Doug brought together parents, students, teachers, law enforcement officials, prosecutors and mental health experts to draft the Safe Arizona Schools Plan. This common-sense, multifaceted solution puts more cops on campuses across Arizona, increases the number of school counselors, creates a central tip-line for reporting safety concerns and provides further tools to keep those with severe mental health issues from possessing a gun. Further, it improves the background check system while protecting our rights preserved under the Second Amendment.

Improving Education
Doug believes a quality K-12 education system is the most important thing we can do to ensure Arizona kids have a strong and secure future. His focus is on increasing our investment in public education and improving results in the classroom.

That’s why he has increased education funding every year in office, for a total of $2.7 Billion – all without raising taxes. This includes:

  • A 20% teacher pay increase by school year 2020.
  • Prop 123, the bi-partisan effort that injected $3.5 billion over 10 years into Arizona’s K-12 schools.
  • Restoring recession-era cuts to school funding — $371 million over the next five years — that can be used for support staff, textbooks, technology, and other school improvements.
  • The Arizona Teachers Academy, created to attract new teachers by allowing aspiring teachers the ability to finish college debt-free if they commit to teach in an Arizona school.
  • Being the first state to pass the American Civics Act – a new law requiring all high school students to pass the same civics test any new naturalized citizen has to pass in order to graduate.

Doug wants to see more dollars go to the classroom, and continue to drive up teacher pay, while investing in other key priorities like career and technical education and high-speed broadband in our rural and tribal schools.

Jobs and Economic Security
Just a few years ago, families were hurting, and Arizona was $1 billion in the red. Today, Arizona is growing, and we are investing in what matters most — like K-12 education and public safety.

It’s no secret that Arizona’s economy is finally on the right track. When Doug ran in 2014, he promised to “shrink a government and grow an economy,” and that’s exactly what he has done.

Key Accomplishments

  • Balancing the budget: Drawing on his private-sector business experience, Doug balanced Arizona’s $1 billion budget deficit his first year in office without raising taxes. He reduced the size of government, consolidated agencies, cut needless regulations and red tape, fired the state’s taxpayer-funded lobbyists, AND cut wait times at government agencies like the Motor Vehicle Division.
  • Adding new jobs: Last year, under Doug’s leadership, Arizona reached a major milestone: We fully recovered all of the jobs lost during the Great Recession. So far, we have added about 240,000 new jobs. And since 2015, more than 300 companies have chosen Arizona to relocate their business.
  • Economic security: Over the last three years, our unemployment rate has dropped to 4.5% — the lowest level in a decade. Wage growth is the third fastest in the country — up 7% — and our state’s credit rating has improved. All of this is evidence that Arizona is open for business and government is getting out of the way of the private sector.
  • Tax relief and reform: In addition to cutting nearly 700 needless and burdensome regulations — equivalent to a $50 million tax reduction — Doug has reformed and simplified the tax code every single year he has been governor. Arizonans are now keeping more of the money they earn.

Securing Our Future
Doug is a relentless advocate for Arizona. He will continue recruiting businesses to move here and breaking down barriers that keep people from meaningful work. It’s one reason economists project Arizona will add another 150,000 jobs in just the next two years.[3]

”