(triumphant music) - [Lorraine] An alarming rise in overdose deaths on pace to set a record in Pima County.

- It's kinda a perfect storm, where you have a cheap drug, really accessible, a lot of stress so there's high demand.

- [Lorraine] Plus why some evictions are still happening despite an ongoing moratorium.

- If someone commits a crime on the property, that's not curable it's called an immediate and irreparable.

- [Lorraine] And when can an employer legally require a COVID-19 vaccine or mask in the workplace.

- You're going to have to comply with that unless you fall into one of two categories.

(triumphant music) - Hello, and welcome to Arizona 360.

I'm Lorraine Rivera, thanks so much for joining us.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the effects of the nation's opioid epidemic have not let up in Southern Arizona.

Health officials in Pima County recently warned that overdose deaths in 2021 are on pace to set a record for the third consecutive year.

As for why and what's being done to prevent even more from dying, Tony Paniagua has the story.

- What you got their?

- A (indistinct) of honesty.

- An honesty.

- [Tony] Bryan Hamilton is a Tucson based recovery support specialist.

- Earn that respect for yourself.

- [Tony] He helps people with addictions and he speaks from experience.

- My drug of choice was heroin.

- [Tony] He used drugs more than 20 years and overdosed four times.

- You would think I'd be scared.

You think that would have been a wake-up call, but no, it was, you know, it is this... You wake up and from an overdose and the first thing you wanna do is get high again.

- [Tony] Hamilton says his biological parents were addicted to drugs and ran a meth house.

When he was eight, he was removed from their home and sent to foster care.

However, the sexual abuse that had already begun lasted until the age of 12, when he says he was finally big enough to fight back.

But that's when he was also introduced to heroin.

- By the time I was 14, I was already full everyday heroin addict, IV drug user.

I mean, I should have been like going to dances and prom you know, no, it wasn't me.

I was stealing bottles of alcohol with 30 year old homeless people, so I can sell it to the tattoo shops and get high.

You know, and all you can think about is that that warm blanket that you feel from the substances.

You don't think about, hey, I may die again or this could be my life, the end of my life right here.

It's more like, you know, I'm okay with dying.

It's a lot easier than living, you know, and that's a scary thought you know, it really is.

- [Tony] A life of crime in different states landed him in prison from 1999 to 2015.

One year later, more legal troubles, but he was able to get into Pima County's Drug Alternative to Prison Program.

- I actually told them that you give me this chance and I will not let you down.

And I literally went through that whole program with not at a one single relapse.

I've been clean and sober with no bumps in the road since February 18th, 2016.

Promotes recovery, it helps you... - [Tony] Now he works for community medical services, which provide treatment for people who abuse substances.

The company was founded in Phoenix in 1983 and has since expanded to other cities and states.

Much of the work centers around opioids, which have become dangerously prevalent and deadly all over the country.

- Just the sheer number of these makes it a health crisis, but also the hospitalizations, the emergency services that are required.

- [Tony] Mark Person is the manager of the Pima County, Health Departments, Community Mental Health and Addiction Team.

He's very concerned about the current number of overdoses.

The county is on track to surpass more than 500 deaths by the end of this year, a new record for a third consecutive year.

Person says fentanyl, a non-pharmaceutical synthetic opioid can be 50 to 100 times more toxic than heroin or morphine.

Fentanyl is currently responsible for more than half of the overdose cases in this county.

- Really, really dangerous because of the unpredictability of it.

- [Tony] In addition Person says, overdoses are now the number one killer of people 19 years and younger in the community, more than traffic accidents, firearms, or any other cause.

- It's kind of a perfect storm where you have a cheap drug, really accessible, a lot of stress so there's high demand.

And then you have it falling into the hands of young people that aren't really experienced and not aware of the risks.

And unfortunately, that's led to a lot of tragedies here in our community.

- [Tony] Fortunately Person says there's an approved medication known as Narcan that can save lives.

Pima County, Public Libraries, have it available as part of a partnership with the Health Department.

This Nasal Spray contains the legal drug called Naloxone that helps reverse an opioid overdose.

Experts say there are many reasons people abuse drugs and the coronavirus pandemic has made it worse.

- You know, there's a shortage of resources already.

So now, you know, with this kind of crisis it takes the whole community to come together.

- [Tony] Factors can include anxiety, depression, domestic violence, isolation, job losses, and recent cancellations of in-person learning and activities.

For Bryan Hamilton it all began early in his life.

- Trauma and no decent role models, you know, wanting to fit in.

- [Tony] But as Hamilton approaches his 40th birthday, he says he's never been happier.

He has a loving wife and pets, a full-time job he enjoys and the opportunity to help others break their own cycles of addiction.

- I'm so grateful for the people that were there for me, to you know, to allow me to live again.

Camping, riding a bike like I've been homeless, but I've never been camping.

You know, a big difference, like you know, fishing.

I've never been fishing, you know, little things like that.

So those are the things I'm looking forward to do in my recoveries, going out and fishing and just being a normal human being.

(soft music) - Following up on an issue we discussed last week.

A moratorium on evictions was extended through October in areas where COVID transmission rates are high, but the clock is ticking for thousands of people in Southern Arizona, unable to make rent.

And some disputes between landlords and tenants still make their way to court.

We learn more about the process at the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court.

(car engine roaring) - [Lorraine] On a Tuesday afternoon in Downtown Tucson.

- [Man] Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

- [Lorraine] In the fourth floor courtroom of the justice court.

- [Woman] So, now we validate you.

- [Man 2] Thank you ma'am.

- [Lorraine] Eviction hearings before the Honorable Ronald Newman, are an hour behind schedule.

- Whether I make a right decision or wrong decision, I believe that everyone has had their day in court.

- [Lorraine] Despite the CDC's eviction moratorium, Newman averages six to eight cases, every half hour, all virtual and virtually all day long.

- [Man 3] This is CB210- - [Man 4] I just wanted to get on the record.

(indistinct) - The court findings and the presumptions... We look at each other at five o'clock and say we got through it because it is exhausting sometimes to give it credit and do it correctly.

- [Lorraine] In 2020, the court received more than 6,500 eviction filings, filings through June of this year, already total more than 2,700.

In most cases, judges rule in the plaintiff's favor.

- In plaintiff's findings, they're in your benefit too.

There are several types of cases there're, the majority of the cases are non-payment of rent and that's where the moratorium and the guidelines and the regulations come in.

But you will also hear a lot of cases for material non-compliance.

Some are curable and some are not curable.

If someone commits a crime on the property, that's not curable it's called an immediate and irreparable.

That has nothing to do with the pandemic.

- [Lorraine] For cases where the moratorium applies Newman says, oftentimes tenants don't know what steps they need to take in order to avoid eviction.

That involves filling out a CDC declaration form and providing it to the landlord.

- And who is gonna testify to allow me to find the factual basis?

There's a naivete in some cases and in some cases they are very aware of it, but there are many people that haven't done anything at all because the moratoriums have been continued and there's a perception that everything is gonna be okay when it really isn't, particularly as you get closer to the deadlines.

- [Lorraine] Newman says, eviction filings increased toward the end of July, when the moratorium was supposed to expire.

He expects another uptick when the current extension approaches its end date on October 3rd.

- The court's prepared for that.

We've worked, we've anticipated that we believe that we can handle the caseload.

That includes the hundreds of cases that are still pending from the year and a half.

- [Lorraine] Newman praises the county's efforts to reach people in urgent need of help.

- And I have no problem if you do that, however, you might consult with our court navigator here.

- [Lorraine] And he describes the greater impacts a ruling in his courtroom can have on an individual and the community at large.

- Here's the problem, if somebody gets evicted, it affects their credit, and that person may not be eligible for another place.

So where does that person go?

It also then taps on resources that the government wants to provide, which, you know, it's like a ripple effect.

And unfortunately you are gonna have to move by the 17th.

Yeah, I think it's important that everyone is sensitive to these issues.

Hopefully things will get better.

People have a perception of court, oh, I'm going to court I'm in trouble.

Court sometimes can be a forum where you can get things resolved.

We're serious because we are here to help folks.

Sometimes our decisions aren't... Fall the wrong way for some people, but at least, you know, we're following the law and we hope that they fall the best way that it can.

And there's an adage if you make a decision and nobody's happy, it's a good one.

(laughs) So we hope that isn't the case.

Okay, we're all set, the hearing is concluded.

- As of this month, renters in Pima County have access to more help.

The county launched its office of Emergency Eviction Legal Services.

Funding came in may from the American Rescue Plan.

Since then the county has been busy setting up the program, which includes legal aid.

We learn more about the services offered from Andy Flagg, deputy director of Community, Workforce and Development.

- What we're doing is we've embedded a navigator, physically in the courtroom, we have another court navigator who's remote.

And those folks are available to do intake with tenants who contact them or landlords.

They can also help landlords through the eviction process or with rental assistance and those sorts of things.

They can also determine whether tenants qualify for legal assistance based on their income and where they are in the eviction process.

And then for those tenants who do qualify, we have a roster of contract lawyers that we've worked with, who are on call all day, every day when courts open to take inquiries from tenants who may need legal assistance and potentially representation.

- You've been in your role for about four months, the demographic that you're working with, give us some idea who it is.

- Well, other than being tenants who are facing eviction we really don't know, that's been one of the big black boxes, I guess, of evictions in Pima County is that we don't have demographic data on the people who are facing eviction.

And so what we're doing as part of this program is we're collecting data from everybody who interacts with one of our navigators.

We have a demographic form that we're collecting that data so that we can be able to analyze and make sure we're reaching the right people.

- The people that you have been working with, are they all related to the pandemic?

- Well, I think every it's...

I think everybody's been impacted by the pandemic.

Certainly there are evictions that, that don't involve non-payment of rent that they're for some other breach of the lease, those kinds of things.

What I'm seeing and it's just anecdotal at this point, we've only been operational for just over a week is, is we're seeing a lot of people coming in for non-payment cases where the landlord and the tenant might still benefit from our rental assistance program.

But for whatever reason, the process hasn't been initiated or they haven't moved forward with the process enough to stop the eviction.

So we're hoping to catch those people and help them through the rental assistance process to avoid the eviction judgment against the tenant.

- When you go in representing a client who's facing eviction, what are some of the things that you could say on their behalf that buy them some more time?

- So, what our lawyers can do is first of all, they can give qualifying tenants a brief legal consultation for anybody, whether they really have an issue that is justifiable or not, and they can help negotiate with landlords.

And that's another benefit to having a lawyer available to you.

What lawyers can also do is make sure that the landlord has complied with all the procedural requirements that apply to an eviction case, which can be complicated and are there to protect the tenant, you know, and to provide process to the tenant before the tenant can lose their housing.

And so, even in a case where the landlord will have the right to evict the tenant, they still have to follow that process.

And lawyers can be there to make sure that's happened.

There are additional processes that are put, have been put in place during the pandemic by the court system.

And the lawyers can make sure that the landlords are following those processes as well.

And then finally, for cases where there is an issue that's contested and there's a trial the landlord, or the...

I'm sorry, the lawyer can provide that representation at trial.

- What's been your experience with landlords during this time, I mean, how are they working with their tenants?

- Well, it's, again, it's anecdotal.

It's just what we've seen in the last week.

What I'm seeing is a lot of willingness by landlords to negotiate.

The landlords wanna be paid and they have, if the rental assistance process is successful, they have the ability to be paid back rent up to 12 months and another three months going forward.

And so it's obviously in the landlord's financial interest to get through that process and get paid.

And so what I'm seeing just, and again, it's just anecdotal is an interest in a willingness by landlord's tenants and by the eviction judge to try to find a resolution that gets the landlord paid that keeps the tenants in their home.

- And there are still tenants who could be evicted, correct?

Despite this moratorium.

- Sure.

So there are a number of reasons that landlords can evict tenants for material violations of the lease and other reasons that don't deal with non-payment of rent.

Those folks are not covered by the CDC moratorium.

And so if there is a valid eviction for one of those reasons, those folks can still be evicted even during the moratorium.

And we are seeing a number of Writs of restitution served every month for those cases.

- What sorts of things do you have to prove to fall under that moratorium criteria?

- To fall under the moratorium criteria, you have to meet the income requirements and be COVID-impacted.

And basically the tenant has, and it has to be a non-payment of rent case.

So the tenant has to be able to complete a form declaration, which the CDC provides a testing to the income requirements, the COVID impact, and the fact that it's a non-payment case.

- How great is the need here in Pima County, given what we know now?

- Well, we know that the need in terms of, in terms of the ability to pay rent and those kinds of things is really substantial.

What's different now from normal times is the amount of resources available to help landlords and tenants with that background is, is enormous compared to what it is in a normal non-pandemic year.

- Yeah, okay.

Andy Flagg from Pima County, thank you.

- Thank you, Lorraine.

- [Lorraine] To learn more about the resources offered by Pima County, you can call 520-724-3357 or visit pima.gov/evictionlegalservices.

We'll also have this information on azpm.org.

(soft music) As new COVID-19 cases surge, all three of Arizona's public universities are challenging the state's ban on mask mandates in schools by issuing their own requirements.

The University of Arizona announced mask must be worn in all indoor spaces where social distancing is not possible.

Let's welcome news for campus groups like the Coalition for Academic Justice at the U of A.

Members include faculty, staff, and students.

We heard from Leila Hudson, an Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies.

Our conversation took place shortly before the U of A revised its mask policy.

We discussed the group's concerns about the upcoming fall semester.

- Well, I think the entire campus community has been very concerned about the resurgence of the virus in the form of the Delta variant.

And at the same time, we feel as if we have had our hands tied and the toolkit that we need to maximize safety for everyone in the community restricted by politics and the governor's executive order.

- As a professor, how does the classroom look differently to you this fall semester?

- Well, as a professor, the facilities that you work in are very important and they are key arenas, both for the spread of disease and for the prevention of disease.

So what we hope we will be looking at as of next week, are classrooms that are a, well ventilated, not filled to capacity, and most importantly, where the new mask requirements that our Public Health professionals tell us is very necessary, that all those things will be in place.

So I would not be surprised to see mask mandates in the classrooms, to see professors and students masked up in the interest of the common good public health, public safety.

- What is it that the Coalition would like to see the university do?

- Well, I think there is broad, broad consensus on the mask mandate.

I think when the vaccines are finally approved by the FDA, I think there is a majoritarian interest in serious talk about a vaccine mandate, but we have other concerns as well, less immediate concerns.

We really want to see not top-down decision-making, but nimble, flexible decision-making that respects the people on the front lines.

So the university, that means the instructors, not just the tenured faculty, but also the contingent faculty and the graduate instructors who are students, but make up most of the teaching staff of the university.

Those voices need to be heard.

- Do you at all worry about isolating students when it comes to masks or vaccines?

- In a properly functioning university, we should be able to address the needs of all the students.

We should be able to address all the exceptions.

We should entertain a diversity of opinion.

No one should feel like they are being silenced.

And from working closely with my colleagues across the university for the last year and a half and trying to respond to this situation, I know that we have the expertise and we have the goodwill and we have the professionalism to accommodate everyone's needs.

So as long as we have systems in place that takes seriously everyone's role and keeping everyone safe, I am confident that we can address exceptions, needs and a diversity of opinion on all these subjects.

- If the coalition doesn't believe that those systems are met and conversations actually take place, what are you prepared to do?

- Well, our key mode of work is to speak out, to not be silent, to ask difficult questions, to challenge top-down decision-making and to make our voices heard.

But compared to when this pandemic started a year and a half ago, we feel like we are part of an animated, activated, social landscape that has everything that we need to push back against poor decision-making, whether it's at the university leadership level or at the political level in the State of Arizona.

- Okay.

Dr. Leila Hudson from the Coalition for Academic Justice at the U of A, thank you.

- Thank you.

- While state law dictates what schools in Arizona can't mandate when it comes to the pandemic, other employers abide by a different set of rules.

We got clarification about those legal boundaries from labor attorney Barney Holtzman.

- So for employees that are facing a mask mandate, let's start there, that's something that is considered a, an attempt to contain COVID in health and emergency.

And so there's really little that can be done as long as it is being implemented for the purposes of helping to contain COVID-19.

And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already come out and said that mask mandates are certainly permitted in that regard.

With respect to a vaccine mandate, again, if your employer puts that in place, you're going to have to comply with that unless you fall into one of two categories.

Either you have a disability that makes taking the vaccine something that could harm you, or if you have a sincerely held religious belief that is against taking vaccines.

And it's probably a pretty narrow category at this point of people that fall into that, but those are the two areas that an employer must in their policy say that they will make a, what's called an accommodation for those sorts of issues.

- How do you go about proving the need for that accommodation?

- So, in either situation, it's a conversation with your employer and so you need to raise that I have a sincerely held religious belief against vaccines, or that I have a disability that requires me not to be able to take this vaccine.

And your employer is required to enter into the interactive process and talk to you a little bit about that.

And they can find out if truly this is a sincerely held religious belief or if you really have a disability, it's not simply, they only have to take your word for it, but they have to interact with you and get some more information, find out what it is about either a mask mandate or in the case of a vaccine and the vaccine that would limit those things, and then work with you to try to find a way to let you do the essential functions of your job, despite those things.

So with the vaccine, many times it's gonna be, you're gonna have to wear a mask or it may be you have to work remotely.

- So it doesn't sound like the employee has a lot of freedom in this case.

What if the employee and the employer decided to part ways, are you resigning?

Are you terminated?

What's the language there?

- So, because Arizona is an at-will state, meaning that either party can end the relationship as long as it's not for a bad reason, such as discrimination or harassment.

And again, discrimination is on the basis of a protected characteristic, not simply I'm requiring you to wear a mask.

But it's probably gonna be considered to be a voluntary quit and thus, for example, you won't get unemployment benefits in that kind of situation.

Now, there can be some situations where it would come up, that you may have some protections, and that's, if you as an employee feel your employer is not doing enough to protect you.

You can raise some issues about concerns with the health and safety that you have in your workplace.

And that could, if you're retaliated for doing that, that would give you a basis for claiming unemployment and maybe some other relief.

- So the discrimination claim or the possibility of retaliation, does it go very far these days given the pandemic?

- Certainly not with these two issues, because there's obviously a really hard balance between opening up the workplaces and protecting the employees.

And so, as long as your employer is being reasonable, again, they don't have to do what you tell them to do or what you want them to do to protect you.

But if they're being reasonable and trying to protect you and they have a plan in place in case there is a breakout, an outbreak in the office, that's probably gonna be enough as long as they are reasonable to protect against, they put me into an unsafe situation.

- Do you foresee litigation as a result of all this?

- So we've already seen a couple of lawsuits that have been filed with respect to vaccine mandates and universally, they have been held to, they've been upheld on behalf of the employer and saying that it's a perfectly reasonable requirement for an employer to have that, it does not discriminate on any basis.

There have been arguments that, you know, we're under an emergency authorization order and the FDA hasn't fully approved the vaccine.

And the courts have said, that's not a valid argument.

This is, you know, an emergency use authorization is appropriate and you still have to go ahead and get the vaccine.

- For the viewers at home who are watching this and wondering, is there a difference between a public and private employer?

Is there?

- So, there is a difference between the public and the private, because there are some laws that have been passed about what the public employers can do.

And specifically we're seeing it with the school districts.

Now, the school districts are, are pushing back on a couple of points.

One being that the law doesn't go into effect until September 29th, because laws don't go into effect when they're passed they take some time before they officially are enforced.

And then two, there's Arizona Constitutional Provision that requires there to be one topic per law that is passed.

And this non-mask mandate law was passed as part of a budget situation.

And so, there are going to be arguments fighting that.

And so, I think for the short term, you're gonna have public employers that either are going to challenge this law or not challenge this law, but certainly until September 29th, we're not gonna probably see much happen.

With a private employer they're generally given more freedoms because we wanna encourage capitalism and ingenuity and innovation.

And so there's less control generally over private employers.

And that gets into what the employer wants to do in terms of managing their workforce.

And as long as they don't violate some of the laws on discrimination, harassment, and those retaliation, those sorts of things, they're gonna be given more freedom to put in place policies, procedures, and requirements that they think is beneficial to them and to their workforce.

- Okay.

Attorney Barney Holtzman, thank you.

- Thank you for having me.

- And that's all for now.

Thanks for joining us.

To get in touch, visit us on social media or send an email to arizona360@azpm.org and let us know what you think.

We'll see you next week.

(triumphant music)