{{Short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sine Kerr | image = Sine Kerr by Gage Skidmore.jpg | caption = | state_senate = Arizona | district = 25th | term_start = January 9, 2023 | term_end = January 13, 2025 | predecessor = Tyler Pace | successor = Tim Dunn | state_senate1 = Arizona | district1 = 13th | term_start1 = January 21, 2018 | term_end1 = January 9, 2023 | predecessor1 = Steve Montenegro | successor1 = J. D. Mesnard | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | party = Republican }} '''Sine Kerr''' is an American politician and a Republican former member of the Arizona Senate representing District 25 from 2023 to 2025. She was previously appointed to the District 13 seat in January 2018.
==Background and business activities== Kerr grew up in rural Buckeye, Arizona,<ref>Shayla Hyde, [https://tucson.com/business/an-arizona-dairy-woman-grows-appreciation-for-female-farmers/article_554b44c0-3b56-565c-bbcc-c2975d947ae1.html An Arizona dairy woman grows appreciation for female farmers], Cronkite News (Arizona PBS) (December 23, 2017).</ref> and graduated from Buckeye Union High School.<ref name=WValley>{{cite web|author=Allie Bice|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2018/01/04/dairy-farmer-sine-kerr-represent-west-valley-arizona-senate/1005849001/|title=Dairy farmer Sine Kerr to represent West Valley in Arizona Senate|newspaper=The Arizona Republic|date=January 4, 2018}}</ref> She owns a large dairy farm.<ref>Felicia Fonseca, [https://news.azpm.org/s/63754-deadline-nears-for-colorado-river-drought-plan/ Deadline Nears for Colorado River Drought Plan], Associated Press (January 28, 2019).</ref>
==Political career== ===Appointment and elections=== Kerr is the member for state Senate District 13, which covers the West Valley.<ref name=WValley/> In January 2018, she was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors from among a list of three candidates to fill the state Senate seat, which was vacated by Steve Montenegro who resigned to run for a special election for the seat in Congress vacated by Trent Franks.<ref name=WValley/>
In August 2018, Kerr won the Republican nomination for a full term in office, defeating Brent Backus and Don Shooter.<ref>Ben Giles, [https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2018/08/28/arizona-don-shooter-ld13-falling-short-in-political-comeback/ Shooter political comeback falls short], ''Arizona Capitol Times'' (August 28, 2018).</ref>
===Tenure=== In 2021, Kerr proposed legislation that would ban nearly all abortions in Arizona, even in cases of rape or incest.<ref name=BanNearlyAll>Bob Christie, [https://apnews.com/article/bills-abortion-arizona-appropriations-c2b9e046e5fc4cf136ab7fe10db39dbb Arizona Senate proposal would ban nearly all abortions], Associated Press (March 30, 2021).</ref> The bill would subject physicians who perform abortions, and anyone assisting them, to prison terms of almost nine years.<ref name=BanNearlyAll/> Kerr proposed the measure as an amendment to an unrelated bill on license plate designs. Abortion-rights groups said that Kerr's proposal was flagrantly unconstitutional.<ref name=BanNearlyAll/>
In 2021, Kerr, along with other Republican state legislators and Republican Governor Doug Ducey, supported legislation to strip the Arizona Corporation Commission (the state utilities regulator) of its power to set renewable energy portfolio standards for the state.<ref name=BlockEnergy>Bob Christie, [https://apnews.com/article/legislature-electric-utilities-arizona-utilities-doug-ducey-b9bf6bab6dbe66f605f00b7ae12fb0ff GOP lawmakers fast-tracking bill blocking energy standards], Associated Press (January 28, 2021).</ref> The legislation was opposed by Democrats, environmental groups, and some business groups.<ref name=BlockEnergy/>
Kerr supported legislation to make it easier to block statewide voter ballot initiatives by requiring initiative proponents to gain a certain percentage of signatures in each of Arizona's 30 legislative districts to get on the ballot; the proposal would essentially allow a single district to block a ballot initiative proposal that was broadly supported elsewhere. The legislation was pushed by Republican state legislators and business interests in 2019 after Arizona voters approved a 2016 initiative to raise the state's minimum wage and a 2006 initiative to ban the use of gestation crates in pigs and calves (a measure that angered agribusiness). The legislation was opposed by the League of Women Voters.<ref>Howard Fischer, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190225183612/https://tucson.com/news/local/arizona-measure-could-make-it-easier-to-block-voter-initiatives/article_72ab1373-7463-5cc9-b3d9-15d563f54df5.html Arizona measure could make it easier to block voter initiatives], '' Arizona Capitol Times'' (February 25, 2019).</ref>
As chair of the state Senate's Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, Kerr blocked legislation to protect Arizona's watersheds from being added to the committee's hearing schedule.<ref>Ian James, [https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/03/10/bills-focusing-rivers-groundwater-slowed-arizona-lawmakers/4625013001/ Attempts to protect Arizona's groundwater and rivers meet legislative resistance], ''Arizona Republic'' (March 10, 2021).</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Sine}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Republican Party Arizona state senators Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:Women state legislators in Arizona Category:People from Buckeye, Arizona Category:21st-century members of the Arizona State Legislature