...Due to the holiday this week (Independence Day on Saturday, legal holiday on Friday), most political bodies aren't in session or have a light schedule. However, "most" doesn't mean "all."
...The chambers of the U.S. Congress are in recess until Monday, July 6 and Tuesday, July 7.
...The AZ legislature is going nuts this week. While most of the attention will be focused on the budget, there will also be a mad rush to railroad through final passage of as many bills as possible, including some really ugly ones.
Monday and Tuesday should be *long* days at the lege, especially if it looks like the Rep caucus is going to get its act together long enough to pass some sort of budget. Floor sessions that drag on into the wee hours are likely.
There hasn't been much posted in the way of floor schedules as yet, and to be honest, anything that is posted this week will be out of date five minutes after it goes up. However, that is the usual situation in the AZ lege whenever it approaches sine die.
It's just a little worse during sessions as crazy and dysfunctional as this one.
Floor calendars will be posted here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a "special" meeting planned for Monday morning at 10. The agenda is fairly short, mostly financial and employment matters, with the now-standard executive session at the tail end of the meeting.
...The Scottsdale City Council is going to have a busy week with meetings on Wednesday and Thursday as it tries to clear up some business before its summer break (next meeting: August 24).
Wednesday's regular agenda actually looks to be pretty light, except for some Council "housekeeping" measures added to the agenda by Councilman Wayne Ecton.
The fireworks should be at an executive session scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. The highlight of that agenda?
Discuss and consider employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, demotion, dismissal, salaries, disciplining or resignation of the City Attorney; and discuss or consult with the Cityattorney(s) for legal advice regarding same. A.R.S. § 38-431.03 (A) (1) and (3).
Yes, based on the wording of that item, they'll be asking the City Attorney for advice on firing...the City Attorney.
Oh to be a fly on the wall... :)
Thursday's meeting has a longer consent agenda, loaded with liquor license applications, but it also has some regular agenda items that are likely to generate controversy. They'll be discussing noise issues, budget adjustments to the FY2009/2010 budget, a possible survey of Scottsdale residents regarding light rail.
Predictions on those matters - it's Scottsdale, so the only noise allowed is the ka-ching of cash registers; the Council is comprised entirely of Republicans, so any budget cuts that leave any semblance of public services intact are cuts that aren't deep enough; and there's no need for a survey to tell the Council what it already knows best - Scottsdale doesn't need light rail or any modern version of mass transit. The horse and buggy was good enough when the city was first settled, and its modern cousin, the overpriced and overloaded luxury SUV, is good enough today.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and Tempe City Council are not scheduled to meet this week.
Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on matters at the lege...
2 comments:
Did you have a chance to go to the leg on Saturday? Are you headed there tomorrow? Not able to make it. Darn this parenting gig! ;) I'll be tuning in remotely, as I was all day Saturday. My retnas won't ever be the same. Favorite moment: "In the words of the late, great Michael Jackson, this budget should 'just beat it.'" Rep. Schapira. Oh. My heck! Entire room (save Rep. Kavanaugh) errupted in laughter. Thank you for digging through the leg calendar. Here's hoping a better day is dawning for Arizona. It better be or else we're all going down....
No, I didn't have a chance to head downtown on Saturday (employers are funny - they like it when their employees show up to work :) ). I will be heading down today, and planning on a long day. Of course, when it gets too long, I'll get to leave. A couple of the electeds that I spoke to yesterday are bringing changes of clothing. For them, "long day" means "overnight floor sessions, blending into the next day."
This week, it was easy to slog through the calendars - there aren't many, and by the time any are posted, many of the items will already have been voted on.
Like you, I hope that a better day is dawning in AZ, but I don't think we'll begin to see daylight until November 2010.
Gotta get going...
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