As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona legislature, except where noted, and subject to change.
The lege has a very full committee schedule this week, so only the real highlights/lowlights will be specifically covered here.
OK, so it will be just lowlights. We're talking about the *Arizona* legislature, so there aren't any highlights. :)
Over in the House...
...The Rules Committee will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4.
...The Ways and Means Committee will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR1. The "highlight" here is consideration of HB2250. The Rep authors of the piece have named it "Arizona's Job Recovery Act." I name it the "Arizona's Big Businesses Get HugeTax Gifts While Average Arizonans Get Shafted" Act. Legislative summary here.
...Natural Resources and Rural Affairs will meet Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR4. This agenda has HB2290, a scheme to dump discarded tires into abandoned mines, and HCR2008, Jerry Weiers' proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution to protect Arizona's oppressed but avid hunters and fishermen.
...Education will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. The agenda includes the first "striker", or strike-everything amendment. The amendment would turn HB2127 into a measure pertaining to joint enrollment and funding apportionment between school districts and joint technical education districts (JTEDs). Legislative summary here.
...Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. The item of interest here is HB2161, Rep. Andy Tobin's (R-LD1) scheme to override the voters' decision to end payday loans in Arizona. Ugh.
...Public Employees, Retirement, and Entitlement Reform will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR3.
...Government will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR4. The nugget of nastiness here is HB2395, which would bar school boards from authorizing payroll deductions for teachers to pay union dues. Punitive payback for all of the rallies, letters, and phone calls organized by teachers in support of public education over the last year.
...Environment will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Here they will consider HB2248, a bill to bar Arizona from participating in the Western Climate Initiative.
...Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. This one has a couple of bad bills up - HB2347, a massive loosening of gun laws, including the removal of any requirements of silly things like safety education for concealed weapons permit applicants/holders or that possessors of such a permit actually carry it on their persons when they are carrying a weapon, and HB2383, allowing the governor to declare a state of emergency in Arizona due to illegal immigration and upon such declaration, require that the National Guard be mobilized and deployed to the border with Mexico.
...Health and Human Services will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR4.
...Commerce will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. They will consider HB2228, allowing the state to outsource/privatize elevator safety inspections to "third party" inspectors (aka - corporations more interested in profit than safety...not that I'm cynical or anything :) ); HB2246, basically deregulating "consumer fireworks," aka "handy dandy finger removers"; HB2260, making it much tougher for a state agency to implement a new regulatory rule or even to maintain existing ones.
...Appropriations will meet on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in HHR1. It's early in the session, so the highlight of this agenda appears to be a couple of presentations, including one by JLBC.
...Water and Energy will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5.
...Transportation and Infrastructure will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: HB2034, requiring stickers on gas pumps that list all state and federal taxes on a gallon of gas; and HB2338, micromanaging traffic lights and photo enforcement of the same at four-way intersections.
...Judiciary will meet on Thursday in HHR4. This one has HB2384, barring cities and counties from implementing "sanctuary city" (or "sanctuary county") policies and turning local law enforcement officials into ICE agents.
Over in the Senate...
...Rules will meet on Monday upon adjournment of the floor session in Caucus Room 1.
...Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.
...Judiciary will meet on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Their agenda is just chock full o' ugly from Russell Pearce this week. Let's see:
SB1021, which would make it legal for firearms possessors who feel scared enough of someone else to show their weapons (defensive display) to kill those who have scared them.
SB1098, which states that firearms manufactured and possessed in Arizona are exempt from federal laws. Wonder if any of the authors have asked the feds about this one?
SB1101, exempts current and former law enforcement officials from needing a permit to carry a concealed firearm. I can understand the allowance for active-duty personnel, but *former*? No.
SB1102, similar to HB2347 above.
SB1153, prohibits cities, towns, and counties from enacting laws governing the possession and use of knives (aka - no banning of them from city parks, schools, or government buildings).
...Commerce and Economic Development will meet Tuesday at 1:30 in SHR1.
...Appropriations will meet on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. This one has more Pearce-spawned ugliness in the form of SB1103, forcing the Arizona Department of Corrections to purchase new prison beds that meet a specific pricing criteria before purchasing higher-priced beds. There's nothing in the bill about the new beds meeting any sort of building or health standards.
...Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in SHR3.
...Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in SHR1.
...Finance will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3.
...Education Acccountability and Reform will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Proceedings will include consideration of SB1175, expanding the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District to seven by adding two members elected countywide.
...Government Institutions will meet on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in SHR1. This one has my nominee for "Worst Bill of the Week" - SB1100. This one would remove records related to audits of county officers from the realm of public records subject to public disclosure. This one is also from Russell Pearce. Apparently he is Joe Arpaio's personal state senator these days, because this one is set up to shield Arpaio's (mis)management of MCSO from public scrutiny.
If you are interested in one or more of the bills listed here or on any of the agendas, check the posted agendas for updates before traveling to the Capitol. Things are subject to change at the lege.
3 comments:
What? No commentary on the fact that House Rules Committee is scheduled to hear/vote on the Birther bill? Come on, Craig! Where's the snark? ;)
okay...so I'm going through your list of legislative points in a rather random way...but the Senate bills...are you kidding me? No permit required for guns for former officers? Considering some "former" officers are "former" because they're not so great at keeping the peace, if you know what I mean. And no city can decide where and when it's appropriate to ban knives? And you scare me enough I can shoot you dead? WTF?!?!?! Man! This is militia mentality. I'd like to see how many of these legislators are members of the Oath Keepers. I suspect most every R in both the House and the Senate is. Man...this election better bring about a serious change. Otherwise we're f*&ked.
Jen - I generally don't comment on Rules Committee stuff because it is almost always just a rubber stamp. The Ds on the committee will vote against bad bills, but debate is usually nonexistent or minimal.
As for the "Pearce Specials" that constitute most of the "highlights" this week, well, everytime that I think he can't top himself, he does.
I think he does it deliberately, just to rev up people like us.
And we're f*&ked already, but at least we can start digging out of the hole by electing a better legislature.
Post a Comment