The coming week...

As usual, all schedules, calendars, and agendas are subject to change without notice...and since it hit 100 degrees in Phoenix this weekend, the non-Maricopa legislators will be pushing hard to get out of town soon, both to avoid the heat and to get busy with campaigning.

The Republican leadership of the lege and the governor are squabbling over negotiating the budget behind closed doors (no Democrats or even rank-and-file Republicans invited) and no one is really sure when a budget will get done and the lege can adjourn sine die.

Right now, everybody who isn't privy to the negotiations is left to guess about when a budget is going to come down, and even those guesses have "weasel words" attached to them (i.e. - words like "maybe" "possibly", "could be", etc.).

I've heard people predict that it may come down this week, but others say "snowball's chance in Phoenix" to that.  I do believe that it will be done by the end of the month, if only because the legislators that reside in cooler climes would rather be in a place where they won't lose the "which is greater? The IQ of the legislator for your area, or the daily high temp in your area?" pool.

This week is shaping up to be a "hurry up and wait" one

There are a few things already posted however -

House Rules will meet Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4.  The agenda includes SB1231, appropriating $250K so the Attorney General can sue the US Forest Service and SB1275, another attempt to stealthily impose TABOR on Arizona.

Senate Finance will meet Monday at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  One item on the agenda:  HB2264, returning the state contribution rate to its employee pension fund to 50% from the 47% to which it was reduced under the guise of "fiscal necessity" (it was more an attack on state workers, but that can be covered in another post).  The change was the subject of a lawsuit that the state and state legislature were expected to lose (darn contract law and the Arizona Constitution! :) ).

The House's Third Read Calendar for Monday is here.  Includes SB1332, "demanding" that the federal government cede all federal lands in Arizona to the state of Arizona.  And yes, the bill uses the word "demand".  Monday's House COW (Committee of the Whole) Calendar is here.

The Senate's Caucus Calendar for Monday is here.  These are bills that may be going before the Rules Committee and then on to a floor calendar in the near future.

Anybody who plans to travel to the Capitol this week to observe a floor session should remember to call ahead to ask about the schedule for the day of their planned visit.  At this point of the session, after Monday most floor sessions are held in the morning.  On Mondays, the floor sessions still tend to be held in the afternoon to allow out-of-county legislators time to travel to the Capitol from their homes.

The lege's Capitol Events calendar for the week is here.

The Arizona Department of Administration's Public Meeting Notice Kiosk (web page) is here.

The Arizona Capitol Times' Capitol Calendar is here.