Arizona Legislature: The coming week

...While last week was the final week for most bills to receive committee consideration in their chambers of origin, there is still committee activity this week.

And as evidenced by the explosion of controversy last week over the railroading of the bigots' rights bill (aka - SB1062), all sorts of hell can break loose at the Capitol at any moment.



Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, please leave a comment letting me know.


All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.


On the Senate side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., Caucus Room 1.  Long agenda, many bad bills (though, so far as I can see, none quite so ugly as SB1062).  May take all of 15 minutes to rubber stamp this one.

- Government and Environment, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Short agenda of four House bills.  So far, nothing that looks too harmful, though HB2404 may be worth keeping an eye on.

- Transportation, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Short agenda, two House bills.  Looks harmless so far.

- Appropriations, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  Not-so-short agenda - this is the one standing Senate committee that can still hear Senate bills, hence the long agenda.  On it: a striker to SB1108, relating to raising pesticide registration fees and earmarking any additional revenue received because of an increase to the pesticide trust fund; a striker to SB1174, one that looks to adjust sales and other tax liability for aviation-related transactions (not passenger travel, but actual operation of privately-owned aircraft); a striker to SB1366 that would weaken the definition of "firearm" in criminal law; and a striker to SCR1004 regarding changes to the Elected Officials Retirement Plan (text unavailable as of this writing).

- Natural Resources and Rural Affairs, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR109.  Three House bills; looks harmless so far.

- Commerce, Energy, and Military, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR1.  Four House bills; looks harmless so far.

- Health and Human Services, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  No bills on the agenda at this time.

- Finance, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Seven House bills on the agenda that I don't understand well enough to evaluate.

- Education, Thursday, 11 a.m., SHR1.  Two House bills on the agenda; looks harmless so far.


On the House side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., HHR4.  Long agenda, some bad bills.  15 minutes, tops.

- Ways and Means, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: SB1048, expanding the kind of corporations that can take a tax credit for donations to school tuition organizations (in other words, redirecting an ever greater amount of public resources into the pockets of people who profit from private schools); SB1272, increasing audit requirements on non-profit corporations that receive state funds.

- Education, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  Short agenda (one House bill), looks harmless so far.

- Insurance and Retirement, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  Short agenda - two House bills, both pertaining to tweaks of the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS).  Both bills are too technical for me to completely understand, but both come from Sen. Steve Yarbrough, so I'm inclined to believe that they are likely bad for the state's retirees, the state's employees, and the long-term interests of the state's people in general.

- Higher Education and Workforce Development, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR1.  Presentation only; no bills on the agenda at this time.

- Health, Wednesday, 10 a.m, HHR4.  Short agenda, three House bills.  Looks relatively harmless at this time.

- Appropriations, Wednesday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  As with its Senate counterpart, this agenda is a long one, populated with some loony House measures whose sponsors are looking to keep them alive.  Two examples: HB2412, guns in schools, 2014 iteration; a striker to HB2618, relating to "legislative appropriation; federal monies" (text unavailable at this time, probably the lege's annual attempt to grab control of the allocation of federal block grants to Arizona from the governor; even if it makes it to the governor's desk, I don't expect her to sign it into law).

- Judiciary, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR4.  Short agenda, two bills.  One of them, HB2185, is a House bill that failed to pass during its first consideration by the committee.  It proposes to bar any state agency in Arizona from complying with or aiding in the implementation of sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.


Legislative floor calendars can be found here.
The lege's calendar of events for the week is here.
AZ Department of Administration meeting public notices are here.