While many committee agendas have at least one bill on it that qualifies as bad, or shameless propaganda, one bill(s) stands out as being very bad for most Arizonans. Both SB1418 and HB2456 would allow nuclear reactors in AZ without approval.
FWIW, I believe that there are actually more bills on committee agendas this week than there were last week, and there were over 200 last week
Read bills carefully - bills that look (relatively) harmless may contain a VERY bad provision in them that may be easy to miss.
Schedules can, and frequently do, change at any moment when the legislature is in session. So pay attention.
Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.
Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda. Other bills may be more conventionally b, ad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority). My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.
Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m. Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.
Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible. Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.
Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments. Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill. Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill become a very bad one.
On Monday, 2/9
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The chambers' respective Rules committees, House and Senate, will meet to consider proposals approved by other committees.
Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Study Committee meets at 11 a.m. in SHR1. On the agenda for this joint committee: no bills; three presentations.
Senate Federalism meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: one bill. SB1281 proposes to require legislative approval of acquisition in AZ of real property by the federal government
Senate Finance meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. On the agenda: nine bills. Includes a striker to SB1090 from Vince Leach that seeks to reduce municipal revenue by exempting items that can be purchased with SNAP or WIC benefits.
Senate Military Affairs and Border Security meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: six bills, three of which are bad (OK, they're vile); of those, two are anti-immigrant screeds from Wendy Rogers and Mark Finchem. My (least) favorite: SB1421, which proposes to limit financial services accessible to immigrants by limiting the forms of identification that can used for such services.
House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: 14 bills.
House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: 10 measures. Many bills that look to be written by industry lobbyists. The other bad bills include HB2787, proposing to nullify federal law regarding the reintroduction of the Mexican Gray Wolf into Arizona.
House Public Safety & Law Enforcement meets at 2 p.m.in HHR1. On the agenda: three bills. Includes HB2904, declaring that border security is lax and that it constitutes a health crisis.
On Tuesday, 2/10
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Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology meets at 1:30 in SHR109. On the agenda: . 17 bills. Some bad here. Includes SB1551, a proposal to redirect certain funds from the budget stabilization fund (rainy day fund) to the statewide infrastructure trust fund.
Senate Natural Resources meets at 1:30 p.m.in SHR1. On the agenda: 11 bills. Includes SB1418, which would allow the construction of small modular reactors in AZ without further approval.
House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5. On the agenda: seven bills.
House Education meets at 2 p.m.in HHR1. On the agenda:12 bills. Not all bad, but the vast majority are.
House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: 19 measures. All appear to have been written by industry lobbyists.
On Wednesday, 2/11
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House Government meets at 9 a.m. in HHR5. On the agenda: 15 bills, Includes a rerun of HB2745, held in committee last week. What I wrote last week (the measure hasn't changed): "making failure to comply with a legislative subpoena a criminal act solely at the discretion of the chair of the committee somebody was subpoenaed to appear before; also, all testimony given under such a subpoena would be considered to be under oath (subject to the penalties for perjury).
House International Trade meets at 9 a.m.in HHR1. On the agenda: one presentation and four bills.
House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: 10 bills. Includes HB2862, making wearing a mask to a public gathering a crime...but with a specific carve out exempting law enforcement officers from that.
Senate Government meets at 9 a.m.in SHR1. On the agenda: nine measures, at least six of which are bad. Includes a striker for SB1571 (text not available as yet. Subject (from the agenda): "affordability; utilities; marketing expenses" Also includes not one but *two* measures from committee chair Jake Hoffman to divide up Maricopa County into new counties, SB1433 and SB1434.
Senate Health and Human Service meets at 9 a.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: 12 bills.
Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency meets at 9 a.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: one executive nomination and 16 bills. Includes a striker for SB1366 (text not available as yet. Subject (from the agenda): "towing." Also includes SB1241, a rerun of a bill held over from last week. What I wrote last week - "Shawnna Bolick's ploy to supplant municipal project permitting processes by replacing them with private permitting providers."
House Ways & Means meets at 10 a.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: four measures. Includes two measures that would serve to inhibit revenue accrued by municipalities and counties, HB4030 and HCR2052. If approved, they would limit municipal and county taxes and fees at 2026 levels.
Senate Education meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. On the agenda: one presentation and seven bills. Includes SB1572, a propaganda indoctrination bill that would require all public schools to "celebrate freedom week."
Senate Judiciary and Elections meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: 24 measures. May be the worst agenda of the week - 15 look to be bad. Includes Includes a striker for SB1687 (text not available as yet. Subject (from the agenda): "voter access; elections; primary date." Also includes SB1573, an anti-Sharia propaganda bill that only uses "Sharia" once. It's also anti-Catholic (and anti-any form of Christianity that isn't fundie/born-again) and SB1635, making it a crime for one person to inform another person of a pending arrest or law enforcement activity in the area of the 2nd person. This a direct slap at Sen. Analise Ortiz for notifying her neighbors/constituents about ICE activity
Senate Public Safety meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: 18 bills. Includes SB1624, capping penalties for civil traffic violations resulting from photo radar at $75; in addition, records of such violations cannot be used to determine if the driver's license of the person responsible should be revoked or suspended or be used in determining the insurance rate for that person.
House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. On the agenda: one presentation and eight bills. Includes HB2500. giving $1million to the Department of Education for the administration of the state ESA (school voucher)
House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: five bills. Includes HB2908, making it a class 2 felony to be a "faithless delegate" to a US constitutional convention. Putting it on par with aggravated assault and sexual assault of a minor (and other things).
House Science & Technology meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5. On the agenda: two presentations and three bills. Includes two measures about blocking online content and HB2809, which is ostensibly about mandating certain requirements for a statewide cybersecurity system but seems to be written so specifically that there's only one potential vendor. So the agenda is all bad.
House Transportation & Infrastructure meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: seven bills.
On Thursday, 2/12
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House Artificial Intelligence & Innovation meets at 8:30 a.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: seven bills. Includes HB2456, which would allow the construction of small modular reactors in AZ without further approval. The measure was introduced by Justin Wilmeth, the chair of this committee. Expect it to pass.
House Rural Economic Development meets a 9 a.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: one presentation and six bills.
House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 12:30 p.m. in HHR3. On the agenda for the 2nd meeting of the week for this company: 16 bills, most bad. My (least) favorite - HB2267, declaring that renewable energy projects are public nuisances and should be shut down by the state's Attorney General.