Like sands through the hourglass, the Arizona State Legislature will return. It's inevitable.

Something else is inevitable, too - They won't do their job, starting on 1/12/2026.

Thus far, they've introduced 182 measures (bills or memorials/resolutions).  Most of those won't be approved by both chambers and of those that do, many won't make it past the governor's veto.

Some fall into the "Culture War" category (aka - "the GOP's War on America") -

Some fall into The "Fear the Other" subcategory (Rep. John Gillette's [R-Shameless Bigot] HCM2001)

Some into the "Anti Early Voting" subcategory (Rep Alexander Kolodin's [R-Running for AZ Secretary of State in order to upend elections] HCR2001)

Some into the "Anti LGBTQ+" subcategory (Rep Selina Bliss' [R- I thought she was less insane than the others. I was wrong) HCR2003)

Some into the "Anti-Vaxxer" subcategory (Rep Nick Kupper's [R-Don't Know Much About Him, But I'll Have to Start Paying More Attention) HB2005)

Some into the "Anti Choice" subcategory (Bliss' HB2043)

Some into the "Anti Public Education" subcategory (Rep. David Livingston's [R-Heavily Armed] HB2075)

Some into the "Anti Poor People" subcategory (Sen. John Kavanagh's [Center for AZ Policy's Water Carrier] SB1002)

Some into the "Anti Fluoride" subcategory (Sen. Janae Shamp's [R-Just Plain Nuts] SB1019]

Some into the "Anti Science" subcategory (Sen. David Farnworth's [R-Foisting His Fundie Religious Dogma of the Rest of Society] SB1025)

Some into the "Trump Worship" subcategory (Shamp's SB1070)

...You get the idea.  Republican legislators will do a LOT of Culture War preening in 2026.  It's an election year, and they want to win any primaries.

GOP state legislators aren't ALL about Culture War issues, though.

Rep. Gail Griffin (R-W2 or 1099?) has already introduced her usual spate of bills to protect and even enhance industry profits, not to help the people of AZ.

Sen. John Kavanagh is a multitasker - he hates pretty much EVERYTHING.  Including public disclosure of misdeeds by scofflaw legislators.  In addition to his various Culture War measures, he's introduced SB1022, intended to stop disclosure of images from "photo enforcement systems."

He *really* doesn't like it when legislators are shown to be hypocrites who believe that laws don't apply to them.

He's also introduced a "protect the wealthy" measure.  His SB1033 seeks to exempt the sales of vacation homes from municipal sales tax.

Of course, some of the proposals seem to be mildly contradictory.  Kupper's HB2059 seeks to remove speed limits, under certain circumstances, while Kavanagh's SB1073 seeks to impose them, under certain circumstances.

To be fair, the bills may not be totally contradictory - their "circumstances" aren't the same.

Lastly, legislators are specifically barred from creating legislation that is targeted at a specific municipality.  One of the ways they get around this requirement is by being hyper-specific, crafting language in a bill that doesn't mention a municipality by name but can only apply to one city.  Bliss' HB2080 seems to be a very example of this.  The language from her bill:  "In a city or town with a population of more than two thousand five hundred persons but less than ten thousand persons, whose population growth rate did not exceed an average of two percent per year for the ten-year period before the most recent United States decennial census and whose current general plan was approved by the voters..."

Hmmm...

Gov. Hobbs keeps a campaign promise, Rabid anti-choicers do the expected and wig out.

Well, "expected" if you've ever observed anti-choicers,  and I have.

From KTAR, written by Danny Shapiro -

Arizona Gov. Hobbs signs executive order stripping county attorneys from prosecuting abortions

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday announced she signed an executive order that strips the state’s 15 county attorneys from prosecuting abortion cases.

The order, dated Thursday, gives the prosecutorial authority on the issue solely to the attorney general, who is currently Democrat General Kris Mayes.

[snip]

“I made a promise to Arizonans that I would do everything in my power to protect reproductive freedom and this executive order reflects that promise,” Hobbs said in a statement.

“I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental right Arizonans have to make decisions about their own bodies and futures.”

Most of the reaction from anti-choicers was characterized by the stamping of feet while whining "but she can't do that!"

From Twitter -

To anti-choicers, facts are bothersome things, to be ignored when they don't comport with anti-choice ideology.

Also from Twitter -

Herrod is the leader of Center for Arizona Policy and the leading anti-choicer in Arizona. And she's so influential with the R caucus of the legislature, she should be considered to be a de facto, but unelected, member of the the lege.

While their opposition to Hobbs' executive order is vehement, it isn't surprising.  On the other hand, I do have a question about something that comes next, from Rep. Alexander Kolodin.

Not this one, though the retweet of a call for impeachment over this is, well, *interesting.*

Nope, another one by Kolodin raises a question, for me anyway.

Even before he was a member of the state legislator, Kolodin was an attorney, and represented state Sen. Kern (not a senator then) in a lawsuit in Yuma County Superior Court over his involvement in the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election that happened on January 6, 2021.  The lawsuit didn't end well for Kolodin and Kern.

I know that privileged communication exists between attorneys and their clients, but I have to ask:

Does Kolodin offering a legal opinion ("unconstitutional") and giving some advice to his client ("you all in the Senate better keep up") obviate that privilege (I really don't know)?

Arizona Legislature 2023: Guessing that Governor Hobbs will need multiple veto pens

On tap at the legislature: More helping corporations, more ignoring the will of the voters, and more efforts to undermine democracy...and trying to distract from those things with culture war fights.

The "helping corporations" part?  

Rep. Livingston has introduced HB2003, a proposal to reduce the corporate income tax rate by almost 50%..  This measure is already scheduled for consideration by two committees this week.

The 'ignoring the will of the voters" part?

Livingston has also introduced HB2014, a proposal to expand tax credits for school vouchers, and also expand vouchers themselves.  In 2018, the voters soundly rejected Proposition 305, a attempt by the legislature to expand vouchers.

The "undermine democracy" part?

Sen. Kern has introduced SCR1002, a proposed amendment to the state constitution to require that any changes to it would require the votes of 60% of voters in an election to pass.

The "culture war fights" part?

The ever-reliable Sen. John Kavanagh (R-Demonize) has introduced SB1026, while Kern (who seems obsessed) has introduced SB1028 and SB1030; all of which would redefine, regulate, or otherwise restrict drag shows.

Others of note:

Kern has introduced SB1031, seeking to bar the state or other political subdivisions from firing employees based on their vaccination status.

Kavanagh has been busy - he's introduced SB1024, which would criminalize homelessness; SB1022, which would criminalize begging, asking for donations, and/or selling goods from inside a traffic median; SB1023, which would criminalize picketing or demonstrating outside a private residence; and SB1021, requiring the state's AG to defend all laws passed by the legislature and signed by the governor unless each chamber's judiciary committee grants relief from that requirement by a 2/3 vote (not gonna happen).

The way this is worded it covers measures passed by previous iterations of the lege and signed by previous governors.  And Governors Ducey and Brewer signed a LOT of bad bills.

Governor Hobbs doesn't needed unsolicited advice from a rank amateur like me, but I'm going to offer some anyway (of course :) ).

Her default position on any measures proposed by a legislative R should be "Veto It!"

Not every such measure will be bad, but her first question when considering any measure her desk should be "does this help Arizona?"

For most of the output of this legislature, the answer will be No!"

The 2023 session of the AZ Legislature will be dominated by culture war attacks, but that shouldn't distract folks from attacks on societal infrastructure

They've already indicated that everything will be under attack; their culture war stuff will get most of the attention, but some of the more mundane stuff will be just as devastating to society.

First up: some culture war stuff -

Sen. John Kavanagh (R-Cathi Herrod's water carrier) has already introduced SB1001, a bill, which, if passed, would bar school district employees and/or school district contractors from referring to a student by their preferred gender pronouns if said pronouns differ from the student's publicly apparent physical gender.

But don't fall asleep on the pro-corporate/anti-society stuff -

Rep. David Livingston has already introduced HB2003, which, if passed, would reduce corporate income tax rates by almost 50%..

Hang on folks.

Legislatively, 2023 is going to be a bumpy ride.