Showing posts with label Shamp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shamp. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 23, 2025

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 ArmedHB2075)

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...


Thursday, May 18, 2023

Gotta love taxpayer-funded propaganda sessions

Even though the Arizona Legislature is on vacation until next month, there will still be scads of BS spewed at the state capitol next week.

This time, it will be about spewing anti-Covid response BS.


On Thursday and Friday next week, an informal committee will meet, with infamous pandemic deniers such as state legislators Rep. Janae Shamp, Sen. TJ Shope, and Rep. Steve Montenegro and Congresscritters Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and Eli Crane on it.

The committee will go by the (relatively) innocuous-sounding name of "Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee."

The spewers-in-chief will listen to "testimony" from a veritable rogues' gallery.


First up (at least, he's first on the agenda):

Dr. Peter McCullough.  When I Googled his name, this came up (emphasis added by me) -












Next up: Dr. Lionel Lee, a Kari Lake supporter, and Dr. George Fareed, someone who's testified to the US Senate in support of giving Hydroxychloroquine to Covid patients.

Then:  Aaron Siri, an anti-mask lawyer.

Closing the first day's "testimony": Kurtis Bay, someone who blames (behind a paywall) the FDA for his wife's death from Covid.


The second day starts off with McCullough again.

Next up: Dr. Richard Urso, someone who has notably lied about Covid boosters.

Then: Dr. Pierre Kory, known for promoting Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid.

Next to speak: Dr. Lela Lewis, a religiously devout doctor who is the head of an anti-Covid vaccine group.

















Last up: Anne Teixeira.  Can't find much about her.  I'm not sure, but she seems to be a Phoenix-area speech-language pathologist, which wouldn't qualify her to pontificate on Covid

Except in front of a committee like this one.