Showing posts with label committees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label committees. Show all posts

Saturday, January 17, 2026

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/18/2026

 Yes, the AZ legislature is back in session, so expect a lot of ugly, and a lot of sneaky, at the Capitol.

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 bad (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, 1/19 - Nada.  It's a holiday.

On Tuesday, 1/20 


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Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology and House Appropriations are scheduled to hold a joint meeting at 10 a.m.in HHR1.  On the agenda: receive the FY2027 budget proposal from the governor's office.

Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology meets at 1;30 p.m.in SHR109.  On the agenda: eight proposals, including SCM1001, Wendy Rogers bid to rename SR260 after Donald J. Trump and SCR1004, the ploy by Rogers and Mark Finchem to have the voters ban the use of photo radar by municipalities in Arizona.

Maybe a Democratic member of the Senate can propose to amend SCM1001 to name SR260 as the "Pedophile in Chief" highway. It would mean the same thing.

Note: AZ260 runs from Show Low to Payson.

From Google -






Senate Natural Resources meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: one bill and one propaganda session "presentation" from a manager at an industrial corporation.

Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference and House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee of Reference scheduled to hold a joint meeting at 1:45 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; two sunset reviews.

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: four bills.

House Education meets at 2 p.m.in HHR1.  On the agenda: four bills and a presentation from Tom Horne.  The entire agenda is bad.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: three bills, all proposed by committee chair Gail Griffin and all read as if the written by an industry lobbyist.


On Wednesday, 1/21 


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House Government meets at 9 a.m.in HHR5.  On the agenda: Five bills, including HB2018, a proposal to bar DCS from entering into agreements that require or allow payments to health care institutions in exchange for reports of child abuse or neglect and HB2115, a proposal to forbid state, county, or municipal-level entities from using more than eight percent of any public monies received for administrative expenses.

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: 10 bills.  Mostly bad.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 9 a.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: 16 bills, some good but one written so generally it qualifies as an anti-choice proposal.  SB1100 is an example of this.

House Ways & Means meets in HHR3.  On the agenda: five bills, at least two of which read as if they were written by an industry lobbyist (and in a bit of a surprise, were NOT introduced by Rep. Gail Griffin).

Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency meets at 10 a.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: two bills, at least one of which is very bad.  SB1013 proposes to outlaw the use of affirmative action in public sector hiring.

Senate Education meets at 1:30 p.m. SHR1.  On the agenda: one bill.

Senate Education Committee of Reference meets at 1:45 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills, two sunset reviews, and one performance audit.

Senate Judiciary and Elections meets at 1:30 p.m.in SHR2.  On the agenda:  16 bills, many bad (even very bad)  but the most interesting bill may be SB1189, a proposal to allow candidates to use campaign fund for personal and family security.  A certain former US senator (and Congresscritter...and state legislator) is wondering if that covers booty calls with security personnel.

Senate Public Safety meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: six bills, half or more are bad.  Includes SB1010, a scheme to rename Loop 202, a Phoenix-area freeway after Charlie Kirk, SB1058, a move bar the use of category codes by retailers for firearms transaction, and other purposes, and SB1093. seeking to expand the definition of riot.

House Appropriations meets at 2:00 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: three bills, all proposed by Gail Griffin.

House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: eight measures, all bad.

Thursday, 1/22 


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House Artificial Intelligence & Innovation meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: no bills.

Joint Legislative Audit Committee meets at 1 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: no bills.

House Health & Human Services meets at 1 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: 12 bills, including HB2085, barring gender transition procedures for anyone who is a minor and barring the use of public funds for reimbursement of the same.  Also, would subject health care professionals involved in such procedures to both licensing punishment and court proceedings.


Saturday, January 10, 2026

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/11/2026

Hide your children and small animals - the Arizona State Legislature is back in session.

It may be the first week of the session, but the Rs are already starting with the Culture War/War on America bills.

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 bad (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. 




Monday, 1/12 - Nada.  The chambers' respective Rules Committees aren't even scheduled to meet as no bills have been approved by the other committees yet.

Tuesday, 1/13 


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Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee of Reference (RAGE COR) meets at 10 a.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: no bills; four sunset reviews and one "performance audit review."

Senate Natural Resources meets at 10:30 a.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; one presentation from the state's Water Infrastructure Finance Authority.

Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference meets at 10:45 a.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; one sunset review.

House Commerce (meeting as its Committee of Reference) meets at 2 p.m.in HHR5.  On the agenda: no bills; four sunset reviews and one review of a performance audit.  Looks to be a rerun of the RAGE COR meeting.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. On the agenda: one bill and three sunset reviews (they'll be acting acting as their Committee of Reference).

House Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: five water-related bills sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin that read as if by an industry lobbyist.  And one presentation from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona.


On Wednesday, 1/14 


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House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m.in HHR4.  On the agenda: five bills and a sunset review of the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board.  All of the bills are bad, though the worst may be HB2043, a proposal to make killing an unborn child part of the felony murder statute.

Senate Judiciary meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: 13 bills, mostly bad, all from the fetid minds of Sens. Wendy Rogers, John Kavanagh, and Mark Finchem. Rogers chairs this committee, Kavanagh is the vice chair, and Finchem is a member, so this committee should be "colorful" (read: "hate-filled") through the entire legislative session.  They're also scheduled to receive a presentation about Bar Association discipline from three interesting people who seem to be familiar with the topic - Rachel Alexander, April Sponsel, and Star Moffatt.

To misquote Yoda of "Star Wars" fame: "The 'woe is us' is strong with this trio."

House Ways & Means and Senate Finance (the Senate equivalent of House WM) hold a joint meeting at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: two bills - HB2153 and its Senate analog, SB1106, about conforming tax law in AZ to changes in federal law.

Interestingly, the bills propose to add a budget-busting provision to AZ law (while this snippy is from the Senate bill, the House bill has the same provision) -





















Friday, January 02, 2026

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/4/2026

This week is "the calm before the storm" as the Arizona legislature is still out of session this week but will reconvene next week.  This coming week is commonly referred to as "Hell Week."  An explanation of sorts is below.

There's only one official committee meeting on the schedule this coming week.




 On Monday, 1/ 5 - Nada.


On Tuesday, 1/6 


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Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Access to Breakthrough Mental Health Therapies meets at 10 a.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: no bills; four presentations.


On Wednesday, 1/7 and Thursday, 1/8 - Nada.

"Hell Week" is the week before the legislative session.  Lobbyists, under AZ law, are specifically forbidden from making campaign contributions to sitting legislators during the legislative session. 

From ARS 41-1234.01 -










They get around that restriction by holding parties/events before the session and created to funnel money to sitting state legislators (not a partisan thing - while most of the recipients of lobbyist largesse are Rs, some Ds attend those parties, too).  While those cash parties are easily as much a part of legislative life as committee meeting, they won't appear on any legislative calendar.

Another way for lobbyists to evade the law is to buy "donate to" candidates before they become legislators.  Those transactions can happen at any time.


Friday, December 26, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/28/2025

This is New Year's week, so there's nothing going on at the AZ state legislature.




I expect the following week to be busier, as the 2026 session of the AZ starts on 1/12/2026.

Of course, I could be wrong (shockingly, it DOES happen.  On rare occasion. ☺

Last year, during the week before the start of the session, there was one meeting -







In 2024, during the period, there were five meetings - 






Either way, the week before the start of the legislative session should be best described as "The Calm Before The Storm."

Note: As of this writing, legislators have "prefiled" 183 measures for the coming session -






Friday, December 19, 2025

Friday, December 12, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/14/2025

There's one meeting on the legislature's schedule next week.  I admit, I thought there would be more during the last full week before Christmas.  I was wrong (It happens, just not often. 😁 )




On Monday, 12/15 and Tuesday, 12/16 - Nada.


On Wednesday, 12/17 


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Obesity Treatment Study Committee meets at 12 p.m. (noon) in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; one presentation, discussion, and some recommendations.


On Thursday, 12/18 - Nada.

Friday, December 05, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/7/2025

There is some intersession activity at the state legislature this week as they careen toward the 2026 session.

On Monday, 12/8 

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Joint Legislative Audit Committee meets at 1 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: no bills; reports on special audits of one state agency and four schools and/or districts and assorted other items.


On Tuesday, 12/9 - Nada.


On Wednesday, 12/10 


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Vulnerable System Study Committee meets at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills.

On Thursday, 12/11 - Nada.


Friday, November 28, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 11/30/2025

While there is nothing on the legislature's schedule at this point, that may change. We're in the post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas period - there are many intersession meetings now.

In other words, keep an eye out for changes.






Friday, November 21, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 11/23/2025

Shockingly, their *is* something on the legislature's schedule during the holiday week.




On Monday, 11 24 - Nada.

On Tuesday, 11/25 


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Obesity Treatment Study Committee meets at 1 p.m.in SHR1.  On the agenda for this joint committee: no bills; five presentations related o obesity and/or insurance coverage for the same.


On Wednesday, 11/26 and Thursday, 11/27 (the Thanksgiving holiday) - Nada.


Friday, November 07, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 11/09/2025

Wow!!!

There's five whole meetings on the lege's schedule this week...it's almost as if they're trying to fit them in before taking time off for Thanksgiving..




On Monday, 11/10 


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Joint Committee on Capital Review meets at 1 p.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: no bills, 11 reviews of agency capital expenditures and/or projects.

Joint Legislative Budget Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: no bills: one executive session and a "public" session with 13 items on the agenda...and 12 are on the "consent" agenda, and no public comment will be taken.


On Tuesday, 11/11, Veterans Day - Nada.


On Wednesday, 11/12 -













Senate Health and Human Services meets at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; receiving testimony from AHCCCS, the state Department of Health Services, and providers (while the agenda doesn't specify, I presume that those will be *healthcare* providers).


On Thursday, 11/13 


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Obesity Treatment Study Committee meets at noon in SHR2.  It's a joint committee.  On the agenda:  no bills.


On Friday, 11/14 














House Ad Hoc Committee on Election Integrity and Florida-Style Voting Systems meets at 9:30 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: no bills.  Not on the agenda, but will happen anyway: boosting committee chair Alexander Kolodin's campaign for AZ Secretary of State.


Friday, October 31, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 11/02/2025

Like last week, nothing is on the schedule...but two weeks from today, Republican Representative Alexander Kolodin will use his position to campaign for Arizona Secretary of State.

On the taxpayer dime.





Friday, October 17, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 10/19/2025

Rerun: Back to the normal intersession schedule at the Arizona Legislature - nothing is on the schedule this week.





Friday, October 10, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 10/12/2025

Back to the normal intersession schedule at the Arizona Legislature - nothing is on the schedule this week.





Sunday, October 05, 2025

Schweikert jumps out of the CD1 race and into the AZGovernor race: that sound you will soon hear will be dominos falling

This is a "horserace-y" kind of post.  I will criticize the MSM for focusing on horserace issues in their stories on politics, but I'm not MSM so I can do this.


While most of the stories/talk about David Schweikert's impact on the Republican primary for Governor of Arizona, but his switch of primary races affects more than a single contest.

While his move affects many, even all, races on the ballot (open seats in Congress are rare, so everyone and their grandmother is looking at entering the race), I'll just focus on two here - Congressional District 1 (CD1) and Legislative District 3 (LD3).

All of the incumbents in those districts are currently Republicans.

The voter registration advantage in CD1 favors Rs, but is seen as poachable by Ds.

Perhaps less poachable now that the ethically-challenged Schweikert has stepped aside, but still poachable.





A lot of people, mostly Democrats, are looking at the race; however, *many* Rs are rumored to be considering entering the race.

Among the folks being talked about: Gina Swoboda, current chair of the AZGOP, and at least two sitting state legislators, Joe Chaplik and Matt Gress.  Others may be looking at the race, self-funding business folks and Cheeto-friendly celebrities, but I don't know who they are yet.

CD1: These are the people who have filed Statements of Interest (SOIs) with the AZ Secretary of State (AZSOS) and/or formed committees with the FEC:
















*** = Incumbent and announced candidate for Arizona Governor.

The date listed is the date the potential candidate filed the SOI and/or most recently formed a committee with the FEC.

The ID Number for committees is the number given to them by the FEC.


The LD3 district basically covers North Scottsdale and Fountain Hills as is [ahem] less poachable (OK, I think it's a safe R district) -





LD3 State Representative: These are the people who have filed Statements of Interest (SOIs) with the AZ Secretary of State (AZSOS) and/or formed committees with the AZSOS






* = Incumbent

** - Incumbent and announced candidate for Arizona SOS.

The date listed is the date the potential candidate filed the SOI and/or most recently formed a committee with the AZSOS.

The ID Number for committees is the number given to them by the AZSOS.

This race, already wide open with incumbent Alexander Kolodin running for AZSOS, may be further upended if incumbent Chaplik chooses to mount a campaign for CD1.

The incumbent State Senator, John "I never met a government check I don't like...for me, anyway" Kavanagh of Fountain Hills, may be too old for a run at Congress (far from a sure thing); even if he won, he may not want to deal with the cross country travel necessitated by such a victory.

Note: not everyone who files an SOI or forms a committee will appear on a ballot.  In fact, many probably won't.  Also, it's still early - people not on either list may yet enter one of these races.


Friday, October 03, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 10/5/2025

Wow!  There's another WHOLE meeting this week!

Of course, I expect that this one will be all about Senate Republicans using the meeting as a platform for bashing the things they want bash - public schools in general, and Tolleson Union High School District in particular (and truth be told, they seem to have earned some bashing) and the Arizona Department of Housing.




On Monday, 10/6 - Nada.

On Tuesday, 10/7 


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Joint Legislative Audit Committee meets at 9:30 a.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: no bills, just some bashing.






On Wednesday 10/8 and Thursday, 10/9 - nada.

Friday, September 26, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 9/28/2025

Wow!  There's another WHOLE meeting this week!

Of course, I expect that this one will be all about Senate Republicans using the meeting as a platform for bashing the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS, or Arizona's version of Medicaid).




On Monday, 9/29 and Tuesday, 9/30 - 

Nada.


On Wednesday, 10/1 


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Senate Health and Human Services meets at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda:  no bills, no presentations.  

Just comments about AHCCCS.







On Thursday, 10/2 -

Nada

Friday, September 19, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 9/21/2025

The isn't much going on at the legislature, but there are signs of life down there.




On Monday, 9/22 and Tuesday, 9/23 - 

Nada


On Wednesday, 9/24 


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Vulnerable Adult System Study Committee meets at 1 p.m.in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills.


On Thursday, 9/25 -

Nada.


Friday, September 12, 2025

Legislative schedule - week starting 9/14/2025

Did anything interesting happen this week or is expected to happen next week? :)

Nothing is on the schedule at the Arizona Legislature -