4:51 - SCR1040 up now. Judges retirement ages. I am out of here.
4:49 - Bill will be held this week and heard next week to allow for a compromise to be worked out. Cheuvront warns that he will "be very vocal" if the bill isn't heard next week. Aguirre seems OK with this.
4:48 - The Yuma CA is back.
4:42 - Cheuvront and Lasota are sniping at each other, though in a far more tactful way than the earlier exchanges with Paton.
4:39 - Cheuvront and Paton are sniping at each other.
4:37 - Cheuvront questions allowing organizations to plead "ignorance" in order to avoid liability for their actions/inactions.
4:36 - Paton hints at an amendment to address Lasota's concerns.
4:28 - Jack Lasota is speaking against the bill. He's focusing on institutional liability. Wants limitless statute of limitations against perpetrators, but thinks that employers should be protected.
4:27 - Pearce is talking about predators and the possible "unintended consequences" of this bill. He's looking for cover for voting "No", I think.
4:25 - I really wish that I had a camera with me - the sour looks on the faces of Huppenthal, Paton, Gray, and Pearce are priceless.
4:21 - Another survivor of childhood sexual abuse is speaking. She is a more polished speaker, possibly because as the head of an organization of survivors, she has done this more often.
4:20 - Mr. Chesley is most definitely not a polished public speaker, and his testimony is all the more powerful for that fact.
4:16 - An adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Al Chesley, a former NFL player, is now speaking.
4:13 - The Rs on the committee seem hesitant about this bill, but they are going to have a hard time finding political cover for voting "no." Paton seems to be zeroing in on organizational liability.
4:07 - Paton is concerned about the bill's liability issues for organizations such as churches and schools. The bill would end the statute of limitations for civil actions, so if such an organization had done something wrong, they could be sued.
4:04 - A national victim's rights advocate is speaking in support of the bill.
4:03 - Paton talks about time, and announces that the Senate will have an additional week to consider Senate bills. Some of the later bills on the agenda will be put on the agenda for the next meeting.
3:58 - Pinal County Sheriff is speaking in support of the bill.
3:51 - The Yuma County Attorney is speaking in favor of the bill.
3:46 - SB1292, elimating the statute of limitations on civil actions regarding sexual offenses committed against minors. Amanda Aguirre's bill.
3:39 - Voting. Burton Cahill passes for now. Cheuvront thinks merit selection should be statewide, votes No. Gray wants to conduct a social experiment with having some counties with larger populations go with direct election, votes Yes. Miranda votes No. Pearce votes Yes. Huppenthal wants to end retention completely, votes Yes. Burton Cahill votes No. Paton talks about how AZ couldn't become a state because we allowed the recall of judges. That was eliminated for the purposes of statehood, but was added back into AZ law as soon as it became a state. Passes 4 - 3.
3:33 - Paton and the others bemoan the fact that most voters don't know anything about judges who are subject to retention by the voters, and think that Senate confirmation/direct election would make the judges better known. If I had signed in to speak, I would point out that society's judges are like baseball's umpires - the only ones who get a lot of public notice are the ones who screw up badly. Most Maricopa County judges, as well as those statewide, haven't done so.
3:29 - Personal note: The AC in this room (SHR1) works really well. That's a tactful way of saying that I'm freezing my a__ off. :)
3:27 - A Pinal judge argues against the bill because judges aren't supposed to be political.
3:22 - SCR1049, adjusting population limits for kicking in a merit selection/retention process for judges.
3:21 - SCR1049 up next out of deference to the Chief Justice, who is here to speak on it.
3:12 - Voting. Burton-Cahill - No. Cheuvront - thinks that an organization that has done such a poor job of running the state shouldn't have a place in running the judiciary, votes No. Chuck Gray decries the "lack of a free market" for judges and wants all judges should be elected, votes Yes. Miranda - thinks that current system works, votes No. Pearce - wants voters to pick judges based on "moral character", not professional qualifications, votes Yes. Huppenthal - thinks that system is fair, but wants elected judges, votes Yes to continue debate. Paton - thinks system is partisan and he wants in on some of that, votes Yes. Passes 4 - 3.
3:10 - Jack Harper considers this a battle against liberals and anyone with a "far left ideology", including the AZ State Bar.
3:09 - Reading the list of folks signed in opposing or supporting the bill. All but two oppose.
3:04 - He points out that AZ's judiciary is known as one of the fairest and most even-handed in the country and cites the example of a Republican candidate for state senate a few years ago who ran into some petition issues and who was sued by the AZDems to get him off of the ballot. The case was heard by three Democratic justices.
The R won his case.
3:00 - The lobbyist for the AZ Judges Association is now weighing in. They're opposed. Not exactly a shock, that. He points out that few if any folks have shown up in support of the measure.
2:56 - Paton is a partisan hack. He considers the fact that Jane Hull once appointed a Democrat to the AZ Supreme Court as "going against her own party." Apparently Paton considers partisan affiliation a more important qualification in judges than things like fairness or legal knowledge.
2:55 - Paton is trying to go into the partisan affiliations of the justices on the Supreme Court.
2:52 - Pelander points out that under Harper's proposal that Pima County judges would be approved by Maricopa politicians.
2:51 - Justice Pelander of the Supreme Court is defending the process he recently went through - he's the newest Justice on the AZ Supreme Court.
2:48 - Public Podium switched out. Mic is now working. YES! :)
2:47 - Paton says the system is broken and needs to be addressed.
2:46 - Berch stands up for the judiciary.
2:43 - Pearce doesn't think that "we the people" have enough influence over judge selection. He's making Paton's pro-Republicanization of the judiciary argument, just using different words.
2:41 - Paton wants to know why there aren't more Republicans on the Bar Association's nominating commission for judges. Berch doesn't know who is currently on the nominating commission.
2:38 - Paton questions Berch about some long unfilled vacancies. Berch points out that it is a political problem. The lobbyist behind me doesn't understand the concept of turning pages quietly, so I can't hear most of what is being said...oops. He caught the dirty looks he was getting and has stepped away. :)
2:34 - The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, Rebecca Berch, is speaking to the proposal's lack of wisdom. The public mic isn't working. Ugh.
2:33 - Hearing on SCR1002, Jack Harper's proposal to politicize the state's judiciary by making the appointment of judges subject to Senate confirmation.
2:28 - Paton calls the meeting to order almost an hour late due to a long (but tedious) floor session.
Monday, February 15, 2010
OK kids. Can you say "stalking horse"?
The headline of the article says it all...
From AZCentral.com -
The timing of today's announcements by Simcox (withdrawing from the race and immediately endorsing Hayworth) lead me to believe that Simcox was a knowing participant in Hayworth's use of his candidacy to gauge the viability of a run at McCain from the far right.
BTW - Am I the only one who looks at the list of people at Hayworth's announcement, those listed as "allies" (Arpaio, Gray, Gould, and Simcox) and wondered "With friends like these...?"
Later...
From AZCentral.com -
Hayworth announces against McCain, Simcox drops outThe definition of "stalking horse," from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary -
Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth on Monday officially announced his much-talked-about Republican primary challenge to incumbent GOP Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Hayworth, a well-known critic of illegal immigration, was joined at the hourlong event in northeast Phoenix by political allies such as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, State Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Gray, R-Mesa, and state Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City.
A surprise came with the endorsement from Chris Simcox, the founder of the border-watch group Minuteman Civil Defense Corps who on Monday withdrew from the Senate race and threw his support to Hayworth.
...a candidate put forward to divide the opposition or to conceal someone's real candidacyNow, not being someone who travels in nativist circles, I can't state with any certainty that Mr. Simcox was a willing or even knowing part of the "stalking horse" part of his campaign. However, that wouldn't have an impact on the Hayworth camp's use of Simcox' candidacy as a stalking horse.
The timing of today's announcements by Simcox (withdrawing from the race and immediately endorsing Hayworth) lead me to believe that Simcox was a knowing participant in Hayworth's use of his candidacy to gauge the viability of a run at McCain from the far right.
BTW - Am I the only one who looks at the list of people at Hayworth's announcement, those listed as "allies" (Arpaio, Gray, Gould, and Simcox) and wondered "With friends like these...?"
Later...
Quick update: the lege is in session today
Today is President's Day, a legal holiday. Most government operations and agencies are closed due to the holiday (no school, mail delivery, etc.), but a phone call to the lege's info desk has confirmed that the chambers of the legislature will be conducting business today.
Anybody who planned to visit the lege today can do so, but they should be aware that the rest of the Capitol is closed.
Later...
Anybody who planned to visit the lege today can do so, but they should be aware that the rest of the Capitol is closed.
Later...
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Coming Week: Legislative Edition
As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona legislature and subject to change without notice.
Note: I will list the agendas posted for Monday, February 15, but if a reader is interested in attending a hearing in person, call ahead. Monday is a legal holiday and most government offices, including schools and the post office, are closed. Given that, I am not absolutely sure that the lege will be in session Monday.
Anyway, on to the meat of the post...
Abortion reporting, divorce waiting periods, gun and fireworks laws, and assertions of Arizona's supremacy over the federal government highlight the week that will be in the Arizona legislature.
On the Senate side of the quad -
On Monday -
- The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet upon adjournment of the Senate floor session in Caucus Room 1.
- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. Highlights of the agenda (and there *are* highlights, surprisingly enough):
A striker to SB1223 involving rights-of-way over public lands (I do *not* understand the nuances of this one, but since it is from Sylvia Allen, it probably isn't good public policy);
SB1334 (banning texting while driving...YES!);
SCR1046 (an amendment to AZ's constitution asserting Arizona's absolute dominion over any "non-navigable" waterways within the borders of the state. Something that various tribal governments and the U.S. government might take issue with...);
SCR1050 (asserting that only the Arizona Legislature can regulate greenhouse gases and that any attempt to enforce any federal laws in this regard will be unlawful. The want to call this the "Freedom to Breathe Act" but I call it the "We Want To Secede Over Environmental Laws And Regulations Act.");
- Judiciary will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Highlights:
A striker to SB1054 and a striker to SCR1012 that together would compel the Governor to journey to the lege every two weeks to answer questions from legislators (call it the "Jonathan Paton Wishes He Was Running For Parliament Instead Of Congress Act");
SB1168 (legislatively pre-empting any regulation of firearms by municipalities, counties, or other political subdivisions);
SB1363 and SB1366 (relating to eminent domain, in a "making it both more difficult and expensive to use" sort of way);
SCR1043 (defunding Clean Elections by moving its monies into the "classroom site fund.").
On Tuesday -
- Commerce and Economic Development will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Agenda highlights:
SB1126 (telling the feds that they can't regulate any nuclear fuel created and used exclusively in Arizona);
SB1242 (restricting union and labor protest activities).
- Appropriations will meet at 1:30 in SHR109. Highlights:
A striker to SB1104 (imposing a formula-based hard cap on state spending);
SB1213 (posting the Ten Commandments in the Old State Capitol Building);
SB1311 (imposing a zero-based budgeting process for state agencies and forcing those agencies to rank programs by priority, giving the lege political cover for their cuts ["Hey, they said that health care outreach to the homeless was less important than neonatal care for moms-to-be on AHCCCS!"]);
SB1391 (creating specific criteria for what kind of company can be hired to conduct employee/provider criminal records checks for state agencies...criteria that is so specific as to lead a cynical person to believe that the author, Russell Pearce, has one company in mind for the contract);
SCM1005 (a postcard to Congress demanding that they reimburse Arizona for costs related to illegal immigration);
SCR1032 (imposing a formula for K-12 public school spending and various reporting requirements).
On Wednesday -
- Public Safety and Human Services will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR3. Highlights:
SB1199 (the Senate version of the Center For Arizona Policy's bill to lengthen the waiting period for divorces. The bill doesn't actually do anything to encourage healthy marriages, only longer bad marriages);
SB1304 (the Senate version of the Center For Arizona Policy's bill to limit the availability of legal abortion services by imposing overly-onerous paperwork requirements on providers);
SB1305 (barring the use of public money to pay for the premiums of insurance plans that cover abortion services);
SB1306 (discouraging the donation of human eggs for in vitro fertilization and other purposes. The authors say that the intent of the bill is to "protect" human egg donors, but the effect will be as stated in the first sentence);
SB1307 (imposing all sort of restrictions on the treatment and handling of human embryos. I think that someone at the Center for Arizona Policy recently read the Island of Doctor Moreau. Really. This one is more bizarre than the usual output of the Arizona Chapter of the Flat Earth Society);
SB1309 (the "parents bill of rights" bill. Should be called "the lazy parents who don't want to put in the effort to pay attention to what is going on with their kids' schools" bill. It imposes all sorts of unfunded mandates and restrictions on schools.);
SB1330 (overriding local regulation of a list of permissable "consumer fireworks");
SCR1044 (a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution banning human cloning in the state)
- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR1. Highlight:
SCR1045 (a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution imposing limits on jury awards in health care-related lawsuits)
Note: I will list the agendas posted for Monday, February 15, but if a reader is interested in attending a hearing in person, call ahead. Monday is a legal holiday and most government offices, including schools and the post office, are closed. Given that, I am not absolutely sure that the lege will be in session Monday.
Anyway, on to the meat of the post...
Abortion reporting, divorce waiting periods, gun and fireworks laws, and assertions of Arizona's supremacy over the federal government highlight the week that will be in the Arizona legislature.
On the Senate side of the quad -
On Monday -
- The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet upon adjournment of the Senate floor session in Caucus Room 1.
- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. Highlights of the agenda (and there *are* highlights, surprisingly enough):
A striker to SB1223 involving rights-of-way over public lands (I do *not* understand the nuances of this one, but since it is from Sylvia Allen, it probably isn't good public policy);
SB1334 (banning texting while driving...YES!);
SCR1046 (an amendment to AZ's constitution asserting Arizona's absolute dominion over any "non-navigable" waterways within the borders of the state. Something that various tribal governments and the U.S. government might take issue with...);
SCR1050 (asserting that only the Arizona Legislature can regulate greenhouse gases and that any attempt to enforce any federal laws in this regard will be unlawful. The want to call this the "Freedom to Breathe Act" but I call it the "We Want To Secede Over Environmental Laws And Regulations Act.");
- Judiciary will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Highlights:
A striker to SB1054 and a striker to SCR1012 that together would compel the Governor to journey to the lege every two weeks to answer questions from legislators (call it the "Jonathan Paton Wishes He Was Running For Parliament Instead Of Congress Act");
SB1168 (legislatively pre-empting any regulation of firearms by municipalities, counties, or other political subdivisions);
SB1363 and SB1366 (relating to eminent domain, in a "making it both more difficult and expensive to use" sort of way);
SCR1043 (defunding Clean Elections by moving its monies into the "classroom site fund.").
On Tuesday -
- Commerce and Economic Development will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Agenda highlights:
SB1126 (telling the feds that they can't regulate any nuclear fuel created and used exclusively in Arizona);
SB1242 (restricting union and labor protest activities).
- Appropriations will meet at 1:30 in SHR109. Highlights:
A striker to SB1104 (imposing a formula-based hard cap on state spending);
SB1213 (posting the Ten Commandments in the Old State Capitol Building);
SB1311 (imposing a zero-based budgeting process for state agencies and forcing those agencies to rank programs by priority, giving the lege political cover for their cuts ["Hey, they said that health care outreach to the homeless was less important than neonatal care for moms-to-be on AHCCCS!"]);
SB1391 (creating specific criteria for what kind of company can be hired to conduct employee/provider criminal records checks for state agencies...criteria that is so specific as to lead a cynical person to believe that the author, Russell Pearce, has one company in mind for the contract);
SCM1005 (a postcard to Congress demanding that they reimburse Arizona for costs related to illegal immigration);
SCR1032 (imposing a formula for K-12 public school spending and various reporting requirements).
On Wednesday -
- Public Safety and Human Services will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR3. Highlights:
SB1199 (the Senate version of the Center For Arizona Policy's bill to lengthen the waiting period for divorces. The bill doesn't actually do anything to encourage healthy marriages, only longer bad marriages);
SB1304 (the Senate version of the Center For Arizona Policy's bill to limit the availability of legal abortion services by imposing overly-onerous paperwork requirements on providers);
SB1305 (barring the use of public money to pay for the premiums of insurance plans that cover abortion services);
SB1306 (discouraging the donation of human eggs for in vitro fertilization and other purposes. The authors say that the intent of the bill is to "protect" human egg donors, but the effect will be as stated in the first sentence);
SB1307 (imposing all sort of restrictions on the treatment and handling of human embryos. I think that someone at the Center for Arizona Policy recently read the Island of Doctor Moreau. Really. This one is more bizarre than the usual output of the Arizona Chapter of the Flat Earth Society);
SB1309 (the "parents bill of rights" bill. Should be called "the lazy parents who don't want to put in the effort to pay attention to what is going on with their kids' schools" bill. It imposes all sorts of unfunded mandates and restrictions on schools.);
SB1330 (overriding local regulation of a list of permissable "consumer fireworks");
SCR1044 (a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution banning human cloning in the state)
- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR1. Highlight:
SCR1045 (a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution imposing limits on jury awards in health care-related lawsuits)
- Finance will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. Highlights:
- There are a number of tax and tax deduction-related bills on the agenda, and I'm not going to try to translate the legalese. Suffice it to say that most look like they are designed to lower taxes rates for businesses.
- SCM1003 (a postcard to Congress asking them to send more money from the federal fuel tax to Arizona);
- SCR1008 (ending the state's income tax);
- SB1222 (exempting medical marijuana from the state's sales tax, conditional on the voters passage of the medical marijuana initiative in November);
- SB1372 (broadening the state's sales tax base; proposed by a Democrat [Jorge Luis Garcia], this is a good idea that doesn't have a snowball's chance of passing the full Senate).
Education Accountability and Reform will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Highlights:
- SB1281 (requiring public schools to allow charter school students to participate in public school athletic activities);
- There are also a number of bills that are technical in nature. Not unimportant, but someone else with more grounding in the nuances of education management should do the analysis.
Government will meet on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in SHR1. Looks quiet so far, though SB1357 (easing the passage of zoning changes, allowing them to go through over the objections of neighboring property owners) looks potentially worrisome.
Over on the House side of the quad...
On Monday...
Rules is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. in HHR4.
Ways and Means will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR1. Highlights:
- HB2496 (changing the contribution date for STO contributions to allow tax credits in the previous tax year for donationsmade in the current calendar year; JLBC fiscal note here);
- HB2660 (tripling the allowable tax credit for STO contributions; fiscal note here);
- HCR2057 (phasing out the business personal property tax);
- a number of other tax-related bills, mostly reducing taxes on business.
Natural Resources and Military Affairs will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Quiet so far, but only because they've removed all but two items from the agenda.
Education will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR3. Highlights:
- A striker to HB2040 (reducing the amount of info that community colleges must report)
- HB2281 (barring the teaching of classes that "promote the overthrow of the United States government" or "promote toward a race or class of people." I'm not sure, but in light of recent and not-so-recent Supreme Court rulings, this could actually bar any class that discusses the misdeeds of various corporations in the U.S.);
- HB2283 (the same language regarding school expenditures as SCR1032 above).
Banking and Insurance will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Quiet thus far.
On Tuesday...
Government will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Highlight:
- HB2276 (making the names of people who are enrolled in AHCCCS "public information" and giving legislators free access to a database of the names).
Environment will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Quiet so far.
On Wednesday...
Commerce will meet at 8 a.m. in HHR5. Highlights of the long agenda:
- HB2474 (superseding local regulation of a list of permissable consumer fireworks; same as above);
- HB2639 and HCR2043 (reducing the minimum wage for workers who are 21 years old or younger to 75% of the current minumum wage).
Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet in HHR3 at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House floor session. Highlight:
- HB2543 (overriding any local ordinances regarding firearms);
- HB2683 (allowing corrections officers to moonlight in other prisons [including private?] or as adjunct faculty).
Health and Human Services will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR4. Highlights:
- HB2651 and HB2652 (relating to human egg providers and human embryos, respectively. The same as SB1306 and SB1307 above.)
Appropriations will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR1. Highlights:
- HB2500 (declaring that the lege can and will sweep and reappropriate "non-custodial" federal monies sent to AZ such as community block grants);
- HB2538 (demanding that the federal government certify any federal mandates are constitutional before the lege will enact any laws relating to such federal mandates).
On Thursday...
Water and Energy will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Quiet thus far.
Transportation and Infrastructure will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Quiet thus far.
Judiciary will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR4. Highlight:
- HB2490 (exempting religious entities from having to register a political committee if they don't spend a "substantial" amount of time or assets on influencing federal, state, or local legislation, initiatives, etc.)
Yes, this was a long post. Expect another 5 - 6 weeks of agendas like these before things start simmering down a little, toward the end of March.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Busy day 1: House Rs would rather give corporations huge tax cuts than balance the state's budget
Where to start, where to start...
Today has been a rather colorful day in Arizona politics, creating a rather "target rich" environment for snarky bloggers. Let's start with the fundamentals...
From AZCentral.com -
Senate President Bob Burns has stated that he won't take up the tax cut bill before the lege passes a balance budget and has at least started the sine die process** for the sixth special session in the Senate, but if the House doesn't sine die the sixth special session by Tuesday, the bill approving the sales tax hike referral won't become effective until after the deadline for a special election in May. In other words, they get their sh!t together by Tuesday or the special election is off.
I'm not sure if that is a bad thing - I won't be voting for the sales tax increase if it is only going to be used to backfill the Rs corporate tax cuts.
*The House's passage of the amended bill was by the bare minimum of 31 votes, and that is after Rep. Lucy Mason (R-LD1) changed her vote to yes after giving a long speech on how bad the overall bill was. Of course, she changed her vote after receiving a note from one of her colleagues (Steve Montenegro (R-LD12)?.) Not sure what was in the note, but she changed her vote straight away.
**The Senate tried to adjourn sine die, but under the procedures of the lege, both chambers must adjourn at the same time, and when the Senate sent a committee over to the House to announce and coordinate the adjournment, no one was home to receive them. As such, the special session is continuing.
Later...
Today has been a rather colorful day in Arizona politics, creating a rather "target rich" environment for snarky bloggers. Let's start with the fundamentals...
From AZCentral.com -
The fate of a planned May 18 sales-tax election as well as hopes of balancing this year's state budget are in question after the House of Representatives Thursday derailed plans to close out a special session addressing the deficit.The House accepted, on a mostly party line vote*, an amendment from Frank Antenori to the Special Session's SB1002. The amendment was a conditional enactment clause that would hold the provisions of SB1002 in abeyance until regular session HB2250 is enacted. HB2250 is a series of corporate tax cuts including a property tax cut that would be backfilled by an increase to residential property tax rates and an income tax cut that has no guarantee that the corporate savings will be used to hire new employees.
The House linked approval of a bill that would cut taxes and provide other incentives for job creation to a budget-balancing bill that delays payments to the state's schools. That put it at odds with the Senate, where the jobs bill has not been in play and where Senate President Bob Burns said he won't consider the legislation until after lawmakers pass a budget.
Senate President Bob Burns has stated that he won't take up the tax cut bill before the lege passes a balance budget and has at least started the sine die process** for the sixth special session in the Senate, but if the House doesn't sine die the sixth special session by Tuesday, the bill approving the sales tax hike referral won't become effective until after the deadline for a special election in May. In other words, they get their sh!t together by Tuesday or the special election is off.
I'm not sure if that is a bad thing - I won't be voting for the sales tax increase if it is only going to be used to backfill the Rs corporate tax cuts.
*The House's passage of the amended bill was by the bare minimum of 31 votes, and that is after Rep. Lucy Mason (R-LD1) changed her vote to yes after giving a long speech on how bad the overall bill was. Of course, she changed her vote after receiving a note from one of her colleagues (Steve Montenegro (R-LD12)?.) Not sure what was in the note, but she changed her vote straight away.
**The Senate tried to adjourn sine die, but under the procedures of the lege, both chambers must adjourn at the same time, and when the Senate sent a committee over to the House to announce and coordinate the adjournment, no one was home to receive them. As such, the special session is continuing.
Later...
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
A picture that is worth more than a 1000 words...
Normally, I don't post press releases from the DCCC, but this one has the perfect response when one encounters someone (like a teabagger or other Republican) who is screaming that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress haven't done anything to address America's deep economic crisis.
From Stakeholder, the DCCC's blog -
Then we come to the bar chart that puts the numbers into context, a month-by-month visual comparison of the last 26 months' job loss numbers - the last 14 months of the Bush administration and the first 12 of the Obama administration.
From Stakeholder, the DCCC's blog -
Today's Department of Labor jobs report showed that our economy shed 20,000 jobs last month -- down 97 percent from the 779,000 January job losses a year ago. There is still much work ahead, but today's numbers make clear that President Obama's economic policies have brought us back from the brink of disaster and are putting America on the road to economic recovery.Of course, that paragraph could just be "fun with statistics", cherry-picking a number that can be spun in a particular way.
Then we come to the bar chart that puts the numbers into context, a month-by-month visual comparison of the last 26 months' job loss numbers - the last 14 months of the Bush administration and the first 12 of the Obama administration.
Congress called on account of weather
From an announcement from Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader -
Congress will be spending next week in their districts.
Personally, I think that they are just wimping out in the face of a little light snow. :)
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on the schedule for the U.S. House of Representatives:
“As a result of the inclement weather affecting Members’ ability to travel to Washington, DC this week, there will be no votes in the House for the remainder of the week. The change this week means that we will add two days to the schedule as we look to take action on a jobs bill and other critical measures. Therefore, the House will reconvene on Monday, February 22, one day earlier than previously scheduled. The House will now also be in session on Friday, February 26th.”
Congress will be spending next week in their districts.
Personally, I think that they are just wimping out in the face of a little light snow. :)
GOP: "Bipartisanship"? We don' need no stinkin' bipartisanship!
Apparently, the GOPers in DC, much like the GOPers at the AZ Capitol, consider "bipartisanship" to be short for "Democrats doing exactly what we want."
From The Hill, last September 9th -
Not so much -
From the Washington Post, today (February 9, 2010) -
From The Hill, last September 9th -
The ball is in President Obama's court to reach out to Republicans if he wants a bipartisan bill on healthcare reform, House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said Monday morning.From the LA Times, February 6, 2010 -
Boehner told reporters that the president has not invited House GOP leaders to the White House for meetings on healthcare reform since the end of April.
Reporting from Washington - In a high-stakes bid to revive his healthcare overhaul, President Obama announced during a pre-Super Bowl television interview that he would convene a bipartisan summit in which Republicans and Democrats would try to forge a compromise while a national TV audience watched.So, the GOPers are getting exactly what they asked for, so the legislative logjam in DC is loosening, right?
Not so much -
From the Washington Post, today (February 9, 2010) -
Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they might refuse to participate in President Obama's proposed health care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over.No word if the "prospect raising" was accompanied by the GOPers stamping their feet and shouting "waahhhh! I can't hear you!" with their fingers in their ears...
Monday, February 08, 2010
2010 Congressional Candidate Committee update
It's getting toward crunch time, the point where most serious* candidates for office have to gear up for this fall's elections or decide to pass on a run during this cycle.
* "serious" means "really going to try to win though many have a snowball's chance in Phoenix - in July - of actually winning."
...New Congressional committees, some of which have been talked about for a while, and some which are rather surprising (i.e. - somebody thinks Trent Franks isn't conservative enough) -
- Steve Mehta, committee address in Show Low, has filed for the Republican nomination in CD1.
- Pam Gorman, committee address in Phoenix (though I think she lives in Anthem), has filed for the R nod in CD3. Gorman is the former state senator from LD6.
- Vernon Parker, committee address in Paradise Valley, has also filed for the R nod in CD3. He's the mayor of PV.
- Jim Waring, committee address in Phoenix, has also filed in CD3's Republican primary. He is the former state senator from LD7.
- Mark Spinks, committee address in Phoenix, has filed for the R nomination in CD5.
- Janet Contreras, committee address in Phoenix, has filed for the R nomination in CD4.
- Charles Black, committee address in Kingman, has filed for the R nomination in CD2. Yes, a Tea Party-type is running against Trent Franks (Trent Franks!) from the right.
- Jonathan Paton, committee address in Tucson, has filed for the Republican nomination in CD8. He is a state senator, but is expected to resign soon.
There haven't been any significant new filings for state races. Yes, there are new candidates who are significant within their districts, but other than the Goldwater Institute/Bolick filing in LD11 mentioned in an earlier post, none of the new filings look to be significant to a general audience.
A complete listing of candidates (so far) can be found at Blog for Arizona here.
Later...
* "serious" means "really going to try to win though many have a snowball's chance in Phoenix - in July - of actually winning."
...New Congressional committees, some of which have been talked about for a while, and some which are rather surprising (i.e. - somebody thinks Trent Franks isn't conservative enough) -
- Steve Mehta, committee address in Show Low, has filed for the Republican nomination in CD1.
- Pam Gorman, committee address in Phoenix (though I think she lives in Anthem), has filed for the R nod in CD3. Gorman is the former state senator from LD6.
- Vernon Parker, committee address in Paradise Valley, has also filed for the R nod in CD3. He's the mayor of PV.
- Jim Waring, committee address in Phoenix, has also filed in CD3's Republican primary. He is the former state senator from LD7.
- Mark Spinks, committee address in Phoenix, has filed for the R nomination in CD5.
- Janet Contreras, committee address in Phoenix, has filed for the R nomination in CD4.
- Charles Black, committee address in Kingman, has filed for the R nomination in CD2. Yes, a Tea Party-type is running against Trent Franks (Trent Franks!) from the right.
- Jonathan Paton, committee address in Tucson, has filed for the Republican nomination in CD8. He is a state senator, but is expected to resign soon.
There haven't been any significant new filings for state races. Yes, there are new candidates who are significant within their districts, but other than the Goldwater Institute/Bolick filing in LD11 mentioned in an earlier post, none of the new filings look to be significant to a general audience.
A complete listing of candidates (so far) can be found at Blog for Arizona here.
Later...
Sunday, February 07, 2010
The coming week - everybody else edition
After a one-week hiatus due to other things needing my attention, it's time for another one of these. A separate post on the activities of the AZ legislature is here.
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice.
First up: Congress, where they have a short week with nothing scheduled for Monday or expected on Friday, followed by a week of district work next week.
In the U.S. House, the agenda seems to be short, but colorful.
- H.R. 2701, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This act involves money (even though it is only an "authorization", not an "appropriation") which always means arguments. What is curious is that not only are we well into FY2010 already (and trust me, they've been spending $$$ on "Intelligence" activities), but this bill was introduced last June and not acted upon since then.
Why are they just getting to it now?
- Also on the agenda is an as-yet-unnumbered bill titled the "Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act." I don't have any details on the bill, but if it in any way lives up to the title, expect some serious screaming from the Republicans in the House.
...The Senate's hearing schedule is here. Nothing seems to be specific to Arizona, though hearings on Don't Ask, Don't Tell and global warming (Thursday, though no link is available as of this writing) may generate some interest.
...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission isn't holding any formal meetings this week, but their hearing schedule is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two regularly scheduled meetings this week.
- Monday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "informal meeting." The agenda includes the appointment of a state senator for LD6, budget presentations from the various county officials and the judicial branch.
Oh yeah - there's an executive session component, too. No, I'm not shocked by that either.
- Wednesday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "formal meeting." Looks pretty mundane so far, but things are sort of fluid with the supes and the Sheriff and County Attorney. Changes to the agenda could happen anytime.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here.
...On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the Scottsdale City Council has a joint meeting with the McDowell Corridor/South Scottsdale Economic Development Task Force, followed by a short agenda Special Meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
...Later...
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice.
First up: Congress, where they have a short week with nothing scheduled for Monday or expected on Friday, followed by a week of district work next week.
In the U.S. House, the agenda seems to be short, but colorful.
- H.R. 2701, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This act involves money (even though it is only an "authorization", not an "appropriation") which always means arguments. What is curious is that not only are we well into FY2010 already (and trust me, they've been spending $$$ on "Intelligence" activities), but this bill was introduced last June and not acted upon since then.
Why are they just getting to it now?
- Also on the agenda is an as-yet-unnumbered bill titled the "Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act." I don't have any details on the bill, but if it in any way lives up to the title, expect some serious screaming from the Republicans in the House.
...The Senate's hearing schedule is here. Nothing seems to be specific to Arizona, though hearings on Don't Ask, Don't Tell and global warming (Thursday, though no link is available as of this writing) may generate some interest.
...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission isn't holding any formal meetings this week, but their hearing schedule is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two regularly scheduled meetings this week.
- Monday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "informal meeting." The agenda includes the appointment of a state senator for LD6, budget presentations from the various county officials and the judicial branch.
Oh yeah - there's an executive session component, too. No, I'm not shocked by that either.
- Wednesday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "formal meeting." Looks pretty mundane so far, but things are sort of fluid with the supes and the Sheriff and County Attorney. Changes to the agenda could happen anytime.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here.
...On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the Scottsdale City Council has a joint meeting with the McDowell Corridor/South Scottsdale Economic Development Task Force, followed by a short agenda Special Meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
...Later...
The coming week...legislative edition
As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona legislature, except where noted, and subject to change without notice...
A busy week ahead, marked by proposed encroachments on the availability of safe and legal abortion services, messing with teachers' ability to plan for their professional future, requiring the federal government to prove the constitutionality of its mandates before the state will accept them, a move to shield Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas from any sort of fiscal oversight and accountability, and more.
In special session activity, there is a House COW calendar posted for Monday, as is a Third Read calendar. Neither calendar includes SB1002 or SB1003, so my guess is that there is still some arm-twisting going on by the House leadership to try to "encourage" Senate President Bob Burns to push thru their corporate tax cut bill before a balanced budget is passed.
In non-Capitol based lege activity this week, on Monday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to appoint a replacement for the recently-resigned Sen. Pam Gorman (R-LD6). Not scheduled as yet but likely to come this week will be a meeting to appoint someone to fill the LD-7 Senate seat vacated by Jim Waring, who like Gorman has resigned to run for Congress. Monday evening, the Rep PCs of LD6 will be meeting to nominate three candidates to fill Sam Crump's seat in the House, who also vacated it in order to run for Congress. The supes could fill that seat this week or early next week.
On to the regular session of the lege -
In House committee activities this week...
- Rules will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4. Long agenda, but they have the rubber stamp big enough to cover it.
- Ways and Means is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR1. Highlights/lowlights: There are five bills on this agenda, all of which are significant - HB2160 (tax credit review committee recommendations, summary here); HB2496 (changing which tax year school tuition tax credits can be taken); HB2512 (barring municipalities from using third parties to collect municipal sales taxes); HB2663 (changing STOs' corporate tax credit requirements, summary here); and HB2664 (changing STOs/tax credit requirements in general, summary here.)
- Education is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. The agenda is long, and every bill on it is written by a Republican. There may be some real gold mixed in with the iron pyrite, but most of the bills are like HB2227, cutting the amount of time teachers have to accept a contract for the next school year from 30 days to 10.
- Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Public Employees, Retirement, and Entitlement Reform will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. Quiet so far.
- Government is meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Winger election year posturing alert: HB2538.
From the bill -
- Environment will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Military Affairs and Public Safety is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Looks pretty quiet so far, though HB2526, exempting from taxation trap and skeet shooting clubs that are "educational" in purpose and use, definitely has a whiff of "winger special" wafting from it.
- Health and Human Services is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. This one has globs of ugly awaiting Arizona.
HB2649 seeks to inhibit the accessibility of legal abortions by burying medical providers under overly onerous reporting requirements.
HB2650 would enact a six-month waiting period for getting a divorce (current requirement: 60 days) and adds an unfunded mandate on the state's court system by requiring that the courts establish an "educational" program on the effects of divorce.
- Commerce will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet thus far, but I don't understand some of this stuff.
- Water and Energy is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Quiet thus far.
- Transportation and Infrastructure will meet Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Also quiet thus far.
- Judiciary will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. Looks quiet thus far, though a striker may be offered regarding "guardianship of foreign citizens." No text available yet.
Over on the Senate side...
- Rules will meet on Monday upon adjournment of the Senate's floor session in Caucus Room 1 (aka the old press room). Rubber stamp time.
- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. Quiet thus far.
- Judiciary is meeting on Monday at 1:30 p.m. The agenda includes SB1362, increasing the fees that may be assessed by courts in eminent domain cases; and SB1365, expanding notification requirements in eminent domain condemnation cases and deleting a clause that specifies how juries assess damages that included consideration of the benefits to uncondemned property from the underlying project.
- Commerce and Economic Development is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. The nugget of really ugly here is SB1242, enacting all sorts of restrictions on labor unions during work actions and giving special protections to employers during the same.
- Appropriations is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. As might be expected, the agenda of this committee chaired by Russell Pearce is possibly the worst of the week. It has -
SB1017, requiring that county boards of supervisors appropriate budget money to other county officers in lump sums and removes any kind of fiscal oversight of those officers' operations. AKA the "don't mess with mah man Joe [Arpaio]" bill.
A striker to SCR1032 that would permanently micromanage school districts with a requirement that they spend 70% of their budgets on "classroom instruction." The word "permanently" fits here because as an SCR it would have to be approved by the voters and then couldn't be adjusted by future legislatures unless the Reps succeed in their efforts to overturn the Voter Protection Act.
And this agenda could have been worse - the original agenda had a striker to SB1104 that referred to "taxpayer bill of rights." Know this now - Pearce et. al. will try to spring TABOR on the state this year, probably after the latest budget mess simmers down.
- Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. This one has some bills on photo radar (procedures, banning the use on freeways, more procedures.)
- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet Wednesday at 9 a.m. in SHR1. This one has SCM1004, a letter to Congress demanding that the federal government pay for any health care programs that are required for the states.
- Veterans and Military Affairs will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. Quiet thus far.
- Finance meets on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. One item of interest here is SB1402, Russell Pearce's limits on the secondary property taxes imposed by special taxing districts (including fire districts, library districts, county jail districts, and/or county public health services districts). *Exactly* how it does that is a little unclear to me.
This bill should be an exhibit in the case showing why lawyers should never be allowed to write laws; English majors or journalists should.
The latter groups, by training and disposition, prefer to write sentences that actually clearly communicate information and ideas. The former?
Not so much. :)
- Education Accountability and Reform will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Whether it's through the huge gashes inflicted by the Reps' meat-cleaver approach during the budget process or through the nicks and papercuts inflicted by the bills on this agenda, the bleeding of the state's education system continues. Some of the agendized items include:
SB1175, expanding the membership of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District by adding two members who will be elected on a county-wide basis. Aka "the keep the MCCCD Board dominated by Republicans" bill.
SB1280, making sure that home-schooled students are notified of the scholarship requirements and criteria of the Arizona Board of Regents (actually, this one doesn't seem to be too bad, but I want to see what it looks like after going through the entire legislative process before being totally at ease with it).
SB1284, messing with school financing rules. One of the highlights: language that makes cuts to funding imposed during the year, such as those we've seen from the various special sessions of the lege this year, retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year. In other words, cuts to state funding won't just impact school districts going forward, they'll force school districts to return money.
SB1286, changing the grading of schools from words like "excelling" and "highly performing" to letter grades (the traditional A thru F). Probably not a bad thing in itself, but the changes to the formula determining how that grade is arrived at may be. Somebody with more experience in this area should look at that (David Safier, that's you. :) )
- Government Institutions will meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in SHR1.
Nuggets here include:
SB1143, creating the ability for counties to change their borders via "local initiative." Another bill I don't completely understand as yet, but it's from Jack Harper - it's presumed to be a bad one.
SB1348, Senate President Bob Burns' proposal to slow down new regulations of business, such as requirements that specific medical procedures/conditions be covered by health insurers, and to speed up the discard of older regulations. There are other similar clauses in this bill, enough for it to be named "The Bob Burns is setting up a run for Corporation Commission and wants to secure business financing for his run" bill.
...Check back on the lege's website later in the week for any changes to committee agendas.
Later!
A busy week ahead, marked by proposed encroachments on the availability of safe and legal abortion services, messing with teachers' ability to plan for their professional future, requiring the federal government to prove the constitutionality of its mandates before the state will accept them, a move to shield Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas from any sort of fiscal oversight and accountability, and more.
In special session activity, there is a House COW calendar posted for Monday, as is a Third Read calendar. Neither calendar includes SB1002 or SB1003, so my guess is that there is still some arm-twisting going on by the House leadership to try to "encourage" Senate President Bob Burns to push thru their corporate tax cut bill before a balanced budget is passed.
In non-Capitol based lege activity this week, on Monday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to appoint a replacement for the recently-resigned Sen. Pam Gorman (R-LD6). Not scheduled as yet but likely to come this week will be a meeting to appoint someone to fill the LD-7 Senate seat vacated by Jim Waring, who like Gorman has resigned to run for Congress. Monday evening, the Rep PCs of LD6 will be meeting to nominate three candidates to fill Sam Crump's seat in the House, who also vacated it in order to run for Congress. The supes could fill that seat this week or early next week.
On to the regular session of the lege -
In House committee activities this week...
- Rules will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4. Long agenda, but they have the rubber stamp big enough to cover it.
- Ways and Means is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR1. Highlights/lowlights: There are five bills on this agenda, all of which are significant - HB2160 (tax credit review committee recommendations, summary here); HB2496 (changing which tax year school tuition tax credits can be taken); HB2512 (barring municipalities from using third parties to collect municipal sales taxes); HB2663 (changing STOs' corporate tax credit requirements, summary here); and HB2664 (changing STOs/tax credit requirements in general, summary here.)
- Education is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. The agenda is long, and every bill on it is written by a Republican. There may be some real gold mixed in with the iron pyrite, but most of the bills are like HB2227, cutting the amount of time teachers have to accept a contract for the next school year from 30 days to 10.
- Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Public Employees, Retirement, and Entitlement Reform will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. Quiet so far.
- Government is meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Winger election year posturing alert: HB2538.
From the bill -
The legislature shall not enact any statute that appropriates state monies pursuant to a federal mandate or that complies with a federal mandate unless the federal mandate contains a report or document prescribing reasonable and logical arguments based on United States constitutional law that the federal mandate is a function of the federal government and will pass a constitutional challenge if contested in a court of law.Yeah....
- Environment will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Military Affairs and Public Safety is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Looks pretty quiet so far, though HB2526, exempting from taxation trap and skeet shooting clubs that are "educational" in purpose and use, definitely has a whiff of "winger special" wafting from it.
- Health and Human Services is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. This one has globs of ugly awaiting Arizona.
HB2649 seeks to inhibit the accessibility of legal abortions by burying medical providers under overly onerous reporting requirements.
HB2650 would enact a six-month waiting period for getting a divorce (current requirement: 60 days) and adds an unfunded mandate on the state's court system by requiring that the courts establish an "educational" program on the effects of divorce.
- Commerce will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet thus far, but I don't understand some of this stuff.
- Water and Energy is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Quiet thus far.
- Transportation and Infrastructure will meet Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Also quiet thus far.
- Judiciary will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. Looks quiet thus far, though a striker may be offered regarding "guardianship of foreign citizens." No text available yet.
Over on the Senate side...
- Rules will meet on Monday upon adjournment of the Senate's floor session in Caucus Room 1 (aka the old press room). Rubber stamp time.
- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. Quiet thus far.
- Judiciary is meeting on Monday at 1:30 p.m. The agenda includes SB1362, increasing the fees that may be assessed by courts in eminent domain cases; and SB1365, expanding notification requirements in eminent domain condemnation cases and deleting a clause that specifies how juries assess damages that included consideration of the benefits to uncondemned property from the underlying project.
- Commerce and Economic Development is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. The nugget of really ugly here is SB1242, enacting all sorts of restrictions on labor unions during work actions and giving special protections to employers during the same.
- Appropriations is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. As might be expected, the agenda of this committee chaired by Russell Pearce is possibly the worst of the week. It has -
SB1017, requiring that county boards of supervisors appropriate budget money to other county officers in lump sums and removes any kind of fiscal oversight of those officers' operations. AKA the "don't mess with mah man Joe [Arpaio]" bill.
A striker to SCR1032 that would permanently micromanage school districts with a requirement that they spend 70% of their budgets on "classroom instruction." The word "permanently" fits here because as an SCR it would have to be approved by the voters and then couldn't be adjusted by future legislatures unless the Reps succeed in their efforts to overturn the Voter Protection Act.
And this agenda could have been worse - the original agenda had a striker to SB1104 that referred to "taxpayer bill of rights." Know this now - Pearce et. al. will try to spring TABOR on the state this year, probably after the latest budget mess simmers down.
- Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. This one has some bills on photo radar (procedures, banning the use on freeways, more procedures.)
- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet Wednesday at 9 a.m. in SHR1. This one has SCM1004, a letter to Congress demanding that the federal government pay for any health care programs that are required for the states.
- Veterans and Military Affairs will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. Quiet thus far.
- Finance meets on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. One item of interest here is SB1402, Russell Pearce's limits on the secondary property taxes imposed by special taxing districts (including fire districts, library districts, county jail districts, and/or county public health services districts). *Exactly* how it does that is a little unclear to me.
This bill should be an exhibit in the case showing why lawyers should never be allowed to write laws; English majors or journalists should.
The latter groups, by training and disposition, prefer to write sentences that actually clearly communicate information and ideas. The former?
Not so much. :)
- Education Accountability and Reform will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Whether it's through the huge gashes inflicted by the Reps' meat-cleaver approach during the budget process or through the nicks and papercuts inflicted by the bills on this agenda, the bleeding of the state's education system continues. Some of the agendized items include:
SB1175, expanding the membership of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District by adding two members who will be elected on a county-wide basis. Aka "the keep the MCCCD Board dominated by Republicans" bill.
SB1280, making sure that home-schooled students are notified of the scholarship requirements and criteria of the Arizona Board of Regents (actually, this one doesn't seem to be too bad, but I want to see what it looks like after going through the entire legislative process before being totally at ease with it).
SB1284, messing with school financing rules. One of the highlights: language that makes cuts to funding imposed during the year, such as those we've seen from the various special sessions of the lege this year, retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year. In other words, cuts to state funding won't just impact school districts going forward, they'll force school districts to return money.
SB1286, changing the grading of schools from words like "excelling" and "highly performing" to letter grades (the traditional A thru F). Probably not a bad thing in itself, but the changes to the formula determining how that grade is arrived at may be. Somebody with more experience in this area should look at that (David Safier, that's you. :) )
- Government Institutions will meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in SHR1.
Nuggets here include:
SB1143, creating the ability for counties to change their borders via "local initiative." Another bill I don't completely understand as yet, but it's from Jack Harper - it's presumed to be a bad one.
SB1348, Senate President Bob Burns' proposal to slow down new regulations of business, such as requirements that specific medical procedures/conditions be covered by health insurers, and to speed up the discard of older regulations. There are other similar clauses in this bill, enough for it to be named "The Bob Burns is setting up a run for Corporation Commission and wants to secure business financing for his run" bill.
...Check back on the lege's website later in the week for any changes to committee agendas.
Later!
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Goldwater Institute: just cutting out the middle man
Edit on 2/7 to correct a factual error: An anonymous emailer, begged39704, alerted me to the fact that Clint Bolick is *not* listed as the candidate, his wife Shawnna is. Clint is the treasurer for her committee. I apologize to both Bolicks for the mistake.
Thank you, begged39704.
Apparently, using most of the Republican caucus of the legislature as surrogates is too slow - now they're going for spousal control (can't call it a "hostile" takeover since GI's operatives are so warmly welcomed at the Capitol now).
On February 5, 2010, one Shawnna Bolick registered a campaign committee (filer ID 201000453) to enter the Republican primary for State Representative in LD11. She joins Jon Altmann, Bev Kraft, Dusti Morris, and Kate McGee in that race. The incumbents are Dr. Eric Meyer (D) and Adam Driggs (R). Meyer has a reelection committee opened; Driggs is "exploring" a run for the Senate seat from LD11 and has been rumored to be eyeing the CD3 race.
Bolick is the spouse of Clint Bolick, a senior member of GI. He heads up their "constitutional litigation" arm, which basically means suing various levels of governments until they give him what he wants (school tuition tax credits) or stop what he doesn't want (Clean Elections - too numerous to link to just one. Google "Bolick" and "Clean Elections"). He also leads the charge against any government regulations of business that he considers unfairly burdensome.
Which is pretty much *all* regulation.
In short, he is already a member of the GOP caucus of the lege in everything but title. His wife winning an election will just be a formality, and losing one won't change the reality of the situation.
Though I have to wonder how their relationship will be affected if she wins - there are limits on how much lobbyists can spend on legislators.
Oh wait - GI isn't a "lobbying" group, it's a "non-partisan" small government advocacy group. And the fact that the issues that they advocate on behalf of almost invariably benefit theirclients donors?
A fortuitous coincidence, nothing more.
If Bolick's run is successful, look for more GI operatives to try to take over government positions (i.e. - Mrs. Matthew Ladner as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, etc.).
Frying pan, get ready to meet fire.
Thank you, begged39704.
Apparently, using most of the Republican caucus of the legislature as surrogates is too slow - now they're going for spousal control (can't call it a "hostile" takeover since GI's operatives are so warmly welcomed at the Capitol now).
On February 5, 2010, one Shawnna Bolick registered a campaign committee (filer ID 201000453) to enter the Republican primary for State Representative in LD11. She joins Jon Altmann, Bev Kraft, Dusti Morris, and Kate McGee in that race. The incumbents are Dr. Eric Meyer (D) and Adam Driggs (R). Meyer has a reelection committee opened; Driggs is "exploring" a run for the Senate seat from LD11 and has been rumored to be eyeing the CD3 race.
Bolick is the spouse of Clint Bolick, a senior member of GI. He heads up their "constitutional litigation" arm, which basically means suing various levels of governments until they give him what he wants (school tuition tax credits) or stop what he doesn't want (Clean Elections - too numerous to link to just one. Google "Bolick" and "Clean Elections"). He also leads the charge against any government regulations of business that he considers unfairly burdensome.
Which is pretty much *all* regulation.
In short, he is already a member of the GOP caucus of the lege in everything but title. His wife winning an election will just be a formality, and losing one won't change the reality of the situation.
Though I have to wonder how their relationship will be affected if she wins - there are limits on how much lobbyists can spend on legislators.
Oh wait - GI isn't a "lobbying" group, it's a "non-partisan" small government advocacy group. And the fact that the issues that they advocate on behalf of almost invariably benefit their
A fortuitous coincidence, nothing more.
If Bolick's run is successful, look for more GI operatives to try to take over government positions (i.e. - Mrs. Matthew Ladner as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, etc.).
Frying pan, get ready to meet fire.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Harry Mitchell on blocking the Congressional pay raise
From an email from Congressman Harry Mitchell (with minor changes to links to clean them up, but no changes to content) -
Later...
Each year since being elected to Congress, I’ve introduced legislation to block the annual raise for Members of Congress. With all the economic challenges our country is facing, and so many families struggling to make ends meet, I believe it would be simply unconscionable for members of Congress to raise their own pay.
Unfortunately, unless Congress takes action, all members of Congress will be receiving a pay raise next year. In 1989, Congress approved a process that provides lawmakers with an automatic pay raise every January unless they vote specifically to reject the raise.
That’s why I, along with my colleague Rep. Ron Paul, have again introduced legislation to prevent Members of Congress from receiving the next scheduled pay raise.
Last year, our efforts helped to successfully block the Fiscal Year 2010 pay raise and we saved taxpayers $2.5 million by blocking the Fiscal Year 2010 pay raise for members of Congress. In 2008 and 2009, when I received a pay raise over my objection, I donated those pay raises to Arizona charities, dividing the donations among 10 local non-profit organizations.
This year’s bill, H.R. 4255, the Stop the Automatic Pay Raise for Members of Congress in Fiscal Year 2011 Act, currently has support from more than 120 members of Congress. Our bill has also earned national endorsements from Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union.
President Obama has frozen pay for senior White House employees, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts broke with tradition and did not request a pay raise for federal judges for Fiscal Year 2011. I believe that Congress should follow in their lead, and enacting my bill is an important first step.
Right now we need our focus to be on getting people back to work, shoring up the economy, and keeping our families and communities safe -- not on giving ourselves a raise.
As always, I look forward to being able to provide you with regular updates and continue our dialogue on fiscal responsibility in the future.
Sincerely,
Harry
Later...
Special session update3 - crossing palms....with shoulder blades
...that's a way of saying that there is some serious arm-twisting going on at the lege..
cross-posted at Blog for Arizona...
On Thursday, the Arizona House of Representatives approved the referral to the ballot of a temporary increase to the state's sales tax.
The vote was 34 - 25, with one vacancy (Sam Crump resigned on Monday). 12 Democrats and 22 Republicans voted for the referral, and 13 and 12 voted against it.
In an interesting twist, the House did *not* consider the rest of the budget-related bills. According to ever-vigilant (and snarky) correspondent Jen, the talk around the Capitol is that Speaker Kirk Adams is holding the special session bills in order to pressure Senate President Bob Burns into taking up the House's tax cuts for corporations bill (the Rs call it a "jobs" bill, but it would be better called a "jobs for soon-to-be-ex-legislators looking for a place to land after they get kicked out of office in November" bill.
So to sum up: The House passed a referendum that may or may not be approved by the voters (and if I were a betting man, I'd bet " not") and refused to do anything else to address the state's budget deficit unless their corporate patrons get a big gift from the lege.
Ummm...yeah.
It's obvious that the most of the Rs in the House don't give a damn about the state or about doing the jobs that they were hired to do - representing the best interests of the people in their districts and the state.
Special session update2 - whistling past the graveyard
Cross-posted at Blog for Arizona...
Since my work week has started, I'm trying to keep track of the goings-on at the lege via phone calls and an internet connection.
It now looks like that the House leadership is going to try to push through the latest budget bills without being certain that they have the votes necessary to pass them. One Democratic source that I spoke to thought it would be close, with approximately half the Dems in the House agreeing to vote for the package. If that is accurate, they'll still need 18 or 19 Rs to support the package.
However, the state's Shadow Governor (thanks Jen!), Grover Norquist, will be in town tomorrow. His presence may serve to fortify the faux courage of the Kool-Aid drinkers in the House, killing the package.
A possible indicator of movement is the fact that a Special Session agenda has been posted for House Appropriations with the package of Senate bills up for consideration (~11 a.m., HHR1). There is some question if the bills will pass the committee - John Kavanagh (R-LD8), the chair of the committee, has already stated that he will be voting no on the package (see the article linked in the previous paragraph).
As committee chairman, he has the authority to agendize/not agendize any bills, and could simply ignore them if they are assigned to his committee. The fact that the provisional agenda has been posted ("provisional" because the bills haven't yet been assigned to the Appropriations Committee) indicates that he is willing to allow the bills to be heard.
Whether that is to allow them to go forward over his objections or to very publicly kill them and thus embarrass R leadership in the House remains to be seen.
Stay tuned...
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