SB1062 vetoed! Whoooo hooooo! Now, keep paying attention

By now, most people who were paying attention at all are aware that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed the infamous SB1062, a proposal to provide legal immunity for discrimination and other bad behavior if the person behaving badly could cite a religious justification.

At her announcement, she cited reasons for her veto such as the lack of an actual problem in AZ that the bill would address.  She did not state that she believes that discriminating against the LGBT community is wrong.

Her veto letter is here.

The response from the primary force behind the bill, Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Theocracy Policy, is here.  Summary for people who are too busy to read it - "Waaaahhhhhh!"

Some people have criticized the governor for not citing a more "moral" reason for her veto, but my take tacks toward the pragmatic -

Doing good works for bad reasons is still doing good works.


A few random thoughts on the mess:

...Did the lege pass this bill because they were sick of Florida get most of the "crazy" publicity because of its unwillingness to convict armed white guys for murdering unarmed black teenagers?

...My guess is that the lesson isn't completely learned yet, but it looks as if more people are beginning to realize that the Civics class depiction of the Arizona legislature ("two chambers, the House and the Senate, working for the betterment of all Arizonans") isn't reality.

The reality is that the two chambers of the legislature are the Goldwater Institute and the Center for Arizona Theocracy Policy, and the "betterment of all Arizonans" is not the priority of either organization.

...Whither Ken Bennett?  The Arizona Secretary of state is running for governor.  With Jan Brewer out of town from last Thursday until Tuesday, he was acting governor until she returned.

SB1062 was officially sent to the governor's office on Monday and Brewer didn't return to AZ until Tuesday, giving him roughly 18 - 20 hours to look like a governor.

He didn't do that.

Of course, it could have been worse - The bill passed on Thursday, but Senate President Andy Biggs held off sending the bill over to the Governor's office until Monday.  If Biggs had sent it over on Thursday, Bennett would have spent the weekend squirming as the focus of national attention.

Instead, he got to spend the weekend out of the spotlight.

...On the other hand, at least he took a position (opposed; a weak opposition to be sure, but opposition just the same).

Then there was Doug Ducey, AZ state treasurer and candidate for governor, who tried to be on both sides of the issue.

From his statement on SB1062:

First up - "...if I were governor, that I would veto SB 1062."

Then - ""The religious liberty issues that SB 1062 attempts to address are legitimate ones..."
 

Note to Ducey (who probably isn't going to read this, but it's worth a shot anyway):

A few people will never vote for a Republican.

A few people will never vote for a Democrat.

Most people will never vote for a weasel.


...On the other hand, better a live weasel than a dead duck.

State Sen. Al Melvin, yet another candidate for governor and an unabashed supporter of SB1062, gave to CNN what is possibly the worst interview ever given by an Arizona politico.

The "highlight" of the interview came when Melvin pronounced from on high that there is no discrimination of any sort in Arizona.

And that was the high point; if you watch the video (at the link), pop the popcorn first.  And put your feet up.

Caveat: I may use the term "dead duck" to describe Melvin's candidacy, but I'm fully cognizant of the fact that this state once elected Ev Mecham; in other words, anything could happen.


...While Arizona's image was deeply injured (again!) by the action of the legislature, those harmed the worst may be state senators Adam Driggs, Steve Pierce, and Bob Worsley.  They have the worst of both worlds -

They voted for the measure originally, ticking off most of civil society.

Then they changed their minds and urged the governor to veto the bill, ticking off most of their base.

...There are 53 Republican members of the legislature.  All but three, state reps. Heather Carter, Kate Brophy McGee, and Ethan Orr, voted for the bill.

Two, Carter and Brophy McGee, are...well...not "moderate" per se, but are known as two of a vanishing breed of R office holder, the ones who are occasionally struck by fits of sanity.  Orr is known as an R who won a seat in a D-leaning district and has been triangulating his ass off ever since.

Carter and Brophy McGee have primary opposition, and did even before the vote.  Orr doesn't have a primary opponent as of the writing, and probably won't get one.


...I'm not prepared to pronounce this one "over" yet, not with the lege still in session and striker season looming, but I expect that this one won't be back until next year.

One way to make sure that it doesn't return is to make sure that many of the bill's legislative supporters don't return next year.

In R-leaning districts, primary voters should give their votes to the candidates who would be good public servants, instead of to those who would only be good partisans.

Elsewhere, voters should give their votes to D candidates or other candidates would be good public servants.

Another way to make sure that the bill won't come back is for the many people whose activism was activated by this bill to stay active.  This stuff doesn't happen when people are paying attention.



...More tomorrow...

Arizona Legislature: The coming week

...While last week was the final week for most bills to receive committee consideration in their chambers of origin, there is still committee activity this week.

And as evidenced by the explosion of controversy last week over the railroading of the bigots' rights bill (aka - SB1062), all sorts of hell can break loose at the Capitol at any moment.



Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, please leave a comment letting me know.


All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.


On the Senate side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., Caucus Room 1.  Long agenda, many bad bills (though, so far as I can see, none quite so ugly as SB1062).  May take all of 15 minutes to rubber stamp this one.

- Government and Environment, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Short agenda of four House bills.  So far, nothing that looks too harmful, though HB2404 may be worth keeping an eye on.

- Transportation, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Short agenda, two House bills.  Looks harmless so far.

- Appropriations, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  Not-so-short agenda - this is the one standing Senate committee that can still hear Senate bills, hence the long agenda.  On it: a striker to SB1108, relating to raising pesticide registration fees and earmarking any additional revenue received because of an increase to the pesticide trust fund; a striker to SB1174, one that looks to adjust sales and other tax liability for aviation-related transactions (not passenger travel, but actual operation of privately-owned aircraft); a striker to SB1366 that would weaken the definition of "firearm" in criminal law; and a striker to SCR1004 regarding changes to the Elected Officials Retirement Plan (text unavailable as of this writing).

- Natural Resources and Rural Affairs, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR109.  Three House bills; looks harmless so far.

- Commerce, Energy, and Military, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR1.  Four House bills; looks harmless so far.

- Health and Human Services, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  No bills on the agenda at this time.

- Finance, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Seven House bills on the agenda that I don't understand well enough to evaluate.

- Education, Thursday, 11 a.m., SHR1.  Two House bills on the agenda; looks harmless so far.


On the House side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., HHR4.  Long agenda, some bad bills.  15 minutes, tops.

- Ways and Means, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: SB1048, expanding the kind of corporations that can take a tax credit for donations to school tuition organizations (in other words, redirecting an ever greater amount of public resources into the pockets of people who profit from private schools); SB1272, increasing audit requirements on non-profit corporations that receive state funds.

- Education, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  Short agenda (one House bill), looks harmless so far.

- Insurance and Retirement, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  Short agenda - two House bills, both pertaining to tweaks of the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS).  Both bills are too technical for me to completely understand, but both come from Sen. Steve Yarbrough, so I'm inclined to believe that they are likely bad for the state's retirees, the state's employees, and the long-term interests of the state's people in general.

- Higher Education and Workforce Development, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR1.  Presentation only; no bills on the agenda at this time.

- Health, Wednesday, 10 a.m, HHR4.  Short agenda, three House bills.  Looks relatively harmless at this time.

- Appropriations, Wednesday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  As with its Senate counterpart, this agenda is a long one, populated with some loony House measures whose sponsors are looking to keep them alive.  Two examples: HB2412, guns in schools, 2014 iteration; a striker to HB2618, relating to "legislative appropriation; federal monies" (text unavailable at this time, probably the lege's annual attempt to grab control of the allocation of federal block grants to Arizona from the governor; even if it makes it to the governor's desk, I don't expect her to sign it into law).

- Judiciary, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR4.  Short agenda, two bills.  One of them, HB2185, is a House bill that failed to pass during its first consideration by the committee.  It proposes to bar any state agency in Arizona from complying with or aiding in the implementation of sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.


Legislative floor calendars can be found here.
The lege's calendar of events for the week is here.
AZ Department of Administration meeting public notices are here.

Candidates and committees update

It's been a while since the last one of these, and there probably won't be many more, unless there are some truly surprising developments.

Much of this has already been covered elsewhere; this is mostly a summary.

Congress -

- He hasn't filed termination paperwork with the FEC yet (at least, such paperwork isn't on their website), but Vernon Parker, a Republican candidate in CD9, has decided to run for Arizona Corporation Commission.  Perennial candidate Parker looks as if he is following the Bitter Smith political path - "run or look at running for *many* offices until finding one that looks easy".

 - No other significant developments.


AZ statewide -

- Arizona state treasurer Doug Ducey made his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor official with an announcement Wednesday.  He had been "exploring" a run.  "Exploring" is in quotes because it was a "wink-wink" kind of exploration - everyone knew he was going to run.

- State Senator Leah Landrum Taylor has withdrawn from the race for the Democratic nomination for Arizona Secretary of State.  This leaves former AZAG Terry Goddard as the presumptive nominee for that office.

- Former state legislator Lucy Mason is running for the R nomination for Arizona Corporation Commission.  She will be running as a team with Parker, above.

- Scott Smith, mayor of Mesa, is running for governor.  As he was elected to a four-year term in 2012, he is going to have to resign as mayor soon.  The timing of that development could be interesting - if he does so early enough in the year, there will be a special election to fill out the balance of his term.


Maricopa County-level -

- Jon Hulburd, former candidate for Congress, filed to run for the SRP governing board - don't snicker - the President of the SRP Board [not the position for which Hulburd is a candidate] is the highest-paid elected official in AZ.

- Bob Blendu, former legislator, has filed to run for a seat on the governing board of the Maricopa County Special Healthcare District.

- Don Calender, a former justice of the peace, has filed for the Republican nomination in the University Lakes JP race.  Not really major news, except in November he filed for the office...as a Democrat. 


Local (Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale) -


City of Mesa (don't know much about these folks, so if they have 2014 paperwork on the City's website, they are listed.  Nobody has filed for the mayor's spot.  Yet.) -

City Council races:

- Chris Glover, District 4

- Robert Cluff, District 5
- David Luna, District 5

- Trevor Hansen, District 6
- Kevin Thompson, District 6


City of Tempe (a couple of these folks are people I know and respect and consider to be friends, and will be disclosed as such in the listing.  Having said that, this is just a listing of new/almost new candidates.) -

- Former state senator and candidate for Congress David Schapira is running for a seat on the Tempe City Council (friend #1)
- Longtime community and political activist Lauren Kuby is running for a seat on the Tempe City Council (friend #2)
- Newcomer Bruce Nester is running for a seat on the Tempe City Council.
- Community activist Ernesto Fonseca is running for a seat on the Tempe City Council.


City of Scottsdale

- Former City Manager John Little has withdrawn from the race for a seat on the City Council.  No specific reason was cited in the story, but it did have some speculation in it.

Arizona Legislature: The Coming Week - part 2

Well, they've reached the first "deadline" week of the session, and that is reflected in the length of committee agendas.

Friday is the last day for bills introduced in a particular chamber to be heard in that chamber's committees.  There are exceptions (bills can still be considered by the Appropriations committees) or exceptions can be made (schmooze the Senate President/House Speaker), but for the most part, proposals that don't pass committee by the end of the week are dead.

...Unless they are revived by a strike-everything amendment (striker) and pasted into the frame of another bill that *did* pass committee.  But that's another post...


This week, because the agendas are so long, and so fluid, this post will be presented in two parts -

Wednesday and Thursday's schedules will be in this part, while the agendas for Monday and Tuesday are covered here.


Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, please leave a comment letting me know.


All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.


On the Senate side of the Capitol -

- Natural Resources and Rural Affairs, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR109.  Short agenda - only two items.  However, its brevity is outweighed by its ugliness.  On the agenda:  a striker to SB1267, essentially decriminalizing agribusiness cruelty toward livestock and imposing a near-absolute gag rule on those who would document the same.  More details here.  Note:  The information at the link is specific to a House bill on the same topic, but the striker contains the same provisions.  The information applies equally to the striker.

- Commerce, Energy, and Military, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR1.  Long agenda.  Items include: SB1402, Sen. "Atomic" Al Melvin's move to legally define "renewable energy" as including nuclear energy.

- Public Safety, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  On the agenda:  a striker to SB1158, relating to "fireworks; permissible use".  Includes small fines for recordkeeping violations and impermissible use.  Also bars Maricopa and Pima counties from enacting even limited regulation of fireworks in unincorporated areas of those counties; and SBs 1406, 1410, and 1411, part of Sen. Rick Murphy's apparent scheme to all-but-end investigations of child abuse and domestic violence.

- Health and Human Services, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  On the agenda: a same-subject striker to SB1308, requiring that health care "navigators" and others related to the enactment and application of the federal Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") subject themselves to state-imposed licensing requirements; SB1390, stating that in health care situations, when there are conflicting directives from a health care provider and a holder of a patient's medical power of attorney, the holder of the power of attorney is presumed to be expressing the patient's wishes; SB1407 and SB1320, relating to the termination of parental rights.  Note: SB1407 is part of Sen. Rick Murphy's jihad against CPS; and SCM1009, a resolution from Sen. Kelli Ward (R-Doctor who can't stand taking care of poor patients) asking that Medicare end its requirement that physicians and other providers "enroll" with a Medicare contractor before they can be paid by Medicare for services rendered.

- Finance, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  On the agenda: SB1092, a proposal by anti-education legislators to "fix" the financing system for public education.

- Education, Thursday, 8:30 a.m., SHR1.  A dozen items on the agenda.  Based on the names of the sponsors of most of the (Sen. Kelli Ward, Sen. Chester Crandell, Rep. Carl Seel, etc.), at least 10 of the bills are detrimental to the interests of public schools, public school students, and the public.  On the agenda: SB1095, anti-educational standards, particularly Common Core; SB1100, mandating that public school districts sell or lease buildings that are unused or underutilized to private and charter schools; SB1121, implementing a three-year moratorium on test requirements for high school graduation; SB1228, barring the state's public higher education institutions from admitting students who need any sort of remedial studies in order to meet qualification standards.  Also requires that such institutions offer reduced tuition and fees to students pursuing degree programs preferred by the Arizona Commerce Authority; SB1229, creating a voucher system for higher ed in AZ; SB1310, prohibiting the implementation of Common Core in Arizona; SB1388, relating to academic standards and testing; SB1395 and SB1396, both relating to assessment testing for meeting academic standards.


On the House side of the Capitol -

- Public Safety, Military, and Regulatory Affairs, Wednesday, 9 a.m., HHR3.  Long agenda.  On it: HB2224 and HB2688, diminishing regulation of and increasing permissible uses for fireworks; HB2562, a very long and specific measure detailing the requirements and procedures for investigations of peace officers (not sure that this one is *bad*, per se, but some of the provisions may merit scrutiny).

- Health, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m., HHR4.  On the agenda: Not going to say this one is harmless (there are too many measures, and too many that I don't completely understand), but this one has a number of measures that are actually *good*.

- Higher Education and Workforce Development, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR1.  On the agenda:  HB2340, allowing a community college district to reset, and possibly increase, its property tax levy, if the original levy was enacted between 20 and 35 years ago.  A time frame that specific inspired me to ask some questions.  It looks as if the target beneficiary of this measure is the Coconino County Community College District.  That one is in the sponsor's (Rep. Brenda Barton)

- Commerce, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR5.  At this time, doesn't look too bad.  Caveat: it's a long agenda, and many of the bills are also long, or at least very technical.

- Appropriations, Wednesday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda:  HB2697, the annual legislative move to take control of federal block grants and other monies that the state has some discretion over from the governor and give that control to the lege.  For some reason, whenever this has passed in the past, the governors in office at those times have declined to sign it; HCR2037, a proposal to amend the state's constitution to restrict use of the state's rainy day fund (aka - "budget stabilization fund") to fiscal years where the state's budget is smaller than the previous year's.

- Judiciary, Thursday, 8 a.m., HHR4.  On the agenda: HB2339, allowing people with gun permits to carry their weapons almost everywhere.

- Reform and Human Services, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: HB2638, stating that CPS information may be provided for investigations of domestic violence or violent sexual assault.  Probably not going to be supported by Rick Murphy is this measure makes it over to the Senate.

- Technology and Infrastructure, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR5.  On the agenda: a striker (not posted on the lege's website as of this writing) to HB2422.  The text of the striker may be unavailable so far, but the title is not - "municipal policy; authority".  With this bunch, that's probably not a measure that will promote good governance.

- Transportation, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR3.  On the agenda: a striker to HB2118 (text unavailable) pertaining to utilities and rights of way; a striker to HB2429 (text unavailable) pertaining to "towed vehicles; impoundment notification"; HB2618, removing the requirement that law enforcement officers impound the motor vehicles of people cited for driving without a license; HB2690, mandating that the radar systems used on photo traffic enforcement systems must be calibrated at least once every 24 hours.

Note:  For these last two agendas, Transportation and T and I, I linked to the .pdf version of the agenda is of the HTML version, as is the usual practice, because the HTML version was not available at the time of this writing.  In other words, I expect changes to these agenda, and readers should expect that also.

Legislative floor calendars can be found here.
The lege's calendar of events for the week is here.
AZ Department of Administration meeting public notices are here.

Arizona Legislature: The Coming Week - part 1

Well, they've reached the first "deadline" week of the session, and that is reflected in the length of committee agendas.

Friday is the last day for bills introduced in a particular chamber to be heard in that chamber's committees.  There are exceptions (bills can still be considered by the Appropriations committees) or exceptions can be made (schmooze the Senate President/House Speaker), but for the most part, proposals that don't pass committee by the end of the week are dead.

...Unless they are revived by a strike-everything amendment (striker) and pasted into the frame of another bill that *did* pass committee.  But that's another post...


This week, because the agendas are so long, and so fluid, this post will be presented in two parts -

Monday and Tuesday's schedules will be in this part, while the agendas for Wednesday and Thursday will be analyzed on Tuesday evening.


Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, please leave a comment letting me know.


All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.


On the Senate side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., Caucus Room 1.  Long agenda (37 items); might take them all of 15 minutes to rubber stamp it.

- Judiciary, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  On the agenda:  A same-subject striker to SB1122, related to industrial hemp.  It's from Sen. Rick Murphy, so it probably isn't good policy, but it is more technical than I understand, so it should be looked at by folks with more knowledge of the topic; SB1249, another technical measure that seems to expand the definition of someone who can be indefinitely committed to a mental hospital/prison to include anyone who is charged with a serious or violent crime (again, this one should be examined by folks with more subject knowledge); SB1390, creating a legal presumption that, in the event of conflicting health care directives from someone holding a health care power of attorney and health care providers, the one issued under the color of power of attorney represents the wishes of the patient; competing? measures, a striker to SB1364 and a striker to SB1052, that appear to do the same thing (relating to "equivalent cost-sharing requirements" for insurance); SB1266, exempting judicial officers from certain weapons violations; SB1409, expanding the kind of cases that can be handled by, and the fees that can be paid to, outside law firms contracted by Arizona Attorney General's office to handle certain matters; and SB1479, a "breathing while brown" bill, this one expanding the definition of "criminal trespass" to include "entering or remaining on any real property if the person is violating any other federal or state law."

- Government and Environment, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  On the agenda: SB1354 and SB1355, attacking public employees and public employee unions by attacking the ability of employees to pay union dues, and unions to collect those dues, via payroll deduction; SB1333, allowing industry lobbying organizations to be part of air quality studies; SB1405, Sen. Rick Murphy's self-serving proposal to inhibit investigations of allegations of domestic violence or child abuse by holding a public employee personally liable for any damages that someone else may suffer as a result of the employee's actions, even those conducted in the normal course of the employee's duties, if the actions were "grossly negligent", "malicious", or show a "reckless disregard of damages that could occur"; SB1291, telling the federal government that certain laws relating to national defense don't apply to Arizona; SCR1016, a resolution from "Atomic" Al Melvin stating that the lege supports designating one week of each legislative session as "Limiting Government Week"; SB1478, a "trees cause drought" bill that would bar the use of funds from the state's Water Protection Fund to plant tamarisk, mesquite, or other "high water use trees", but would allow the use of the Fund's funds to pay for the removal of such trees; and SB1106, appropriating $30 million to build some kind of a fence along the border with Mexico.  I say "some kind" because while the original bill says the money is for a "virtual" fence, there's a proposed amendment to make the appropriation for a physical or virtual fence.  And since the amendment is proposed by the chair of the committee, it's probably going to pass.

- Transportation, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Looks harmless so far.  There are a couple of bills that seem suspicious based on their sources (Sens. Chester Crandell and Don Shooter), but other than their sponsors being consistently bad elected officials, I couldn't identify specific clauses to be concerned about.

But just because I couldn't find them doesn't mean that they aren't there.

- Elections, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  On the agenda: SB1415, changing the way that "majority" of votes is calculated in municipal race.  It looks like the bill will all but end runoff elections for city council seats and increase the influence of "single-shotting" candidates (voting for only one candidate in a multiple-seat race to increase the likelihood of that candidate winning one of the contested seats); and SCR1003, proposing a change to the Arizona constitution that would require that any voter initiatives or referenda that affect state revenues or expenditure has to be reauthorized every eight years.

- Appropriations, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  On the agenda: SB1400, establishing the Public Safety Officers Assistance Fund, a commission to manage the Fund, and takes $50 out of every $150 administrative towing charge (from municipalities, counties, and anyone else that assesses such a fee) to fund the Fund.


On the House side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., HHR4.  Long agenda, rubber stamp. 20 minutes, tops.

- Ways and Means, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: HB2272, loosening requirements for a business tax credit program; a striker to HB2379, affecting taxes levied by county library, healthcare, and jail districts.  This bill was already passed by this committee on a party line vote, but it is coming back for some reason.  In its original form, it limited taxes for those districts in such a way as to all but force such districts to shut down; HB2389, amending transaction privilege tax provisions (many that will impact the amount of revenue collected by cities and towns); HB2413, reducing school district bonding level limits; and HB2595, making some changes to tax and appraisal rules for home renewable energy systems.

- Financial Institutions, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR5.  On the agenda:  HB2264, creating something called "Arizona Job Finance Bonds".  This would authorize the creation of industrial development authorities that would be allowed to issue bonds to finance private projects that would create private sector jobs.  The beneficiaries of these bonds would be able to self-certify (by submitting a business plan) that jobs would be created by the financed project; HB2526, raising interest and fees on "consumer lender loans" (the next time this bunch proposes something to protect consumers, rather than exploit them, will be the first time).

- Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR4.  On the agenda:  HB2623, direct the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to establish performance standards for coal-fired and natural gas-fired electrical generating units.  And then tells them what the standards will be.  I don't know where the original bill documents are located now, but I'm pretty sure that if a police forensics unit examined them, they'd find the fingerprints of industry lobbyists all over the docs.

- Education, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  On the agenda:  HB2036, expanding school vouchers "Empowerment Scholarship Accounts; HB2316, a sneaky bill.  The working title is "schools; local control; student privacy" but the actual title should be "federal education standards; AZ don' need no stinkin' education standards"; HB2485, requiring the Arizona Department of Education to "award a contract to an educational technology provider for language development and literacy software".  There's a proposed amendment to the bill which would modify the proposal into a "pilot program", but the price tag remains the same - $36 million over three fiscal years.  Maybe I've gotten to be too cynical from my years of lege-watching, but this one looks to have requirements that are so specific that only one provider is going to qualify for the contract.

- Insurance and Retirement, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  On the agenda: HB2560, making documents related to insurance company self-evaluation compliance audits exempt from all disclosure, including in court cases.  Most of the bills on this agenda, including HB2560, are a little too technical for me to completely understand the effects of them.

- Government, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR4.  On the agenda: a same-subject striker to HB2386, limiting the bonding ability of special taxing districts, and other changes; HB2476, another proposal to attack public employee unions through limitations on payroll deductions for union dues; HB2528, limiting the ability of municipalities to regulate signwalkers within their jurisdictions; HB2640, mandating that if a municipality, a county, or the state calls for an investigation of itself or a subdivision of the same, it must contract with a third party to conduct that investigation, and the the auditor general select the third party.  The auditor general works directly for the legislature.  Any questions about what they're really trying to do here?

- Federalism and Fiscal Responsibility, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: HB2188, appropriating $20 million to by communication equipment related to border security; HCR2035, a proposal to change the state's constitution to require a balanced budget.  Lots of words, looks like TABOR without using that specific word; HCR2036, imposing some debt limits that seem to be part of HCR2035's TABOR-like provisions.

- Agriculture and Water, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR5.  Looks harmless so far.



Legislative floor calendars can be found here.
The lege's calendar of events for the week is here.
AZ Department of Administration meeting public notices are here.

Sen. Rick Murphy challenging Sen. Steve Yarbrough for the gold medal in the "Brazen Chutzpah" competition

By now, everyone in the lege-watcher universe knows about Sen. Steve Yarbrough and his penchant for pushing self-enriching tuition tax credit measures in the lege, measures that add to his personal wealth.

And even though his activities have been public knowledge for years now, every year, Yarbrough pushes more self-serving measures through the lege.

Why shouldn't he?  Other than the news stories, he hasn't faced any pushback for his actions - he keeps getting reelected and this state's prosecutors won't touch him.

Now, one of his Senate colleagues, Rick Murphy, has apparently taken the lesson from Yarbrough's situation to heart - go ahead and use the lege as a conduit for self-serving agendas.

Last summer, Murphy was caught up in a scandal when there were allegations the he abused some of the children placed in his care as a foster parent.

After an investigation by Peoria PD and CPS found insufficient evidence to support criminal charges, the matter was dropped.

Well, the police and CPS dropped the matter, but Murphy most assuredly has not.

Apparently, Murphy is still pissed off to no end that they dared to investigate him.

So he has proposed a series of bills to "remedy" the situation.

- SB1405, holding a public employee personally liable for any damages that someone else may suffer as a result of the employee's actions, even those conducted in the normal course of the employee's duties, if the actions were "grossly negligent", "malicious", or show a "reckless disregard of damages that could occur".

On the agenda for the Senate Government and Environment meeting on Monday.

- SB1406, reducing the admissibility of police reports is domestic violence-related court proceedings.

On the agenda for the Senate Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.

- SB1407, affecting the grounds under which a parent-child relationship may be terminated.

On the agenda for the Senate Health and Human Services meeting on Wednesday.

- SB1410, requiring the police to arrest any party involved in a domestic violence dispute if there is evidence that the party engaged in any sort of act that could be construed as domestic violence (i.e. - if a man assaults his girlfriend and the girlfriend tries to push him away, both would be subject to arrest).  Also contains a clause that would expand the definition of "domestic violence" to include if someone "knowingly making a false statement to a government entity against another person".

On the agenda for the Senate Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.

- SB1411, a rather punitive proposal making life even more difficult for people seeking orders of protection, including raising the burden of proof required for the issuance of such orders.

On the agenda for the Senate Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.


The bills, as proposed by Murphy, would forestall investigation of all but the most brazen domestic violence and child abuse cases.

And given the current CPS scandal involving allegations of child abuse that went uninvestigated, Murphy's move to hamstring such investigations in order to protect himself from future investigations qualifies him as more brazen than Yarbrough.


Note: OK.  Upon examination of the bills that Murphy has proposed, I think the statement "Apparently, Murphy is still pissed off to no end that they dared to investigate him" should be amended.

By dropping "Apparently". 

The AZLege's Black Helicopter Caucus wants a Constitutional Convention. Just the wrong kind.

...Just a vent, but it is time to rename the "Legislative Department" (Article 4) section of the AZ Constitution as the "Micromanaging The Legislative Department" section...

Led by renowned/notorious (pick your preferred term) tea party type Rep. Kelly Townsend, the Arizona Legislature's Black Helicopter Caucus (BHC) has proposed HCR2027, a proposal for a convention to propose amendments to the US Constitution.

They want to impose term limits on federal-level elected officials ('cuz term limits have helped AZ become the best-run state in the country. don'cha know?) and fiscal and authority limits on the federal government.

And after watching the Arizona legislature in action this session, and many sessions before this, I have come to think that the BHC is on to something here.

I mean, they have the wrong goals and the wrong target in mind, but it is definitely time to update the Constitution to address some malfeasance on the part of members of a branch of government.

Of course, the Constitution that needs updating is the Arizona Constitution, and the branch of government that needs to be brought to heel is the Arizona Legislature.

There's a culture of institutional corruption at the legislature, exemplified by the never-ending stream of legislation that serves deep-pocketed lobbyists or even the legislators themselves, almost all contrary to the interests of the people of Arizona.

That corruption is rooted in, and enabled by, a culture of contempt for public service, public servants, and even the public itself.

Time to make some "adjustments".

None of the suggestions that follow are partisan in nature, nor are they about policy.  Those considerations change over time; the need for elected officials to conduct the people's business, and themselves, with focus and integrity is timeless.


Suggestion one:

Lay out a specific process and timeline for considering and enacting the state's budget.  My ideas:

A.  The budget must be considered and passed during regular session.  No abbreviated special session consideration and passage allowed.

B.  There must be at least sixteen hours of public testimony, spread out over at least 3 legislative days, on the budget allowed during Appropriations committee hearings in each chamber.  Notice of the meetings shall be publicly posted for at least 7 calendar days. Failure to avail the public of that much time or notice shall result in the expulsion of the responsible committee chair from the legislature.

C.  If the budget is not passed and signed into law by March 31, no other bills can be considered in committee or on the floor until it is.  If it isn't passed and signed into law by May 15, the AC in the lege's buildings shall be shut off until the end of the session.  In addition, the AZ Department of Corrections, DPS, or Department of Administration (or the appropriate agency) shall commence construction of a temporary jail facility across from the Capitol at Wesley Bolin Plaza (think: holding cell for 90, or Joe Arpaio's Tent City, without the creature comforts).  If the budget isn't passed and signed by the end of business (5 p.m) on June 1st, all 90 legislators shall be taken into custody by the Department of Public Safety and confined to the temporary jail facility until the budget is passed and signed.  If, after the "incarceration" period starts, a budget is passed but the governor vetoes or refuses to sign it in a timely manner (say, three business days), then the governor shall also be confined in the temporary jail facility until a budget is passed and signed.

D.  Because it is likely that some legislators will seek to avoid going to jail by resigning part of the way through the session, any legislator who resigns or otherwise leaves office between March 15 of a given year and the end of that year's session of the legislature shall be deemed ineligible for membership in the lege for the remainder of the term of that legislature and the entirety of the two years of the next legislature.  Also, any legislator who leaves the lege on or after April 15 of a given year shall be required to join their former colleagues in the temporary jail facility if the "jail" option becomes necessary.

Rationale:  While all government processes should be transparent, the state's budget, the allocation of public resources for public use, should be the most transparent of all.  It should also be the one that the members of the legislature pay the most attention to - it's the only thing that they *have* to do each session; the rest is just gravy.  This will help them focus on the important part of their job.


Suggestion two:

Limit the number of measures that the lege can refer to the ballot in a given two-year term to, say, five.  That would include any measures to be voted on at elections other than the biennial general election (special elections).  In addition, while the lege could refer the first three measures without the approval of the governor, the fourth and fifth measures would also have to be signed by the governor.

A sixth measure could be referred, but it would require a 2/3 vote and the governor's signature for passage.  In addition, upon the signature of the governor, referring the relevant measure to the ballot, the legislators who voted for the measure would be considered to have tendered their resignations and their offices vacant.  As with the budget-related resignations, the individuals who leave the legislature under this circumstance shall be deemed ineligible for membership in the legislature for the duration of that legislature and the entirety of the next legislature.

Rationale:  Every session of the lege sees two things:  1.  A seemingly never-ending supply of proposals from legislators to reduce the influence of Arizona's voters have on Arizona's government; and 2.  A massive number of proposals to attempt to have the voters repeal or at least water down previously passed measures.  The lege should be limited in how much they can waste our time voting on measures that we passed by that they (the lege) doesn't like.


Suggestion three:

No legislative votes, committee or floor, between the hours of 9 p.m and 8 a.m. shall be considered valid.  If a measure that is voted on between those hours becomes law, then any Arizonan will have legally sufficient grounds for winning a lawsuit to have the law overturned.

Rationale:  Late night sessions in the waning days of legislative sessions are the stuff of legends in Arizona, as are some of the horrible bills that have been passed during such sessions (alt-fuels, anyone?).


Suggestion four:

When the constitutionality (federal or AZ) of a law is successfully challenged in court, each member of the legislature who voted for it and the governor who signed it into law shall be personally liable in equal shares for reimbursing the state for the costs of defending their bad law.  Exceptions: If a measure is passed by at least a 3/4 vote of each chamber, then no such liability will exist; and there should be a reasonable time limit on the liability, say, five years.  If a law is successfully challenged more than five years after enactment, the members of the lege who voted for it would not be liable for the costs of defending the law.

Rationale:  The lege passes too many measures that they know won't stand up to judicial scrutiny.  However, they also know that they won't be footing the bill for the legal cost of defending their garbage measures.  As such, they have no incentive to pass well-crafted and constitutionally sound bills.  Hopefully, this will result more cooperation across the partisan divide in crafting good measures, or at least the passage of fewer bad bills.


Suggestion five:

Increase legislative pay to at least $50K per year.

Rationale: As much as I would like to think that the above proposals (and the ones that follow) are brilliant and would instantly result in a professional and honest legislature, the surest way to make a better legislature is to attract better candidates.  Too many good people (D and R alike) take a look at the $24K annual salary and have to pass on the job.  They just can't afford it.


Suggestion six:

Not sure how best to implement this, but every elected official should be considered to be "under oath" when speaking publicly or about matters of public interest.  Far too often in public discourse, electeds (and their proxies) cite "facts" to support their positions, "facts" that just aren't true ("headless bodies in the desert", etc.).

First violation: a misdemeanor conviction of some sort and 10 days in county jail; 2nd violation: a low-level felony conviction, 6 months in jail or prison, and with the felony conviction, expulsion from the legislature.

Rationale:  They work for us, and nowhere that I know of is it acceptable to lie to your employers.  In fact, it is usually grounds for termination.


Suggestion seven:

Another one that I'm not sure how to implement, but there should be a "if it is good enough for us, it is good enough for the lege, and vice versa" clause in the AZ Constitution.  For instance, if they pass  a law to require recipients of unemployment compensation or welfare to pee in a cup (aka - take and pass a drug test) as a condition of receiving benefits, the members of the lege should have do to the same, with the same frequency, as a condition of retaining their positions.

Rationale:  Maybe if the members of the lege felt the impact of their actions the way that the rest of us feel the impact, well, maybe they'd think twice about some of their pet proposals.


Suggestion eight:

Any legislation that alters election or voting laws in any way at all is automatically referred to the ballot, and any changes are frozen and cannot be enforced or repealed (with subsequent legislation) until the voters have their say.

On a related note, any other legislative measure that is successfully referred to the ballot by a petition drive should similarly be frozen until voters have their say.

Rationale: The Arizona legislature is intensely fond of passing measures to disenfranchise voters that they don't like (aka - people who don't vote for them) and of undermining voters when they exercise their prerogative to directly approve/disapprove of measures that the lege passes.


Suggestion nine: ...Well, that's enough for now.  This should help start a few conversations.

Some of those conversations will range from "What does he know?  He's just a BLEEPing blogger!" to "What does he know?  He's just a BLEEPETY BLEEP BLEEP BLEEPING blogger!"

However, others will be discussions of the variety we should be having, about the nature of good governance and what we can do to create a political culture where good governance that protects and nurtures a healthy society is the priority.

In contrast to the culture of contempt for civil society that currently exists at the state capitol.


Note:  There is one suggestion that I originally put in this post but later pulled.  Originally, suggestion nine was to require the members of the lege to begin their floor sessions by donning pink tutus and singing a rousing chorus of "I'm A Little Teapot".  They would be mocked, but since they've turned this state into a national punchline, they should have to stand for their ration of the mockery.  However, upon further consideration, I decided that was too petty.

It should be held in reserve.  As in, implement some changes, and if those changes don't bring the lege to heel, it can be used in phase II to remind the lege who they actually work for.

Huppenthal betrays Arizona's children and his constituents

John Huppenthal is Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction.

He seems to have a bit of a problem with the "Public" part, however.

From the Arizona Republic -

Arizona Legislature: The Coming Week

The full moon isn't going to happen until Friday night, but the "bay at the moon" crowd will be in full throat by early Monday afternoon...  

Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, please leave a comment letting me know.

The agendas that seem to be the "worst of the worst" are bolded.


All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.


On the Senate side of the Capitol -

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., Senate Caucus Room 1.  Rubber stamp, but the agenda serves as a warning that some very bad bills will be up for floor votes in the near future.

- Judiciary, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  "Highlights" of the agenda: SB1270, repealing the voter suppression omnibus bill passed last session, not because it's a bad bill (and law), which it is, but because the lege's Rs want to obviate the petition drive that put that particular measure on the ballot coming up in November.  Once that is done, they've already admitted their intent to passed the measures contained in the original bill again, just individually, making in prohibitively difficult and expensive for opponents to put the issue before the voters; SB1294, declaring any federal laws, regulations, that violate the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution to be null and void.  It doesn't specify who gets decide what exactly constitutes a "violation", but I'm guess it won't be the judges who already consider such things; SCR1011, proposing an amendment to the Arizona Constitution to expand privacy protections (this one doesn't seem too bad on the face of things, but it's from Sen. Don "Tequila" Shooter, so there is probably some serious ugly in it that I can't see at this moment).

- Government and Environment, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  On the agenda: SB1096, another "gold as legal tender for debts" bill; SB1183, barring municipalities and counties from adopting any ordinance, rule, or other legal requirement that one or two family structures, or specified other structures, on a "fire access road" install sprinklers; SB1227, barring municipalities and counties from adopting "green" building codes; and SCR1022, politely (by the standards of the AZLege, anyway) advising the EPA that it should leave pollution regulation and remediation in the hands of the people who know best, state legislators.

Note: AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has a summary of Monday's planned activities at the Senate.

- Transportation, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  Looks harmless so far.

- Elections, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR1. On the agenda: SCR1003, a proposed amendment to the AZ Constitution to require that all voter-enacted measures that affect state revenues or expenditures be reauthorized every 8 years.  Think of it as the people at the legislature who have professed their hatred of recall elections for legislators trying to establish an automatic recall election for voter-enacted measures.

- Appropriations, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  On the agenda: SB1315, the annual proposal to take the power to allocate federal block grants in AZ away from the governor and give it to the legislature.  For some reason, no previous governor has signed this one into law.  Can't understand why not :) ; SB1236 and SB1237, all about expanding and entrenching school vouchers "Empowerment Scholarship Accounts"; SB1212, appropriating $250K to the AZ Attorney General for litigation related to the feds' Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program.

- Natural Resources and Rural Affairs, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR109.  Looks harmless so far.

- Commerce, Energy, and Military, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR1.  Looks harmless so far.

- Public Safety, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  On the agenda: SB1290, requiring that federal-level law enforcement agents ask permission from a county's sheriff before conducting a search, seizure, or arrest in that sheriff's county.

- Health and Human Services, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  On the agenda: SB1296, SB1297, and SB1298, micromanaging the health care of AHCCCS patients; SB1308, requiring health care "navigators" (related to the Affordable Care Act) to register with the state.

- Finance, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  On the agenda: SB1182, micromanaging school bond elections; SB1351, increasing legislative control over the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District in Tucson.  There are also a number of very technical bills on this agenda that I do not understand well enough to evaluate them.

- Education, Thursday, 8:30 a.m., SHR1.  On the agenda:  SB1092, a proposal by anti-public education legislators to mess with K-12 public education finance; SB1100, requiring public school districts to sell "unused" or "underused" buildings to charter or private schools; SB1228, micromanaging the state's higher education entities, including prohibiting the admission of any student who may need remedial studies in any subject in order to qualify.  Given the way that the lege is constantly attacking the effectiveness of public K-12 education in AZ, this bill could conceivably result in Arizona students not being able to be admitted to Arizona's state higher education system; SB1229, creating a voucher system for higher education to siphon public money away from public institutions; SB1311, allowing school districts the "option" of privatizing school bus routes (prediction: this measure passes this session, mostly because "optional" doesn't seem bad, but next session, "optional" will be replaced by "shall").


On the House side of the Capitol:

- Rules, Monday, 1 p.m., HHR4.  Rubber stamp, mostly serves as a preview of upcoming floor calendars.

- Ways and Means, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: HB2174, making any federal tax penalty paid by a taxpayer in relation to failure to purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act a deduction on the taxpayer's state income tax; HB2281, reclassifying, for tax purposes, property that is leased by a religious entity, and under certain circumstances, exempting such property from taxation; a striker to HB2285, creating some new exemptions to Arizona's transaction privilege tax (aka - "sales tax").  The big one is exempting the sale of coal to a refiner by a power plant and back again after refining; HB2291, expanding school vouchers "Empowerment Scholarship Accounts".

- Financial Institutions, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR5.  Looks harmless so far.

- Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR4.  Looks harmless so far.

- Education, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  Looks harmless, but one to keep an eye on: HB2180, appropriating $5 million dollars for the creation of an information technology education and certification program at the K-12 level.  The bill mandates the use of "at least one" private vendor to supply materials and resources.  Probably merits a closer look at the campaign finance reports of the sponsors, which may show ties between a company that would benefit from this bill's passage and one or more sponsors.

- Insurance and Retirement, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR3.  On the agenda: HB2060, giving the legislature more control over the governing board of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS).  The measure failed to gain committee approval last week; HB2069, declaring that new employees of any of the state's political subdivisions (municipalities, counties, etc.) are ineligible for membership in the public employee retirement system.  There are also some bills on this agenda where I don't understand the impact well enough to evaluate them.

- Government, Tuesday, 2 p.m, HHR4.  On the agenda: HB2513, creating a privatized audit of AHCCCS payments.  The language in the bill is so broadly-drawn that a company receiving a contract under the provisions contained in this bill may view it as winning the lottery.

- Federalism and Fiscal Responsibility, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  Currently, the agenda has four bills, all dog-whistle specials for the bay at the moon crowd (OK, HB2385 is more "bad" than "bay", but it's close).

- Agriculture and Water, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR5.  On the agenda: HB2587, a bill creating a "gag" rule regarding animal cruelty.  The Animal Defense League of Arizona has more information here.

- Public Safety, Military, and Regulatory Affairs, Wednesday, 9 a.m., HHR3.  The agenda looks to be mostly harmless, but HB2541, authorizing the state or a city or town to access federal land in the event of an emergency, but not actually specifying the definition of an "emergency", may inspire some laughter in the halls of more than a few federal departments and agencies.

- Higher Education and Workforce Development, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR1.  One bill on the agenda, and it's actually a good one: HB2527, which would repeal a law passed in 2010 which allows Maricopa County to add two "at-large" members to the governing board of its community college district governing board.  The original measure was crafted to add some tea party types to the Maricopa County Community College District's governing board, which is known for having members, even some of the Republican members, who don't revile public education.

- Health, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR4.  Presentations only, at this time.

- Commerce, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR5.  Seems harmless so far.

- Appropriations, Wednesday, 2 p.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: HB2276, granting a major tax break to the insurance industry in the form of a cut to the state's tax on revenue from insurance premiums.  Passed the Insurance and Retirement committee on a party-line vote.

- Transportation, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR3.  Seems harmless so far.

- Technology and Infrastructure, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR5.  One bill on the agenda as of this writing: HB2554, the lege's annual shot across the bow/bully move aimed at the Arizona Capitol Times.  The weekly that covers the state's capital and environs earns a significant portion of its annual revenue from the publication of legal notices, such as articles of incorporation.  This particular bill would create an online database administered by the Arizona Corporation Commission and remove the requirement that articles of incorporation be published in a newspaper.

-  Reform and Human Services, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR1.  Looks harmless so far.

- Judiciary, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR4.  Looks harmless so far.


Legislative floor calendars can be found here.
The lege's calendar of events for the week is here.
AZ Department of Administration meeting public notices are here.