Saturday, March 12, 2016

Arizona Legislature: The coming week

This is the last week when bill proposals can be heard in committee (there are a few ways around that rule, but the ways involve some serious sucking up to legislative leadership and/or the chairs of the respective chambers' Appropriations Committees).

In short, there's a *lot* of ugly on committee agendas this week.

This is also a very good week to pay attention to agenda changes - bills will be added to or removed from agendas with nearly no notice, strikers will be proposed out of nowhere, and meeting times will be changed.

Some examples, meaning that as long as this list may be, it's not even close to being comprehensive:

- A striker to HB2113, seeking to overturn any and all municipal bans on "puppy mills" (Senate Natural Resources, Monday)

- HB2579, barring municipalities from regulating "nonwage compensation", such as requiring sick pay (Senate Commerce and Workforce Development, Monday)

- HB2652, removing any labor protections for people like Uber and Lyft drivers by inserting language into state law that makes them "independent contractors" (Senate Commerce and Workforce Development, Monday)

- HB2445, allowing motor vehicle insurance providers to "non-renew" insurance policies for almost any reason (Senate Transportation, Tuesday)

- HB2300, barring the state or its political subdivisions (counties, municipalities, etc.) from enforcing or assisting with the enforcement of any federal law, rule, policy, etc. that they deem as infringing on the 2nd Amendment

- HCR2043, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution to allow the legislature to override the Voter Protection Act; more on this one from AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona here (Senate Federalism, Mandates, and Fiscal Responsibility, Tuesday)

- HB2517, barring counties, municipalities, etc., from enacting or enforcing rules, regulations, ordinances, policies, etc. that may restrict or inhibit the formation and operation of businesses, except under limited conditions (Senate Government, Wednesday)

- HB2537, Doug Ducey's scheme to pack the Supreme Court with pliable judges (Senate Government, Wednesday)

- HCR2023, another proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution to allow the legislature to override the Voter Protection Act (Senate Government, Wednesday)

- HCR2035, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution to hamstring the authority of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (Senate Government, Wednesday)

- HB2043, exempting profits from speculation in gold and silver coins (calling those things "specie legal tender") from taxation, but making financial losses from such speculation tax-deductible (Senate Financial Institutions, Wednesday)

- HB2480, limiting the amount of "additional state aid" for education that the state can appropriate for education (Senate Finance, Wednesday)

- HB2115, attacking public employees by barring them from receiving a pension or severance pay if they are found to have "misappropriated" public funds.  The bill does not require that such an allegation be proven in court before the penalties are imposed (Senate Judiciary, Thursday)

- HB2123, gutting conflict of interest rules applied to members of the Arizona Corporation Commission (aiding their former colleague, Andy Tobin, a former House Speaker and current member of the ACC) (Senate Judiciary, Thursday)

- SB1516,  well, their title for this nugget of ugly is "campaign finance amendments" but it should be titled the "dark money protection act" (House Elections, Monday)

- SB1266, creating penalties for political subdivisions that enact, and for officials that enforce, any law, ordinance, rule, etc. that restricts firearms any more than state law does (House Judiciary, Wednesday)
- SB1474, barring scientific research on fetal tissue or embryos from abortions (House Judiciary, Wednesday)
- SB1485, barring state employees from making donations to Planned Parenthood through payroll deductions (House Judiciary, Wednesday)

- SB1324, imposing restrictions on medication-induced abortions (House Judiciary, Wednesday)

- SB1437, nullifying part of the National Defense Authorization Act (House Federalism and States' Rights, Wednesday)


The rest -

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 interested 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.

All House committee agendas can be found here. All Senate committee agendas can be found here.

Committee schedule (mostly just copied and pasted from the lege's websiteThe agenda links work, as of this writing, but may not later in the week if an agenda is modified in some way):



Agenda Date Committee Time Room HTML Document
03/17/16 Agriculture, Water and Lands 10:00 A.M. HHR 3 Click Here
03/17/16 Government and Higher Education 9:00 A.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/17/16 Military Affairs and Public Safety 9:00 A.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/16/16 Appropriations 2:00 P.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/16/16 Commerce 9:30 A.M. NOTE TIME CHANGE HHR 1 Click Here
03/16/16 Education 2:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/16/16 Federalism and States' Rights 9:00 A.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/16/16 Insurance 10:00 A.M. NOTE TIME CHANGE HHR 4 Click Here
03/16/16 Judiciary 8:00 A.M. NOTE TIME CHANGE HHR 3 Click Here
03/15/16 Banking and Financial Services 2:00 P.M. HHR 3 Click Here
03/15/16 Health 2:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/15/16 Rural and Economic Development 2:00 P.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/15/16 Transportation and Infrastructure 2:00 P.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/14/16 Children and Family Affairs 2:00 P.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/14/16 County and Municipal Affairs 2:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/14/16 Elections 9:30 A.M. NOTE TIME CHANGE HHR 4 Click Here
03/14/16 Energy, Environment and Natural Resources 2:00 P.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/14/16 Rules 1:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/14/16 Ways and Means 2:00 P.M. HHR 3 Click Here





Agenda Date Committee Time Room HTML Document
03/17/16 Education 9:00 A.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/17/16 Judiciary 9:30 A.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/16/16 Finance 9:00 A.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/16/16 Financial Institutions 2:00 P.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/16/16 Government 2:00 P.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/16/16 Health and Human Services 2:00 P.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/16/16 Public Safety, Military and Technology 9:00 A.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/15/16 Appropriations 2:00 P.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/15/16 Federalism, Mandates and Fiscal Responsibility 9:00 A.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/15/16 Transportation 2:00 P.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/14/16 Commerce and Workforce Development 1:45 P.M. OR UPON ADJ OF FLOOR (NOTE TIME CHANGE) SHR 1 Click Here
03/14/16 Natural Resources 9:00 A.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/14/16 State Debt and Budget Reform 10:00 A.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/14/16 Water and Energy 2:00 P.M. SHR 3 Click Here


Floor Calendars:


The House has a Final Read (approving changes to House bills that were amended in the Senate) calendar scheduled for Monday.

The Senate has a COW (Committee of the Whole) calendar posted for Monday.

There will be floor calendars later in the week, but those are generally posted the day before, or even the day of, consideration.

The lege's Capitol Events calendar is here.


Sunday, March 06, 2016

Arizona legislature: The coming week

Lots of baying at the moon on tap this week at the Capitol -

- HB2201, Treason Act 2016 (barring the state and its subdivisions from cooperating with any federal action that is considered to be "commandeering", be it a law, executive order, regulation, court decision, etc.) (Senate Federalism, Mandates, and Fiscal Responsibility, Tuesday)

- HCR2031, a proposed amendment to the state constitution increasing the exemption from taxation on business personal property from $50K to $2.4 million (Senate Finance, Wednesday)

- HB2481, imposing limits on the property taxes that may be levied by counties for use by their school district (Senate Education, Thursday)

- SB1141, making gold and silver acceptable forms of payment for debts, and exempting from taxation profits from speculation involving that (House Federalism and States' Rights, Wednesday)

- SB1282, John Kavanagh's move to limit the public's access to public records by giving legal protection to the denial of access to those records if the keeper of the records deems a request to access those records as "unduly burdensome" or "harassing" (House Government and Higher Education, Thursday)

- SB1266, Barring the state's political subdivisions from enacting any ordinance, rule, policy, etc. that restricts firearms any more than state law already does, and creating heavy fines as penalties for doing so (House Judiciary, Wednesday)

- SB1474, Barring scientific research on fetal tissue or embryos from abortions (House Judiciary, Wednesday)

- SB1485, barring state employees from making donations to Planned Parenthood through payroll deductions (House Judiciary, Wednesday)

- HB2081, barring background checks for private firearms transfers (Senate Commerce and Workforce Development, Monday)


The rest -

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 interested 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.
All House committee agendas can be found here.
All Senate committee agendas can be found here.
Committee schedule (mostly just copied and pasted from the lege's websiteThe agenda links work, as of this writing, but may not later in the week if an agenda is modified in some way):


Agenda Date Committee Time Room Agenda
House side of the Capitol



03/10/16 Agriculture, Water and Lands 10:00 A.M. HHR 3 Click Here
03/10/16 Government and Higher Education 9:00 A.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/10/16 Military Affairs and Public Safety 9:00 A.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/09/16 Appropriations NOT MEETING HHR 1 Click Here
03/09/16 Commerce 9:30 A.M. NOTE TIME CHANGE HHR 1 Click Here
03/09/16 Education 2:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/09/16 Federalism and States' Rights 9:00 A.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/09/16 Insurance 10:00 A.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/09/16 Judiciary 9:00 A.M. HHR 3 Click Here
03/08/16 Banking and Financial Services 2:00 P.M. HHR 3 Click Here
03/08/16 Health 2:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/08/16 Rural and Economic Development 2:00 P.M. HHR 5 Click Here
03/08/16 Transportation and Infrastructure 2:00 P.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/07/16 Children and Family Affairs NOT MEETING HHR 5 Click Here
03/07/16 County and Municipal Affairs 2:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/07/16 Elections NOT MEETING HHR 4 Click Here
03/07/16 Energy, Environment and Natural Resources 2:00 P.M. HHR 1 Click Here
03/07/16 Rules 1:00 P.M. HHR 4 Click Here
03/07/16 Ways and Means 2:00 P.M. HHR 3 Click Here





Senate side of the Capitol



03/10/16 Education 9:00 A.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/10/16 Judiciary 9:30 A.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/09/16 Finance 9:00 A.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/09/16 Financial Institutions 2:00 P.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/09/16 Government 2:00 P.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/09/16 Health and Human Services 2:00 P.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/09/16 Public Safety, Military and Technology 9:00 A.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/08/16 Appropriations 2:00 P.M. SHR 109 Click Here
03/08/16 Federalism, Mandates and Fiscal Responsibility 9:00 A.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/08/16 Transportation 2:00 P.M. SHR 1 Click Here
03/07/16 Commerce and Workforce Development 1:45 P.M. OR UPON ADJ OF FLOOR (NOTE TIME CHANGE) SHR 1 Click Here
03/07/16 Natural Resources NOT MEETING* SHR 109 Click Here
03/07/16 Rules 1:00 P.M. Caucus Room 1 Click Here
03/07/16 State Debt and Budget Reform 10:00 A.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/07/16 Water and Energy 2:00 P.M. SHR 3 Click Here
03/10/16 Education 9:00 A.M. SHR 1 Click Here







Floor Calendars:

The House has a COW (Committee of the Whole) calendar scheduled for Monday.

The Senate has both a COW calendar and a Third Read (final approval) calendar posted for Monday.

There will be floor calendars later in the week, but those are generally posted the day before, or even the day of, consideration.
The lege's Capitol Events calendar is here.

Ballot time in Arizona: Presidential primary edition



Full disclosure time: I am on the Permanent Early Voting List and have already voted in Arizona's Presidential Preference Election, and I voted for Bernie Sanders for president.  Nothing about this post should be considered to be an endorsement...but if I was going to make one... :)


...A few thoughts as we approach the date of Arizona's presidential primary (Tuesday, March 22) -

- Everyone has their own "big issue" that they use as a litmus test when choosing which candidates to support.  Mine is "will she/he work in the best interest of all of her/his constituents, and not just her/his donors and supporters".  I can disagree with a candidate on an issue and still vote for that person, so long as I am convinced that their "guiding light" is the best interest of their constituents (example: Harry Mitchell would drive me up a wall with some of his votes in Congress, but I never doubted his respect, affection, and dedication to the people of Tempe or his district [when he held a "district" office, not a Tempe office]).

Of all of the candidates on both sides of the political aisle, I think that Bernie Sanders does the best job of meeting that criteria, which is why he won my vote.


- At this point, tt looks as if the horrific Donald Trump will be the nominee of the Republican Party, which should make life easier on the eventual Democratic nominee, whoever that may be.  However horrific he may be as a candidate and as a human being though, his nomination doesn't guarantee a Democratic win.

Not even close.

One way for Democratic activists to enhance Trump's chances in the general election is if the supporters of the two main Democratic candidates, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, refuse to "bury the hatchet" after the nominee is selected.

There have been some hurt feelings on both sides as (alleged) supporters of one candidate spout things that are demeaning toward the supporters of the other candidate.

My advice to partisans of both candidates:

When someone you personally know and respect goes "below the belt" in criticisms of your favored candidate or his/her supporters, discuss (or argue :) ) the matter with them.

When someone you don't know or have never even heard of does the same thing, ignore them.


- Related to the above paragraph, please read the one above that one.  It serves as evidence that one can express support for a candidate without insulting another candidate or his/her supporters.

Note: Expressing support for one candidate does not in itself constitute an insult to another candidate.  If you feel that someone civilly expressing support for a candidate that you don't support to be an insult, stay away from politics.

Your sensibilities are far too tender.


- Supporters of some of the candidates have been touting their preferred candidate's "resume".  While the job of "President of the United States" is not an entry-level position (looking at you, Donald Trump), "resume" is not the deciding factor with most voters.

If it was, Barack Obama wouldn't have won in 2008; Bill Richardson (experience in Congress, as a cabinet secretary, state governor, ambassador to the UN, nominations for a couple of Nobel Peace Prizes, etc., in other words, "resume out the wazoo") would have.