Sunday, March 04, 2012

The coming week...

As usual, all committee agendas are subject to change without notice, and given that this is the Arizona legislature, many of them will change with as little notice as the lege can give.

The two biggest new items up for consideration this week are matching supplemental appropriations bills to continue funding for Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).  Some of the Republicans in the lege have made noises about not funding the AIRC, but it's required by the Arizona Constitution.

Still, they aren't known for letting little things like constitutional requirements get in the way of their temper tantrums, and they are still thoroughly peeved that the Independent Redistricting Commission was actually *independent* this time around.  Look for more games.

Pertinent information:  HB2862, House Appropriations, Wednesday, 2 p.m., HHR1; SB1533, Senate Appropriations, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.

The other items of interest up for consideration this week have already been seen before:

- HB2640, taking the limits off of the size of ammunition magazines used by "hunters" (think of the damage that Jared Loughner could have wreaked with an unending supply of bullets) and HB2728, allowing "hunters" to use silencers - Senate Judiciary, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR1

- HB2349, Rep. Kimberly Yee's move to add restrictions to the voter-approved Medical Marijuana Act - Senate Education, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR1.  Even if it gets the requisite 3/4 vote needed to amend a voter-protected law, it may still run into the requirement that any amendments further the intent of the underlying measure.

- A striker to HB2062 with a subject of "DUI; incarceration reimbursement" will be heard in Senate Public Safety and Human Services, Wednesday, 10 a.m., SHR3.  No text available as yet.

- A striker to HB2090 with a subject of "parity funding for Arizona universities" (Why am I hearing all sorts of alarms going off right now?) (no text available as yet) and HB2774, expanded the tax exemption for property owned by religiously-affiliated entities will be heard by Senate Finance, Thursday, 9 a.m., SHR1.

- HB2437, banning the appropriation of state monies "pursuant to a federal mandate without a federal report regarding the constitutionality of the mandate." (quoting the lege summary of the measure; basically it means that the lege will refuse to follow any federal law or rule that it doesn't like) will be heard by Senate Border Security, Federalism, and States' Sovereignty, Thursday, 9 a.m., SHR109. (Watch this agenda; it's chaired by Sylvia Allen and they usually slip in nuggets of ugly on Wednesdays).

- SB1237, allowing ADEQ to cite federal agencies for any pollutant discharges related to wildfires and wildfire suppression, will be heard by House Environment, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR5.

- SB1365, allowing people to breach contracts by citing religious beliefs, will be heard by House Employment and Regulatory Affairs, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR3.


Bills before the lege can be found here.

House committee agendas are here; Senate agendas are here.

Complete floor calendars are here.  My "highlight" on Monday's Senate Third Read calendar (Third Read = Final Approval) is SCR1008, a declaration of a state of emergency in Arizona and telling the feds to buzz off, even in regards to federal lands here.

The lege's Capitol Events calendar is here; the Arizona Capitol Times' Capitol Calendar is here.

One non-lege related event:

The Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review will hold public hearings to solicit comment on Justices and Judges that will be on the 2012 retention election ballot.

This week, Maricopa County, followed by Pima and Pinal counties in the successive weeks (all hearings on Wednesdays).  The schedule -

March 7, 2012 - Phoenix
4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Arizona State Courts Building
1501 W. Washington Street
Conference Room 345
March 14, 2012 - Tucson
4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
West Side Police Service Center
1310 West Miracle Mile
Rillito Room
March 21, 2012 – Florence
4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Pinal County Justice Center
971 Jason Lopez Circle
Building A 

No comments: