Arizona Legislature: the coming week

While it's true that not every legislative committee is meeting this week, there is a serious ramp-up in activity this week.

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 House side of the Capitol:

Appropriations, Tuesday, 9 a.m., HHR1 - There will be a joint meet of both chambers' Appropriations committees to receive presentations about the governor's budget proposal. 

Rural and Economic Development, Tuesday, 2:30 p.m., HHR5.  Presentation only, at this point in time.

Health, Tuesday, 2:30 p.m., HHR4.  A presentation and a couple of bills.  "Highlight": HB2061, barring the prescription of medical marijuana to pregnant women.

Banking and Financial Services, Tuesday, 2:30 p.m., HHR3.  One bill on the agenda: HB2152, repealing the prohibition on consumer lenders paying referral fees for new business and also allowing those lenders to sell certain new lines of insurance related to consumer loans.

Transportation, Tuesday, 3 p.m., SHR109 - There will be a joint meeting of both chambers' Transportation committees to receive a multitude of transportation-related presentations.


Federalism and States' Rights, Wednesday, 9.a.m., HHR5.  Presentations/Propaganda session (about states taking over federally-controlled public lands) only, at this time.

Commerce, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m., HHR1.  On the agenda: Two bills, HB2112 and HB2114, expanding the ability of private employers to call employees "independent contractors" and to immunize employers from responsibility for any of their abuses of employees and another one, HB2113, expanding an employer's ability to appeal a decision from the Department of Employment Security that it doesn't like.

Judiciary, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR3.  A few bills on the agenda: HB2042, repealing the state's prohibition of nunchaku (aka - "nunchucks") seems to be the worst.

Education, Wednesday, 2 p.m., HHR4.  On the agenda: HB2058, putting a charter school type on the state Board of Education. There are other tea party bills on the agenda, but this one looks to be the most obviously egregious.  Another committee meeting is scheduled to immediately follow this one.  On that agenda: HB2088, too long and complicated to summarize here, but it seems to be another ploy for the people who like to tell the federal gubmint to "butt out!" to micromanage the state's schools.


Military Affairs and Public Safety, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR5.  Looks harmless so far.

Government and Higher Education, Thursday, 9 a.m., HHR1.  The longest agenda of the week, so far.  Looks mostly harmless, but at least a couple of the proposals bear watching, as they may be less "harmless" and more "sneaky bad".  One example: HB2126, relating to community college district expenditure limits.

Agriculture, Water, and Lands, Thursday, 10 a.m., HHR3. Presentations only, at this point.


On the Senate side of the Capitol:

Appropriations, Tuesday, 9 a.m., HHR1 - There will be a joint meet of both chambers' Appropriations committees to receive presentations about the governor's budget proposal.

Transportation, Tuesday, 3 p.m., SHR109 - There will be a joint meeting of both chambers' Transportation committees to receive a multitude of transportation-related presentations.

Rules, Tuesday, Upon adjournment of the floor session, Senate Caucus Room 1. Rubber stamp time.


Public Safety, Military, and Technology, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR1. On the agenda: SB1088, requiring gated communities (apartments, condos, etc.) to allow process servers access to their property.

Finance, Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR3.  Short agenda with three (apparently) harmless bills and one executive nomination - Jacob Hoffman, communications director of the Maricopa County GOP, to the State Board of Tax Appeals.

Financial Institutions, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR109.  On the agenda: SCM1002, a love letter to Congress from Nancy Barto, urging it to gut the Affordable Care Act.

Health and Human Services, Wednesday 2 p.m., SHR1.  On the agenda: SB1106, a "demonize the poor" special from committee chair Nancy Barto.

Government, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR3.  On the agenda: SB1057, a sneaky bad bill from John Kavanagh.  Ostensibly, it just clarifies the mental states required to be considered culpable for the violation of a statute or ordinance;  However, there are clauses in it that specify that while the required mental state for being considered culpable for a violation is "intentional" except for drug offenses, where the standard would be "knowingly".  There are also two executive nominations.


Education, Thursday, 9 a.m., SHR1.  Presentations and executive nominations only, at this point.

Judiciary, Thursday, 9:30 a.m., SHR109.  One bill on the agenda: SB1047 from John Kavanagh, allowing county attorneys to do work for other counties (apparently, Bill Montgomery isn't busy enough in Maricopa County and is looking for a moonlighting gig).


Floor Calendars:

There is a House Caucus calendar for Monday, but, as of this writing, it is a "housekeeping only" calendar with no legislation listed.

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.