Legislative schedule - week starting 2/1/2026

There are actually more bills on agendas this week than last.  That should change as the session proceeds.  The key word here being "should." 

Also, Wednesdays look to be the busiest day of the week at the legislature - if someone plans to make a day of it down at the Capitol, that may be the best day for it, what with committee sessions in both the morning and afternoon, and a floor session in between.

Read bills carefully - bills that look (relatively) harmless may contain a VERY bad provision in them that may be easy to miss.

Schedules can, and frequently do, change at any moment when the legislature is in session.  So pay attention.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally b, ad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill become a very bad one. 

On Monday, 2/2 

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The chambers' respective Rules committees, House and Senate, will meet to consider proposals approved by other committees.

Senate Finance meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: eight measures.  Includes SB1290, proposing that owners of agricultural properties be forewarned when a property is to be inspected by the state department of revenue or a county assessor's office.

Senate Military Affairs and Border Security meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: six bills, at least four of which are exercises in open bigotry.

House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: Two presentations and 12 bills, including HB2797, requiring DES to impose certain more stringent verification standards on SNAP (and other public welfare) recipients.  There are other anti poor people proposals here.

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: seven bills, at least three are direct swipes at AZAG Kris Mayes and three other look to be pure "fear the other" propaganda.

House Public Safety and Law Enforcement meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: five bills, four bad.  Includes HB2811, outlawing political protests by making interfering with a "lawful arrest" a class 5 felony.

On Tuesday, 2/3 

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Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: 14 measures.  Includes a same-subject striker from Mark Finchem for SB1138, mandating that law enforcement agencies use license plate readers and conceal any data collected from the public.

Senate Natural Resources meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: eight bills, many of which read as if they were written by industry lobbyists.

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: 14 bills.  Includes HB2875, a move to outlaw local regulation of unmanned aircraft and HB2903, a move to outlaw the use of a social credit score to determine creditworthiness for loans.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: 11 bills, many bad, even "sneaky" bad.  Includes HB2312, telling schools that they have to allow the Hitler Youth "patriotic youth groups" access to students.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m.in HHR3.  On the agenda: 15 bills.

House Regulatory Oversight meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: two bills, both R propaganda related to gold bullion.

On Wednesday, 2/4 

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House Government meets at 9 a.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: 12 measures. Lots of bad here, including HCR2044, asking the voters to get rid of affirmative action; and HB2745, making failure to comply with a legislative subpoena a criminal act solely at the discretion of the chair of the committee somebody was subpoenaed to appear before; also, all testimony given under such a subpoena would be considered to be under oath (subject to the penalties for perjury).

 House International Trade meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: one presentation and one bill.  HB2754 puts the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) under the direct control of the legislature and continues it indefinitely (the bill repeals the repeal of the ACA).

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: 12 bills.  Lots of bad here.  My personal (least) favorite - HB2589, making it a class 4 felony for a person to allow a minor to see a drag show or to even be in the same building as a drag show.

House Ways & Means meets at 9 a.m.in HHR3.  On the agenda: six bills, including HB2477, which seeks to expand Arizona's ESA program.  Maybe this committee should be renamed as "House Budget Busting Committee."

Senate Government meets at 9 a.m.in SHR1.  On the agenda: 11 measures, all bad.  Includes a striker to SB1439 (language not yet available), subject "Charlie Kirk memorial; special plate".  I guess that all of AZ's problems are solved.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 9 a.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: nine bills, three of which are anti poor people bills that seem to be duplicates of some of those on the agenda for House's counterpart to this committee.

Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency meets at 9 a.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: 10 measures.  Includes SB1241, Shawnna Bolick's ploy to supplant municipal project permitting processes by replacing them with private permitting providers.

Senate Education meets at 1:30 p.m.in SHR1.  On the agenda: four bills.  One of which looks to be a duplicate of the "Hitler Youth" bill to be heard in the House's counterpart to this committee.  Also includes SB1210, Bolick's move to give legal protection to out-of-state degree mill colleges.

Senate Judiciary and Elections meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: one executive nomination and 11 measures.  Mostly bad.   Includes SB1326, a proposal to allow crime victims to collect attorney's fees. 

Senate Public Safety meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: nine bills.

House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: seven measures.  Includes HB2584, a proposal public money from being used to pay for genetic sequencing test by a company from, or controlled by a person or entity from, a "foreign adversary". Venezuela has been added to list countries designated as a foreign adversary.

House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda:  six bills.

House Transportation & Infrastructure meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda:11 measures.  Includes HB2369, proposing to nullify all traffic tickets that aren't signed by the judge presiding over the court that the ticket is written in to.

On Thursday, 2/5 

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House Artificial Intelligence & Innovation meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: three bills, including HB2452, which is so bad it seems to defy description.  It has something to do with barring municipalities and counties from adopting comprehensive plans that serve to restrict the placement of facilities for mining or energy production, data centers, or small nuclear reactors.

House Rural Economic Development meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: three bills.

Senate Finance meets as 9 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: one bill.

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/25/2026

*Many* bills are on agendas this week (over 200, and that's not even counting the measures on the respective chambers Rules Committee agendas.)

Some attempts at subtlety this week.

I'd say they failed...but certain legislators may consider jackhammers to be subtle.

Read bills carefully - bills that look (relatively) harmless may contain a VERY bad provision in them that may be easy to miss.

Schedules can, and frequently do, change at any moment when the legislature is in session.  So pay attention.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally b, ad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill become a very bad one. 

On Monday, 1/26 

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The chambers' respective Rules committees, House and Senate, will meet to consider proposals approved by other committees.

Senate Federalism meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: four bills, all bad.

Senate Finance meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda:  11 bills, some mundane, some problematical.  Those tend to be pro-crypto measures from Wendy Rogers.  One very bad bill that was not introduced by Rogers is SB1142.  It's Shawnna Bolick's budget-busting pro-STO measure.

Senate Military Affairs and Border Security meets at 1:30 p.m in SHR109.   On the agenda: two bills, both from the fetid imagination of Wendy Rogers.  Her SB1055 would require the state's law enforcement agencies to report the arrest of an undocumented immigrant to violent feds for summary execution.

House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: three presentations (at least one of which is from an anti-society group) and nine bills.  At least three of which are very bad.  For example, HB2689 would require hospitals to file reports detailing care to undocumented immigrants.

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs (LARA) meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: a meeting as the LARA Committee of Reference (COR) to consider a sunset review of the Arizona Beef Council.  I won't that the fix is in, but there are five bills on the agenda, with one providing for the Council's continuation.

House Public Safety & Law Enforcement meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: four bills.

On Tuesday, 1/27 

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Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: seven measures, including the one to name AZ260 after Cheeto.  Also, SB1138, from the fetid imagination of Mark Finchem, relating to automated license plate readers.  It purports to place limits on law enforcement use of such, but doesn't really.

Senate Natural Resources meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: six measures, including SCM1004, anti-clean air missive from the Rs in the AZ legislature to the Rs in the US Congress

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: eight bills.  Includes HB2266, which would mandate that school governing boards adopt policies to excuse students who miss school for religious reasons.

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: 10 bills, including HB2690, a proposal to increase placed on recipients of unemployment benefits.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: One presentation and 10 bills. including HB2042, an anti-solar radiation management measure.  Solar radiation management is a technique to combat global warming.  So the measure in question is actually pro-global warming.

House Regulatory Oversight meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: three bills, all very bad.  My personal (least) favorite is HB2248.  It's a ploy to prohibit a business or governmental entity from requiring anyone to receive a "medical intervention" in order to access services.  There's a lot of chaff here, but it read like a backdoor way of outlawing vaccine requirements in schools.

On Wednesday, 1/28 

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House Government meets at 9 a.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: nine bills, many bad.  Includes HB2060, barring state universities and employees thereof from even discussing abortion in a way that "encourages" them.

House International Trade meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: no bills, four presentations.

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: 11 bills, with lots of propaganda on it.  Includes HB2763, a move to give the legislature absolute power to block the closure of publicly-owned shooting range.  I'm not kidding.

From the bill -

Senate Government meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda:  nine measures, most bad.  Maybe the committee's name should be changed to the "Anti-Government Committee."  Includes SCR1006, from the fetid imagination of John Kavanagh.  It purports to ask the voters of Arizona to adopt some anti-LGBTQ provisions into state law.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 9 a.m. is SHR2.  On the agenda: 19 bills. Most are bad, but conventionally so.  Some aren't simply conventionally bad.  Includes SB1368, requiring DES to seek federal permission to restrict the purchases made by SNAP recipients.

Senate Regulatory Affair and Government Efficiency meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: seven bills.  Most seem conventional, but at least one is a direct shot at the governor.  SB1186 definitely falls into this category.

House Ways & Means meets at 10 a.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: five bills

Senate Education meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: five bills, many/most sneaky bad.

Senate Judiciary and Elections meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: 12 bills.  Most bad.  Includes SB1283, a move from the fetid imagination of Mark Finchem to get rid of one of the state's two Courts of Appeals.  He wishes to close the Pima County division.

Senate Public Safety meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: six bills.

House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m.in HHR1.  On the agenda: nine bills.

House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: eight bills, with lots of propaganda here.  Includes HCR2016, a move to evade the governor's veto stamp and have the voters directly approve getting rid of non-precinct-based voting centers and early voting at the same.

House Science & Technology meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: four bills.

House Transportation & Infrastructure meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda. one presentation and 14 bills.  Includes HB2112, creating a special license plate for a "conservative grassroots network."

On Thursday, 1/29 

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House Artificial Intelligence & Innovation meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: two bills.  The agenda may short, but it isn't sweet. HB2592 is a proposal to require state agencies to use AI and to not regulate AI.

House Rural Economic Development meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: six bills.

Joint Committee on Capital Review (JCCR) meets at 1:30 p.m. is SHR109.  On the agenda: no bills; five items four which will be considered en masse as part of the consent agenda.

Joint Legislative Budget Committee meets at 1:35 p.m. (or whenever the JCCR meeting ends) in SHR109.  On the agenda: no bills; one executive session and three items.

On Friday, 1/30  -

Senate Health and Human Services and House Health & Human Services Committees of Reference hold a joint meeting at 10 a.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; five sunset reviews.

Q4 Reports Are In!

This will cover certain state-level candidates; federal candidate reports were due today and are not yet available on the FEC's website.

Some commentary:

R candidate for Arizona treasurer Elijah Norton has just under $2.1 million in cash on hand (COH), which gives him a big advantage in that area over D candidate Nick Mansour, who has just over $245 thousand in COH.

Problem?

He's loaned his own campaign...wait for it...$2.1 million over the election cycle.

It sure looks like he is trying to buy the office.

Another one who isn't doing well in terms of fundraising is incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R-Bigot).  Other than what he gave to himself, he raised just over $41K in the 4th quarter of 2025.

Note: Rodney Glassman (R-Perennial Candidate) loaned himself a million dollars, but did so over a year ago, so it's not included above.

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/18/2026

 Yes, the AZ legislature is back in session, so expect a lot of ugly, and a lot of sneaky, at the Capitol.

Read bills carefully - bills that look (relatively) harmless may contain a VERY bad provision in them that may be easy to miss.

Schedules can, and frequently do, change at any moment when the legislature is in session.  So pay attention.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill become a very bad one. 

On Monday, 1/19 - Nada.  It's a holiday.

On Tuesday, 1/20 

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Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology and House Appropriations are scheduled to hold a joint meeting at 10 a.m.in HHR1.  On the agenda: receive the FY2027 budget proposal from the governor's office.

Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology meets at 1;30 p.m.in SHR109.  On the agenda: eight proposals, including SCM1001, Wendy Rogers bid to rename SR260 after Donald J. Trump and SCR1004, the ploy by Rogers and Mark Finchem to have the voters ban the use of photo radar by municipalities in Arizona.

Maybe a Democratic member of the Senate can propose to amend SCM1001 to name SR260 as the "Pedophile in Chief" highway. It would mean the same thing.

Note: AZ260 runs from Show Low to Payson.

From Google -

Senate Natural Resources meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: one bill and one propaganda session "presentation" from a manager at an industrial corporation.

Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference and House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee of Reference scheduled to hold a joint meeting at 1:45 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; two sunset reviews.

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda: four bills.

House Education meets at 2 p.m.in HHR1.  On the agenda: four bills and a presentation from Tom Horne.  The entire agenda is bad.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: three bills, all proposed by committee chair Gail Griffin and all read as if the written by an industry lobbyist.

On Wednesday, 1/21 

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House Government meets at 9 a.m.in HHR5.  On the agenda: Five bills, including HB2018, a proposal to bar DCS from entering into agreements that require or allow payments to health care institutions in exchange for reports of child abuse or neglect and HB2115, a proposal to forbid state, county, or municipal-level entities from using more than eight percent of any public monies received for administrative expenses.

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: 10 bills.  Mostly bad.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 9 a.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: 16 bills, some good but one written so generally it qualifies as an anti-choice proposal.  SB1100 is an example of this.

House Ways & Means meets in HHR3.  On the agenda: five bills, at least two of which read as if they were written by an industry lobbyist (and in a bit of a surprise, were NOT introduced by Rep. Gail Griffin).

Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency meets at 10 a.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: two bills, at least one of which is very bad.  SB1013 proposes to outlaw the use of affirmative action in public sector hiring.

Senate Education meets at 1:30 p.m. SHR1.  On the agenda: one bill.

Senate Education Committee of Reference meets at 1:45 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills, two sunset reviews, and one performance audit.

Senate Judiciary and Elections meets at 1:30 p.m.in SHR2.  On the agenda:  16 bills, many bad (even very bad)  but the most interesting bill may be SB1189, a proposal to allow candidates to use campaign fund for personal and family security.  A certain former US senator (and Congresscritter...and state legislator) is wondering if that covers booty calls with security personnel.

Senate Public Safety meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: six bills, half or more are bad.  Includes SB1010, a scheme to rename Loop 202, a Phoenix-area freeway after Charlie Kirk, SB1058, a move bar the use of category codes by retailers for firearms transaction, and other purposes, and SB1093. seeking to expand the definition of riot.

House Appropriations meets at 2:00 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: three bills, all proposed by Gail Griffin.

House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: eight measures, all bad.

Thursday, 1/22 

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House Artificial Intelligence & Innovation meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: no bills.

Joint Legislative Audit Committee meets at 1 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: no bills.

House Health & Human Services meets at 1 p.m. in HHR4.  On the agenda: 12 bills, including HB2085, barring gender transition procedures for anyone who is a minor and barring the use of public funds for reimbursement of the same.  Also, would subject health care professionals involved in such procedures to both licensing punishment and court proceedings.

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/11/2026

Hide your children and small animals - the Arizona State Legislature is back in session.

It may be the first week of the session, but the Rs are already starting with the Culture War/War on America bills.

Schedules can, and frequently do, change at any moment when the legislature is in session.  So pay attention.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill become a very bad one. 

Monday, 1/12 - Nada.  The chambers' respective Rules Committees aren't even scheduled to meet as no bills have been approved by the other committees yet.

Tuesday, 1/13 

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Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee of Reference (RAGE COR) meets at 10 a.m. in SHR109.  On the agenda: no bills; four sunset reviews and one "performance audit review."

Senate Natural Resources meets at 10:30 a.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; one presentation from the state's Water Infrastructure Finance Authority.

Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference meets at 10:45 a.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills; one sunset review.

House Commerce (meeting as its Committee of Reference) meets at 2 p.m.in HHR5.  On the agenda: no bills; four sunset reviews and one review of a performance audit.  Looks to be a rerun of the RAGE COR meeting.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. On the agenda: one bill and three sunset reviews (they'll be acting acting as their Committee of Reference).

House Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda: five water-related bills sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin that read as if by an industry lobbyist.  And one presentation from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona.

On Wednesday, 1/14 

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House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m.in HHR4.  On the agenda: five bills and a sunset review of the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board.  All of the bills are bad, though the worst may be HB2043, a proposal to make killing an unborn child part of the felony murder statute.

Senate Judiciary meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: 13 bills, mostly bad, all from the fetid minds of Sens. Wendy Rogers, John Kavanagh, and Mark Finchem. Rogers chairs this committee, Kavanagh is the vice chair, and Finchem is a member, so this committee should be "colorful" (read: "hate-filled") through the entire legislative session.  They're also scheduled to receive a presentation about Bar Association discipline from three interesting people who seem to be familiar with the topic - Rachel Alexander, April Sponsel, and Star Moffatt.

To misquote Yoda of "Star Wars" fame: "The 'woe is us' is strong with this trio."

House Ways & Means and Senate Finance (the Senate equivalent of House WM) hold a joint meeting at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  On the agenda: two bills - HB2153 and its Senate analog, SB1106, about conforming tax law in AZ to changes in federal law.

Interestingly, the bills propose to add a budget-busting provision to AZ law (while this snippy is from the Senate bill, the House bill has the same provision) -

AZ political predictions 2026

 This is completely tongue-in-cheek (except for the parts that come true).  And mostly lege-oriented. 😃

January -

At the opening of the 2026 session of the Arizona State Legislature, Governor Katie Hobbs delivers her annual state of the state address.  When she talks about putting some guardrails on the state's school voucher program, the entire R caucus stands, turns around, drops trou, and moons her.

She responds by pulling out a straw and pelting them with spitballs made up of wads of paper from cut-up Culture War/GOP War on Society.

The GOPers express umbrage at being pelted with spitballs.

Hobbs responds by telling them that spitballs are plan A.

Plan B is a 20 gauge with rock salt loads.

The Rs opine that spitballs are OK with them.

February -

Michael Bidwill, owner of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, announces that the team is so bad that it needs a bigger change than firing a head coach and, as he doesn't want to become Jerry Jones, he will step aside from his day-to-day duties there.

Since that will leave a large gap in his daily schedule, he's going to run for state legislature.

As a Republican (of course).

March -

Rep. Gail Griffin (R-LD19) introduces a bill to give all of Arizona's water and other natural resources to various corporations.

It passes the House on a party line vote.

On another party line vote, they pass a budget that eliminates all taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and pays for their largesse by defunding public education, public health, hell, "public" anything.

Governor Hobbs sends it back to the legislature.  After vetoing it, loudly and publicly.

April -

Candidates for 2026 turn in their nominating signatures...except for termed-out State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, a putative candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).  She announces that she was always more interested in the Lieutenant Governor's gig than an SPI gig.

Griffin's pro-corporate/anti-Arizonan bill passes the Senate on a party line vote.  Governor Hobbs vetoes it and celebrates that veto with a Snoopy dance.

From Zazzle -

The legislature  is still in session with no budget in sight, so they while away the time by sending Governor Hobbs spitball material for next year's state of the state address.

May - 

The legislature finally passes a state budget that Governor Hobbs can sign and adjourns sine die.  The majority of them don't care about the public as much as they care about getting out of Phoenix and hitting the campaign trail as many of them face primary challenges.

June -

Cheeto makes a campaign appearance in Arizona, speechifying for his endorsees.

He makes his speech all about him and his professed grievances.

His endorsees and other MAGAts genuflect.

July -

Andy Biggs wins the R primary for Arizona Governor and almost immediately and publicly starts pondering who should be his running mate as his Lt. Governor candidate.  The field is quickly narrowed to Kimberly Yee and Mark Finchem.

August -

As his Lt. Gov running mate, Biggs selects...Kari Lake.  She can't win a statewide race, but she has one strength - she may be the one person in AZ politics who is more intensely disliked by those who have met her than Biggs.  Biggs thinks he'll look good by comparison.

September -

Cheeto returns to AZ to stump for R candidates. 

During his speech, he shows his solidarity with the Rs in the AZ legislature/dementia by turning around, dropping trou, and mooning the audience.  

The R candidates and other MAGAts swoon.

October -

Reading the falling poll numbers for R officeholders and candidates, Cheeto and his acolytes do some preliminary blame shifting, complaining about fraud in elections.

November -

An electoral bloodbath takes place, with Rs up and down the ballot getting their butts handed to them.

Cheeto and his acolytes try to annul the elections because they don't like the results.

It doesn't work, with most folks saying "welcome to democracy."

December -

Kari Lake is a party to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2026 results.

She loses that lawsuit.

Most candidates yawn and start preparing for runs in 2030 (statewide races) or 2028 (county or legislative races).

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/4/2026

This week is "the calm before the storm" as the Arizona legislature is still out of session this week but will reconvene next week.  This coming week is commonly referred to as "Hell Week."  An explanation of sorts is below.

There's only one official committee meeting on the schedule this coming week.

 On Monday, 1/ 5 - Nada.

On Tuesday, 1/6 

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Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Access to Breakthrough Mental Health Therapies meets at 10 a.m. in SHR2.  On the agenda: no bills; four presentations.

On Wednesday, 1/7 and Thursday, 1/8 - Nada.

"Hell Week" is the week before the legislative session.  Lobbyists, under AZ law, are specifically forbidden from making campaign contributions to sitting legislators during the legislative session. 

From ARS 41-1234.01 -

They get around that restriction by holding parties/events before the session and created to funnel money to sitting state legislators (not a partisan thing - while most of the recipients of lobbyist largesse are Rs, some Ds attend those parties, too).  While those cash parties are easily as much a part of legislative life as committee meeting, they won't appear on any legislative calendar.

Another way for lobbyists to evade the law is to buy "donate to" candidates before they become legislators.  Those transactions can happen at any time.

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/28/2025

This is New Year's week, so there's nothing going on at the AZ state legislature.

I expect the following week to be busier, as the 2026 session of the AZ starts on 1/12/2026.

Of course, I could be wrong (shockingly, it DOES happen.  On rare occasion. ☺

Last year, during the week before the start of the session, there was one meeting -

In 2024, during the period, there were five meetings - 

Either way, the week before the start of the legislative session should be best described as "The Calm Before The Storm."

Note: As of this writing, legislators have "prefiled" 183 measures for the coming session -

Like sands through the hourglass, the Arizona State Legislature will return. It's inevitable.

Something else is inevitable, too - They won't do their job, starting on 1/12/2026.

Thus far, they've introduced 182 measures (bills or memorials/resolutions).  Most of those won't be approved by both chambers and of those that do, many won't make it past the governor's veto.

Some fall into the "Culture War" category (aka - "the GOP's War on America") -

Some fall into The "Fear the Other" subcategory (Rep. John Gillette's [R-Shameless Bigot] HCM2001)

Some into the "Anti Early Voting" subcategory (Rep Alexander Kolodin's [R-Running for AZ Secretary of State in order to upend elections] HCR2001)

Some into the "Anti LGBTQ+" subcategory (Rep Selina Bliss' [R- I thought she was less insane than the others. I was wrong) HCR2003)

Some into the "Anti-Vaxxer" subcategory (Rep Nick Kupper's [R-Don't Know Much About Him, But I'll Have to Start Paying More Attention) HB2005)

Some into the "Anti Choice" subcategory (Bliss' HB2043)

Some into the "Anti Public Education" subcategory (Rep. David Livingston's [R-Heavily Armed] HB2075)

Some into the "Anti Poor People" subcategory (Sen. John Kavanagh's [Center for AZ Policy's Water Carrier] SB1002)

Some into the "Anti Fluoride" subcategory (Sen. Janae Shamp's [R-Just Plain Nuts] SB1019]

Some into the "Anti Science" subcategory (Sen. David Farnworth's [R-Foisting His Fundie Religious Dogma of the Rest of Society] SB1025)

Some into the "Trump Worship" subcategory (Shamp's SB1070)

...You get the idea.  Republican legislators will do a LOT of Culture War preening in 2026.  It's an election year, and they want to win any primaries.

GOP state legislators aren't ALL about Culture War issues, though.

Rep. Gail Griffin (R-W2 or 1099?) has already introduced her usual spate of bills to protect and even enhance industry profits, not to help the people of AZ.

Sen. John Kavanagh is a multitasker - he hates pretty much EVERYTHING.  Including public disclosure of misdeeds by scofflaw legislators.  In addition to his various Culture War measures, he's introduced SB1022, intended to stop disclosure of images from "photo enforcement systems."

He *really* doesn't like it when legislators are shown to be hypocrites who believe that laws don't apply to them.

He's also introduced a "protect the wealthy" measure.  His SB1033 seeks to exempt the sales of vacation homes from municipal sales tax.

Of course, some of the proposals seem to be mildly contradictory.  Kupper's HB2059 seeks to remove speed limits, under certain circumstances, while Kavanagh's SB1073 seeks to impose them, under certain circumstances.

To be fair, the bills may not be totally contradictory - their "circumstances" aren't the same.

Lastly, legislators are specifically barred from creating legislation that is targeted at a specific municipality.  One of the ways they get around this requirement is by being hyper-specific, crafting language in a bill that doesn't mention a municipality by name but can only apply to one city.  Bliss' HB2080 seems to be a very example of this.  The language from her bill:  "In a city or town with a population of more than two thousand five hundred persons but less than ten thousand persons, whose population growth rate did not exceed an average of two percent per year for the ten-year period before the most recent United States decennial census and whose current general plan was approved by the voters..."

Hmmm...

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday, I wrote a post listing all of the folks who have expressed an interest in being a candidate for Congress in AZCD1.  That's already changed.

From AZFamily -

Former Cardinals kicker Jay Feely switches congressional districts in Arizona race

Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely has switched his congressional campaign from the East Valley to Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, joining a crowded Republican primary in Scottsdale.

The move comes after President Donald Trump endorsed former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Fifth Congressional District last month, sending Feely a message to run in a different district.

I think that Feely is able to utilize the same federal committee that he used for his CD5 run as for his CD1 run.  However, I'm not a lawyer, so I could easily be wrong about that.

If he can, he hasn't updated his committee yet.

From the FEC -

Get your popcorn and shock absorbers out - it's going to be entertaining though bumpy ride

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/21/2025

 This is Christmas week, so there's nothing going on at the AZ state legislature.

Horse Race time - Chaplik is in the AZCD1 race

News broke this week that Republican state representative Joe Chaplik (LD3) has entered the race the outgoing member of Congress in CD1, David Schweikert.  

Schweikert is running for governor of Arizona.

The person most hurt by his entry into the CD1 race may be Gina Swoboda.  She's the current chair of the AZGOP, and prior to Chaplik's entry, the biggest "name" in the race (quotes used because while they have more notoriety/name recognition than the other candidates, it's limited [not everyone is a political geek like me and know who major party chairs and members of the state legislature are])

The person most helped by his entry into the CD1 race may be one of those low name rec candidates.  If Swoboda and Chaplik spend the primary season launching political haymakers at each other, it may open up a path to victory in that race for one the others.

Also, while nominating signatures are due to be submitted by April 6, 2026, it's still early enough for a well-funded "big name" to enter the race.

Currently 12 Democrats and 10 Republicans have filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) in the race (filed with the Arizona Secretary of State)and/or formed a committee for run with the FEC (one Libertarian has an open committee, but is was formed in 2024 and has been receiving letters about a failure to file reports, so that person may not be running this year).

Below is a list of folks who have filed an SOI and/or formed a committee for a run next year.  In the date section, if no year is specified, the year is 2025.  Also, one date format is month (as text) followed by date.  That's because my spreadsheet program kept changing 3/4 to a fraction.

The vast majority of potential D candidates here filed their paperwork before Scheikert exited the race; the vast majority of Rs did so after.

Not all people who express interest/form a committee will be on a ballot.

I'm not going make any prediction regarding the outcome of race for the R nomination here - my prognosticating ability in R races is almost nonexistent.

As for the D race, no prediction until I see who's actually going to be on the ballot.

Caveat: CD1 in my district.