The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies (except where noted) and subject to change without notice...


...In the U.S. House of Representatives, the agenda contains a large number of memorials and congratulatory resolutions, but there will be a few measures that generate some controversy.

As well as some serious posturing over health care reform. :)

However, this post concerns agendized items only. :))

On the agenda -

- H.R. 3854, Small Business Financing and Investment Act of 2009. "To amend the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to improve programs providing access to capital under such Acts..." AZ's Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1) is a cosponsor of the measure. This measure will be subject to a Rules Committee hearing, as will the next two bills.

- Conference report on H.R. 2996, Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.

- An as-yet-unnumbered resolution to serve as a budget continuing resolution.


...Over in the U.S. Senate, the agenda looks light right now, though that will probably change as the week progresses. The Senate's committee schedule is here.

However, there will be plenty of arm-twisting negotiating over health care reform behind the scenes (and in front of TV cameras.)


...Back here in Arizona, the budget is still $2 billion out of balance and the lege and the governor are still fiddling around. There is some makework going on this week, though.

- On Tuesday, the Ad Hoc Committee on Agency Information Technology will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR3. They will hear presentations from the IT departments of the Department of Revenue, AHCCCS, ADOT's Motor Vehicle Division, and the Government Information Technology Agency (GITA).

- On Wednesday at 11 a.m., the House Water and Energy and Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee of Reference will meet in HHR5 for the sunset review of the Residential Utility Consumer Office.

- Also on Wednesday, at 10 a.m. the House Water and Energy and Senate Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Public Debt Committee of Reference will meet in HHR5. The subject of the meeting will be the sunset review of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission isn't meeting this week, but its hearing schedule is here.


...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has two meetings scheduled for the week - an executive session on Monday at 1 p.m. and a regular meeting on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Highlights of that agenda should include MIHS' monthly financial report, a report on the impact of state funding reductions, a presentation on the transition from MedPro to District Medical Group (a physician provider group, it's actually MedPro reformed as a non-profit group), some kind of legislative update, and something on the contract of MIHS' director, Betsey Bayless.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, in executive session at 5:30 p.m. and in regular session an hour later. The agenda looks pretty mundane, though the recent report by the main college accreditation agency that was critical of the Board is likely to come up.

Note: The public is invited to participate in Scottsdale Community College's strategic planning initiative, SCC2020. The first public meeting is Wednesday night from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.


...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week in formal session, but the Council's calendar of events is here.


...The Scottsdale City Council has a General Plan Amendment meeting scheduled for Tuesday. The main item on the agenda is a GP amendment proposed for 6500 E. Camelback Road (warning: large .pdf). There will also be consideration of an item regarding the "possible" formation of a Council Subcommittee on Economic Development.

"Possible" is in quotes because it seems that the Council is expected to approve the creation of that Subcommittee - next week's agenda includes an item making appointments to the Subcommittee.

Scottsdale's community meeting notice is here.

On Monday, Scottsdale's Charter Review Task Force will meet 5 p.m. in the City Hall Kiva. A preview from the AZ Republic is here.


...Not scheduled to meet this week: Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (the supes usually find a reason to have a short-notice exec session meeting, however), Arizona Board of Regents, and Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

Interesting Agenda Update - Maricopa County Board of Supervisors

In a post earlier this week about the schedule of political activity, I opined that the most interesting item on the agenda for Wednesday's meeting of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors would be the one where they approved the hiring of private lawyers to serve as Andrew Thomas' personal hitters special prosecutors targeting the Supes themselves, in particular Don Stapley.

Well, that has changed somewhat.

The item in question, #11 on the formal meeting's agenda, has been pulled, and placed on the agenda of a special meeting scheduled to take place immediately before the regularly scheduled meeting.

Hmmm...

As it turns out, the supes found a way to not approve the hiring of the lawyers.

From AZCentral.com -

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' plans to appoint outside attorneys as special prosecutors to investigate charges against Supervisor Don Stapley hit another stumbling block this morning, as the county Board of Supervisors withdrew from its agenda the item that would have sought approval for the appointments.

{snip}

[In a letter] County Manager David Smith outlined reasons the item had been withdrawn from the agenda for Wednesday's formal meeting:

1. The services of these attorneys were not properly procured. Procurement is required for the expenditure of any county or state funds, including RICO monies.

2. Two of the attorneys are not residents of Maricopa County, as required by applicable statute, including the person proposed to be in charge of all aspects of the matters.

3. The substantive matters set forth in the appointments have been previously assigned to the Yavapai County Attorney and cannot be reassigned by the County Attorney.

4. The three individuals cannot commence work or use court processes until the Board approves their appointments.

5. Your office refuses to provide a cost estimate for the proposed work and now appears to admit that the RICO fund does not contain sufficient funds to cover the costs (see attached MacDonnell memo, which states that Diversion Fund monies may be used). There may be an unknown substantial impact on the County Attorney's budget or the County's general fund if the previously planned uses of these funds have to be funded from other sources."

Essentially, the man who is the County's top lawyer and the one who wants to be Arizona's top lawyer either doesn't know the law (see items 2 - 4 in the above quote) or just doesn't think that the law should apply to him.

Either way, he isn't qualified for his current position or the one he aspires to.

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies (except where noted) and subject to change without notice...

...In the U.S. House of Representatives, the agenda, thus far, looks to be somewhat light on serious controversy.

The highlights include -

- H.R. 3763, To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses. Those businesses include small accounting, legal, and health care firms, small meaning having less than 20 employees.

- H.Res. 672, Calling on the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to release imprisoned bloggers and respect Internet freedom. Gotta support fellow bloggers...

- H.R. 3619, Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010. (Money bill. There will be some controversy here. Probably not much though.)

- H.R. 3585, Solar Technology Roadmap Act. This bill's primary sponsor is AZ's own Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8). Giffords' press release on the bill's passage through the Science and Technology Committee is here.


...Over in the U.S. Senate, most of the action will be behind the scenes negotiating over the health care reform bills in the Senate, but with frequent appearances of TV cameras by most of the participants. This week's committee schedule here.

Of possible interest to AZers here is the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing on Indian Energy and Energy Efficiency on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. (EDT). It wouldn't be surprising if the Navajo Generating Station and its recent controversies (here, here, and here) pop up during the hearing.


...Back here in the Arizona Legislature, the budget is still way out of balance and the Governor and the Republican "leadership" still is doing nothing to address the state's fiscal crisis.

Pending that (you know, doing what should have been done months ago), various members of the lege are doing some makework. To whit:

- Monday at 9 a.m., the Ad Hoc Committee On Energy And Water Development will meet in SHR1.

- Wednesday at 9 a.m., the Senate Education Accountability And Reform and the House of Representatives Education Committee of Reference will meet in HHR1 for school district performance audits of:

Gilbert Unified School District

Phoenix Union High School District

Washington Elementary School District

Toltec Elementary School District

Miami Unified School District

Glendale Elementary School District


- I'll update if there are any definitive developments regarding a special session.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission is holding a regular meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The agenda is here. The Commission's upcoming hearing schedule is here.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two meetings scheduled for this week.

- The agenda for Monday's informal meeting includes an executive session (of course).

- The agenda for Wednesday's formal meeting includes an item (#11) where they get to formally appoint the high-profile private attorneys that County Attorney Andrew Thomas has brought in as his personal hitters against one of the Supes' own, Don Stapley.

Just a guess here, but there will probably be a few dirty looks exchanged by the Supes and Thomas during that one.


...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project is not holding a meeting of the full board this week, but on Thursday it will be holding an orientation meeting of the Arizona Water Banking Association, a meeting of the Finance, Audit, and Power Committee, and a meeting of the Executive Committee.


...Also on Thursday, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission will be holding a meeting, but the agenda has not been posted online yet.


...The Tempe City Council is meeting on Thursday. The regular agenda is here; issue review session agenda here; executive session agenda here.


...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. The agenda includes an item to send changes to the City Charter regarding elections to the ballot of a special election in March and a couple of items (here and here) regarding the ongoing tiff between the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor and Council members that the CofC didn't endorse last year, but who won anyway. AZCentral.com coverage here.

Note: On Monday, candidate packets for next year's council races in Scottsdale will be available.


...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies (except where noted) and subject to change without notice.


...The floor action in the U.S. House is going to be dominated by money issues, but there will be a few other issues of interest.

- H.R. 3590, Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009;

- H.R. 1016, Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009, CRS summary here (note: this one is cosponsored by CD5's Harry Mitchell and most of the Democratic members of the Arizona delegation);

- S. 1717, "A bill to authorize major medical facility leases for the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2010, and for other purposes."

...all of the above bills will be heard under suspension of the rules, meaning that a 2/3 majority will be needed to pass the measures.

The following budget-related items will be heard "under a rule" -

- The conference report for H.R. 2997, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010;

- Possible consideration of the conference report on H.R. 2892, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010;

- Possible consideration of the conference report on H.R. 2647, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

- Also to be heard under a rule, H.R. 2442, Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program Expansion Act of 2009.

...Over in the Senate, scheduled floor action includes consideration of H.R. 2847, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Committee schedule here.


...Back here in Arizona, the budget is still out-of-balance and the legislature is still out of session. However, there is still activity on West Washington this week.

- On Monday at 9 a.m. in HHR1, the Senate Education Accountability and Reform and House of Representatives Education Committee of Reference will meet regarding the school performance audits of Chandler Unified School District, Tolleson Union High School District, Somerton Elementary School District and Flagstaff Unified School District.

- On Thursday at 1:30 p.m., the Senate Government Institutions and House of Representatives Government Committee of Reference will meet in HHR4 regarding the sunset review of: Arizona Neighborhood Preservation and Investment Commission, Legislative Council; Ombudsman for Private Property Rights, Office of Ombudsman-Citizens Aide, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Board of Library Examiners, and State Board on Geographic and Historic Names.

- Also on Thursday in HHR4, but at 9:30 a.m., the Senate Commerce and Economic Development and House of Representatives Government Committee of Reference will meet regarding the sunset review for the Board of Athletic Training.


...On Thursday at 10 a.m., the Arizona Corporation Commission will hold an open meeting dealing mostly, but not exclusively, with securities matters. The ACC's hearing schedule is here.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two meetings this week.

The highlight of Monday's informal meeting is item 3 -

Authorize legal action including filing and/or defending an appeal and taking other legal actions as may be appropriate regarding the Judgment in the matter of Andrew Thomas et al v. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, CV-2008-033194 (C-06-10-114-M-00)



There will also be an executive session.



Wednesday's formal meeting agenda looks to be fairly non-controversial, though there are a number of items related to the offices of the county sheriff and county attorney.



There is a special/executive meeting scheduled to take place immediately after the formal meeting.





...The Tempe City Council is meeting on Thursday. The agenda is here. The Council's calendar of events is here.





...The Scottsdale City Council is meeting on Tuesday. The agenda includes an item for approving the employment agreement with the interim City Treasurer, David Smith.



The Council has an executive session scheduled immediately prior to the regular meeting.



- The City's Charter Review Task Force is scheduled to meet Monday evening at 5 in the City Hall Kiva. The agenda includes consideration of language that would allow the Council and Mayor to directly appoint City Staff, apparently to bypass the City Manager's influence over the hiring of professional employees.



Yippee - when the Task Force isn't pushing language to protect the profit margins of favored corporations, they're helping Jim Lane gather power to himself and his professional staff.



I wonder if everyone, even *anyone*, involved realizes that they are supposed to be working to help Scottsdale, not just themselves or their friends.



Scottsdale's community meetings schedule is here.



Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Boards of Directors of both the Maricopa Integrated Health System and Central Arizona Project, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.

The coming week...

As usual, except where noted, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice.

The normal format of these posts is a simple one - start with the highest level of government (federal) and work down. This week, a slight change to that template is merited.


...The Arizona Legislature is still out of session and the budget still isn't balanced. However, they still have the time and energy to canoodle with some industry lobbyists in a propaganda session.

From a press release from the Senate Republicans, posted on the lege's website -

The Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Climate Initiatives is holding its second meeting Monday. Committee Chair Sylvia Allen contends federal proposals targeted at global warming are quickly moving forward without consideration for scientific evidence and we are going after problems that do not exist. She wants Arizonans to understand how cap and trade regulations will impact their energy supply and utility costs. “They need to evaluate the claims behind 'green jobs' and climate scare tactics,” she said. The agenda includes an update of federal legislation and an economic forecast/industry roundtable. The committee’s first meeting was June 8.

The list of "distinguished" panelists includes: Michael Curtis, executive secretary, Arizona Municipal Power Users’ Association; Kimball Rasmussen, CEO, Deseret Power; Dr. Craig Idso, chairman, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change; Cynthia Zwick, president, Arizona Community Action Association; Cathy Reheis-Boyd, COO, Western State Petroleum Association; and Steven Regis, vice president of engineering services, CalPortland Company.

Zwick appears to be the token "non-industry lobbyist" on the panel. However, she is not a scientist.

Sen. Sylvia Allen is the Arizona politician best known for her deep understanding of science. Or not.

The meeting is at the Senate in SHR1 from 8:30 - noon.


...In the U.S. House of Representatives, the agenda looks to be fairly light on controversial floor action, though not without some (hey, this wouldn't be the House if they didn't have stuff to yell at each other over.)

Of interest to AZers -

- Rep. Raul Grijalva's H.R. 1333, "To amend chapter 40 of title 18, United States Code, to exempt the transportation, shipment, receipt, or importation of explosive materials for delivery to a federally recognized Indian tribe or an agency of such a tribe from various Federal criminal prohibitions relating to explosives." Heard under suspension of the rules.

- Conference report on H.R. 3183, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. This is money-related, so it is likely the most controversial matter subject to floor action this week. House Report 111-203 on the bill, including earmarks and "directed spending" is here.


...Over in the U.S, Senate, floor action will focus on Defense Appropriations. Committee hearing schedule here. The highlight, or at least the one that will receive the most attention, is the Senate Finance Committee's continued consideration of Max Baucus' Health Insurer Wish List health care reform bill.


...On Tuesday, the Arizona Corporation Commission is holding a special open meeting in Yuma related to APS and rates. Full hearing schedule here.


...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System is holding two special meetings on Monday. The noon meeting has an executive session component and general session discussion on contract renegotiations with MedPro and an employment agreement with Betsey Bayless, current MIHS CEO. The meeting at 5 p.m. covers approval of the new MedPro contract.


...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project has a busy week planned.

- On Wednesday, there will be a joint meeting of the CAP Board and the Board of Directors of the Arizona Municipal Waters Users Association at the Embassy Suites Phoenix Biltmore.

- Thursday, there will be a meeting of the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District and Underground Storage Committee immediately following the regular meeting of the CAP Board.

- Thursday, there will be a meeting of the Board's Public Policy Committee at 9 a.m. (aka - immediately before the regular Board meeting.)

- And, of course, the full Board will meet in open and executive session on Thursday.


...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week, but a calendar of Council-related events is here.


...The Scottsdale City Council will be holding a joint meeting with Budget Review Commission on Tuesday. There will also be a special meeting of the Council with an executive session concerning the interim treasurer appointment/hiring mess. Scottsdale's community meeting calendar is here.


Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (though an executive session called on short notice would be the norm for this group), Arizona Board of Regents, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.


Later...

Anyone want to guess what the main topic of this meeting will be?

I supposed this was inevitable given yesterday's arrest of County Supervisor Don Stapley.

What had been scheduled as a quiet week (i.e. - no meetings) for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors now has a special meeting and executive session planned for tomorrow, Wednesday September 23 at 10 a.m.

Now, the special meeting has one item on the agenda - an application for a permit for a fireworks display in Queen Creek.

The executive session agenda doesn't specify a subject, but for some reason I expect that the latest development in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's holy war against the supes will at least rate a mention.

...In other "county level officials under investigation" news, the Arizona Republic has a story of how the organization that accredits colleges is investigating the Governing Board of the Maricopa Community College District for micromanagement.

That didn't sound too serious to me, but it turns out that would violate the rules governing maintenance of accreditation.

From the story -

[College Chancellor] Glasper will then prepare a report on whether the district is violating parts of the Higher Learning Commission's accreditation policy. The commission could dismiss the complaint or recommend sanctions against Maricopa, which serves about 250,000 students at 10 colleges and two skill centers.

Ultimately, Maricopa Community Colleges could be placed on notice or on probation, or could lose accreditation.

Specifically, the violations could be rooted in the fact the governing board, any governing board in fact, is supposed to set policy while the College staff oversees day-to-day operations.

The investigating team will be part of a public meeting with the Board at 4:30 today, and will attend the regular Board meeting at 6:30 tonight.

Unfortunately, I cannot attend those two meetings - tonight is the night that the Scottsdale City Council may fire yet another City Manager. The MCCCD Governing Board meeting has a high potential for being a boring set piece whose outcome is predetermined; the City Council meeting is probably going to be a train wreck.

As morbid as this sounds, train wrecks are far more interesting to write about than set pieces.

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies (except where noted) and subject to change without notice.


...Over in the U.S. House of Representatives, they have Monday off (except for a pro forma session at 4 p.m. EDT), The agenda for the rest of the week includes -

- H.R. 3548, Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009, heard under suspension of the rules (2/3 majority required for passage);

- As-yet-unnumbered, "To provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958" under suspension of the rules;

- As-yet-unnumbered, "Fiscal Year 2010 Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act" under suspension of the rules;

- As-yet-unnumbered, "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2009" under suspension of the rules;

- H.R. 324, "Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area Act". This one is a bill sponsored by AZ's Raul Grijalva (D-CD7) that was heard under suspension of the rules a couple of weeks ago. It gained majority support at that time, but enough Republicans voted against it that it didn't gain the 2/3 support to pass under suspension. This time it will be heard "under a rule," meaning that a simple majority will be required for passage.

- As-yet-unnumbered, "Making Continuing Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2010, and for other purposes." Heard under a rule.

Yippee, a budget CR. Apparently the Democratic leadership in Congress hasn't learned any lessons from 8 years of Republican mismanagement. Just pass a budget already.

...Over in the Senate, they'll continue consideration of Interior appropriations (aka - the budget). On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will consider Max Baucus' health insurer lobbyist-written "reform" of health insurance in the U.S.

In other committee business, on Tuesday, a subcommittee of Senate Judiciary will hold a hearing on "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: How the Current Immigration Law Negatively Impacts America's Agricultural Industry and Food Security." Nativists should bring their own bedsheets and crosses (Reminder: Senate galleries are a "no burn" zone, so you folks should keep your kerosene in your trailers.)

Full list of committee hearings here.

...The Arizona Legislature still hasn't balanced the budget and still isn't in session, but there *is* some activity at the Capitol this week.

- On Monday at 10 a.m., the Bipartisan Task Force on the Private School Tuition Tax Credits program will hold its first meeting in HHR3.

- The Joint Legislative Budget Committee is meeting on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in HHR4. Agenda here.

- The Joint Committee on Capital Review is meeting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in SHR109. Agenda here.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold regularly scheduled open meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. The agenda is here. The highlight looks to be item #20, "Application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) for the Vail to Valencia 115 kV to138 kV Transmission Line Upgrade Project..."

Complete hearing schedule here.

...The Arizona Board of Regents will be meeting on Thursday and Friday at NAU. Agenda here. Executive session agenda here. That one includes discussion of a project to privatize some University housing at NAU. Committee and other meeting schedule here.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System have two meetings scheduled this week. On Monday, they'll hold a Special meeting at noon. The agenda is vague at this point, with what looks to be a motion to recess into executive session and a legislative report later.

On Wednesday at 1 p.m., they'll meet in a regularly scheduled open meeting. Agenda here.

...On Tuesday, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet. An executive session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting is scheduled for 6:30. Agenda here. The agenda looks to be pretty non-controversial thus far, but there may be some fireworks over the revelation earlier this month that Board President Colleen Clark was arrested for DUI earlier this summer.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be holding a "strategic planning retreat" in Tucson on Thursday. The schedule of events includes a meeting of the Strategic Plan Task Force to discuss the strategic planning retreat process.

...The Scottsdale City Council has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Items include a another shot across the bow discussion of the job performance of the City Manager and the possible appointment of an interim City Attorney, Clifford Mattice. Mayor Jim Lane originally wanted to give the interim appointment to one William Sims, but a majority of the Council balked at having only one candidate to consider (August 25, 2009)

Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (though a short-notice Executive Session wouldn't exactly be unheard-of with this bunch) and the Tempe City Council.

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, except where noted, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice.


...The U.S. House will be back in session on Monday. The agenda includes:

- An as-yet-unnumbered resolution from Arizona's Raul Grijalva (D-CD7)"Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week should be established."

- H.R. 3146, 21st Century FHA Housing Act of 2009

- H.R. 3527, FHA Multifamily Loan Limit Adjustment Act of 2009. CRS summary here.

- H.R. 3179, SIG TARP Small Business Awareness Act of 2009. "SIG TARP" is an abbreviation for "Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program."

The above four bills will be heard under suspension of the rules of the House, whichs means that a 2/3 majority vote will be required for their passage. Inclusion on the agenda this way means that leadership expects them to pass with wide, if not unanimous, support. No guarantees on that, though.

Other measures up for consideration (subject to Rules Committee consideration this week) :

- H.R. 3246, Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009. CRS summary here. From the summary: "Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy for research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of vehicles and related technologies for FY2010-FY2014."

- H.R. 3221, Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. CRS summary here. Not a major initiative, but if passed into law, it would serve to increase higher education opportunities for the less affluent in society.

In other words, the Republicans will hate it.

...Over in the U.S. Senate, floor time will be taken up with consideration of budget matters this week (USDOT/HUD appropriations in particular). They also have a full slate of committee hearings. One hearing that should involve discussion of the status quo in AZ is the Judiciary Committee's hearing on "Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons and Jails."

The hearing *should* involve a discussion of Joe Arpaio's failure to provide proper health care (mental and physical) to prisoners in Maricopa County's jails, the Edgar Vega case (where a retarded 16-year old was sent to an adult prison to die for a crime he couldn't understand, much less commit) and the other failures of the jail and prison systems in Arizona.

It won't, though.

Also of possible AZ interest this week could be the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' hearing on "...the federal tax treatment of health care benefits provided by tribal governments to their citizens."

...The Arizona Legislature is still way out of session and the state's budget is still way out of balance.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a special open meeting on Tuesday in Tucson. More info on the subject matter here. Its full hearing schedule is here.

...The Citizens Clean Election Commission has a meeting scheduled for Thursday, but the only agenda posted so far is for the CCEC's meeting of July 30.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting scheduled for Monday. The agenda includes yet another executive session. It also has a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday, but the agenda hasn't been posted online as yet.

...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday. The agenda hasn't been posted yet.

...The Scottsdale City Council has a special executive session meeting planned for Tuesday to consider candidates for the position of Interim City Treasurer. The Council also has a work/study meeting planned for Tuesday.

The City's Charter Review Task Force is scheduled to meet Monday. No ORANGE Coalition, Goldwater Institute, or other corporate shills are listed on the agenda, but this may be worth keeping an eye on.

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project.

The coming week...

As usual, except where noted, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice.


Well, for the first time in weeks, the U.S. Congress will be in session, and for the first time in months, the Arizona Legislature will *not* be. That sounds significant, but somehow, I'm not sure that it is.

Congress probably won't be doing much this week (in terms of "official business" anyway) and the lege has plenty of unfinished business that they should be dealing with, but won't be.

In short, not much has changed since last week. :)


...In the U.S. House, the action gets underway Tuesday afternoon. It looks to be a relatively quiet week as far as floor action goes. The agenda includes:

H.R. 324 - Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area Act, sponsored by Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7) and cosponsored by Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8).

The posted agenda is light on issues of national interest, and that looks to be the only one of direct interest to Arizonans.

However, both behind the scenes and in front of cameras, there will be a lot of talk about health care reform.

The President is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening on the subject. I'd say I'm "waiting with bated breath" for the speech, but he seems more likely to give up on a public option when he should be throwing an elbow (more on that later.)

Congressman Harry Mitchell's (D-AZ5) responses to questions (about health care reform) posed by readers of the Arizona Republic can be found here; Congressman Jeff Flake's (R-AZ6) responses can be found here.

...The U.S. Senate looks to have an equally low-key "official business" week, with a lot of back office focus on health care reform.

...The Arizona Legislature is out of session, with no special sessions officially scheduled at this point, though given that the budget is still out-of-balance, expect one soon. Just probably not this week, as I previously expected would happen.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a securities and utilities meeting scheduled for Wednesday. The agenda is here. There are a couple of APS-related items and a couple of securities "cease and desist" related items, including one against JP Morgan Chase & Co. More details here.

The ACC's hearing schedule for the week is available here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a light week - no regular meetings, just a Special/Executive meeting on tap for Wednesday morning. Why don't they drop the "special" moniker, since they seem to have one almost every week?

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be holding a meeting of its Project ADD Water group on Wednesday and Thursday.

...The Tempe City Council has a meeting scheduled for Thursday. The agenda is here. It looks to be mostly mundane, but even that can be interesting on occasion. On *this* occasion, item A-3 includes a name that is familiar to most D17'ers.

It just goes to show that even high-flying legislative stars are subject to the drudgery of normal life in the not-so-big city. :)

...The Scottsdale City Council has a regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Items of interest on the agenda include consideration of the process of appointing an interim City Attorney, a new City Treasurer, possibly creating a Scottsdale City Lobbyist ordinance, and enacting some recommendations regarding the operations and oversight of City Cable 11,

They've also scheduled an executive session to "[d]iscuss and consider international or interstate negotiations with representatives of the public body regarding ongoing negotiations with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (a domestic sovereign nation) for intergovernmental agreements related to Pima Road and drainage improvements; and discuss and/or consult with the City attorney(s) for legal advice regarding the same."

That meeting is also scheduled for Tuesday. The executive session is scheduled for 4 p.m., the regular meeting is scheduled for 5.

...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (though CCEC has scheduled candidate workshops for September 16, October 21, November 18, and December 2. Sign up here.)

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies (except where noted) and subject to change without notice.


...Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are in recess until next week.

...The Arizona legislature is between special sessions right now. The third special session was adjourned in order to give their Governor more time to "evaluate" the budget bills that they've sent her.

In this context, "evaluate" means work out a deal so that the expected (but not yet officially-called) fourth special session of the lege will approve sending her proposed temporary increase to the state's sales tax to the ballot in a December election.

No timetable has been set for a fourth special session. To make a planned election in December though, it will have to happen soon after Labor Day.

Of course, Brewer could just say "[bleep] them all!", sign the budget bills as is (as out of balance as they are) and resign, giving over the mess to AG Terry Goddard. Besides being a fiscal disaster that it would take the state decades to recover from, it would have some electoral side effects.

Such a move would saddle him with the budget mess while mounting his expected campaign for Governor next year, *and* shortening his potential stay on the 9th floor (term limits kick in, even for partial terms in office).

Stay tuned, because this ride won't be over for a while yet...

...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any full meetings this week, though there are a number of hearings planned. Full list here.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project has meetings scheduled for Thursday - full board at 10:15 a.m.; the Public Policy Committee at 9 a.m.; and the Strategic Plan Task Force at 12:45 p.m.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting, with an attached executive session, scheduled for Monday. They have a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday, with an executive session planned immediately following that meeting.

The highlight of Monday's meeting looks to be an update on the new Court Tower project. Wednesday's meeting looks to be pretty run-of-the-mill, though there could be nuggets of controversy hiding among the mundanity of what is essentially a city council agenda (for a *really* spread out city :) ).

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has a special meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon. The agenda is light on details so far, but has subjects like "Performance Evaluation" and "Employment Agreement."

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, and the City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale (though both are expected to participate in the festivities of the 2009 League of Arizona Cities and Towns Annual Conference in Oro Valley. The conference runs from Tuesday through Friday).

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies and subject to change without notice...

Summer breaks are coming to an end as this will be the most active week for political meetings since June.


...Both chambers of the U.S. Congress are still in recess, though the posturing over healthcare reform is continuing...

...The Arizona legislature is still in its special session, mostly to pressure the Governor into signing their budget. Floor sessions are scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m. More on that in a later post.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a full Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. The agenda is 25 items long. The highlight seems to be item 12, which is a continuation from a meeting on August 17. It involves a proposed rate hike for Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc. There are also a couple of items each concerning Tucson Electric Power and APS. Full hearing schedule here, including a Monday hearing on rates for APS. Related material here, here, here, here, and here.

...The Citizens Clean Election Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday. No agenda posted as yet.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a "special" meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. No agenda posted yet, but if the Board is running true to form, it will involve an executive session and one or another of the legal messes the board is involved in.

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday. The agenda is available here. This one looks to be pretty run-of-the-mill, though there are a couple of items related to a controversial contract awarded to an outside consulting firm.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System is scheduled to meet on Monday and Wednesday. Monday's meeting is at 1 p.m. and has just one item on the agenda - "Medical School/MIHS Affiliations."

A recurring issue for the Maricopa Medical Center has been the desire of some directors (and some county supes, for that matter) to bar the teaching part of the operation from teaching the techniques involved in abortions. One of the issues that has blocked that move has been the fact that they would have lost their "teaching hospital" accreditation if they had done so. This meeting might be mundane, or it could involve an attempt to affiliate the hospital with a medical school that won't mandate teaching abortion techniques.

This one might be worth keeping an eye on.

Wednesday's meeting starts with an executive session planned for noon, followed by a regular meeting at 1 p.m. No info is available as yet regarding the executive session, but the highlight of the regular session may be this item from the consent agenda.

It's for the Annual Leadership Conference of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association at the Orangetree Golf Resort in October. Yes, there is a golf tournament, but at least it is "optional."

I foresee a public records request relating to expense reports in November. :)

...The Scottsdale City Council has two meetings schedule this week, for Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Monday's agenda is pretty sparse - thus far, it is just a nine item consent agenda.

Tuesday's agenda is far more interesting. It includes a 20-item consent agenda with the interesting item of the appointment of one William J. Sims, III as the interim City Attorney.

For a fee of $11,600 per month, for 20 hours per week in office hours plus attendance at City Council meetings.

Nice gig.

Listed on the regular agenda - evaluation of the City Clerk and discussion/possible action regarding a search for a permanent City Attorney.

Since there doesn't seem to be an executive session associated with the evaluation of Carolyn Jagger, Scottsdale City Clerk, I'm guessing that this won't be a hatchet job.


Not scheduled to meet this week - Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project, Tempe City Council.


Later...

"Quiet week." Not a concept the Maricopa County Supes embrace

On Sundays, I write a post laying out the list of scheduled political meetings of boards and bodies that affect the area of Scottsdale and Tempe.

This week, I wrote that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors was not scheduled to meet.

At the time, that was true.

What a difference a couple of days makes.

Now, they're planning to meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. in executive session.

A specific topic was not listed on the agenda, but my guess is that the meeting will have to do with Joe Arpaio's MCSO possibly violating labor laws by not paying overtime to its detention officers (to the tune of millions of dollars) [the reports are here and here, courtesy AZCentral.com], Arpaio's retaliatory investigation of the release of the overtime practices report, and the detention officers' $8 million lawsuit to recover some of the unpaid overtime.

Of course, the topic of the meeting could also be one of the scads of other lawsuits that the supes are part of.

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice...

In terms of *official* activity, this is going to be one of the quietest weeks of the year so far.



...At the federal level, both the U.S. House and Senate are in recess. Expect most of the news in regard to congresscritters to be reports of teabaggers disrupting public appearances of elected officials, or, as in the cases of AZ's Harry Mitchell (closed office) and Gabrielle Giffords (public showing of a movie by another organization), teabaggers showing up where they know that the public officials *won't* be and complaining that the officials are "ducking" them. Note: I won't provide free publicity via direct links; this is a recurring theme in the Republican blogosphere. It won't take much digging to find the posts.



...The heaviest action could be at the Arizona Legislature. The speculation is that the lege, specifically the Senate, will conduct budget business on Monday. This week, they're trying a new tactic - splitting the tax package into two bills.

One bill will have the referral of a temporary increase to the state's sales tax in it; the other will have the huge cuts in taxes targetted to benefit corporations and the wealthy.

The Republican leadership in the Senate hopes that the scheme will persuade those who have voted against the referral to vote for the cuts, and that those who have voted against the cuts will vote for the referral.

On Friday, the Senate referred two bills, HB2007 and HB2015, to the Appropriations Committee. No Approps agenda has been posted as yet, but look for action on those bills and more on Monday.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission is holding a securities meeting on Thursday at 10 a.m. The agenda is a short one, though significant to those folks who are involved.


...That looks to be it for planned public meetings.

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project, and the City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale.

While none of the aforementioned is scheduled to meet this week, emergency executive sessions are always possible, especially with the Scottsdale City Council and the County Board of Supervisors.

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies and subject to change without notice...

...In a move that is certain to brighten the days of Thane and certain other readers ( :-) ), the U. S. House of Representatives is on their "district work period" and is not in session until September 8, 2009.

...However, the U.S. Senate is still in session this week. Look for a vote on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.

...The Arizona State Legislature is scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Your guess is as good as mine on whether or not they're going to actually accomplish anything this week. One thing is certain though - if they finally do get their act together, any budget they pass is most likely to be punitive, not professional.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal session scheduled for Monday at 9:15 a.m. The agenda is a sparse one, but unsurprisingly, it includes yet another executive session. At 9 a.m. on Wednesday, they've got a formal session scheduled. The agenda for that one is much longer, but looks to be pretty much run-of-the-mill stuff.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission will be holding a series of public comment meetings regarding proposed rate hikes for APS and UNS Gas. Up this week: Flagstaff on Monday and Prescott on Thursday. The full hearings schedule is here; no formal ACC meetings are scheduled this week.

...The Arizona Board of Regents is scheduled to meet on Thursday and Friday at ASU in Tempe. The agenda is here. One of the highlights is ABOR approval of a multi-year contract for ASU basketball coach Herb Sendek (hint: coaching D1 college hoops is a lucrative field :) ). There will also be a presentation on the activities of the legislature this year. For numbers geeks, ABOR will consider, and likely approve, an item regarding the FY2010 State Expenditure Authority.

Of interest to students, prospective students, and their parents will be an item to move the Board's tuition setting calendar back to the spring. A few years back, the tuition setting process was moved to the fall to allow students more time to prepare financially.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a regular meeting on Thursday at 10 a.m. The agenda is here.

Not scheduled to meet this week: The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, and the City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale.

Later...

Updates to "The coming week..."

The post is just a day old, but there have already been some significant changes to the schedules this week.

...Over at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the previously-scheduled uneventful week now has a Special and Executive session scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m.

...And in the court case of State Senator John Huppenthal, the jury trial in another case that had been scheduled for the San Marcos Justice Court (the court where Huppenthal's case is assigned) has been cancelled/postponed (not sure which), so Huppenthal's case is back in the San Marcos Justice Court's courtroom.

Until it is changed again, anyway. :)

Some interesting info has come to light concerning the "pro tem" JP assigned to hear the case, Daniel Washburn.

He ran for Superior Court Judge in Pinal County last year, losing in the Republican primary.

After he lost in the primary, he left a message on his website -

Of course I am saddened that I did not win the primary election; however, I am grateful to have time once again to spend with my family and friends. Additionally, as a judicial candidate, I was restricted from publicly supporting the Republican Party and its candidates. I am no longer a judicial candidate; therefore, I now publicly support all Republican candidates and encourage all Republicans to support the Republican ticket that is now set for the general election in November.

Washburn also wrote this law school journal article regarding student religious speech in schools.

Washburn was also cited in a Phoenix New Times' article documenting "questionable" expenditures of Clean Elections monies. From the article -

John Fillmore, a Republican running for state representative in Apache Junction, didn't even bother writing a check to a company he owned. Instead, he simply paid himself $2,861 in "petty cash/miscellaneous." Fillmore says he used the cash to avoid his bank's "exorbitant" checking fees.

Fillmore also paid $17,350 to Mesa attorney Daniel Washburn for "communications," according to records. Washburn was "helping me a lot, helping me orchestrate polling places throughout the district," Fillmore says.

Hmmmm....I don't know who assigns pro tem JPs to cases in Maricopa County, but Judge Washburn is an interesting choice for a politically-charged case involving a Republican politician as a defendant. Especially given that the original JP, Judge Keith Frankel, recused himself because of his own political involvements.

Note: I did hear other things regarding Washburn's political involvements, but couldn't independently verify them. There was nothing earth-shattering anyway, just more details.

Wednesday morning should be interesting, if only to see if the case is assigned to yet another judge.

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice...

...In the U.S House of Representatives this week, the agenda is again a full one, and again, most of the bills up for consideration are pretty mundane.

Of course, again there are a couple of nuggets that will generate some serious conflict.

- H.R. 1035, the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Amendments Act of 2009, sponsored by AZ's Raul Grijalva and cosponsored by the other four Democratic members of AZ's delegation, Ann Kirkpatrick, Gabrielle Giffords, Harry Mitchell, and Ed Pastor.

- H.R. 3326, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. Lots of money, lots of arguments. Jeff Flake alone plans to file 540 amendments to this bill.

H.R. 3326 is scheduled for a Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday at 3 p.m. (noon AZ time).

- H.R. 3269, the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009. CRS summary here. This one could have the effect of limiting some of the more outrageous executive compensation packages that were seen at the height of the economic bubble and that some corporations are itching to bring back.


...Over in the U.S. Senate, they'll be starting the week with floor consideration of H.R. 3183,"appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies." Various committees will be considering other budget bills during the week. Also, there will be continuing consideration of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.

In addition to all that, expect more hubbub over President Obama's health care reform plan.


...Back here in the AZ lege, the never-ending session is, well, not ending. Not this week, anyway. They are scheduled to meet this week, but thus far the plans seem to include only a prayer and a pledge. The rooms where the deals are made may no longer be "smoke-filled" (since smoking in public buildings is illegal), but closed doors are even less transparent. It's looking more and more like they're going to futz around until the last possible moment, then engage in a round of panic cutting in order to balance the rest of the budget.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in Phoenix. The agenda is a full one. Hearing schedule here.


...The Governing Board for the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday for an executive session at 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting at 6:30. The agenda is long and mostly boring. There is a monitoring report on the District's budget status that might be a little interesting, and a contract award for management consulting services too, but that seems to be it thus far.


...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to meet at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. No agenda posted yet.


...The political highlight of the week, at least in Central AZ, seems to be the trial of State Senator John Huppenthal on Wednesday. It is scheduled to be at 8 a.m. in the San Marcos Justice Court, but it is highly likely that it will take place in another courtroom in that building (there are four Justice Courts in that one building) as Huppenthal and his attorney have waived a jury trial in their case but there is a jury trial scheduled for that specific courtroom that day. If you are a total geek and plan to go watch the trial, get there a little early and inquire as to which courtroom the case has been assigned.

The incident that merited the charges pertain to some shenanigans on Election Day last November that involved tampering with some political signs critical of him and a confrontation/assault with an elderly Democratic activist.

All charges are misdemeanors (hence the assignment of the case to a justice court) and will result in no more than a slap on the wrist, even if he is convicted.

Background on the Huppenthal matter from Ray Stern of the Phoenix New Times here.


Thus far, the Arizona Board of Regents, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the City Councils of Scottsdale and Tempe are not scheduled to meet this week.

The coming week...

...The technical issues have been addressed, for now at least...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice.


...In the AZ legislature, nothing is posted yet in terms of floor and committee schedules; this may be another pro forma, "prayer and the pledge" sort of week in the special session that has been called to balance the state's budget.

Stay tuned for updates...


...The U.S. House will see an agenda that has many of the usual memorials, post office namings, and such. There are a few items of more interest though.

---There is an as-yet-unnumbered motion for the House to ask the Senate to not proceed with the impeachment of federal Judge Sam Kent. Kent lied to federal investigators about sexually assualting two women, and is currently serving a sentence in federal prison. After the House impeached him, he offered his resignation, making a Senate trial on the articles of impeachment moot.

--- H.R. 2873, Enhanced S.E.C. Enforcement Authority Act.

--- H.R. 2920, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009. It will be fun watching the Republican caucus twist themselves into knots trying to find ways to call this one "fiscally irresponsible."

--- Two as-yet-unnumbered appropriations bills - the "Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act" and the "Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Act, 2010."


...Over in the Senate, on Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.


And in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, health care reform could come to the floor any time that the leadership thinks that they have a package with the votes to pass. That probably won't happen this week, but it's worth keeping an eye out for developments in that area.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will hold two regularly scheduled meetings this week.

--- On Monday, they'll meet in "informal" session at 10 a.m. That agenda includes an economic forecast, a "green" update, some liquor license stuff, and (stop me if you've heard this one before), an executive session.

--- On Wednesday, they'll meet in "formal" session at 9 a.m. That agenda is much longer (63 pages vs. the informal session's 3) and that agenda includes spending on the county's Constables (2 laptops, 3 bullet-proof vests, 5 sets of "safety lights" for vehicles, and 8 tasers) and a number of rather mundane items like grant acceptances and IGAs (intergovernmental agreements).

On this one, I admit to not having the attention span necessary for a full evaluation. I did skim most of the agenda, however, and nothing stood out as being particularly bad. It seemed mostly to be housekeeping kind of stuff.


...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will hold special meetings on Monday and Wednesday at 1 p.m. No agendas posted as yet.


Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Corporation Commission, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project, the Board of Governors of the Maricopa County Community College District, the City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale.

The Citizens Clean Election Commission had been scheduled to meet this week, but that meeting has been postponed until next Wednesday.

More later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies and subject to change without notice...

...The U.S. House of Representatives will continue its job of cobbling together a federal budget this week. On its agenda: H.R. 3170, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2010 and H.R. [no number assigned yet], the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.

That last will be sponsored by AZ's Ed Pastor (D-CD4).

...While those bills will be sure to generate a lot of debate, the highlight of the D.C. week will be over in the Senate.

At 10 a.m. (EDT) on Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its hearing on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Look for one of AZ's own, Sen. Jon Kyl, to lead the Republican opposition to the first Hispanic woman nominated to the Court.



...In the Arizona legislature, no floor schedule has been posted yet. However, this week's session of the Special Session is expected to be pro forma. That means that the "plan" for both chambers is a prayer, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, utter a few comments, and get the hell out of Dodge the Phoenix heat.

The only sign of movement is in bill introductions - in the Senate, John Huppenthal has introduced 3 vehicle bills and 2 vehicle referendum proposals (aka - "technical correction" proposals); in the House, no new bills have been posted so far.

In other words, there *could* be some progress on dealing with the state's deficit this week, but it doesn't seem likely at this point.

Note: At 9:30 a.m. Monday on the Senate lawn, the AZ Senate Democrats and the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers will hold a press conference and rally to protest plans to privatize Arizona's prisons.



...The Arizona Board of Regents' Capital Committee will hold an executive session meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The guts of that agenda -

It is anticipated that the Board may vote to convene in Executive Session, in accordance with A.R.S. §38-431.03(A)(3), (4), and (7) for the purposes of discussing and seeking legal advice regarding real property transactions: a) forAlpha Drive properties at the ASU Tempe Campus; b) The Towers on the ASU Tempe Campus; and c) Cholla Housing Facilities on the ASU Tempe Campus.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will hold a special/executive meeting on Wednesday at 10 a.m. No agenda posted yet, though some of the MCBOS' legal tribulations are sure to be on the docket for the executive session.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will hold an RFP Advisory Committee meeting on Monday at 2 p.m.


The highlight (in fact, the only "light") of that agenda -

C. Presentations from the three finalists for RFP # 2906-1 Management Consulting Services for MCCCD to the RFP Committee.

1. Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services

2. Huron Consulting

3. MGT of America

...The Arizona Corporation Commission, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Boards of Directors for the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Tempe and Scottsdale City Councils are not scheduled to meet this week.

Later...

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice...


...Top billing this week goes to the Arizona Legislature, who are scheduled to gather in special session to address the continuing budget. The session is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Monday. More details in this story from AZCentral.com.

No budget bills (only vehicle bills that can be amended later into budget bills), floor calendars, or committee schedules have been posted as of 10:45 a.m. on Sunday.


...The U.S. House is back in session on Tuesday, and it has one thing in common with the AZ lege - most of its week will be consumed by budget work. Unlike AZ however, we're not past the start of the new fiscal year without a budget, so it's not all they will be working on.

Among the items on the agenda -

H.R. 1511, the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2009

H.R. 2965, the Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009

H.R. 2701, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010

H.R. 2997, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

H.R. 3081, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2010

Possible consideration of H.R. 3082, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2010

The bills listed, whether actual appropriations measures or simply authorization bills, are all money bills, and will be subject to proposed amendments and earmarks (from both parties) and a likely attempt from Jeff Flake to bar earmarks.

H.Rs. 2965, 2997, 3081, and 3082 are expected to have hearings before the House Rules Committee this week, where amendment proposals will be made in order for floor consideration.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission has an open meeting scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. The agenda is a brief one, with two securities-related items, and two items related to linesitings (utilities.)


...This is a quiet period for goverment bodies in AZ - the Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Tempe City Council, and Scottsdale City Council are not scheduled to meet this week.

In fact, the CAP Board and both City Councils are not scheduled at all in July. Neither is the Arizona Board of Regents, but one of their committees, the Capital Committee, is scheduled to meet next week.

The coming week...

Back to a consolidated post of the weekly schedules of political bodies relevent to AZ and to the Scottsdale/Tempe area...

...Due to the holiday this week (Independence Day on Saturday, legal holiday on Friday), most political bodies aren't in session or have a light schedule. However, "most" doesn't mean "all."


...The chambers of the U.S. Congress are in recess until Monday, July 6 and Tuesday, July 7.


...The AZ legislature is going nuts this week. While most of the attention will be focused on the budget, there will also be a mad rush to railroad through final passage of as many bills as possible, including some really ugly ones.

Monday and Tuesday should be *long* days at the lege, especially if it looks like the Rep caucus is going to get its act together long enough to pass some sort of budget. Floor sessions that drag on into the wee hours are likely.

There hasn't been much posted in the way of floor schedules as yet, and to be honest, anything that is posted this week will be out of date five minutes after it goes up. However, that is the usual situation in the AZ lege whenever it approaches sine die.

It's just a little worse during sessions as crazy and dysfunctional as this one.

Floor calendars will be posted here.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a "special" meeting planned for Monday morning at 10. The agenda is fairly short, mostly financial and employment matters, with the now-standard executive session at the tail end of the meeting.


...The Scottsdale City Council is going to have a busy week with meetings on Wednesday and Thursday as it tries to clear up some business before its summer break (next meeting: August 24).

Wednesday's regular agenda actually looks to be pretty light, except for some Council "housekeeping" measures added to the agenda by Councilman Wayne Ecton.

The fireworks should be at an executive session scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. The highlight of that agenda?

Discuss and consider employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, demotion, dismissal, salaries, disciplining or resignation of the City Attorney; and discuss or consult with the Cityattorney(s) for legal advice regarding same. A.R.S. § 38-431.03 (A) (1) and (3).

Yes, based on the wording of that item, they'll be asking the City Attorney for advice on firing...the City Attorney.

Oh to be a fly on the wall... :)

Thursday's meeting has a longer consent agenda, loaded with liquor license applications, but it also has some regular agenda items that are likely to generate controversy. They'll be discussing noise issues, budget adjustments to the FY2009/2010 budget, a possible survey of Scottsdale residents regarding light rail.

Predictions on those matters - it's Scottsdale, so the only noise allowed is the ka-ching of cash registers; the Council is comprised entirely of Republicans, so any budget cuts that leave any semblance of public services intact are cuts that aren't deep enough; and there's no need for a survey to tell the Council what it already knows best - Scottsdale doesn't need light rail or any modern version of mass transit. The horse and buggy was good enough when the city was first settled, and its modern cousin, the overpriced and overloaded luxury SUV, is good enough today.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and Tempe City Council are not scheduled to meet this week.


Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on matters at the lege...