The lege's schedule this week - almost no committee hearings while the lege "focuses" on the budget - has been covered here, in a post at Blog for Arizona.
...As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies except where noted, and subject to change without notice...
In Congress, most of the week will be spent on committee hearings and behind-the-scenes work on health care reform and jobs bills. The short agenda for the House's floor activity mostly covers a number of non-controversial memorial and congratulatory resolutions. Even the one meaningful bill, HR4247, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (CRS summary here; an AP article on the need for the proposed legislation, via AZCentral.com, here) should pass easily...after the Rs oppose even bringing the measure to the floor, of course (they oppose everything these days, no matter the worthiness of the legislation),
The Senate also has a long committee schedule (media highlight: the Commerce Committee's hearing looking into Toyota's recalls). Floor work may include consideration of the jobs bill recently passed by the House and an extension of the Patriot Act.
...Here in Arizona...
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will be holding a "utilities" meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The ACC's hearing schedule is here.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be meeting on Thursday in Casa Grande. CAP's Public Policy Committee will also meet on Thursday, as will its Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District & Underground Storage Committee.
...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet Thursday evening for a regular meeting (agenda here); earlier on Thursday, they are going to hold a special meeting on balancing the city's budget (agenda here). On Friday, they'll hold an executive session as part of the process of choosing a new City Clerk for Tempe (agenda here). The Council's calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday (agenda here). The Council's Community Meeting Notice is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Maricopa Board of Supervisors, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District (though they have some kind of "retreat" scheduled for Tuesday evening), Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Showing posts with label MCBOS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MCBOS. Show all posts
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thomas Watch: which will come first - resignation or indictment?
It's kind of like the great question of drunken bar debate fame - "what came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Only without the booze and pretzels. :)
From AZCentral.com -
Andrew Thomas disqualified from Wilcox case; charges against 2 others dropped
Some may argue that the last part of the judge's ruling makes this setback a win for Thomas (the part about allowing the appointment of an independent prosecutor), but given the amount of effort put into and the PR reaped from the persecution of the Board of Supervisors (and the County's judiciary) by Thomas and Arpaio, this is not only a total smackdown of the County Attorney professionally, it also puts a serious crimp in his plans politically.
Even (most) Republicans won't support a candidate for Attorney General who has been found to be misusing his office's power for satiating personal and political grudges.
Well, at least they won't support one who has been caught at it. :)
The text of the judge's decision is here, courtesy AZCentral.com.
Phoenix New Times coverage here, here, and here.
Some of the folks lining up to replace Thomas, whether he leaves to run for a higher office or to fight charges of his own:
Boyd Dunn, mayor of Chandler (other names are mentioned in the article)
Jay Beckstead, a Scottsdale Attorney
Bill Montgomery, one of Thomas' Deputy CAs
Look for more names to emerge in the next few days and weeks as the Thomas Watch continues...
Only without the booze and pretzels. :)
From AZCentral.com -
Andrew Thomas disqualified from Wilcox case; charges against 2 others dropped
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas filed court motions Wednesday afternoon to dismiss an indictment against County Supervisor Don Stapley and a criminal complaint against Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe.
{snip}
...in the wake of a judge's ruling Wednesday morning to dismiss disqualify Thomas from prosecuting Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and dismissing a 42-count indictment against her, Thomas felt he had no choice but to dismiss charges against Stapley since the indictments were obtained from a grand jury under similar circumstances.
Some may argue that the last part of the judge's ruling makes this setback a win for Thomas (the part about allowing the appointment of an independent prosecutor), but given the amount of effort put into and the PR reaped from the persecution of the Board of Supervisors (and the County's judiciary) by Thomas and Arpaio, this is not only a total smackdown of the County Attorney professionally, it also puts a serious crimp in his plans politically.
Even (most) Republicans won't support a candidate for Attorney General who has been found to be misusing his office's power for satiating personal and political grudges.
Well, at least they won't support one who has been caught at it. :)
The text of the judge's decision is here, courtesy AZCentral.com.
Phoenix New Times coverage here, here, and here.
Some of the folks lining up to replace Thomas, whether he leaves to run for a higher office or to fight charges of his own:
Boyd Dunn, mayor of Chandler (other names are mentioned in the article)
Jay Beckstead, a Scottsdale Attorney
Bill Montgomery, one of Thomas' Deputy CAs
Look for more names to emerge in the next few days and weeks as the Thomas Watch continues...
Sunday, February 07, 2010
The coming week - everybody else edition
After a one-week hiatus due to other things needing my attention, it's time for another one of these. A separate post on the activities of the AZ legislature is here.
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice.
First up: Congress, where they have a short week with nothing scheduled for Monday or expected on Friday, followed by a week of district work next week.
In the U.S. House, the agenda seems to be short, but colorful.
- H.R. 2701, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This act involves money (even though it is only an "authorization", not an "appropriation") which always means arguments. What is curious is that not only are we well into FY2010 already (and trust me, they've been spending $$$ on "Intelligence" activities), but this bill was introduced last June and not acted upon since then.
Why are they just getting to it now?
- Also on the agenda is an as-yet-unnumbered bill titled the "Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act." I don't have any details on the bill, but if it in any way lives up to the title, expect some serious screaming from the Republicans in the House.
...The Senate's hearing schedule is here. Nothing seems to be specific to Arizona, though hearings on Don't Ask, Don't Tell and global warming (Thursday, though no link is available as of this writing) may generate some interest.
...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission isn't holding any formal meetings this week, but their hearing schedule is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two regularly scheduled meetings this week.
- Monday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "informal meeting." The agenda includes the appointment of a state senator for LD6, budget presentations from the various county officials and the judicial branch.
Oh yeah - there's an executive session component, too. No, I'm not shocked by that either.
- Wednesday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "formal meeting." Looks pretty mundane so far, but things are sort of fluid with the supes and the Sheriff and County Attorney. Changes to the agenda could happen anytime.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here.
...On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the Scottsdale City Council has a joint meeting with the McDowell Corridor/South Scottsdale Economic Development Task Force, followed by a short agenda Special Meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
...Later...
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice.
First up: Congress, where they have a short week with nothing scheduled for Monday or expected on Friday, followed by a week of district work next week.
In the U.S. House, the agenda seems to be short, but colorful.
- H.R. 2701, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This act involves money (even though it is only an "authorization", not an "appropriation") which always means arguments. What is curious is that not only are we well into FY2010 already (and trust me, they've been spending $$$ on "Intelligence" activities), but this bill was introduced last June and not acted upon since then.
Why are they just getting to it now?
- Also on the agenda is an as-yet-unnumbered bill titled the "Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act." I don't have any details on the bill, but if it in any way lives up to the title, expect some serious screaming from the Republicans in the House.
...The Senate's hearing schedule is here. Nothing seems to be specific to Arizona, though hearings on Don't Ask, Don't Tell and global warming (Thursday, though no link is available as of this writing) may generate some interest.
...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission isn't holding any formal meetings this week, but their hearing schedule is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two regularly scheduled meetings this week.
- Monday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "informal meeting." The agenda includes the appointment of a state senator for LD6, budget presentations from the various county officials and the judicial branch.
Oh yeah - there's an executive session component, too. No, I'm not shocked by that either.
- Wednesday at 9 a.m., they'll be holding their "formal meeting." Looks pretty mundane so far, but things are sort of fluid with the supes and the Sheriff and County Attorney. Changes to the agenda could happen anytime.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here.
...On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the Scottsdale City Council has a joint meeting with the McDowell Corridor/South Scottsdale Economic Development Task Force, followed by a short agenda Special Meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
...Later...
The coming week...legislative edition
As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona legislature, except where noted, and subject to change without notice...
A busy week ahead, marked by proposed encroachments on the availability of safe and legal abortion services, messing with teachers' ability to plan for their professional future, requiring the federal government to prove the constitutionality of its mandates before the state will accept them, a move to shield Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas from any sort of fiscal oversight and accountability, and more.
In special session activity, there is a House COW calendar posted for Monday, as is a Third Read calendar. Neither calendar includes SB1002 or SB1003, so my guess is that there is still some arm-twisting going on by the House leadership to try to "encourage" Senate President Bob Burns to push thru their corporate tax cut bill before a balanced budget is passed.
In non-Capitol based lege activity this week, on Monday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to appoint a replacement for the recently-resigned Sen. Pam Gorman (R-LD6). Not scheduled as yet but likely to come this week will be a meeting to appoint someone to fill the LD-7 Senate seat vacated by Jim Waring, who like Gorman has resigned to run for Congress. Monday evening, the Rep PCs of LD6 will be meeting to nominate three candidates to fill Sam Crump's seat in the House, who also vacated it in order to run for Congress. The supes could fill that seat this week or early next week.
On to the regular session of the lege -
In House committee activities this week...
- Rules will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4. Long agenda, but they have the rubber stamp big enough to cover it.
- Ways and Means is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR1. Highlights/lowlights: There are five bills on this agenda, all of which are significant - HB2160 (tax credit review committee recommendations, summary here); HB2496 (changing which tax year school tuition tax credits can be taken); HB2512 (barring municipalities from using third parties to collect municipal sales taxes); HB2663 (changing STOs' corporate tax credit requirements, summary here); and HB2664 (changing STOs/tax credit requirements in general, summary here.)
- Education is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. The agenda is long, and every bill on it is written by a Republican. There may be some real gold mixed in with the iron pyrite, but most of the bills are like HB2227, cutting the amount of time teachers have to accept a contract for the next school year from 30 days to 10.
- Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Public Employees, Retirement, and Entitlement Reform will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. Quiet so far.
- Government is meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Winger election year posturing alert: HB2538.
From the bill -
- Environment will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Military Affairs and Public Safety is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Looks pretty quiet so far, though HB2526, exempting from taxation trap and skeet shooting clubs that are "educational" in purpose and use, definitely has a whiff of "winger special" wafting from it.
- Health and Human Services is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. This one has globs of ugly awaiting Arizona.
HB2649 seeks to inhibit the accessibility of legal abortions by burying medical providers under overly onerous reporting requirements.
HB2650 would enact a six-month waiting period for getting a divorce (current requirement: 60 days) and adds an unfunded mandate on the state's court system by requiring that the courts establish an "educational" program on the effects of divorce.
- Commerce will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet thus far, but I don't understand some of this stuff.
- Water and Energy is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Quiet thus far.
- Transportation and Infrastructure will meet Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Also quiet thus far.
- Judiciary will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. Looks quiet thus far, though a striker may be offered regarding "guardianship of foreign citizens." No text available yet.
Over on the Senate side...
- Rules will meet on Monday upon adjournment of the Senate's floor session in Caucus Room 1 (aka the old press room). Rubber stamp time.
- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. Quiet thus far.
- Judiciary is meeting on Monday at 1:30 p.m. The agenda includes SB1362, increasing the fees that may be assessed by courts in eminent domain cases; and SB1365, expanding notification requirements in eminent domain condemnation cases and deleting a clause that specifies how juries assess damages that included consideration of the benefits to uncondemned property from the underlying project.
- Commerce and Economic Development is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. The nugget of really ugly here is SB1242, enacting all sorts of restrictions on labor unions during work actions and giving special protections to employers during the same.
- Appropriations is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. As might be expected, the agenda of this committee chaired by Russell Pearce is possibly the worst of the week. It has -
SB1017, requiring that county boards of supervisors appropriate budget money to other county officers in lump sums and removes any kind of fiscal oversight of those officers' operations. AKA the "don't mess with mah man Joe [Arpaio]" bill.
A striker to SCR1032 that would permanently micromanage school districts with a requirement that they spend 70% of their budgets on "classroom instruction." The word "permanently" fits here because as an SCR it would have to be approved by the voters and then couldn't be adjusted by future legislatures unless the Reps succeed in their efforts to overturn the Voter Protection Act.
And this agenda could have been worse - the original agenda had a striker to SB1104 that referred to "taxpayer bill of rights." Know this now - Pearce et. al. will try to spring TABOR on the state this year, probably after the latest budget mess simmers down.
- Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. This one has some bills on photo radar (procedures, banning the use on freeways, more procedures.)
- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet Wednesday at 9 a.m. in SHR1. This one has SCM1004, a letter to Congress demanding that the federal government pay for any health care programs that are required for the states.
- Veterans and Military Affairs will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. Quiet thus far.
- Finance meets on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. One item of interest here is SB1402, Russell Pearce's limits on the secondary property taxes imposed by special taxing districts (including fire districts, library districts, county jail districts, and/or county public health services districts). *Exactly* how it does that is a little unclear to me.
This bill should be an exhibit in the case showing why lawyers should never be allowed to write laws; English majors or journalists should.
The latter groups, by training and disposition, prefer to write sentences that actually clearly communicate information and ideas. The former?
Not so much. :)
- Education Accountability and Reform will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Whether it's through the huge gashes inflicted by the Reps' meat-cleaver approach during the budget process or through the nicks and papercuts inflicted by the bills on this agenda, the bleeding of the state's education system continues. Some of the agendized items include:
SB1175, expanding the membership of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District by adding two members who will be elected on a county-wide basis. Aka "the keep the MCCCD Board dominated by Republicans" bill.
SB1280, making sure that home-schooled students are notified of the scholarship requirements and criteria of the Arizona Board of Regents (actually, this one doesn't seem to be too bad, but I want to see what it looks like after going through the entire legislative process before being totally at ease with it).
SB1284, messing with school financing rules. One of the highlights: language that makes cuts to funding imposed during the year, such as those we've seen from the various special sessions of the lege this year, retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year. In other words, cuts to state funding won't just impact school districts going forward, they'll force school districts to return money.
SB1286, changing the grading of schools from words like "excelling" and "highly performing" to letter grades (the traditional A thru F). Probably not a bad thing in itself, but the changes to the formula determining how that grade is arrived at may be. Somebody with more experience in this area should look at that (David Safier, that's you. :) )
- Government Institutions will meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in SHR1.
Nuggets here include:
SB1143, creating the ability for counties to change their borders via "local initiative." Another bill I don't completely understand as yet, but it's from Jack Harper - it's presumed to be a bad one.
SB1348, Senate President Bob Burns' proposal to slow down new regulations of business, such as requirements that specific medical procedures/conditions be covered by health insurers, and to speed up the discard of older regulations. There are other similar clauses in this bill, enough for it to be named "The Bob Burns is setting up a run for Corporation Commission and wants to secure business financing for his run" bill.
...Check back on the lege's website later in the week for any changes to committee agendas.
Later!
A busy week ahead, marked by proposed encroachments on the availability of safe and legal abortion services, messing with teachers' ability to plan for their professional future, requiring the federal government to prove the constitutionality of its mandates before the state will accept them, a move to shield Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas from any sort of fiscal oversight and accountability, and more.
In special session activity, there is a House COW calendar posted for Monday, as is a Third Read calendar. Neither calendar includes SB1002 or SB1003, so my guess is that there is still some arm-twisting going on by the House leadership to try to "encourage" Senate President Bob Burns to push thru their corporate tax cut bill before a balanced budget is passed.
In non-Capitol based lege activity this week, on Monday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to appoint a replacement for the recently-resigned Sen. Pam Gorman (R-LD6). Not scheduled as yet but likely to come this week will be a meeting to appoint someone to fill the LD-7 Senate seat vacated by Jim Waring, who like Gorman has resigned to run for Congress. Monday evening, the Rep PCs of LD6 will be meeting to nominate three candidates to fill Sam Crump's seat in the House, who also vacated it in order to run for Congress. The supes could fill that seat this week or early next week.
On to the regular session of the lege -
In House committee activities this week...
- Rules will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4. Long agenda, but they have the rubber stamp big enough to cover it.
- Ways and Means is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR1. Highlights/lowlights: There are five bills on this agenda, all of which are significant - HB2160 (tax credit review committee recommendations, summary here); HB2496 (changing which tax year school tuition tax credits can be taken); HB2512 (barring municipalities from using third parties to collect municipal sales taxes); HB2663 (changing STOs' corporate tax credit requirements, summary here); and HB2664 (changing STOs/tax credit requirements in general, summary here.)
- Education is meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. The agenda is long, and every bill on it is written by a Republican. There may be some real gold mixed in with the iron pyrite, but most of the bills are like HB2227, cutting the amount of time teachers have to accept a contract for the next school year from 30 days to 10.
- Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Public Employees, Retirement, and Entitlement Reform will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR3. Quiet so far.
- Government is meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Winger election year posturing alert: HB2538.
From the bill -
The legislature shall not enact any statute that appropriates state monies pursuant to a federal mandate or that complies with a federal mandate unless the federal mandate contains a report or document prescribing reasonable and logical arguments based on United States constitutional law that the federal mandate is a function of the federal government and will pass a constitutional challenge if contested in a court of law.Yeah....
- Environment will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet so far.
- Military Affairs and Public Safety is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Looks pretty quiet so far, though HB2526, exempting from taxation trap and skeet shooting clubs that are "educational" in purpose and use, definitely has a whiff of "winger special" wafting from it.
- Health and Human Services is meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. This one has globs of ugly awaiting Arizona.
HB2649 seeks to inhibit the accessibility of legal abortions by burying medical providers under overly onerous reporting requirements.
HB2650 would enact a six-month waiting period for getting a divorce (current requirement: 60 days) and adds an unfunded mandate on the state's court system by requiring that the courts establish an "educational" program on the effects of divorce.
- Commerce will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Looks quiet thus far, but I don't understand some of this stuff.
- Water and Energy is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Quiet thus far.
- Transportation and Infrastructure will meet Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Also quiet thus far.
- Judiciary will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR4. Looks quiet thus far, though a striker may be offered regarding "guardianship of foreign citizens." No text available yet.
Over on the Senate side...
- Rules will meet on Monday upon adjournment of the Senate's floor session in Caucus Room 1 (aka the old press room). Rubber stamp time.
- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. Quiet thus far.
- Judiciary is meeting on Monday at 1:30 p.m. The agenda includes SB1362, increasing the fees that may be assessed by courts in eminent domain cases; and SB1365, expanding notification requirements in eminent domain condemnation cases and deleting a clause that specifies how juries assess damages that included consideration of the benefits to uncondemned property from the underlying project.
- Commerce and Economic Development is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. The nugget of really ugly here is SB1242, enacting all sorts of restrictions on labor unions during work actions and giving special protections to employers during the same.
- Appropriations is meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109. As might be expected, the agenda of this committee chaired by Russell Pearce is possibly the worst of the week. It has -
SB1017, requiring that county boards of supervisors appropriate budget money to other county officers in lump sums and removes any kind of fiscal oversight of those officers' operations. AKA the "don't mess with mah man Joe [Arpaio]" bill.
A striker to SCR1032 that would permanently micromanage school districts with a requirement that they spend 70% of their budgets on "classroom instruction." The word "permanently" fits here because as an SCR it would have to be approved by the voters and then couldn't be adjusted by future legislatures unless the Reps succeed in their efforts to overturn the Voter Protection Act.
And this agenda could have been worse - the original agenda had a striker to SB1104 that referred to "taxpayer bill of rights." Know this now - Pearce et. al. will try to spring TABOR on the state this year, probably after the latest budget mess simmers down.
- Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. This one has some bills on photo radar (procedures, banning the use on freeways, more procedures.)
- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet Wednesday at 9 a.m. in SHR1. This one has SCM1004, a letter to Congress demanding that the federal government pay for any health care programs that are required for the states.
- Veterans and Military Affairs will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2. Quiet thus far.
- Finance meets on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. One item of interest here is SB1402, Russell Pearce's limits on the secondary property taxes imposed by special taxing districts (including fire districts, library districts, county jail districts, and/or county public health services districts). *Exactly* how it does that is a little unclear to me.
This bill should be an exhibit in the case showing why lawyers should never be allowed to write laws; English majors or journalists should.
The latter groups, by training and disposition, prefer to write sentences that actually clearly communicate information and ideas. The former?
Not so much. :)
- Education Accountability and Reform will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. Whether it's through the huge gashes inflicted by the Reps' meat-cleaver approach during the budget process or through the nicks and papercuts inflicted by the bills on this agenda, the bleeding of the state's education system continues. Some of the agendized items include:
SB1175, expanding the membership of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District by adding two members who will be elected on a county-wide basis. Aka "the keep the MCCCD Board dominated by Republicans" bill.
SB1280, making sure that home-schooled students are notified of the scholarship requirements and criteria of the Arizona Board of Regents (actually, this one doesn't seem to be too bad, but I want to see what it looks like after going through the entire legislative process before being totally at ease with it).
SB1284, messing with school financing rules. One of the highlights: language that makes cuts to funding imposed during the year, such as those we've seen from the various special sessions of the lege this year, retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year. In other words, cuts to state funding won't just impact school districts going forward, they'll force school districts to return money.
SB1286, changing the grading of schools from words like "excelling" and "highly performing" to letter grades (the traditional A thru F). Probably not a bad thing in itself, but the changes to the formula determining how that grade is arrived at may be. Somebody with more experience in this area should look at that (David Safier, that's you. :) )
- Government Institutions will meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in SHR1.
Nuggets here include:
SB1143, creating the ability for counties to change their borders via "local initiative." Another bill I don't completely understand as yet, but it's from Jack Harper - it's presumed to be a bad one.
SB1348, Senate President Bob Burns' proposal to slow down new regulations of business, such as requirements that specific medical procedures/conditions be covered by health insurers, and to speed up the discard of older regulations. There are other similar clauses in this bill, enough for it to be named "The Bob Burns is setting up a run for Corporation Commission and wants to secure business financing for his run" bill.
...Check back on the lege's website later in the week for any changes to committee agendas.
Later!
Monday, February 01, 2010
The timing of the special session could be very important
...and not just for fiscal reasons.
A lot of tea leaf reading is going into the makeup of this post, so everything in it should be read with that in mind - this post is taking the bones of a few possibly related facts and putting them together.
And hoping it all doesn't come out looking like Frankenstein's monster. :)
It's looking more and more like the budget package had better pass this week, perhaps by Wednesday, or the Rs in the Senate may pull together enough votes to kill it next week, particularly the referral of a proposed temporary sales tax increase to the ballot.
The possibly related facts:
- The GOP PCs in LD6 were scheduled to meet on Monday evening to select three candidates for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to choose from when the supes select a replacement for the recently resigned State Sen. Pam Gorman.
- The supes have a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m. No agenda posted as yet, but it will be easy to set up an item to consider the appointment of an LD6 state senator.
- The LD7 Republican PCs will be meeting on Thursday to select possible replacements for the recently resigned State Sen. Jim Waring.
- The supes have a regularly scheduled meeting on tap for Monday morning. No agenda posted as yet, but again, it would be easy to add a senator selection to that agenda. And if the supes don't do the LD6 selection on Wednesday, they could squeeze in both during next Monday's meeting.
In other words, the R caucus in the Senate could be back at full obstructionist strength by next Monday afternoon.
Should make for an interesting week at the lege...
A lot of tea leaf reading is going into the makeup of this post, so everything in it should be read with that in mind - this post is taking the bones of a few possibly related facts and putting them together.
And hoping it all doesn't come out looking like Frankenstein's monster. :)
It's looking more and more like the budget package had better pass this week, perhaps by Wednesday, or the Rs in the Senate may pull together enough votes to kill it next week, particularly the referral of a proposed temporary sales tax increase to the ballot.
The possibly related facts:
- The GOP PCs in LD6 were scheduled to meet on Monday evening to select three candidates for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to choose from when the supes select a replacement for the recently resigned State Sen. Pam Gorman.
- The supes have a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m. No agenda posted as yet, but it will be easy to set up an item to consider the appointment of an LD6 state senator.
- The LD7 Republican PCs will be meeting on Thursday to select possible replacements for the recently resigned State Sen. Jim Waring.
- The supes have a regularly scheduled meeting on tap for Monday morning. No agenda posted as yet, but again, it would be easy to add a senator selection to that agenda. And if the supes don't do the LD6 selection on Wednesday, they could squeeze in both during next Monday's meeting.
In other words, the R caucus in the Senate could be back at full obstructionist strength by next Monday afternoon.
Should make for an interesting week at the lege...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The coming week...
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice...
...In Congress, it will be a rather brief week due to the President's State of the Union address on Wednesday.
Possibly controversial items on the House's scheduled agenda -
- An as-yet-unnumbered bill titled "Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act" from Rep. Charlie Rangel
- An as-yet-unnumbered bill regarding "additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958" from Rep. Nydia Velazquez
There won't be any business conducted in the House on Thursday and Friday so that the House Republicans may meet in an issues conference.
Over in the Senate, they'll be attending the State of the Union address with the members of the House, but before and after that, they'll be conducting business. Their committee schedule is here. There doesn't seem to be anything of specific interest to Arizona this week, though something could crop up.
...The committee schedule for the Arizona legislature was covered in a separate post here. There is one additional meeting to add: the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet on Tuesday at 8 a.m. in HHR4.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will be holding a Public Comment Meeting in Litchfield Park on Monday at 6:30 p.m. They will be soliciting public input on a rate increase request from Liberty Water, formerly known at Litchfield Park Service Co. ACC's full hearing schedule is here.
...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. No agenda posted as yet, but expect at least an informal discussion of the recent court ruling outlawing CE's matching funds provisions. (Note: CE is appealing the decision.)
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will hold an informal meeting on Monday and a formal meeting on Wednesday (agenda available on this page).
...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will have a busy week -
- An executive session on Monday at 1 p.m.
- A formal meeting on Monday at 3 p.m.
- Another formal meeting on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., with an executive session at 5:30 p.m.
...The Tempe City Council's Calendar is here. No formal council meetings are scheduled for this week. However, since last week's meeting was postponed due to the weather issues in the area, it may be rescheduled for this week. Stay tuned.
...The Scottsdale City Council will have a busy Tuesday -
- A 3:30 p.m. Executive Session
- A 4 p.m. Special Meeting on Board and Commission appointments
- A 5 p.m. Regular Meeting, assuming that all will still be running according to schedule.
The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
On Monday, the City's Charter Review Task Force will be meeting on Monday evening. An AZRepublic preview of the meeting is here.
Not meeting this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project
...In Congress, it will be a rather brief week due to the President's State of the Union address on Wednesday.
Possibly controversial items on the House's scheduled agenda -
- An as-yet-unnumbered bill titled "Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act" from Rep. Charlie Rangel
- An as-yet-unnumbered bill regarding "additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958" from Rep. Nydia Velazquez
There won't be any business conducted in the House on Thursday and Friday so that the House Republicans may meet in an issues conference.
Over in the Senate, they'll be attending the State of the Union address with the members of the House, but before and after that, they'll be conducting business. Their committee schedule is here. There doesn't seem to be anything of specific interest to Arizona this week, though something could crop up.
...The committee schedule for the Arizona legislature was covered in a separate post here. There is one additional meeting to add: the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet on Tuesday at 8 a.m. in HHR4.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will be holding a Public Comment Meeting in Litchfield Park on Monday at 6:30 p.m. They will be soliciting public input on a rate increase request from Liberty Water, formerly known at Litchfield Park Service Co. ACC's full hearing schedule is here.
...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. No agenda posted as yet, but expect at least an informal discussion of the recent court ruling outlawing CE's matching funds provisions. (Note: CE is appealing the decision.)
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will hold an informal meeting on Monday and a formal meeting on Wednesday (agenda available on this page).
...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will have a busy week -
- An executive session on Monday at 1 p.m.
- A formal meeting on Monday at 3 p.m.
- Another formal meeting on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., with an executive session at 5:30 p.m.
...The Tempe City Council's Calendar is here. No formal council meetings are scheduled for this week. However, since last week's meeting was postponed due to the weather issues in the area, it may be rescheduled for this week. Stay tuned.
...The Scottsdale City Council will have a busy Tuesday -
- A 3:30 p.m. Executive Session
- A 4 p.m. Special Meeting on Board and Commission appointments
- A 5 p.m. Regular Meeting, assuming that all will still be running according to schedule.
The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
On Monday, the City's Charter Review Task Force will be meeting on Monday evening. An AZRepublic preview of the meeting is here.
Not meeting this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Coming Week... - Everybody but the lege edition
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice.
...In the halls of Congress, expect developments regarding health care reform, though those could be accelerated/slowed by the results of the special Senate election in Massachusetts.
There are other matters on the agenda, regardless of the outcome in MA.
- - The House agenda has a few items of interest to Arizonans.
- H.R. 725, Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ4). CRS summary here. Heard under "suspension of the rules," so a 2/3 vote is required for passage.
- H.R. 1065, White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ1) and cosponsored by the rest of the Arizona delegation. CRS summary here. Subject to Rules Committee consideration.
- - Over in the Senate, they will be getting back to work on Wednesday. Their committee schedule is here.
Highlights of that list include a Wednesday hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that will look into the failed Christmas Day explosive underwear attack. Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, the current Secretary of Homeland Security, is scheduled to appear. There will also be a Thursday meeting of the Armed Services Committee to look at the findings of an independent review of the Fort Hood shootings. An FBI press release on the shootings, dated January 15, 2010, here.
...Back here in Arizona, the legislative session is in full swing; their committee schedule for the week was covered in this post.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission isn't meeting this week. Their hearing schedule is here, however.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project isn't formally meeting this week, but their Finance, Audit, and Power Committee will meet on Thursday. In addition, they will be holding a Work/Study session on "ADD Water."
...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday. The agenda is here. The Council Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council won't formally meet this week. However, they will be part of a joint meeting and dinner with the Tempe City Council at the District 1 Police Station on McKellips Road. That is scheduled for Tuesday evening. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
...In the halls of Congress, expect developments regarding health care reform, though those could be accelerated/slowed by the results of the special Senate election in Massachusetts.
There are other matters on the agenda, regardless of the outcome in MA.
- - The House agenda has a few items of interest to Arizonans.
- H.R. 725, Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ4). CRS summary here. Heard under "suspension of the rules," so a 2/3 vote is required for passage.
- H.R. 1065, White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ1) and cosponsored by the rest of the Arizona delegation. CRS summary here. Subject to Rules Committee consideration.
- - Over in the Senate, they will be getting back to work on Wednesday. Their committee schedule is here.
Highlights of that list include a Wednesday hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that will look into the failed Christmas Day explosive underwear attack. Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, the current Secretary of Homeland Security, is scheduled to appear. There will also be a Thursday meeting of the Armed Services Committee to look at the findings of an independent review of the Fort Hood shootings. An FBI press release on the shootings, dated January 15, 2010, here.
...Back here in Arizona, the legislative session is in full swing; their committee schedule for the week was covered in this post.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission isn't meeting this week. Their hearing schedule is here, however.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project isn't formally meeting this week, but their Finance, Audit, and Power Committee will meet on Thursday. In addition, they will be holding a Work/Study session on "ADD Water."
...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday. The agenda is here. The Council Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council won't formally meet this week. However, they will be part of a joint meeting and dinner with the Tempe City Council at the District 1 Police Station on McKellips Road. That is scheduled for Tuesday evening. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
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...
As with last week, the current schedule is a light one due to the holiday on Friday.
...In Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are in recess until the new year, at which point they will start wrangling over health care reform.
...The Arizona legislature is doing its most beneficial work of the year for the people of AZ this week - no committee hearings, no legislative sessions, no nothing this week. They won't be actively making things worse for Arizonans this week (though some legislators may be making plans for just that during the coming session).
...The Arizona Corporation Commission has no public meetings scheduled this week, though there is a light hearing schedule. Everything seems to be focused on rates for Litchfield Park Service Co. and Global Water-Palo Verde Utilities Co.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting scheduled for Monday at noon. The agenda includes an executive session component as well as an open meeting component. The highlight of the open meeting portion is the adoption of financial disclosure standards for county elected officials. You know, the kind of stuff that Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas have used to cause so many problems for Supervisor Don Stapley et. al.
MCBOS' 2010 meeting schedule is here. There are already a couple of adjustments - the 1/5/2010 meeting will be held on 1/7 and the 1/13 meeting will be held on 1/12.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, though their Council Calendar is here. It's all Insight Bowl-related events.
...The Scottsdale City Council also isn't meeting this week. Their Community Meeting Notice is kind of light - nothing is planned for the week.
...The biggest meeting of the week looks to be AHCCCS' Public Hearing on Governor Brewer's recently-ordered cap on KidsCare enrollment, a hearing that will take place on Tuesday. Full details at this earlier post.
Not meeting at all this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College System, and the Arizona Board of Regents.
Later...
As with last week, the current schedule is a light one due to the holiday on Friday.
...In Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are in recess until the new year, at which point they will start wrangling over health care reform.
...The Arizona legislature is doing its most beneficial work of the year for the people of AZ this week - no committee hearings, no legislative sessions, no nothing this week. They won't be actively making things worse for Arizonans this week (though some legislators may be making plans for just that during the coming session).
...The Arizona Corporation Commission has no public meetings scheduled this week, though there is a light hearing schedule. Everything seems to be focused on rates for Litchfield Park Service Co. and Global Water-Palo Verde Utilities Co.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting scheduled for Monday at noon. The agenda includes an executive session component as well as an open meeting component. The highlight of the open meeting portion is the adoption of financial disclosure standards for county elected officials. You know, the kind of stuff that Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas have used to cause so many problems for Supervisor Don Stapley et. al.
MCBOS' 2010 meeting schedule is here. There are already a couple of adjustments - the 1/5/2010 meeting will be held on 1/7 and the 1/13 meeting will be held on 1/12.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, though their Council Calendar is here. It's all Insight Bowl-related events.
...The Scottsdale City Council also isn't meeting this week. Their Community Meeting Notice is kind of light - nothing is planned for the week.
...The biggest meeting of the week looks to be AHCCCS' Public Hearing on Governor Brewer's recently-ordered cap on KidsCare enrollment, a hearing that will take place on Tuesday. Full details at this earlier post.
Not meeting at all this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College System, and the Arizona Board of Regents.
Later...
Saturday, December 19, 2009
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...
This will be a quick post, mostly because almost everybody is on a holiday schedule this week. Meaning that almost nothing will be happening.
...Having said that, let's start off with the highest profile exception to that statement, the U.S. Senate. They'll be in session most of the week, considering health care reform (LA Times). Expectations are that a final vote will be taken by Christmas, meaning that the bill won't go to conference committee until after the new year as the House is adjourned for the holidays. (Actually, there's a session planned for Wednesday, but that seems to be a pro forma session. I'll update if that changes.) The Senate's committee schedule is here; there's only one committee scheduled to meet this week - Judiciary on Thursday.
...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission has a Securities and Utilities meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Agenda here. The ACC's full hearing schedule is here. It's a light one.
...The Arizona Board of Regents isn't meeting this week. However, they are looking for a President of the Board.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here. There's one item on it this week - a holiday open house on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week, but the Community Meeting Notice is here. Summary: there's nothing scheduled this week. You might think that there is a holiday or something coming up. :)
...Everybody else isn't going to meet this week: Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona State Legislature.
Have a happy and safe Christmas everybody, even Republicans...and a certain Libertarian commenter! :))
This will be a quick post, mostly because almost everybody is on a holiday schedule this week. Meaning that almost nothing will be happening.
...Having said that, let's start off with the highest profile exception to that statement, the U.S. Senate. They'll be in session most of the week, considering health care reform (LA Times). Expectations are that a final vote will be taken by Christmas, meaning that the bill won't go to conference committee until after the new year as the House is adjourned for the holidays. (Actually, there's a session planned for Wednesday, but that seems to be a pro forma session. I'll update if that changes.) The Senate's committee schedule is here; there's only one committee scheduled to meet this week - Judiciary on Thursday.
...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission has a Securities and Utilities meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Agenda here. The ACC's full hearing schedule is here. It's a light one.
...The Arizona Board of Regents isn't meeting this week. However, they are looking for a President of the Board.
...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here. There's one item on it this week - a holiday open house on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week, but the Community Meeting Notice is here. Summary: there's nothing scheduled this week. You might think that there is a holiday or something coming up. :)
...Everybody else isn't going to meet this week: Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona State Legislature.
Have a happy and safe Christmas everybody, even Republicans...and a certain Libertarian commenter! :))
Sunday, December 13, 2009
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, the agenda looks to be pretty non-controversial, with the notable exception of possible consideration of a conference report on H.R. 3326, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. Anything with that much money attached to it is certain to generate a fuss.
The House is expected (no guarantees on this however) to finish its business for the calendar year by Friday.
...The U.S. Senate will also be in session. Its committee schedule is here. Of interest to Arizonans: An Armed Services Committee hearing considering, among other things, the nominations of AZers Douglas Wilson as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Mary S. Matiella as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller.
Wilson's bio is on this page near the bottom (summary - he's a DLC Dem who spent most of the 1990s working for the Clinton administration); Matiella's bio is part of this article (she's held a number of finance-related positions in government, including for HUD and the Forest Service. She has been appointed to the Audit Subcommittee of the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.)
...Back here in Arizona, the intersession makework schedule seems to be nearing its end.
- On Tuesday, the House Study Committee on Sentencing will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR5.
- Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet in SHR109 at 1 p.m. and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) will meet at 2 p.m in the same room. Both agendas contain an executive session component on private prisons. The item language on the respective agendas differs slightly so they may or may not pertain to the same matter. Either way, they address sending public money to private corporations that exist to profit from incarceration.
No sign of a special session. There were rumors that one more would develop before the end of the month, but that doesn't seem likely at this point. Things could change Monday morning, but... :)
...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. The agenda of that "utilities" meeting is here. Its hearing calendar is here.
...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday. Agenda here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an "informal" meeting scheduled for Monday, agenda here. The highlight of this one is the presentation and discussion regarding adoption of financial disclosure standards for County elected officials.
Whatever comes out of this one, you can be sure that Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio a) won't like it, and b) won't think it applies to themselves.
The supes have a "formal" meeting scheduled for Wednesday, agenda here.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District looks to have a special meeting scheduled for Tuesday night, at least according an item on the previous meeting's agenda. I can't find an agenda for a meeting this week, though a phone call to the district on Monday morning should definitively confirm/refute the existence of a special meeting.
...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week; the Council Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week; the Community Meeting Notice is here. The highlights of that are a meeting of the Charter Review Task Force on Monday and a meeting of the City Manager Recruitment Ad Hoc Committee on Tuesday (members: Mayor Lane and Council members Littlefield and McCullagh).
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and Maricopa Integrated Health System.
Later...
...In the U.S. House, the agenda looks to be pretty non-controversial, with the notable exception of possible consideration of a conference report on H.R. 3326, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. Anything with that much money attached to it is certain to generate a fuss.
The House is expected (no guarantees on this however) to finish its business for the calendar year by Friday.
...The U.S. Senate will also be in session. Its committee schedule is here. Of interest to Arizonans: An Armed Services Committee hearing considering, among other things, the nominations of AZers Douglas Wilson as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Mary S. Matiella as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller.
Wilson's bio is on this page near the bottom (summary - he's a DLC Dem who spent most of the 1990s working for the Clinton administration); Matiella's bio is part of this article (she's held a number of finance-related positions in government, including for HUD and the Forest Service. She has been appointed to the Audit Subcommittee of the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.)
...Back here in Arizona, the intersession makework schedule seems to be nearing its end.
- On Tuesday, the House Study Committee on Sentencing will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR5.
- Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet in SHR109 at 1 p.m. and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) will meet at 2 p.m in the same room. Both agendas contain an executive session component on private prisons. The item language on the respective agendas differs slightly so they may or may not pertain to the same matter. Either way, they address sending public money to private corporations that exist to profit from incarceration.
No sign of a special session. There were rumors that one more would develop before the end of the month, but that doesn't seem likely at this point. Things could change Monday morning, but... :)
...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. The agenda of that "utilities" meeting is here. Its hearing calendar is here.
...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday. Agenda here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an "informal" meeting scheduled for Monday, agenda here. The highlight of this one is the presentation and discussion regarding adoption of financial disclosure standards for County elected officials.
Whatever comes out of this one, you can be sure that Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio a) won't like it, and b) won't think it applies to themselves.
The supes have a "formal" meeting scheduled for Wednesday, agenda here.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District looks to have a special meeting scheduled for Tuesday night, at least according an item on the previous meeting's agenda. I can't find an agenda for a meeting this week, though a phone call to the district on Monday morning should definitively confirm/refute the existence of a special meeting.
...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week; the Council Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week; the Community Meeting Notice is here. The highlights of that are a meeting of the Charter Review Task Force on Monday and a meeting of the City Manager Recruitment Ad Hoc Committee on Tuesday (members: Mayor Lane and Council members Littlefield and McCullagh).
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and Maricopa Integrated Health System.
Later...
This stuff would be funny...any place else.
But since this is all here, it's more scary than funny...
You know, in this down economy (an outright depression in AZ), I am grateful to have a job.
Because of my work schedule though, it's sometimes difficult to write during the second half of the week.
This was one week when I *really* wished I had a schedule that allowed for some serious blogging time after Tuesday.
Let's see. This week saw...
...AZ Senator John McCain facing an ethics complaint over his use of campaign funds toprotect the interests of his Big Insurance clients conduct Senate business when he created a series of robo-calls urging recipients to call their own Senators in support of McCain's effort to gut the Senate health care reform measure...
- Brett Mecum, Executive Director of the AZGOP, in trouble for using voter registration records to stalk a woman (thanks to Blog for Arizona for the heads-up on this)...
- Senate President Bob Burns (R-AZ9) purging fellow Republicans Ron Gould, Pam Gorman, and Jay Tibshraeny from leadership positions by stripping them of their committee chairmanships (in Gould's case, he dissolved the entire committee.) Gould's and Gorman's ousters weren't surprising - they've made a spectacle of their "more conservative than thou" jihads against anything resembling good governance...or, as is the case in what has come out of this legislature and governor, anything resembling governmance that is only moderately horrific.
They've embarassed Burns, and payback is as much a part of politics as elections.
I'm not sure what is going on with Tibshraeny. He's had his differences with Burns, but has been civil and professional about it (two terms that are not necessarily applicable to the words and actions of the other two). He's as conservative as they come in the Senate, but will occasionally oppose some of the more draconian measures that come before the Senate. He's a former mayor (Chandler), so maybe he understands that the wingers' games have real world impacts that stretch far beyond the ideological cat box on West Washington.
Or maybe he just has a conscience.
Either way, the fact that he is on Burns' bad side doesn't bode well for Arizona - all expectations are that the coming session's budget battles will be even uglier than last session's.
- However, none of that begins to hold a candle to the fireworks taking place between the various politicos at Maricopa County.
Just this past week, we saw...
...a federal lawsuit alleging a vast conspiracy among judges, attorneys, and county officials to interfere with investigations...
...indictments of Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox. two county supervisors; indictments that probably won't hold up under scrutiny, but they get plenty of press coverage for Arpaio and Thomas...
...an Appeals Court quashing, at least temporarily, any MCSO search warrants of a judge's home and/or computer.
...A judge facing charges from County Attorney Andrew Thomas. It probably isn't a coincidence that the judge is the one who ordered an MCSO officer jailed for contempt for stealing papers from an attorney's briefcase in open court ...or that Thomas and Arpaio released the judge's home address...
...afishing expedition raid at a public advocacy agency...one that just happens to be focused on the needs of Arpaio's pet "boogeymen" - Mexicans...
I don't know if Arpaio, Thomas, et. al. have violated any federal laws, but given their total control of Maricopa County's law enforcement apparatus and their pre-empting of a state investigation by their own investigations of the state Attorney General, Terry Goddard (there's no substance to those, but an investigation by the AG might be seen as "retaliatory" and a conflict of interest), sooner or later, federal intervention will be necessary in order to clean up Maricopa County government.
In case anyone from the U.S. Attorney's office is reading this:
Sooner would be better than later.
Later...
You know, in this down economy (an outright depression in AZ), I am grateful to have a job.
Because of my work schedule though, it's sometimes difficult to write during the second half of the week.
This was one week when I *really* wished I had a schedule that allowed for some serious blogging time after Tuesday.
Let's see. This week saw...
...AZ Senator John McCain facing an ethics complaint over his use of campaign funds to
- Brett Mecum, Executive Director of the AZGOP, in trouble for using voter registration records to stalk a woman (thanks to Blog for Arizona for the heads-up on this)...
- Senate President Bob Burns (R-AZ9) purging fellow Republicans Ron Gould, Pam Gorman, and Jay Tibshraeny from leadership positions by stripping them of their committee chairmanships (in Gould's case, he dissolved the entire committee.) Gould's and Gorman's ousters weren't surprising - they've made a spectacle of their "more conservative than thou" jihads against anything resembling good governance...or, as is the case in what has come out of this legislature and governor, anything resembling governmance that is only moderately horrific.
They've embarassed Burns, and payback is as much a part of politics as elections.
I'm not sure what is going on with Tibshraeny. He's had his differences with Burns, but has been civil and professional about it (two terms that are not necessarily applicable to the words and actions of the other two). He's as conservative as they come in the Senate, but will occasionally oppose some of the more draconian measures that come before the Senate. He's a former mayor (Chandler), so maybe he understands that the wingers' games have real world impacts that stretch far beyond the ideological cat box on West Washington.
Or maybe he just has a conscience.
Either way, the fact that he is on Burns' bad side doesn't bode well for Arizona - all expectations are that the coming session's budget battles will be even uglier than last session's.
- However, none of that begins to hold a candle to the fireworks taking place between the various politicos at Maricopa County.
Just this past week, we saw...
...a federal lawsuit alleging a vast conspiracy among judges, attorneys, and county officials to interfere with investigations...
...indictments of Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox. two county supervisors; indictments that probably won't hold up under scrutiny, but they get plenty of press coverage for Arpaio and Thomas...
...an Appeals Court quashing, at least temporarily, any MCSO search warrants of a judge's home and/or computer.
...A judge facing charges from County Attorney Andrew Thomas. It probably isn't a coincidence that the judge is the one who ordered an MCSO officer jailed for contempt for stealing papers from an attorney's briefcase in open court ...or that Thomas and Arpaio released the judge's home address...
...a
I don't know if Arpaio, Thomas, et. al. have violated any federal laws, but given their total control of Maricopa County's law enforcement apparatus and their pre-empting of a state investigation by their own investigations of the state Attorney General, Terry Goddard (there's no substance to those, but an investigation by the AG might be seen as "retaliatory" and a conflict of interest), sooner or later, federal intervention will be necessary in order to clean up Maricopa County government.
In case anyone from the U.S. Attorney's office is reading this:
Sooner would be better than later.
Later...
Sunday, December 06, 2009
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.
...This should be the last "busy" week of the year as most political bodies try to get a month's work into the first two weeks of that month.
...In the U.S. House, the agenda includes the as-yet-unnumbered Tax Extenders of 2009 act some info here; it looks to be a bill to extend some tax relief for charitable contributions, alternative fuels development and more. Also on the agenda is H.R. 4173, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. CBO summary here. House Rules hearing on Tuesday.
This will pass the House but the Republicans will absolutely hate it, and enough Senate Dems (Baucus, Schumer, Lincoln, etc.) could cross over on this one and block it from passing the Senate or at least balk enough to remove any teeth from this bill.
...The Senate will continue to consider health care reform. They have hundreds ofobstructions amendments proposed by the Rs to slog through. Other than that, the Senate's committee schedule is here. Perhaps of greatest interest to Arizonans is Wednesday's hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. There, they will consider a number of executive branch nominations, including that of Phoenix's P. David Lopez as general counsel (chief lawyer) for the EEOC. Lopez' statement from a November hearing is here. Lopez is an ASU alum and has worked for the EEOC since 1994, primarily as a trial attorney.
...Back here in Arizona, the Legislature's makework schedule is abating somewhat.
- On Monday, Sen. Sylvia "6000 years" Allen's Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR1.
- Also on Monday, the Ad Hoc Committee on Agriculture Regulations will meet at 1 p.m. in HHR1.
Look for these to be industry lobby-fests, and nothing more.
- Still on Monday, the Senate's Committee on Natural Resources, Infrastucture, and Public Debt will meet at 2:30 p.m. in SHR109 to discuss the state of the state's finances with JLBC and State Treasurer Dean Martin.
Look for this to be a combination bashfest (blaming Democrats for everything) and stump speech/posturing by unofficial candidate for governor Martin.
- In other lege news, House Democrats is inviting the public to legislative issue and advocacy forums in Tucson (Monday), Yuma (Tuesday), and Sierra Vista (Wednesday.) There will be more opportunities to meet with legislators about the state's budget issues and learn how to make their voices heard on West Washington.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to hold a special open meeting on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday concerning resource planning/rulemaking and APS' permanent rates. ACC's complete hearing schedule is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has special meetings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Monday's agenda is devoted hearing a presentation on the issues facing the County in the next five years and strategic planning.
Tuesday's agenda isn't posted yet, but an executive session regarding the latest litigation spawned by Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas is well within the realm of possibility.
,,,The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will hold a special meeting Monday afternoon. The agenda includes both executive and open session components regarding assignment of contracts from MedPro to the newly-formed District Medical Group.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday. The agenda includes an executive session at 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. The current agenda looks to be pretty mundane, though there will be special meetings on Wednesday (5:00 p.m.) and next Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and officer elections in January, all of which promise to be interesting.
...The Tempe City Council will meet on Thursday. The Council's Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. The regular meeting agenda includes the appointment of a new City Attorney while the agenda for the executive session (planned for 2 p.m.) includes items regarding discussion of and legal advice pertaining to the acquisition of real property, including assets of Arizona American Water within Scottsdale. More on that last in a later post.
Scottsdale's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, the Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project.
...This should be the last "busy" week of the year as most political bodies try to get a month's work into the first two weeks of that month.
...In the U.S. House, the agenda includes the as-yet-unnumbered Tax Extenders of 2009 act some info here; it looks to be a bill to extend some tax relief for charitable contributions, alternative fuels development and more. Also on the agenda is H.R. 4173, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. CBO summary here. House Rules hearing on Tuesday.
This will pass the House but the Republicans will absolutely hate it, and enough Senate Dems (Baucus, Schumer, Lincoln, etc.) could cross over on this one and block it from passing the Senate or at least balk enough to remove any teeth from this bill.
...The Senate will continue to consider health care reform. They have hundreds of
...Back here in Arizona, the Legislature's makework schedule is abating somewhat.
- On Monday, Sen. Sylvia "6000 years" Allen's Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR1.
- Also on Monday, the Ad Hoc Committee on Agriculture Regulations will meet at 1 p.m. in HHR1.
Look for these to be industry lobby-fests, and nothing more.
- Still on Monday, the Senate's Committee on Natural Resources, Infrastucture, and Public Debt will meet at 2:30 p.m. in SHR109 to discuss the state of the state's finances with JLBC and State Treasurer Dean Martin.
Look for this to be a combination bashfest (blaming Democrats for everything) and stump speech/posturing by unofficial candidate for governor Martin.
- In other lege news, House Democrats is inviting the public to legislative issue and advocacy forums in Tucson (Monday), Yuma (Tuesday), and Sierra Vista (Wednesday.) There will be more opportunities to meet with legislators about the state's budget issues and learn how to make their voices heard on West Washington.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to hold a special open meeting on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday concerning resource planning/rulemaking and APS' permanent rates. ACC's complete hearing schedule is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has special meetings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Monday's agenda is devoted hearing a presentation on the issues facing the County in the next five years and strategic planning.
Tuesday's agenda isn't posted yet, but an executive session regarding the latest litigation spawned by Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas is well within the realm of possibility.
,,,The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will hold a special meeting Monday afternoon. The agenda includes both executive and open session components regarding assignment of contracts from MedPro to the newly-formed District Medical Group.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday. The agenda includes an executive session at 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. The current agenda looks to be pretty mundane, though there will be special meetings on Wednesday (5:00 p.m.) and next Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and officer elections in January, all of which promise to be interesting.
...The Tempe City Council will meet on Thursday. The Council's Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. The regular meeting agenda includes the appointment of a new City Attorney while the agenda for the executive session (planned for 2 p.m.) includes items regarding discussion of and legal advice pertaining to the acquisition of real property, including assets of Arizona American Water within Scottsdale. More on that last in a later post.
Scottsdale's Community Meeting Notice is here.
...Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, the Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
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...
This will be a brief post due to other pressing matters, but I'll try to hit the high points.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, they'll be reconvening after their holiday recess on Tuesday. Much of the week's agenda will be taken up with post office namings and the like, but one highlight will be consideration of H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009. From the CRS summary -
Oh yeah...
...The most interesting week should be in the U.S. Senate - they'll be holding floor debate on health care reform. Because of the cloture vote taken on November 21, there will be limits on the debate (though there will still be a lot of it). As such, expect Republican obstructionists to whine that there won't be "enough time" to properly consider all of the ramifications of health care reform.
That's crap.
The Senate's committee schedule is here.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a securities meeting on Monday; the ACC's hearing schedule is here.
...The Arizona Board of Regents will meet on Thursday and Friday at U of A. The agenda is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will meet in "informal" session on Monday and *formal* session on Wednesday.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a regular meeting on Thursday.
...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week, but the Council Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. At 2 p.m., they will hold an executive session to interview three candidates for the vacant City Attorney job. At 5 p.m., they will hold a regular meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
Later...
This will be a brief post due to other pressing matters, but I'll try to hit the high points.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, they'll be reconvening after their holiday recess on Tuesday. Much of the week's agenda will be taken up with post office namings and the like, but one highlight will be consideration of H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009. From the CRS summary -
Repeals provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) eliminating the tax on estates and generation-skipping transfers and the step-up in basis provisions for property acquired from a decedent for estates of decedents dying after 2009. Declares that the sunset provision (general terminating date of December 10, 2010) of EGTRRA shall not apply to title V of such Act (Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Provisions).Yup, there will be serious controversy over this one.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a $3.5 million estate tax exclusion and a reduction in the maximum estate and gift tax rate to 45% after 2009.
Oh yeah...
...The most interesting week should be in the U.S. Senate - they'll be holding floor debate on health care reform. Because of the cloture vote taken on November 21, there will be limits on the debate (though there will still be a lot of it). As such, expect Republican obstructionists to whine that there won't be "enough time" to properly consider all of the ramifications of health care reform.
That's crap.
The Senate's committee schedule is here.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a securities meeting on Monday; the ACC's hearing schedule is here.
...The Arizona Board of Regents will meet on Thursday and Friday at U of A. The agenda is here.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will meet in "informal" session on Monday and *formal* session on Wednesday.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a regular meeting on Thursday.
...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week, but the Council Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. At 2 p.m., they will hold an executive session to interview three candidates for the vacant City Attorney job. At 5 p.m., they will hold a regular meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.
Later...
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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...
This week's schedule is pretty sparse due to the holiday on Thursday, though there will be some excitement at the Arizona legislature early in the week.
...The U.S. House and Senate are in recess this week. I was going to offer a quip about the turkeys having some turkey this week (or something else equally trite), but since the Senate Dems held together long enough to break a Republican filibuster on health care reform, I'll be nice. :)
...The Arizona legislature will meet again on Monday to attempt to pass the latest budget patch. They may get something done, or they may not. I'm not betting on this one. If it doesn't get done this week, a patch may have to wait until the next special session, rumored to be taking place early next month.
It's already looking like the next regular session of the lege (starting in January) will see the ideologues of the Arizona chapter of the Flat Earth Society running roughshod over pragmatism - the first two House bill proposals are already posted on the lege's website. HB2001 would establish the "I didn't pay enough fund" for taxpayers to voluntarily pay more in taxes; HCR2001 would proclaim Arizona's sovereignty from federal laws under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (aka the "we're going to ignore any federal law that we want to" Act).
Those measures are sponsored or cosponsored by 46 and 47 of the most extreme members of the lege GOP caucus.
Of course, given that there are only 53 GOPers in the lege, that should tell you something about how nutty this bunch is.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any full meetings scheduled this week, but they do have an abbreviated hearing schedule (nothing on Thursday, Friday, or next Monday).
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting on tap for Monday at 1 p.m. The highlight looks to be a settlement/surrender in the case of the lawsuits (here and here) brought by County Treasurer Charles Hoskins. Some background from AZCentral.com here. No word on if the results of the latest audit of the Treasurer's office played a part in the settlement.
...On Monday, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has two meetings on tap - an executive session at noon and a regular meeting at 1 p.m. The exec session will focus mostly on employment issues.
...On Tuesday, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will hold a regular meeting. The agenda is light. There is an executive session (contracts and compensation) followed by an open meeting that is almost entirely consent agenda stuff.
In short, they should be adjourned by 7:30 p.m. And given that it is a holiday week and there is another meeting scheduled for early December, they may just make it on this one.
...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week, but their brief Council Calendar is available here.
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week either, but their Community Meeting Notice is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project.
This week's schedule is pretty sparse due to the holiday on Thursday, though there will be some excitement at the Arizona legislature early in the week.
...The U.S. House and Senate are in recess this week. I was going to offer a quip about the turkeys having some turkey this week (or something else equally trite), but since the Senate Dems held together long enough to break a Republican filibuster on health care reform, I'll be nice. :)
...The Arizona legislature will meet again on Monday to attempt to pass the latest budget patch. They may get something done, or they may not. I'm not betting on this one. If it doesn't get done this week, a patch may have to wait until the next special session, rumored to be taking place early next month.
It's already looking like the next regular session of the lege (starting in January) will see the ideologues of the Arizona chapter of the Flat Earth Society running roughshod over pragmatism - the first two House bill proposals are already posted on the lege's website. HB2001 would establish the "I didn't pay enough fund" for taxpayers to voluntarily pay more in taxes; HCR2001 would proclaim Arizona's sovereignty from federal laws under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (aka the "we're going to ignore any federal law that we want to" Act).
Those measures are sponsored or cosponsored by 46 and 47 of the most extreme members of the lege GOP caucus.
Of course, given that there are only 53 GOPers in the lege, that should tell you something about how nutty this bunch is.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any full meetings scheduled this week, but they do have an abbreviated hearing schedule (nothing on Thursday, Friday, or next Monday).
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting on tap for Monday at 1 p.m. The highlight looks to be a settlement/surrender in the case of the lawsuits (here and here) brought by County Treasurer Charles Hoskins. Some background from AZCentral.com here. No word on if the results of the latest audit of the Treasurer's office played a part in the settlement.
...On Monday, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has two meetings on tap - an executive session at noon and a regular meeting at 1 p.m. The exec session will focus mostly on employment issues.
...On Tuesday, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will hold a regular meeting. The agenda is light. There is an executive session (contracts and compensation) followed by an open meeting that is almost entirely consent agenda stuff.
In short, they should be adjourned by 7:30 p.m. And given that it is a holiday week and there is another meeting scheduled for early December, they may just make it on this one.
...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week, but their brief Council Calendar is available here.
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week either, but their Community Meeting Notice is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
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.
This is shaping up to be a busy week as most political entities try to clear as much work as possible off of their dockets before the holiday season hits full force.
...The U.S. House of Representatives is back in session this week, starting Monday afternoon. The official agenda doesn't list "health care reform politicking", but that activity is certain to grab most of the media's attention this week and every week until a final bill is passed by both chambers.
The House does have some regular work to do this week, and while none of the items at hand shape up to be as interesting or contentious as health care reform, this will still be a busy week for politics-watchers.
Of interest to Arizonans -
H.R. 1834, the Native American Business Development Enhancement Act of 2009, sponsored by AZ1's Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. The purpose of the bill is to "..amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve the assistance provided to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians..." CRS summary here. Heard under suspension of the rules, so a 2/3 majority is required for passage.
H.R. 3791, the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2009. The bill is sponsored by AZ5's Rep. Harry Mitchell. CRS summary is here. CBO analysis here (cost estimate: $2.7 billion thru 2014, $2.1 billion thereafter, assuming funds are appropriated. This is only an authorization bill). This bill will be the subject of a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday at 3 p.m. (EST).
- Of more general interest, but certain to generate some serious controvery -
H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009. CRS summary here. CBO estimates here (expected to increase federal spending by $210 billion over 10 years).
Possible consideration of the conference report on H.R. 2847, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. CRS summary here. This one has some "interesting" provisions, like prohibiting the use of funds "to implement, administer, or enforce any EEOC guidelines covering harassment based on religion."
Who wrote this stuff? Bush appointees?
...Over in the U. S. Senate, expect some serious arm-twisting over health care reform. The Senate's committee schedule is here.
...Back here in Arizona, the Arizona Legislature may or may not be holding a special session this week. And whether or not they do, in fact, hold a session this week, few Capitol watchers expect any significant progress toward a real fix for the budget mess until after the new year.
However, special session or no, the makework schedule continues unabated.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Energy and Water Development will meet on Monday at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR1. The meeting will be chaired by the mining industry's personal representative to the State Senate, Sylvia Allen. She will be asking mining industry lobbyists and executives what kind of government regulations they want for their business.
Look at the agenda (linked above). I'm not exaggerating.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Agriculture Regulations will meet on Monday at 3 p.m. in HHR1. Agribusiness' personal rep in the State Senate, Steve Pierce, will be in the same place doing the same thing for his keepers that Sylvia Allen was doing for hers two hours earlier.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Private School Tuition Tax Credit Review will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR5. It's already apparent that Speaker Adams' hand-picked committee to look into STOs and the tax credit program is less an "inquiry" and more a "pep rally."
One of the scheduled presenters at the hearing is Dr. Charles M. North, an economics professor from Baylor University.
I thought that Waco, Texas (home of Baylor U) was a *little* far to go in search of an economics expert who could discuss the economic impacts of STOs and tuition tax credits on Arizona. U of A, ASU, and NAU have economics faculty who are competent. Even renowned.
And UA, ASU, and NAU are a LOT closer.
Hmmm...I wonder who's paying for Dr. North's trip to AZ? I would love to get a look at the expense records of the lege and a couple of STOs to find out.
Anyway, a little quick research on Dr. North found he has authored publications like "Going to College, Getting a Job: What Happens when Mom and Dad Take Their Kids to Church," "Must the poor always be with us? What do we do?" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger? The Role of Vouchers in Regulating Private Schools."
And that was just stuff from his official bio at Baylor, linked above.
Instead of handing out copies of the agenda before this meeting, why don't they just hand out copies of the script, so everyone can follow along???
- The House Government and Senate Government Institutions Committee of Reference will meet on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in HHR5. The meeting is for the sunset reviews of the Arizona Legislative Council, the Office of the Auditor General, and the Arizona State Library, Archive and Public Records.
- The Ad Hoc Legislative Committee on Agency Information Technology will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5.
...Anyway, I've got something else to do this afternoon, so I will complete this post later today...
Edit later on 11/15 to complete this post with info from county, local, and other state political bodies/agencies...
...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday. The agenda is a long one. Many of the items will impact readers all over the state (rate hikes and related items) but the one that could have the most direct impact on readers in my vicinity (LD17 and environs) is this one -
...The Citizens Clean Election Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. No agenda posted online as of this writing.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has its normal schedule of meetings for the week - an "informal" meeting with an executive session component on Monday and a "formal" meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Both agendas look to be pretty mundane, but there is a *lot* of stuff here as they try to clear the decks in preparation for the holiday season.
...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has a special session on tap for Monday. It will primarily be an executive session discussing the contract of Betsey Bayless, the CEO of MIHS. On Wednesday, the Board has a "retreat" scheduled - discussion of objectives, best practices, and the like.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project doesn't have a full board meeting scheduled this week, but it will still be active.
- On Wednesday, CAP's Systems Operations Advisory Group will meet at 9 a.m.
- On Thursday, their Public Policy Committee will meet at 10:30 a.m.
- On Thursday, the Board (or such members as show up) will hold a work/study session on Recovery Planning/Projects.
...The Tempe City Council will meet Thursday. The agenda looks pretty boring except for initial consideration of a resolution expressing support for a consolidation plan from the City Manager for Tempe city government.
The Council's Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, and the agenda looks to be an interesting one.
- Item 10, on the consent agenda, covers the referral to a special election of charter amendments. Assuming approval, the election would be held on March 9, 2010.
- Items 13 and 14, also on the consent agenda, are related to lawsuits against the City. 13 is funding for the settlement of one suit, 14 is for paying an attorney to fight another one.
An AZ Republic article on the lawsuit behind #14 here.
- Item 23 relates to discussion and possible initiation of a Zoning Ordinance text amendment to update current regulations of live entertainment. This one was requested by Council member Lisa Borowsky.
- Item 24 concerns the appointment of an Acting City Manager (candidates David Ellison, David Richert, and Brent Stockwell, all current City employees) and the establishment of a process for finding a permanent City Manager (includes the creation of a Mayor-appointed "City Manager Recruitment Ad Hoc Committee). This one has a possible executive session component associated with it.
- Item 25 (no hyperlink available) is "requested" by Council member Borowsky but it looks like it is straight out of Mayor Jim Lane's "outsource everything" playbook.
The City's Community Meetings notice is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District. The Arizona Board of Regents has *something* going on, but I'm not sure what.
This is shaping up to be a busy week as most political entities try to clear as much work as possible off of their dockets before the holiday season hits full force.
...The U.S. House of Representatives is back in session this week, starting Monday afternoon. The official agenda doesn't list "health care reform politicking", but that activity is certain to grab most of the media's attention this week and every week until a final bill is passed by both chambers.
The House does have some regular work to do this week, and while none of the items at hand shape up to be as interesting or contentious as health care reform, this will still be a busy week for politics-watchers.
Of interest to Arizonans -
H.R. 1834, the Native American Business Development Enhancement Act of 2009, sponsored by AZ1's Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. The purpose of the bill is to "..amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve the assistance provided to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians..." CRS summary here. Heard under suspension of the rules, so a 2/3 majority is required for passage.
H.R. 3791, the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2009. The bill is sponsored by AZ5's Rep. Harry Mitchell. CRS summary is here. CBO analysis here (cost estimate: $2.7 billion thru 2014, $2.1 billion thereafter, assuming funds are appropriated. This is only an authorization bill). This bill will be the subject of a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday at 3 p.m. (EST).
- Of more general interest, but certain to generate some serious controvery -
H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009. CRS summary here. CBO estimates here (expected to increase federal spending by $210 billion over 10 years).
Possible consideration of the conference report on H.R. 2847, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. CRS summary here. This one has some "interesting" provisions, like prohibiting the use of funds "to implement, administer, or enforce any EEOC guidelines covering harassment based on religion."
Who wrote this stuff? Bush appointees?
...Over in the U. S. Senate, expect some serious arm-twisting over health care reform. The Senate's committee schedule is here.
...Back here in Arizona, the Arizona Legislature may or may not be holding a special session this week. And whether or not they do, in fact, hold a session this week, few Capitol watchers expect any significant progress toward a real fix for the budget mess until after the new year.
However, special session or no, the makework schedule continues unabated.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Energy and Water Development will meet on Monday at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR1. The meeting will be chaired by the mining industry's personal representative to the State Senate, Sylvia Allen. She will be asking mining industry lobbyists and executives what kind of government regulations they want for their business.
Look at the agenda (linked above). I'm not exaggerating.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Agriculture Regulations will meet on Monday at 3 p.m. in HHR1. Agribusiness' personal rep in the State Senate, Steve Pierce, will be in the same place doing the same thing for his keepers that Sylvia Allen was doing for hers two hours earlier.
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Private School Tuition Tax Credit Review will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR5. It's already apparent that Speaker Adams' hand-picked committee to look into STOs and the tax credit program is less an "inquiry" and more a "pep rally."
One of the scheduled presenters at the hearing is Dr. Charles M. North, an economics professor from Baylor University.
I thought that Waco, Texas (home of Baylor U) was a *little* far to go in search of an economics expert who could discuss the economic impacts of STOs and tuition tax credits on Arizona. U of A, ASU, and NAU have economics faculty who are competent. Even renowned.
And UA, ASU, and NAU are a LOT closer.
Hmmm...I wonder who's paying for Dr. North's trip to AZ? I would love to get a look at the expense records of the lege and a couple of STOs to find out.
Anyway, a little quick research on Dr. North found he has authored publications like "Going to College, Getting a Job: What Happens when Mom and Dad Take Their Kids to Church," "Must the poor always be with us? What do we do?" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger? The Role of Vouchers in Regulating Private Schools."
And that was just stuff from his official bio at Baylor, linked above.
Instead of handing out copies of the agenda before this meeting, why don't they just hand out copies of the script, so everyone can follow along???
- The House Government and Senate Government Institutions Committee of Reference will meet on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in HHR5. The meeting is for the sunset reviews of the Arizona Legislative Council, the Office of the Auditor General, and the Arizona State Library, Archive and Public Records.
- The Ad Hoc Legislative Committee on Agency Information Technology will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5.
...Anyway, I've got something else to do this afternoon, so I will complete this post later today...
Edit later on 11/15 to complete this post with info from county, local, and other state political bodies/agencies...
...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday. The agenda is a long one. Many of the items will impact readers all over the state (rate hikes and related items) but the one that could have the most direct impact on readers in my vicinity (LD17 and environs) is this one -
26. Arizona-American Water Company (W-01303A-08-0227 and SW-01303A-080227) – Application for a Determination of the Current Fair Value of its UtilityThe ACC's full hearing schedule is here.
Plant and Property and for Increases in its Rates and Charges Based Thereon For Utility Service by its Agua Fria Water District, Havasu Water District, Mohave Water District, Paradise Valley Water District, Sun City West Water District and Tubac Water District; Application for a Determination of the Current Fair Value of its Utility Plant and Property and for Increases in its Rates and Charges Based
Thereon For Utility Service by its Mohave Wastewater District.
...The Citizens Clean Election Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. No agenda posted online as of this writing.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has its normal schedule of meetings for the week - an "informal" meeting with an executive session component on Monday and a "formal" meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Both agendas look to be pretty mundane, but there is a *lot* of stuff here as they try to clear the decks in preparation for the holiday season.
...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has a special session on tap for Monday. It will primarily be an executive session discussing the contract of Betsey Bayless, the CEO of MIHS. On Wednesday, the Board has a "retreat" scheduled - discussion of objectives, best practices, and the like.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project doesn't have a full board meeting scheduled this week, but it will still be active.
- On Wednesday, CAP's Systems Operations Advisory Group will meet at 9 a.m.
- On Thursday, their Public Policy Committee will meet at 10:30 a.m.
- On Thursday, the Board (or such members as show up) will hold a work/study session on Recovery Planning/Projects.
...The Tempe City Council will meet Thursday. The agenda looks pretty boring except for initial consideration of a resolution expressing support for a consolidation plan from the City Manager for Tempe city government.
The Council's Calendar is here.
...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, and the agenda looks to be an interesting one.
- Item 10, on the consent agenda, covers the referral to a special election of charter amendments. Assuming approval, the election would be held on March 9, 2010.
- Items 13 and 14, also on the consent agenda, are related to lawsuits against the City. 13 is funding for the settlement of one suit, 14 is for paying an attorney to fight another one.
An AZ Republic article on the lawsuit behind #14 here.
- Item 23 relates to discussion and possible initiation of a Zoning Ordinance text amendment to update current regulations of live entertainment. This one was requested by Council member Lisa Borowsky.
- Item 24 concerns the appointment of an Acting City Manager (candidates David Ellison, David Richert, and Brent Stockwell, all current City employees) and the establishment of a process for finding a permanent City Manager (includes the creation of a Mayor-appointed "City Manager Recruitment Ad Hoc Committee). This one has a possible executive session component associated with it.
- Item 25 (no hyperlink available) is "requested" by Council member Borowsky but it looks like it is straight out of Mayor Jim Lane's "outsource everything" playbook.
Request: At the request of Vice Mayor Borowsky, discussion and possible action or direction to staff on reorganizing the Government Relations Department, including budgetary matters, possible initiation of the RFP process to use outside contractors to provide government relations services, and location of the Government Relations Department within the city organizational structure.The City's Charter Review Task Force is scheduled to meet on Monday. Agenda here.
The City's Community Meetings notice is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District. The Arizona Board of Regents has *something* going on, but I'm not sure what.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
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...
...After the rare Saturday hubbub in the U. S. House (over health care reform), the House will be in recess for a week. Which probably explains the need to hold a Saturday session...
...The U. S. Senate is also expected to recess for a week, though their committee schedule will continue...
...Here in Arizona, the budget is still out of balance and the legislature is still out of session.
There are rumors that a special session is in the works, but a special session hasn't actually been called yet.
The intersession makework schedule continues, however -
- On Monday, the House Health and Human Services and Senate Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform Committee of Reference will meet in SHR1 at noon for sunset reviews of the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Board of Psychologist Examiners, Advisory Council on Aging, Board of Homeopathic and Integrated Medicine Examiners, Department of Health Services, Maricopa Integrated Health System, and Arizona Athletic Trainers Association.
Note: Some of the Auditor General's sunset review audits can be found on their website.
- On Tuesday, the House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary Committee of Reference will meet at 10 a.m. in HHR5 to consider the sunset review of the Arizona Department of Gaming.
- On Tuesday. the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet at 2 p.m. in SHR109. The agenda includes an executive session on a prison concession agreement.
- On Thursday, the House Military Affairs and Public Safety and Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee of Reference will meet at 10 a.m. in HHR5 for the sunset review of the Department of Juvenile Corrections.
- On Thursday, the Bipartisan Task Force on the Private School Tuition Tax Credits program will meet at 1 p.m. in HHR2. This meeting will include a presentation from the Attorney General's office on the status of their investigation in the abuses by STOs, as well as a call to the public for their input on the matter.
Not to say that the Republican leadership of the lege is showing their pettiness, but this committee is chaired by a Democrat (D17's own Rep. David Schapira) and it is *not* included on the schedules of activities at the lege. The committee hearings chaired by their members are, and yesterday's Nazi rally at the Capitol was (as is a teabagger rally coming up on Wednesday), but not this.
Hmmm...
...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any meetings of the full Commission scheduled, but their hearing schedule is here. It's a light one, with a holiday on Wednesday and an off day on Friday.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a few things on tap this week.
- On Monday, they are holding a special meeting, with both executive session and open session components. This one involves continuing an agreement with the MCSO over computer use and operation. This one should be simple, but given the rancor between MCBOS and MCSO, this could blow up at any moment.
- On Tuesday, the Board is holding another special session, though this one will be less contentious - it's ceremony to honor Veterans' Day on Wednesday.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project does not have a regular meeting scheduled for this week, but it still has the "eye-opener" of the week, at least as far as this list of events is concerned.
- On Thursday, the CAWCD Insurance Company, Inc. (insuring the Central Arizona Project) is holding its annual membership meeting and its annual directors meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
A little pre-Thanksgiving junket to Hawaii? Nice work if you can get it...
There's a good reason for it, though (really!! :)) ) - this corporation, which exists solely to insure CAP, a quasi-governmental entity in Arizona, is incorporated in Hawaii. Not in Arizona.
Hmmm2...
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Community Meetings notice is here.
...The Tempe City Council also is not scheduled to meet this week; their Council Calendar is here.
Also not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
...After the rare Saturday hubbub in the U. S. House (over health care reform), the House will be in recess for a week. Which probably explains the need to hold a Saturday session...
...The U. S. Senate is also expected to recess for a week, though their committee schedule will continue...
...Here in Arizona, the budget is still out of balance and the legislature is still out of session.
There are rumors that a special session is in the works, but a special session hasn't actually been called yet.
The intersession makework schedule continues, however -
- On Monday, the House Health and Human Services and Senate Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform Committee of Reference will meet in SHR1 at noon for sunset reviews of the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Board of Psychologist Examiners, Advisory Council on Aging, Board of Homeopathic and Integrated Medicine Examiners, Department of Health Services, Maricopa Integrated Health System, and Arizona Athletic Trainers Association.
Note: Some of the Auditor General's sunset review audits can be found on their website.
- On Tuesday, the House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary Committee of Reference will meet at 10 a.m. in HHR5 to consider the sunset review of the Arizona Department of Gaming.
- On Tuesday. the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet at 2 p.m. in SHR109. The agenda includes an executive session on a prison concession agreement.
- On Thursday, the House Military Affairs and Public Safety and Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee of Reference will meet at 10 a.m. in HHR5 for the sunset review of the Department of Juvenile Corrections.
- On Thursday, the Bipartisan Task Force on the Private School Tuition Tax Credits program will meet at 1 p.m. in HHR2. This meeting will include a presentation from the Attorney General's office on the status of their investigation in the abuses by STOs, as well as a call to the public for their input on the matter.
Not to say that the Republican leadership of the lege is showing their pettiness, but this committee is chaired by a Democrat (D17's own Rep. David Schapira) and it is *not* included on the schedules of activities at the lege. The committee hearings chaired by their members are, and yesterday's Nazi rally at the Capitol was (as is a teabagger rally coming up on Wednesday), but not this.
Hmmm...
...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any meetings of the full Commission scheduled, but their hearing schedule is here. It's a light one, with a holiday on Wednesday and an off day on Friday.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a few things on tap this week.
- On Monday, they are holding a special meeting, with both executive session and open session components. This one involves continuing an agreement with the MCSO over computer use and operation. This one should be simple, but given the rancor between MCBOS and MCSO, this could blow up at any moment.
- On Tuesday, the Board is holding another special session, though this one will be less contentious - it's ceremony to honor Veterans' Day on Wednesday.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project does not have a regular meeting scheduled for this week, but it still has the "eye-opener" of the week, at least as far as this list of events is concerned.
- On Thursday, the CAWCD Insurance Company, Inc. (insuring the Central Arizona Project) is holding its annual membership meeting and its annual directors meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
A little pre-Thanksgiving junket to Hawaii? Nice work if you can get it...
There's a good reason for it, though (really!! :)) ) - this corporation, which exists solely to insure CAP, a quasi-governmental entity in Arizona, is incorporated in Hawaii. Not in Arizona.
Hmmm2...
...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Community Meetings notice is here.
...The Tempe City Council also is not scheduled to meet this week; their Council Calendar is here.
Also not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
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...
This week looks to be an active one at all levels of the political food chain.
...In the U.S. House, the agenda has many of the usual memorials and such, as well as a couple of more controversial bills, but most of the country's attention will be focused on one bill that *may* be heard this week -
H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Preliminary analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) here. Also, the CBO has a brief explanation of its analyses and a comparison of this bill and the health care reform measure passed by the Senate Finance Committee here.
...Over in the Senate, their work will probably be overshadowed by the hubbub in the House, but their committee schedule is here.
...Back here in Arizona, the budget is still out of balance and the lege and Governor are still fiddling around. The pace of the make-work is picking up though, so maybe they'll start thinking about doing their real job.
Of course, they may just want to be in town early to get the best seats for next weekend's Nazi rally at the Capitol (Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Senate lawn).
On to the schedule of make-work -
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR1. The committee's co-chair is Sen. Sylvia Allen, so expect something along the lines of "the Earth was created without regulations 6000 years ago, and if no regulation worked then, it'll work now."
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Energy and Water Development will meet on Monday at 9 a.m. in HHR3.
- The House Education and Senate Education Accountability and Reform Committee of Reference will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR1. The subject of the meeting will be the school district performance audits of Tempe Union High School District as well as the unified school districts of Apache Junction, Ash Fork, Lake Havasu, and St. Johns.
The Auditor's report is here; TUHSD's response is here.
This one *could* have a minor impact on next year's elections.
The school board of TUHSD is headed up by Mary Lou Taylor, a candidate for the Republican nomination for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The co-chair of the committee of reference is Rep. Rich Crandall, someone who has been rumored to be interested in that position, too. If he really is interested in the job, he could see that the heat is turned up on TUHSD.
Given that TUHSD's response to the audit report was one of agreement, I expect this one to be fairly uneventful.
- The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in SHR1.
- The House Commerce and Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee of Reference will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. They'll be doing sunset reviews of the office of the Auditor General (it's controlled directly by the lege leadership, so it is safe), the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (not so safe - who needs the DLLC and control, when there are now plenty of guns in bars to keep things under control? :) ), and the Sports and Tourism Authority (spends a lot of taxpayer money to help out corporate interests, so it is probably safe).
- The House Banking and Insurance and Senate Finance Committee of Reference will meet on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in HHR5. They'll be doing the sunset review of the State Board of Investment.
- The House Banking and Insurance and Senate Retirement and Rural Development Committee of Reference will meet at 1:30 p.m on Wednesday in HHR5 to consider the sunset review of the Department of Insurance.
- The House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Public Debt Committee of Reference will meet on Thursday at 2 p.m. in HHR4 to consider the sunset reviews of ADOT's Motor Vehicle Division and the Gila County Transportation Excise Tax (report here).
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a securities meeting on Thursday (agenda here). Radical Bunny LLC is part of the ACC's regular hearing schedule (Tuesday, 11 a.m.). That one should be familiar to people who follow fraud cases in AZ.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hold two meetings this week. At Monday's "informal" meeting (agenda here) the highlight looks to be an item to consider and approve a settlement of legal actions between the County and former County School Superintendent Sandra Dowling.
The agenda for Wednesday's "formal" meeting includes an item to establish a photo enforcement fee for photo radar tickets adjudicated through the justice courts system. The justice courts are currently swamped under the load stemming from the increased use of photo enforcement, and need the revenue to hire pro tem judges specifically dedicated to hearing those cases.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District is holding a special meeting on Friday at 8:30 a.m. to formulate a plan for addressing the matters brought out in the recent complaint to the Higher Learning Commission.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a meeting in Tucson on Thursday. The agenda includes consideration of legislative activities and a presentation on EPA rulemaking on emissions from the Navajo Generating Station.
...The Tempe City Council is holding a meeting on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Agenda here; council calendar here.
...The Scottsdale City Council will be busy this week. In addition to the previously covered activities on Monday, they've got a regularly scheduled meeting on tap for Tuesday. The highlight of that agenda could be item 20, a reorganization of the City's Financial Services Division that would remove most of that area from the City Manager's purview (whoever that might be after Monday's special meeting on the employment status of John Little.) Also of interest is a proposal to increase the city's bed tax in order to provide more tourism development support.
The City's community meetings calendar is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Arizona Board of Regents.
This week looks to be an active one at all levels of the political food chain.
...In the U.S. House, the agenda has many of the usual memorials and such, as well as a couple of more controversial bills, but most of the country's attention will be focused on one bill that *may* be heard this week -
H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Preliminary analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) here. Also, the CBO has a brief explanation of its analyses and a comparison of this bill and the health care reform measure passed by the Senate Finance Committee here.
...Over in the Senate, their work will probably be overshadowed by the hubbub in the House, but their committee schedule is here.
...Back here in Arizona, the budget is still out of balance and the lege and Governor are still fiddling around. The pace of the make-work is picking up though, so maybe they'll start thinking about doing their real job.
Of course, they may just want to be in town early to get the best seats for next weekend's Nazi rally at the Capitol (Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Senate lawn).
On to the schedule of make-work -
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR1. The committee's co-chair is Sen. Sylvia Allen, so expect something along the lines of "the Earth was created without regulations 6000 years ago, and if no regulation worked then, it'll work now."
- The Ad Hoc Committee on Energy and Water Development will meet on Monday at 9 a.m. in HHR3.
- The House Education and Senate Education Accountability and Reform Committee of Reference will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR1. The subject of the meeting will be the school district performance audits of Tempe Union High School District as well as the unified school districts of Apache Junction, Ash Fork, Lake Havasu, and St. Johns.
The Auditor's report is here; TUHSD's response is here.
This one *could* have a minor impact on next year's elections.
The school board of TUHSD is headed up by Mary Lou Taylor, a candidate for the Republican nomination for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The co-chair of the committee of reference is Rep. Rich Crandall, someone who has been rumored to be interested in that position, too. If he really is interested in the job, he could see that the heat is turned up on TUHSD.
Given that TUHSD's response to the audit report was one of agreement, I expect this one to be fairly uneventful.
- The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in SHR1.
- The House Commerce and Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee of Reference will meet on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. They'll be doing sunset reviews of the office of the Auditor General (it's controlled directly by the lege leadership, so it is safe), the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (not so safe - who needs the DLLC and control, when there are now plenty of guns in bars to keep things under control? :) ), and the Sports and Tourism Authority (spends a lot of taxpayer money to help out corporate interests, so it is probably safe).
- The House Banking and Insurance and Senate Finance Committee of Reference will meet on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in HHR5. They'll be doing the sunset review of the State Board of Investment.
- The House Banking and Insurance and Senate Retirement and Rural Development Committee of Reference will meet at 1:30 p.m on Wednesday in HHR5 to consider the sunset review of the Department of Insurance.
- The House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Public Debt Committee of Reference will meet on Thursday at 2 p.m. in HHR4 to consider the sunset reviews of ADOT's Motor Vehicle Division and the Gila County Transportation Excise Tax (report here).
...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a securities meeting on Thursday (agenda here). Radical Bunny LLC is part of the ACC's regular hearing schedule (Tuesday, 11 a.m.). That one should be familiar to people who follow fraud cases in AZ.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hold two meetings this week. At Monday's "informal" meeting (agenda here) the highlight looks to be an item to consider and approve a settlement of legal actions between the County and former County School Superintendent Sandra Dowling.
The agenda for Wednesday's "formal" meeting includes an item to establish a photo enforcement fee for photo radar tickets adjudicated through the justice courts system. The justice courts are currently swamped under the load stemming from the increased use of photo enforcement, and need the revenue to hire pro tem judges specifically dedicated to hearing those cases.
...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District is holding a special meeting on Friday at 8:30 a.m. to formulate a plan for addressing the matters brought out in the recent complaint to the Higher Learning Commission.
...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a meeting in Tucson on Thursday. The agenda includes consideration of legislative activities and a presentation on EPA rulemaking on emissions from the Navajo Generating Station.
...The Tempe City Council is holding a meeting on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Agenda here; council calendar here.
...The Scottsdale City Council will be busy this week. In addition to the previously covered activities on Monday, they've got a regularly scheduled meeting on tap for Tuesday. The highlight of that agenda could be item 20, a reorganization of the City's Financial Services Division that would remove most of that area from the City Manager's purview (whoever that might be after Monday's special meeting on the employment status of John Little.) Also of interest is a proposal to increase the city's bed tax in order to provide more tourism development support.
The City's community meetings calendar is here.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the Arizona Board of Regents.
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