The coming week....

...Due to a busy weekend and lots of stuff going on yesterday (some former Senator from Illinois visited Phoenix, and the lege still didn't finish a budget), it's a little later than normal, but here it is...


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


...Both chambers of Congress are still in recess until after Labor Day. Next week, Congressman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5) will hold a "telephone town hall" on health care. The town hall is open to residents of CD5; those interested can sign up here.


...The Arizona Legislature is still in *special* session. The House will hold a brief floor session today, then recess for Rules Committee and Caucus consideration on SB1o25, the General Revenues BRB (aka - the state equalization tax repeal). It will then go into COW and Third Read and it will likely pass the bill and send it on to the Governor for her signature (it's rumored that she is likely to sign it and the rest of the budget).


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held an "Informal" meeting yesterday (told ya this post is a little late :) ). Tomorrow, they'll be holding a "Formal" meeting. The agenda for that meeting looks to be pretty mundane, though one item on it caught my eye.

Item #19 calls for the removal of one "Richard Miranda" from the list of the County's pro tem justices of the peace.

Yes, that is the same "Richard Miranda" who is better known as "State Senator Richard Miranda."

At first glance, I wondered if this move might be payback for the failed budget moves involving Miranda (the Reps somehow "persuaded" him to vote for their budget, before he backed out...no, the *ran* out of the Senate building). Governor Jan Brewer is a former member of the MCBOS and still likely has some influence there. In addition, 4 out of the 5 current supes are highly partisan Reps and probably would have a problem with doing a little political hatchet work on a Dem.

However, a little research on this found that this issue has been percolating for a while, as some there believe that, legally speaking, a sitting member of the lege cannot serve as a JP.

There is some confusion on that issue, however.

Article 4, Part 2, Section 5 of the AZ Constitution, regarding "ineligibility of members of legislature to other public offices", states -

No member of the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed shall be eligible to hold any other office or be otherwise employed by the state of Arizona or, any county or incorporated city or town thereof. This prohibition shall not extend to the office of school trustee, nor to employment as a teacher or instructor in the public school system.

Seem pretty clear, right?

Not so much.

Article 4, Part 2, Section 4 of the same AZ Constitution, regarding disqualification for membership in the legislature, states (emphasis mine) -

No person holding any public office of profit or trust under the authority of the United States, or of this state, shall be a member of the legislature; Provided, that appointments in the state militia and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class, shall not work disqualification for membership within the meaning of this section.

That's a large area of conflict, so I'm not sure how this is going to play out. Miranda may have a case if he wants to join the scores of others who have brought legal actions against the MCBOS.

Or he may not. I'm not a lawyer or even a knowledgeable amateur scholar of the nuances of Arizona's constitution.

For now though, it doesn't look as if there is any untoward going on here (Republican Russell Pearce was once a pro tem JP, but was removed from the list for the same reason), but the timing of this is still interesting.

Very interesting.

Stay tuned...


...The Tempe City Council is meeting on Thursday (agenda here). The agenda is 95 items long. It looked pretty non-controversial, but I freely admit that I didn't even try to read all of them. They've also scheduled a special meeting for Friday. That purpose of that one is for discussion of the Council's direction for the next year.

Not scheduled to meet this week (so far, anyway) - Arizona Corporation Commission (this week's hearing schedule is here, though), the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, and the Scottsdale City Council.

The relative peace of summer breaks will next week. That post will be longer, and on time. :)

Later...

The coming week...

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

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



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



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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

The coming week...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later...

The coming week...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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


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


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


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


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

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

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

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


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

The coming week...

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

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


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

Stay tuned for updates...


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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

More later...

The coming week...

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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

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


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


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

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

1. Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services

2. Huron Consulting

3. MGT of America

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

Later...

The coming week...

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


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

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


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

Among the items on the agenda -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

The coming week...

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

Floor calendars will be posted here.


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

The coming week - everybody but the lege edition

As usual, all info gathered from the relevant websites and subject to change without notice...

...In the U.S. House, this week's agenda has the usual memorials, housekeeping, and non-controversial bills (such as H.R. 1016, the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 (cosponsored by AZ'ers Mitchell, Kirkpatrick, Grijalva, and Pastor). It also has H.R. 2892, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010, H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 and H.R. [no number assigned as yet], the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. There will be bickering over debate rules, earmarks, and occasionally, policy.

And money. Oh yeah.

The Defense Authorization Act will have a Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. EDT; the Homeland Security Appropriations Act will also have a Rules hearing on Tuesday at 5. The Interior and Environment Approps Act doesn't have a Rules hearing scheduled as yet, but the deadline for submitting amendment proposals is Wednesday at 3 p.m., so the hearing will probably be on Thursday with floor consideration on Friday. Though it could be a day earlier for each.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a number of hearings scheduled this week, as well as two days of a full Commission meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. That agenda is here. This one is a utilities meeting, so it is loaded with water, power, and communications-related items, including some water rate hikes.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a Special Meeting scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. This meeting truly will be "special" - the agenda is short but significant. They will be considering final approval of the county's property tax rate (reduced from $1.0327 to $0.9903, but resulting in a revenue increase of $9,687,492), the FY2010 budget for Maricopa County ($2,136,275,386), County Improvement Districts (varies by district), the Flood Control District ($96,730,311), the Library District ($31,524,526), and the Stadium District ($10,555,364).

Immediately after that meeting will be another Special Meeting related to a number of IGAs (InterGovermental Agreements) relating to the Sheriff's office.

After that one, there will be a third Special Meeting to "amend the FY 2009-10 Schedule of Premium Pay Rates applicable to all employees paid through the Maricopa County payroll system."

And while it is as yet unscheduled, an Executive Session meeting on Wednesday or Thursday isn't out of the question.

They've had one pretty much every week for months now.


...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project doesn't have quite as eventful a week - on Thursday, there will be a Maintenance Orientation meeting, a Work/Study session related to power, and a meeting of CAP's Strategic Planning Task Force. No votes will be taken at any of the meetings.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday. There will be an executive session at 5:30 p.m. for "Discussion for legal advice with attorney of the Governing Board--A.R.S. Section 38-431.03(A)(3) -- Payment of assessment," followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.


...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has meetings scheduled for both Monday and Wednesday.

Monday's Special Meeting has the usual items for "special" meetings at this time of the year - a legislative update, approval of the District's tax levy, and, oh yeah, approval of the District's FY2010 budget.

Wednesday's Formal Meeting (aka - MIHS's regular meeting) is much more mundane. The highlight of that agenda looks to be Item 2 - Reports to the Board and Item 6 - Financial Report. You've got to be a geek/numbers junkie to get into those, though. :)


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


...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week.


...The Scottsdale City Council will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to interview and appointment community members to some of the City's boards and commissions, authorize adjustments to the FY2008/9 budget, and to consider citizen petitions to remove the City Attorney, reconsider the City's Retirement Incentive Program, and to go after former City Manager Jan Dolan over some projects she was assigned after her termination that were part of the separation agreement.

That meeting actually looks like it could be the most colorful of the week (non-legislature category). The City Attorney, Deborah Robberson, has been on the Council's shit list since the regime change in January, so the long knives could be out at this meeting. Since Jan Dolan is already gone, she'll just be an after dinner mint. Robberson will be the main course.

Later...

The coming week - everybody but the AZ lege edition

As usual, all info culled from the websites of the respective political bodies and agencies and subject to change without notice.

...The U.S. House has an agenda this week that is dominated numerically by memorials and post office namings and the like, but the debate is likely to be dominated by money issues.

Among the items to be considered -

- H.R. 2661, the Court Security Enhancement Act of 2009. Proposed by Texas Republican Louie Gohmert, it changes the penalty for violations of Title 18, section 119 from 5 years to 10 years.

- H.R. 403, the Homes for Heroes Act of 2009. Seeks to improve veterans' access to HUD programs and homeless assistance programs.

- H.R. 1674, National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act Amendments of 2009. From the CRS summary - "National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act Amendments of 2009 - Amends the National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act to declare that a nonprofit corporation (established to succeed the abolished Office of Self-Help Development and Technical Assistance) shall be deemed to be a community development financial institution, unless the National Consumer Cooperative Bank or any of its affiliates participates in certain depository institution incentives under the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994."

- Yet again, possible consideration of the conference report for H.R. 2346, the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act.

- H.R. 2847, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 and H.R. [Unknown], the Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010.

There are 23 other measures on the current agenda, but these last two should generate more controversy and debate than all of those others combined.


...Moving the focus to central AZ...

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting scheduled for Monday that is mostly employee service awards, but there is an executive session scheduled to be part of the agenda for that meeting. They have a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday. That agenda is long, but it looks to be boring.

OK, maybe not so boring to political/government ops geeks -

Item 35 is a hiring freeze for the coming fiscal year;

Item 36 is a capital purchasing freeze for the same period;

Item 40 is the premium pay rates schedule applicable to county employees for the same period;

Items 42 and 43 involve all sorts of fund transfers;

Item 86 is an appeal of a trial court ruling in the case of Braillard v. Maricopa County (background here)

Items F-3 and F-4 are the FY2009-2010 hiring freeze and capital purchasing freeze for the flood control district;

Items L-4 and L-5 are the same, but for the county library district;

Items S-4 and S-5 are the same, for the stadium district.

Yup, they're getting ready for an ugly fiscal year.


...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission has cancelled the meeting that it had scheduled for June 18.


...The Arizona Board of Regents will be meeting at NAU on Thursday and Friday. Items of interest include approval of a five-year contract for Sean Miller, UA's new men's basketball coach ($1.6 million/year), approval of a contract extension for Clinton Myers, ASU's Softball coach ($104K/year), and approval of the reappointment of and new contract with Dr. John Haeger, the President of NAU (no $alary listed).

Ummm...why aren't they publishing the NAU president's salary? And while the variance between the salaries of the basketball coach and the softball coach are eye-opening (which one has won a championship recently and sees most of his players graduate? Hint: not the higher-paid one.), at least the money for the hoops guy comes out of Athletic Department revenues, not ABOR.


...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District are not scheduled to meet this week. The Tempe City Council and the Directors of the Central Arizona Project aren't meeting, either.


...The Scottsdale City Council is meeting on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The agenda there includes setting the FY2009/2010 property tax levees (combined rate of 0.74/$100 of valuation, a reduction of .06); setting the FY2009/2010 streetlight property tax levees (the city's 355 street light districts will each have different rates, depending on the circumstances of each district); and Mayor Jim Lane's proposal for the City of Scottsdale to withdraw from Valley Metro Rail, Inc. (aka light rail).

Of interest to political geeks is the .pdf of the legislative update to be presented to the city council by Scottsdale's Intergovernmental Relations Director, Bridget Schwartz-Manock. It includes a municipalities'-eye view of the state budget mess and presents a legal opinion (from an attorney at Perkin, Coie, Brown and Bain) that at least one part of the Republicans' scheme to balance the state's budget with municipal revenue is either illegal, or needs a 2/3 majority to vote for it in each chamber of the lege. It's couched in that CYA-sort of attorney-speak that protects the attorney in the event that a judge disagrees with the opinion, but that's the basic meaning.

AKA - a little light reading to start your week. :))

Note: if COS pulls the full lege update from its website, leave your email in a comment. I'll send you a copy.

...Folks, we're getting closer to the opening of the freak show known as "Fiscal Year 2010 - Arizona Edition." It's scheduled to start on July 1st, but with legislative shenanigans (such as playing "budget chicken" with the Governor) and court cases looming on the horizon, this pre-show could have an extended engagement.

Later...

The coming week -- everybody but the lege edition

Edit on 6/8 to add link to Franks' resolution...

Yesterday's schedule post was for the lege alone; today's is for everybody else.

And while there is some interesting and important stuff going on, this one should still be shorter than the yesterday's post.


...In the U.S. House, the agenda is pretty full. While there are some "show" measures -memorials and congratulations and such,- there are also a number of "working" measures in the pipeline this week.

* H.R. 1709, the STEM Education Coordination Act of 2009 (Note: "STEM" is an acronym for "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics")

* H.R. 885, the Improved Financial and Commodity Markets Oversight and Accountability Act

* H.R. 466, the Wounded Veteran Job Security Act

* H.R. 1741, the Witness Security and Protection Grant Program Act of 2009

* The conference report on H.R. 2346, the Supplemental Appropriations Act. $$$ = arguments

* H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. Again, $$$ = arguments. If that wasn't enough, since this will indicate/guide the country's foreign relations priorities for the near future, expect the Reps to nitpick this one...loudly.

* H.R. 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2009 (aka "PEACE Act"). Given the nature of our relationship with Pakistan, expect hesitation and even outright opposition to this one from both sides of the aisle.

Still, even the money bills may not generate as much controversy as one of the memorial bills.

The House will be considering Rep. Louise Slaughter's H.Res. 505, "Condemning the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot to death at his church on May 31, 2009." While the Republicans could just give this one a pass, I expect at least a few of them to use this measure as a way to blame the victim.

AZ's Trent Franks (R-CD2) will be introducing a resolution (H. Res. 515) condemning "the murder of Army Private William Long and the wounding of Army Private Quinton Ezeagwula, who were shot outside the Army Navy Career Center in Little Rock, Arkansas on June 1, 2009." Privates Long and Ezeagwula were shot by another domestic terrorist the day after Dr. Tiller was assassinated; my guess is that Franks is trying to use this bill to deflect attention from Tiller's murder.

My only disappointment with this one (H.Res. 505) is that the only Arizona Representative who has seen fit to add his/her name to the list of cosponsors is Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1).

They should ALL be on record as condemning politically-motivated violence.


...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission has a busy week planned, including a Securities and Utilities open meeting on Thursday.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting planned for Wednesday at 10 a.m. The agenda is a short one (thus far), with just two items on it - the first having to do with filing a notice of claim against the City of El Mirage and the second having to do with approval of the County Assessor representing the MCBOS regarding the matter of some property tax claim errors in the Buckeye Valley Fire District.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will be meeting on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. for a Truth-in-Taxation hearing (2% hike proposed) and a special meeting to approve the district's FY2010 budget. Or maybe this one. The first version of the budget assumes approval of the 2% hike; the second version assumes disapproval.

Expect disapproval; the majority of the board is made up of Republican Kool-Aid drinkers who are only interested in undermining education in AZ, not supporting it.


...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be holding Stakeholder Working Group Meetings on Friday and next Monday at the Mountain Preserve Reception Center, 1431 East Dunlap Ave. in Phoenix.


...The Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission are not scheduled to meet this week.


...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The agenda looks pretty routine thus far, but somebody with a better knowledge of Tempe issues should take a look at the agenda; they might spot something I missed.

Of course, the Special Budget Meeting that's scheduled to follow the regular meeting will probably be less mundane - it's for final approval of the city's FY2009-2010 property tax rate.


...The Scottsdale City Council is holding a special meeting on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The agenda includes a Non-Major Amendment to the Downtown Character Area Plan, a Planned Unit Development Text Amendment, and a series of Text Amendments to R1-7 Zoning. R1-7 zoning is the City's primary residential zoning ordinance.

This sort of stuff would be boring almost anywhere else, but it brings out the long knives in a city like Scottsdale.

Later...

The coming week...

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

...In the U.S. House, the agenda is getting back to normal. They've got post office namings to attend to. :)

Of course, as important as such namings are to our national well-being, there are other issues that they'll be considering this week too.

- H.R. 325, the Avra/Black Wash Reclamation and Riparian Restoration Project, sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7).

The CRS summary for H.R. 325 -

Avra/Black Wash Reclamation and Riparian Restoration Project - Amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation with Pima County, Arizona, to participate in the planning, design, and construction of water recycling facilities and to enhance and restore riparian habitat in the Black Wash Sonoran Desert ecosystem in Avra Valley west of the metropolitan Pima County area. Limits the federal share of the project's cost to 25%. Authorizes appropriations. Permits federal funds provided by this Act to be used only for the design, planning, and construction of water-related infrastructure.

The bill is on the suspension calendar, which means that the leadership expects to get the 2/3 support for the bill needed to pass it under a suspension of the rules.

- H.R. 2200, the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act. This one has a lot of money tied to it, so there will be a lot of debate over it. Jeff Flake has proposed an anti-earmark amendment to the bill.

- H.R. 626, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009. CRS summary here. Expect some serious Republican bloviating over this one.

- Possible consideration of a conference report on H.R. 2346, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009. $$$ = arguments. 'Nuff said.

- And in the "keep in mind for future reference" category, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs' Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by AZ5's Rep. Harry Mitchell, will be holding a hearing on VA hospital mistakes that led to veterans becoming infected with diseases like HIV and hepatitis. The hearing is scheduled for June 16 in Washington.

From AP -

A congressional panel will question Department of Veterans Affairs officials about mistakes that put patients at risk of possible exposure to HIV and other infectious body fluids at three VA hospitals.

The VA recommended more than 10,000 former VA patients in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., get follow-up blood checks. Five have tested positive for HIV and 43 have tested positive for hepatitis, according to an update on the VA Web site Friday.

{snip}

The subcommittee chairman, U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell D-Arizona, said Thursday in a phone interview that veterans who are testing positive for HIV and hepatitis, "whether it came from these improper procedures or not, the VA has a responsibility to take care of these patients."

The VA's webpage on the issue is here.


...Back in AZ in the legislature, most of the *really* interesting action is budget-related and is taking place behind closed doors.

There is some public activity, though.

The House has what looks to be a fairly non-controversial Third Read calendar posted for Monday and a somewhat more controversial Committee of the Whole (COW) calendar posted for Tuesday.

The COW calendar includes HB2198, a bill to create a "full and final settlement of claims" provision in AZ law regarding workers' comp cases. Provisions in the bill shift the liability for long-term medical expenses from the insurance carrier to the injured workers.

Also on the COW calendar is HB2628, the bill name by the sponsors as "the Parents' Bill Of Rights Act." While there are a few reasonable clauses in this one, those clauses exist to serve as concealment for a bunch of "my rules are better than society's rules" clauses.

- In committee action, House Rules is meeting on Monday (1 p.m., HHR4) to consider a couple of very controversial bills including HB2099, which would make charter schools subject to the same zoning laws as public schools (in other words, make it much easier for the charter school operators to shoehorn their businesses into neighborhoods over residents' objections) and HB2203, which seriously harshens the penalties faced by recipients of TANF, or Temporary Assistance For Needy Families. Any sort of non-compliance with any of the rules of TANF, including simple paperwork glitches by parents, would result in an escalating series of suspensions of benefits received by the children. Brought to you by the same Nancy Barto who is soooo dedicated to protecting the profits of private health insurers.

Nice priorities there, Rep. Barto. Remind me again - whose interests were you elected to represent?

House Health and Human Services is meeting on Tuesday at 10:30 in HHR4.

Over in the Senate, no committees are scheduled to meet at this time.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is going to have a busy week.

- On Monday at 10 a.m., they will be holding their "informal" meeting. It looks to be pretty simple and mundane, except for item #4, yet another executive session.

- On Wednesday at 9 a.m., they will be holding their "formal" meeting. It also looks pretty mundane, but *long*. Of course, there will be an executive session following this one, too. (According to the posting notice, anyway.)


...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be meeting on Thursday, June 4 at 10 a.m. The agenda includes a number of items related to tax rates and other stuff to prepare for the coming fiscal year.


...The Scottsdale City Council will be meeting on Tuesday night at 5, and they have a very full agenda. Included items include the appointment of a new City Auditor (Sharron Walker), a Truth-In-Taxation hearing on the property tax levy for the coming fiscal year (city property tax rate: $0.79, unchanged from last year), and a second and final hearing on the city's FY2010 budget.


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

Later...

The coming week...

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

...The U.S. Congress is on recess for the Memorial Day week. They'll gavel back into session next week.


...The AZ Legislature may be making up for that though. The "special" session to save Steve Yarbrough's STO will take up much of the lege's attention on Tuesday, and there are sure to be developments on the budget front (just no guarantees that there will be, you know, a budget passed.

On Tuesday, House Ways and Means (10 a.m., HHR1), House Rules (1:05 p.m.,HHR4) and Senate Appropriations (2 p.m., SHR109) will all be meeting in regard to the special session's SB1001 and HB2001. No floor schedule for either chamber is posted as yet, but quick passage is expected.

Note: Yarbrough sits on both of those House committees, and serves as vice chair of the Rules Committee.

Note2: Sen. Jack Harper has proposed SB1002, a bill to have the state, nearly-bankrupt that is it, pay for a special election for a constitutional amendment (SCR1001) to crack open the state constitution's prohibition against appropriating public money for religious purposes or private or sectarian schools.

The proposal would create an exception for monies to school programs that provide "PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION TO PUPILS WITH DISABILITIES AND PUPILS WHO HAVE BEEN IN FOSTER CARE." (Their caps, not mine.)

The amendment was proposed by Harper and cosponsored by Sen. John Huppenthal, the man who wants to be the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

- Most regular session activity looks to be in the House.

On Tuesday, House Health and Human Services is meeting at 9:30 a.m. in HHR4 and House Rules is meeting on at 1 p.m., also in HHR4. The highlight/lowlight of those should be HHS's consideration of Rep. Nancy Barto's striker to HCR2014. Her striker is a constitutional amendment to protect corporate-controlled health care. It's very similar in nature to a proposal that Congressman John Shadegg sponsored during the last session of Congress.

Some may question my characterization of the measure's purpose (protect corporate health care profits), but Barto has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday. There will be four guests - three from corporate shill "free market" think tanks (Pacific Research Institute, Goldwater Institute, and the American Legislative Exchange Council) and just one doctor. And if that 3-1 ratio of corporatists to medical professionals doesn't convince you that Barto's primary concern is something other than the best interests of Arizonans in general and her constituents in particular, that doctor is an author for one of the shill groups.

In House floor action, there is a COW agenda and a Third Reading Calendar (aka final passage through the House) posted. The most controversial measure on those appears to be another corporate-defense measure, this one sponsored by Rep. Jim Weiers. HB2610 would make it significantly more difficult for plaintiffs to prevail in product and civil liability cases. This one came up earlier this month for COW consideration but was held at the time.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday at 10 a.m.


...The Board of Directors for the Central Arizona Project are not meeting this week.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors isn't scheduled to meet this week, but that is usually subject to change. And probably will be for the duration of the various lawsuits involving the supes against the sheriff, county attorney, and even the county treasurer.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will have a busy week, with a regular meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and special meetings on Friday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Among the items on the agenda for the regular meeting on Tuesday: a motion to approve a 10 year contract with a company to operate the district's bookstores. A comparison of self-operated vs. contract-managed bookstores here. One of the issues considered was the rising cost of textbooks.

The 10 a.m. meeting on Friday is an executive session meeting for the "discussion or consideration of employment of chancellor" and to seek legal advice regarding the same. It looks like standard annual evaluation stuff, but I'm not on the District's confidential email list, so it could easily be something else entirely.

The 1 p.m. meeting concerns the search for a vendor of management consulting services for the district. No links or details online, which is somewhat curious, given that MCCCD is usually pretty good about making this stuff available. More details later if they become available.


...The Governing Board for the Maricopa Integrated Health System is meeting on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m and 1 p.m.

The early meeting is an executive session regarding "Retention of One or More Lawyers or Law Firms to Provide Legal Services to the Board." What is it about county entities and the need for the services of lawyers? :)

The later meeting is a regular meeting, covering the April financial report, medical and allied health staff appointments, strategic planning, and budget stuff.


...The Citizens Clean Election Commission isn't meeting this week.


...The Arizona Board of Regents isn't meeting this week.


...The Tempe City Council will be meeting on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The agenda looks packed but mundane, filled with things like final plat approvals and service contract awards. There will also be an executive session concerning litigation/contracts regarding billboards, purchase of real property, and negotiations with employee organizations.


...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week.

Later...

The coming week...budget crunch time is fast approaching

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

...In the U.S. House, there aren't any post office namings (it's taken a while, but perhaps they've run out of post offices in need of renaming...OK, they're probably just catching their breath :) ), but there are a number of issues up for debate this week.

- There is a House amendment to S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. I couldn't find the text of the amendment, but there is a House Rules Committee hearing on it on Monday at 5:00 p.m.

- S.386, the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, as amended. This should pass, as it passed 92 - 4 in the Senate on April 28 (our own Jon Kyl was one of the four senators to vote in support of bank fraud, naturally :) ). This one passed the House already (with AZ's Flake, Franks, and Shadegg supporter fraudsters) (naturally :)) ), but there were differences between the Senate version and the House version. Those have been ironed out, and this amended version may pass on a voice vote.

- H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009. If passed, the bill would created a number of programs within the Small Business Administration to encourage and facilitate entrepeneurship, including among veterans, women, Native Americans, and those from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Republicans claim to support small businesses, but they will hate this one.

It'll pass anyway. :)

- H.R. 915 and H.R. 2200, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009 and the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act of 2009, respectively. These are money bills, and there are always fights over money bills. Look for Jeff Flake to propose a couple of his cookie-cutter anti-earmark amendments.


...Over in the AZ lege, the floor schedule looks to be a light one pending developments on the budget front. The most controversial item appears to be on the House COW calendar.

They'll be considering HB2533, one of John Kavanagh's slate of anti-immigrant bills. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee wants to make it a class one misdemeanor to stand next to or in a roadway while soliciting employment from someone in a motor vehicle.

A class one misdemeanor carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a fine of $2500 (plus surcharges).

Ask for a job, go to jail...Actually, "Have brown skin, ask for a job, go to jail." Niiiiice...

- In committee action, House Rules is meeting on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4. So far, that's the only House committee with an agenda posted.

Over in the Senate, the only committee agenda of interest (there are a couple of meetings to consider executive appointments) is Thursday's meeting of the Appropriations Committee at 9 a.m. in SHR1.

In a move that looks calculated to synch up with his nativist saddle partner's bill in House COW, Russell Pearce, the chair of Senate Approps, is forcing his committee to sit through a presentation on "Sanctuary Cities and the Cost to the State and its Citizens."

OK, "forcing" might be an overstatement - besides Pearce, the Republican members of the committee include Jack Harper, Pam Gorman, Ron Gould, Al Melvin, and Steve Pierce.

They live and breathe this stuff.


While the legislative Republicans fiddle with various ways to attack immigrants, every other level of government burns the midnight oil trying to fashion their annual budgets without knowing with certainty what their revenue will be. To whit...

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is holding an informal meeting on Monday at 10 a.m. in the Supervisor's Auditorium. The agenda is almost wholly devoted to FY10 budgets.

Wednesday's Formal meeting of the supes is filled with many mundane items, but there are some eyebrow-raising ones, too.

The best? Item 10 is a move by Joe Arpaio to get his hands on the $1.6 million earmark for him in the lege's 2009 budget fix. He wants to increase his staff by 15 positions - all deputies dedicated to his anti-immigrant putsch.

While all other County departments have to make cuts. Nice.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa Integrated Health District will hold a special meeting on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Maricopa Medical Center.

The one item on the agenda? The FY2010 budget presentation for the Maricopa Health Plan. The budget is based on 5% provider fee cuts and an assumption of fewer "in-patient" days.

Interesting combination - cut already-low provider pay, reducing the the number of healthcare providers interested in working with/for MHP, and expect that the resulting degradation of quality of patient care will result patients needing fewer days in the hospital?

Who worked on the budget proposal, Pollyanna?


...On Tuesday night at 5, the Scottsdale City Council will be meeting in the City Hall Kiva. The agenda includes fee and rate hikes for the coming fiscal year and the FY10 operating budget and capital improvement plan.


...Over at the Central Arizona Project, the Finance, Audit, and Power Committee is meeting at 1:15 p.m on Thursday to discuss tax rates for the 2009/2010 tax year. The committee meeting will follow a meeting of the entire Board of Directors in a work/study session at 9 a.m. to discuss rates, taxes, and reserves for the coming year.


...The Board of Directors of Valley Metro will meet on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. to consider its preliminary operating and capital budget for FY2010. They aren't planning any cuts; in fact, the proposed budget is roughly 10% higher than the last one due to increase in bus service and in some contracted rates. The interesting part is where the increased bus service will be handled by the same number of employees (127) as this year. In addition (in a move certain to warm the hearts of anti-public employee Republicans everywhere), the budget doesn't include any raises for employees (merit, step, or even COLA).

In other words, the same staff is going to face an increased workload without even a token COLA (cost of living adjustment) to their compensation? Nice.

I've got a solution, or at least the beginning of a solution, for the state lege's dallying on the budget. Change the rules of both chambers - pass a budget through to the Governor by April 1, or no other bills can be considered until one is passed. And if May 1 arrives without a budget, no pay (salary or per diem) until one is passed.

It won't happen, but if they have time for immigrant-bashing, they have time to work on the budget.


...In non-budget related meetings (yes, there is at least one of those)....

- The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a Securities and Safety meeting on Wednesday at 10 a.m.


- The Tempe City Council, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Arizona Board of Regents, and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission are not meeting this week.

Later...

The coming week...

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

...The U.S. House's agenda has a few controversial issues -

- The latest privileged resolution from AZ's Jeff Flake (R-CD6) that calls for a House ethics committee investigation into ties between campaign contributions by the clients of the lobbying firm PMA Group, and earmarks that benefitted those clients. It'll fail, again, but this is one of the few issues where a Republican has taken the lead that actually has bipartisan appeal - no one likes corruption, and if there is some fire behind the cloud of smoke in the air around PMA, it needs to be dealt with.

- H.R. 2187, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. Expect some serious angst over this one from the Republicans - it helps public schools, it authorizes $7 billion in expenditures, and it strongly encourages the use of U.S.-made iron, steel, and manufactured good. This one is scheduled for a hearing in front of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. (EDT).

- Consideration of an FY2009 supplemental appropriations act. While money bills are always controversial (and this one has $90 billion+ attached to it), this bill also shuts down the prison at Guantanamo Bay. This one will draw lots of posturing and screaming from Republicans. And probably at least a little posturing from certain Democrats.


...In the AZ lege...

- Tuesday's House COW calendar thus far contains only one measure that looks to generate a significant amount of controversy - HB2610, which, if passed, would reduce corporations' exposure in product liability cases. Also on the agenda: HCR2023, a concurrent resolution relating to greenhouse gases. Proposed by Republican Rep. Lucy Mason, it supports the idea that any reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases should be done in a business-friendly manner.

Both HB2610 and HCR2023 will pass - HB2610 along a party line vote (if a roll call or division vote takes place during the COW session) while HCR2023 will garner support from the Democratic side of the aisle, while certain Republican members of the "global warming is a hoax" caucus will vote against the measure.

- In House committee action, the only committee scheduled to meet (thus far, anyway) is House Rules on Monday at 1 p.m. (HHR4).

- In Senate Committee action, there are only two committees scheduled to meet - Natural Resources (Monday, 1:30 p.m., SHR109) and Healthcare (Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR1). Both are meeting for presentations or executive appointments.

Of real interest this week is the possibility that something substantive will break regarding the state budget. A slim possibility perhaps, but one worth keeping an eye out for.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. No agenda posted as yet.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission had a securities and safety meeting scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m., but that one has been cancelled and rescheduled for Wednesday, May 20.


...The Citizens Clean Election Commission is scheduled to meet on Friday at 11 a.m. No agenda has been posted online as yet, but it is expected to include the conclusion to the Quelland saga. State Rep. Doug Quelland is facing possible sanctions from the CCEC over some campaign finance violations.

...The Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, the Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Arizona Board of Regents aren't scheduled to meet this week.


...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. Most of the agenda is standard (aka - "mundane, but necessary"). One item concerns the issuance of up to $24.5 million worth of bonds to finance some water/wastewater capital projects. There are also a couple of items related to zoning (historic overlay districts and designation of historic buildings) that could generate some talk, but since I don't know Tempe that well, I have no insight on those items.


...The Scottsdale City Council has a quiet week planned. All they have scheduled is an executive session meeting for Tuesday at 3 p.m. The only item on the agenda for that meeting has to do with the search for someone to fill the City Auditor's position.


...Oh, and on Wednesday at 7 p.m., some community activist will give the commencement speech at Arizona State University.

:)

Coming up this week...

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


...In the U.S. House, the planned agenda is mostly made up of the normal post office namings and such. The highlights of the agenda are -

H.Res. 269, Supporting the goals of Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. This one makes the highlights list because the primary sponsor is AZ8's Gabrielle Giffords. This bill will probably pass, possibly even by a voice vote.

S. 386, the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. This bill seeks to fight mortgage (and other) fraud by both lenders and borrowers. The bill will probably pass, but since AZ Sen. Jon Kyl was one of four senators to oppose the measure, look for Jeff Flake, Trent Franks, and John Shadegg to join him in opposing restrictions on fraud.

However, the bill most likely to generate some controversy is H.R. 1728, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act. The bill's provisions would implement all sorts of restrictions on mortgage lenders (CRS summary here) and is sure to be opposed by the entire Republican caucus in the House. This one is going to be so controversial there will be *two* House Rules Committee hearings on this one (Tuesday and Wednesday at 3 p.m. EDT)


...In the AZ Legislature this week, only the House COW calendar for Tuesday is posted thus far. The contentious bill there should be HB2177, which, as amended, would allow people to carry firearms into state game refuges.

In committee activity -

House Rules will meet on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4. The most eye-catching part of the agenda for that meeting is consideration of HB2466. That measure, if passed, would place upper limits on the taxes imposed by school districts.

Yes, if passed, it would combine the Rep scheme to balance the state's budget by swiping school districts' cash reserves with a prohibition barring school districts from utilizing the one option available to them to balance their own budgets. Nice.

House Water and Energy will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in HHR5. On the agenda there? The chairman of the National Propane Gas Association will speak on "cap and trade" and "greenhouse gases". Expect to hear words like "hoax" and "overblown."

A lot.

Over in the Senate, Senate Appropriations is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 1:30 p.m in SHR109. As with that last couple of scheduled meetings, all of the bills on the agenda relate to the Rep budget proposal. However, none of the strikers has been posted online as yet.

All the other Senate committees that are scheduled to meet will do so to consider executive appointments. Some of those folks could be interesting, but it's late and these posts tend to be long enough as it is. If you are interested, check out some of the names and do a little research.



...The Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD), aka the governing board of the Central Arizona Project, will meet on Thursday at 10 a.m. in the CAP offices. The agenda includes preliminary consideration of CAP's proposed tax rates for tax year 2009-10.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will meet in "informal" session on Monday at 10 a.m. They'll be receiving an update on swine flu in the county as well as a status report on Maricopa County Regional School District 509. This week's formal meeting of the supes will be on Wednesday at 9 a.m.


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


...The Tempe City Council will meet on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Harry Mitchell Government Center. The agenda will include consideration and approval of the city's property tax rate.


...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the City Hall Kiva after a 3 p.m joint meeting with the City's Budget Review Commission. The sole item on that agenda is discussion of the Commission's recommendations for the City's budget.

Later...

Upcoming this week...

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

Kind of a full week, so an early start is called for.

Plus the game between the Yankees and the Red Sox is on ESPN tomorrow night. :))


...Congress is in session, and is expected to have a loud week.

Over in the House, while the agenda is populated with the usual post office namings, college sports championship congratulations, and memorials, there are three items scheduled for consideration that could create a furor.

- H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. AZ Dems Gabrielle Giffords, Harry Mitchell, Raul Grijalva, and Ed Pastor are among the cosponsors of the bill. The House Rules Committee will consider the bill and proposed amendments to it on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

While the Republicans will want to look like they support law enforcement, they will make every effort to hamstring this bill. They "hate" hate crimes legislation.

It'll pass, but with some Reps 'tut-tutting' over it.

- H.R. 627, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009. AZ Dems Grijalva and Giffords are cosponsors. House Rules at will hear the bill on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The Christian Science Monitor has a summary here; CRS summary here.

This one *will* have some serious Rep opposition because of its restrictions on credit card issuers and other lenders.

- However, any angst over H.R. 627 will pale in comparison to that associated with consideration of the conference report for S. C0n. Res. 13, "Setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2010..."

Again, it'll pass, but with major posturing from the party of no, who probably haven't gotten the message from their loss in NY-20.

Should be a good week for watching C-SPAN, especially on Wednesday and Thursday.

...In the AZ lege, the House COW calendar for Tuesday is posted already. The most controversial seems to be HB2136, a bill to expand the membership of the State Fire Safety Committee by adding a petroleum retailer/distributor to the board. It passed the House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee on February 11 by a party line 5 - 3 vote (Reps supporting, Dems opposing).

- In committee activity, House Rules is meeting on Monday at 1:00 p.m. in HHR4. Over in the Senate, Senate Appropriations is scheduled to meet on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR9. As with last week's agenda, they *may* consider some budget-related bills. Or, as with last week, they may not.

Only two other Senate committees are scheduled to meet; they are hearing presentations or considering executive appointments.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission will be meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Hearing schedule here.

...The Arizona Board of Regents will be meeting in the U of A Student Union on Thursday and Friday. The agenda includes a number of items to impose a $1K+ surcharge on students at the state's universities. In a bit of less-than-perfect timing, the Board will also be considering an item to extend the contract and boost the pay of U 0f A' s head football coach, Mike Stoops. If approved, his regular pay will go from $685K to $1 million/year starting this year, escalating to $1.4 million by 2013.

The item write up stresses that "Stoops’ salary will be paid entirely from revenue generated by the Athletic Department" and no taxpayer monies will be used, but it still doesn't look good to hold up the universities' students at the beginning of the meeting doling out a generous pay raise a short time later.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has no meetings scheduled at this point, but as we saw last week, that is subject to change due to one or more of the many lawsuits that the supes are involved in.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health has a special board meeting that is focused on its budget (capital budget here).

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Governing Board Room, 2nd Floor, 2411 West 14th Street, Tempe.

The agenda for the meeting seems to be pretty mundane (to my untrained eyes, anyway), but given the past behavior of some board members (i.e. - Jerry Walker's intimidation of a student while visiting the U.S. Capitol) and the ongoing budget process, this one could be interesting.

...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m., but no agenda has been posted online as yet.

Edit on 4/26 -

Hat tip to commenter Zelph for reminding me (and all of us) that the CCEC will be considering the case of current Rep. Doug Quelland. He's been alleged to have committed some serious campaign finance violations. If found guilty of the violations alleged, he could lose his office.

End edit...

...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. A regular meeting with a short agenda follows an executive session to interview candidates for the vacant City Auditor's position (Brian R. Biggin, Alan G. Nixon, and Sharron E. Walker).

...On Wednesday, there will be two "Discover Papago Park" workshops; one at the Phoenix Zoo (10:00 a.m. - noon) and the other at Supai Middle School, 6720 E. Continental, Scottsdale (6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.)

Later...