Coming soon to Arizona?

Pointed to this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

The proposal doesn't seem to be here yet, but give it time - the RWNJs in the Arizona legislature totally HATE public education.

Usually, AZ is ahead of UT in the "crazy" race, but that's not due to a lack of effort on UT's part.  Apparently.

From the Salt Lake Tribune -

Utah parents could sue education officials or teachers for almost any reason under proposed bill

SB157 puts parental rights above any other consideration when it comes to public education.

A new bill in the Utah Legislature would give parents the authorization to sue schools or education officials for any perceived infringement of their rights as a parent.

SB157 from Sen. John Johnson, R-Ogden, gives parents blanket legal standing “obtain judicial and other legal relief,” to exercise their rights as a parent.

Johnson's Utah proposal is here.

Puns are the lowest form of humor...unless they work

 And in Minnesota, they work (probably while wearing a parka, but I digress :) ).

From Minnesota Public Radio -

'Betty Whiteout,' 'Ctrl Salt Delete' top winners in MnDOT Name-a-Snowplow contest

A tribute to a Golden Girl will soon grace an orange truck clearing snow and ice from Minnesota highways.

"Betty Whiteout" is the runaway winner in this winter's Minnesota Department of Transportation Name-A-Snowplow contest.

The name honoring Hollywood icon Betty White, who died Dec. 31 at age 99, received 40,024 online votes in the results announced Thursday.

Coming in second with 21,372 votes was "Ctrl Salt Delete," followed by "The Big Leplowski" (17,478), "Plowasaurus Rex" (13,209) and "Scoop Dogg" (13,144).

"Blizzard of Oz" (12,742), "No More Mr. Ice Guy" (11,198) and "Edward Blizzardhands" (10,664) rounded out the top eight.

Find complete vote totals here.

Hey, Arizona may not be perfect, but at least it isn't Texas

Of course - we're a LONG way from perfect.  

We elect people like Doug Ducey, Wendy Rogers, Kelly Townsend, Paul Gosar, and many others, but Texas elects people like Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, Sid Miller, Louie Gohmert (and others).

And then there's this.

From Business Insider -

A Texas parent demanded a Michelle Obama biography be pulled from schools because they said it would make white girls feel 'ashamed'

A parent in Texas called for a children's biography about former first lady Michelle Obama to be pulled from school libraries because they viewed it as unfair to former President Donald Trump.

The Katy, Texas, parent took issue with a book titled "Michelle Obama: Political Icon" by Heather E. Schwartz, saying it "unfairly" depicted Trump "as a bully," according to NBC News, which on Wednesday published a list of 50 books that parents in Texas have asked schools to remove.

The request came as books depicting race, sexuality, and gender have faced heightened scrutiny from conservatives in the US, with many demanding certain titles be pulled from school libraries.

Nope, AZ isn't perfect, and maybe we shouldn't be talking smack about anyone, but TX could give us lessons in nuttiness, and that's saying something.

Howard Hesseman dies: it's official, 2022 sucks

From The Hollywood Reporter -

Howard Hesseman, Dr. Johnny Fever on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’ Dies at 81

Howard Hesseman, who made a career out of portraying off-the-wall characters, none more popular than the disc jockey Johnny Fever on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, has died. He was 81.

Hesseman died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles of complications from colon surgery he first had last summer, his wife, actress and acting teacher Caroline Ducrocq, told The Hollywood Reporter.

If you don't like what people have to say about your proposals, the Arizona Legislature has a simple solution to offer.

 Don't let people have the opportunity to comment on, or even look at, bill proposals.

In other words, the ALIS website is not functioning.

Commenting on bills -

Bill lookup-

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/30/2022

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

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

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

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

From the website of the Arizona Legislature:

On Monday. 1/31 -

House Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. 10 bills on the agenda.

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. 3 bills on the agenda.

House Military Affairs & Public Safety meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  10 or 11 bills on the agenda (it's a little unclear; the lege's website has 10, but the published agenda has 11); includes HB2102, repealing the section of law that allows an action against a sheriff or his deputies to proceed after the sheriff's death; HB2107, repealing the authority of municipal mayors and chairs of county boards of supervisors to order the closure of businesses during a declared public emergency; HB2159, disallowing polygraph examinations of law enforcement officers (LEOs) during an administrative investigation unless requested by the LEO, and disallowing payroll deductions for "nonfederally qualified abortions"; HB2317, appropriating $150million for the construction of a border fence; and HB2328, disallowing  the introduction into evidence medical costs paid by the state for the treatment of a prisoner who then sues a contractor over an injury or death as a result of the prisoner's work in Arizona correctional industries.  Introduced by Rep. Kevin Payne, this measure seems to have a specific beneficiary in mind, and it isn't the prisoner...or the taxpayer.

Senate Government meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. 13 bills on the agenda, almost all bad measures.

Senate Transportation and Technology meets at 2 p.m in SHR109.  5 bills on the agenda. 

On Tuesday, 2/1 -

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  7 bills on the agenda, including HB2198, a retroactive act mandating that employers either rehire someone fired for failing to get a Covid vaccination or give that person severance pay in the amount of 1 year's salary for that person.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  10 bills on the agenda, including HB2277, giving large landowners in the affected area veto power over school district boundary changes.  Also on the agenda: reconsideration of HB2025, mostly about requiring school districts to create policies and procedures for parental classroom visits.  The measure failed on a 5-5 tie the first time it was considered.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  6 bills on the agenda, including HB2536, putting into state law some new qualifications for membership on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Senate Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  10 bills on the agenda, including SB1120, mandating that the paper that ballots are printed on meet some very specific standards.

Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  10 bills on the agenda, including SB1036, creating a $1000 civil penalty for school districts for each violation of the requirement to display U.S. flags and the U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights in each classroom (as appropriate), and a same subject strike everything amendment to SB1211, requiring schools to post course materials on their websites, before the materials are used and establishing a complaint process regarding the same.

On Wednesday, 2/2 -

House Judiciary meets at 8 a.m. in HHR4.  17 bills on the agenda; many bad ones.

House Government and Elections meets at 9 a.m in HHR1.  19 bills on the agenda, most bad.

House Ways and Means meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  5 bills on the agenda, including HB2375, mandating that revenue sharing monies that the state shares with municipalities shall be used only for public safety services, and HB2166, exempting guns and gun safety equipment from sales tax.  The fiscal note for the measure is here.

Senate Finance meets at 9 a.m.in SHR109.  10 bills on the agenda, a couple of them are "sneaky bad."

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1.  13 bills on the agenda.

House Appropriations meets at 1:30 or upon recess of the floor session in HHR1.  10 bills on the agenda, including HB2317, appropriating $150million for the construction of a border fence.

  

House Transportation meets at 2 p.m.in HHR3.  10 bills on the agenda.

Senate Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  7 bills on the agenda.

Senate Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. 5 bills on the agenda.

On Thursday, 2/3 -

Senate Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  10 bills on the agenda; a couple seem bad, but ALIS is down, so I can't look them up.

Senate Government meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  This may not be accurate - the published agenda has the same bills on it as the one on Monday, 1/31; also, the meeting is scheduled for SHR1, which would conflict with the meeting of Senate Judiciary.

On Thursday, 2/3 at 9:30 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee On Education will meet, in HHR3.

On Thursday, 2/3 at 9:30 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee On Government will meet, in HHR1.

On Thursday, 2/3 at 9:30 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee On Health will meet, in HHR5.

In commemoration of book banning

Tennessee famously banned a book about the Holocaust, Texas is looking to ban skads of books, and Arizona has ongoing legislative and other efforts to do more of the same.

As such, I went to the website of the American Library Association and purchased a certain t-shirt.

State Committee update

Since there are no new committees for statewide office this week, this is a mostly irrelevant post...except for one blast from the (legislative) past running for a Maricopa County office.

From the website of the Maricopa County Recorder's Office -

Verschoor is a Republican former legislator and active Trumpkin.  Neither is a glowing character reference.

Federal Committee update

From the website of the FEC -

Democrat Tunney Rogers is running for Congress in AZ2.

She appears to be a Native American who is a social worker.

Arizona is back to being the laughingstock of the U.S.

It has been said that state legislatures are the labs of democracy; Jon Stewart famously described the Arizona Legislature as the "meth lab of democracy."

He was correct.

From The Hill -

Arizona bill would allow legislature to overturn election results

An arch conservative member of Arizona’s state House of Representatives has proposed a mammoth overhaul of the state’s voting procedures that would allow legislators to overturn the results of a primary or general election after months of unfounded allegations and partisan audits.

The bill, introduced by state Rep. John Fillmore (R), would substantially change the way Arizonans vote by eliminating most early and absentee voting and requiring people to vote in their home precincts, rather than at vote centers set up around the state.

Jeremy Duda of the AZMirror wrote it up approximately 12 hours earlier -

The newest GOP election proposal would allow lawmakers to reject election results

It would also do away with on-demand early voting and require ballots to be counted by hand — in 24 hours

Lawmakers would have the power to reject election results under a sweeping piece of legislation that would make seismic changes to the way elections are conducted in Arizona. 

Rep. John Fillmore’s House Bill 2596 would eliminate no-excuse early voting, which is used by the overwhelming majority of Arizona voters, and would require that all ballots not only be counted by hand, but that those tallies be completed within 24 hours of the polls closing on Election Day, among other changes.

Perhaps the biggest change, however, is that the legislature would be empowered to accept or reject election results in legislative, congressional and statewide races. Under the proposed law, the legislature would be required to call itself into session after an election to “review the ballot tabulating process.” Once that review is completed, lawmakers would decide whether to accept or reject the results. If the legislature rejects the results, any qualified voter can go to court to ask a judge to order a new election.

 

Fillmore's bill is here; it's a long bill, 35 pages long, and the stuff about the legislature overturning elections is on page 33.

I *did* mention this bill in my post about Fillmore's candidacy for the Legislative Loon Award, but I have to admit that I didn't read the entire thing and missed the language about the legislature.

My mistake, and lesson learned.

Sinema has something to worry about, Kelly's ahead: Arizona poll day

Pointed to the Sinema stuff by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From a Data for Progress release -

Poll: Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema Set to Be Unseated by Possible Challenger Ruben Gallego in 2024 Primary Landslide

In October 2021, Data for Progress published poll findings that captured the extent of Arizona Democratic primary voters’ dissatisfaction with Senator Kyrsten Sinema: She had the highest unfavorability rating of any elected Democrat tested in the state, and she was poised to lose her 2024 primary by a wide margin.

Since then, speculation has mounted that progressive Representative Ruben Gallego, a Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran, is seriously considering a bid. Meanwhile, Sinema was censured by the Arizona Democratic Party this week for her defense of the filibuster, which came at the expense of passing popular voting rights legislation. 

Data for Progress’ initial polling found Gallego to be in the best position to beat Sinema in 2024. New Data for Progress polling finds that, since October, Sinema’s favorability has dipped even further — and that Gallego’s potential to secure a primary victory has increased.

From the full poll -

[snip]

For Senator Kyrsten Sinema, her next hurdle is going to be her 2024 primary election, where she is going to have to convince Democratic primary voters in Arizona that she deserves to keep her job. Activists who are disappointed with her obstructionism and reluctance to support President Biden’s popular agenda are already organizing to draft other high profile Arizona politicians, like Rep. Ruben Gallego, to run against her in 2024. According to our new poll of likely Arizona Democratic primary voters conducted in October, using the same methodology we used in the recent New York City mayoral primary, we find that Sen. Sinema faces a steep uphill battle to defend her record and convince voters she should stay — as negative sentiment towards her continues to grow.

[snip]

From FiveThirtyEight, also from a Data for Progress poll -

Also from Data for Progress -

Mark Kelly Narrowly Leads in Arizona 2022 General Election Matchup

In recent years, Arizona — a traditional battleground state — has trended blue. Voters elected Democrats Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to the Senate in upset victories in 2018 and 2020, respectively, and in 2020 the state narrowly voted for Joe Biden. But amid surges in Republican voter enthusiasm and turnout, Arizona is once again poised to become a battleground. Kelly, who won his seat in a special election, is running for his first full term, and a crowded slate of Republicans are hoping to replace him. Incumbent Republican Governor Doug Ducey is term-limited and is thus not eligible to run for re-election in 2022. While he has stated he will not be joining his party’s Senate primary as recently as January 20, 2022, speculation about a possible run has mounted anyway.

New Data for Progress polling gauges the state of the 2022 midterm elections in Arizona, analyzing favorability and approval across different candidates and elected officials as well as the issues Arizona voters support. 

Yes, I do wish that Kelly was doing better (and I think he should be), but I'm torn - would he be better off facing Brnovich or Ducey?

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that Sinema better have a corporate lobbying gig already lined up.

Joe Biden insults...stupid sons of a bitch

From CNN -

Why Biden's 'son of a bitch' moment is nothing like Trump's attacks on reporters

On its face, it's not a big deal.

Joe Biden, thinking his microphone was off, called Fox's Peter Doocy a "stupid son of a bitch" after the latter lobbed a question to the President about the political impact of high inflation. Once it was clear he was speaking on a hot mic, Biden quickly called to apologize to Doocy.

And, scene. This is just the sort of tempest in the teapot that Washington obsesses over (Biden said a bad word!) and that the average voter couldn't care less about.

Biden may have apologized, but he wasn't wrong.

I will admit, I was disappointed by one thing.  No, not in that he referred to Doocy as a stupid son of a bitch.

Nope, I'm disappointed that the president didn't come up with a more profane insult.

Credibility, thy name is NOT "Newt"

From a press release touting Newt Gingrich's endorsement of Home Title Lock -

Home Title Lock and Newt Gingrich Join Forces to Educate American Consumers on the Perils of Home Title Theft

Home Title Lock, the nation's leading home title fraud detection service, has announced a new advertising campaign featuring the 50th Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the former Assistant Director of the FBI's Cyber Division James Finch. The campaign also features Matthew Cox, an admitted mortgage fraudster who at one time was on the FBI's most wanted list for stealing over 150 properties before he was stopped.

More on his endorsement here.

Newt may have a wee bit of a credibility problem and credibility is key for any endorser.

From The Guardian (UK) -

Outrage as Newt Gingrich says Capitol attack investigators could be jailed

Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, stoked outrage on Sunday by predicting members of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack will be imprisoned if Republicans retake the chamber this year.

One of two Republicans on the committee, Liz Cheney, said: “A former speaker of the House is threatening jail time for members of Congress who are investigating the violent attack on our Capitol and our constitution. This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels.”

In case you missed it: Corruption in Arizona politics

[start sarcasm]

I know, you're as shocked as I am.

[/end sarcasm]

:)

From The Glendale Star -

Ex-school facilities board member indicted

Vernal Lee Crow of Glendale was indicted on four felony counts of conflict of interest in connection with his appointed position as a member of the Arizona School Facilities Board, according to Attorney General Mark Brnovich.

Crow is alleged to have failed to disclose his interest and his son’s interest in Red Tree Consulting LLC, a construction consulting company that benefited from three projects awarded by the SFB while Crow was a participating board member

.

The press release from the office of the Arizona Attorney General is here.

Per their annual reports, Crow was not a member of the Board in 2009 but was in 2010, so I'm assuming that he was appointed by Jan Brewer.

Crow *was* part of Red Tree from its organization in 2015 (docs courtesy the Arizona Corporation Commission)

until mid-2017

But per his bio in ASFB's annual reports, Crow was also part of Dominion Environmental, since at least 1990 (also courtesy the ACC)

until, well, *now* 

Related entities are Dominion Environmental Consultants NV LLC and Dominion Environmental Consultants and he was a director and officer there

at least until late 2019, when it was transferred to another officer

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that this gets better.  He was a member of the ASFB when his entities received money.  I don't know if he disclosed the relationships beforehand.

From the website of the Arizona Auditor General -

From the Arizona State Procurement Office -

[snip]

From a letter to the Glendale Union High School District from 2017 -

[snip]

From the records of the Maricopa County Superior Court -

Based on my reading of this (which is another way of saying that this is unfamiliar), he seems to have entered a plea of not guilty and been released on his own recognizance.

From Arizona Revised Statutes, the section of law that he is alleged to have violated -

If he's convicted on the stated charges, it'll be a class 6 felony conviction.

Legislative schedule - week starting 1/23/2022

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

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

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

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

On Monday, 1/24 -

House Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. 5 total bills on the agenda.

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. 2 total bills on the agenda.

House Military Affairs and Public Safety meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. 5 total bills on the agenda, including HB2081, a John Kavanagh-proposed bill for the redaction of police videos.

Senate Government meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. 12 bills on the agenda, all bad, anti-democracy, bills.

Senate Transportation and Technology meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. 4 bills on the agenda.

On Tuesday, 1/25 -.

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m.in HHR3. 6 bills on the agenda, including HB2099, a Regina Cobb-introduced measure to destroy the Arizona League of Cities and Towns. 

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. 8 bills on the agenda, including HB2439, making a list of books in the school's library catalog to parents and a list of books/materials borrowed by their children and HB2595, an attack on the LGBTQ+ community disguised as a ban on sexually explicit materials in schools.

House Natural Resources,  Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. 8 bills on the agenda.

Senate Appropriation meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  8 bills on the agenda, including SB1175, the legislature's annual attempt to confiscate "non-custodial federal monies" (aka "Community Development Block Grants") and re-appropriate them.

Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. 5 bills on the agenda, including SB1010, a bill to protect "peaceful" protesting at school board meetings (it states that "obvious" threats to persons, but doesn't define that term.  It also would mandate that all school board elections be partisan.

On Wednesday, 1/26 -

House Government and Elections meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1. 17 bills on the agenda, many very bad ones.

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4. 10 bills on the agenda, including HB2043, making employers financially liable for damages caused by a Covid vaccination if the employer denies a religious exemption for the same, and HB2251, making it a felony to point a "laser-emitting device" at a LEO.  According to the FDA, this designation covers many devices.

House Transportation meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  7 bills on the agenda.

House Appropriations meets at 1:30 p.m.(or upon recess or adjournment of the floor session) in HHR1.  4 bills on the agenda.

Senate Health and Human Service meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  3 bills on the agenda, including SB1044, barring the hiring to administer the personal responsibility education program of contractors, or contractors with subcontractors, that perform or have locations that perform abortions.

Senate Finance meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR109.  9 bills on the agenda, including a couple that seem sneaky bad.

Senate Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  6 bills on the agenda, including SB1166, an anti-union activity bill.

Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  4 bills on the agenda.

On Thursday, 1/27 -

Senate Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  8 bills on the agenda; many bad ones, but one good one - SB1215, forming a study committee to examine missing and murdered indigenous peoples.

House Ad Hoc Committee On International Affairs meets at 1 p.m.in HHR4.  No bills on the agenda.

On Thursday, 1/27 at 9:30 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee On Education will meet, in HHR3.

On Thursday, 1/27 at 9:30 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee On Government will meet, in HHR1.

On Thursday, 1/27 at 9:30 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee On Health will meet, in HHR5.