Arizona’s ‘meth lab of democracy’ batshit crazy week

Arizona’s “meth lab of democracy,” the Arizona legislature, is trying to get all the bills that GOP leadership is going to allow to be heard in committee done before the February 20 deadline. This week has been batshit crazy week with more bills to feed the batshit crazy right-wing base of the GOP.

Let’s begin with The Neo-Confederate dead-enders of the House Federalism and States Rights Committee, who consistently promote bills based the long-discredited theories of “interposition, nullification and secession” for which this country fought a bloody civil war. These dead-enders would like nothing better than to secede from the good ol’ U S of A.

H/T to the fine folks who prepare the legislative summaries for the legislature:

House Federalism and States Rights Committee

HB 2055 (SE) – Prohibits this state or any political subdivision from using any personnel or financial resources to enforce, administer or cooperate with the changes proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA; as described in the preamble to the definition of waters of the U.S. Passed 4-2, 2 absent.

HB 2145 – Outlines requirements and limitations for delegates participating in an Article V state convention (for a “balanced budget amendment” to the U.S. Constitution). Passed 5-1, 2 absent.

HB 2176 – Authorizes the Legislature to appropriate noncustodial federal monies and establishes guidelines for appropriation. Noncustodial federal monies are block grants and other federal monies that provide the state with discretion regarding the development, implementation or operation of a program or service. HELD in committee.

HB 2368 – Prohibits the state from funding executive orders issued by the President of the United States and policy directives from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unless affirmed by a vote of Congress and signed into law as prescribed by the U.S. Constitution. Passed 5-3 on party-line vote.

HB 2643 – Prohibits the state and all political subdivisions from using any personnel or financial resources to enforce, administer, or cooperate with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including funding or implementing a state-based health care exchange or marketplace. Passed 5-3 on party-line vote.

HB 2058 (SE) – Prohibits this state or any political subdivision from using any personnel or financial resources to enforce, administer or cooperate with any rule, regulation or policy directive issued by an agency, board, commission, department or other entity of the federal government unless the rule, regulation or policy directive has been affirmed by a vote of Congress and signed into law as prescribed by the Constitution of the U.S. Passed 5-2 on party-line vote, 1 absent.

HCM 2001 – Requests Congress to propose and pass a “balanced budget” amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. Passed 5-2 on party-line vote, 1 absent.

HCR 2026 – Asserts that the people in this state are not eligible for subsidies from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and businesses in this state are exempt from the regulations, requirements or fines under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Passed 5-2 on party-line vote, 1 absent.

Moving on to the “we hate public education” committee:

House Committee on Education

HB 2190 – Strike-everything amendment to HB 2190 Prohibits SBE from adopting Common Core Standards and Arizona College and Career Ready Standards, and establishes a process for SBE to redevelop the statewide academic standards and assessments, establishes a steering committee to collaborate with SBE on the creation of new standards and places restrictions on the use of student data. Passed 5-2.

HB 2246 – Permits a parent to opt his/her child out of statewide assessments. Passed 5-2.

HB 2250 – Expands the definition of an ESA qualified student to include a student who is the sibling of a first-time ESA recipient and submitted an application during the same application period. Passed 4-3 on a party-line vote.

A package of election related bills passed this week:

House Committee on Elections

HB 2067 – Requires the disclosure on campaign literature or advertisements of each political committee that made 25% or more of the total contributions received by another political committee making the independent expenditure (IE), instead of disclosing the top three contributors. (The so-called “dark money” disclosure bill). Passed 5-0.

HB 2081 – Prohibits Clean Elections candidates and their campaign committees from accepting cash as a qualifying contribution. Passed 3-2.

HB 2138 – Changes the date of primary elections from the third Tuesday in May to the first Tuesday in August beginning in 2016. Passed 5-0.

HB 2407 – Modifies requirements for initiative, referendum and recall to require courts to strictly construe, and the petition proponents to strictly comply with these provisions (rejects “substantial compliance” doctrine). Passed 3-2 0n party-line vote.

HB 2534 – Requires county recorders to notify early or provisional ballot voters if there is a defect in their ballot materials and gives voters the opportunity to correct these defects. Allows notified voters to correct their defective ballot within 10 days following the election. Passed 5-0.

HB 2540 (SE) – Directs the SOS, municipal clerks and county officers in charge of elections to do the following:

a. Provide separate fillable forms for initiative and referendum petitions and signature sheets for the petition.
b. Place the official serial number on the petition and each signature form.
c. Ensure the petition form and signature sheets issued to each applicant are complete, correct and contain all the information required by law for a valid petition and signatures.

HELD in committee.

HB 2608 – Changes the base number for determining the total percentage of signatures needed on nomination petitions, and decreases the percentage required. Passed 5-0.

HB 2613 – Modifies the prohibition on the use of public resources for influencing an election by stating that promotional expenditures made after a bond, budget override and other tax-related election is called through election day are prohibited. Applies to the use of promotional expenditures that are made by:

a. Cities or towns
b. Counties
c. School districts
d. Community college districts
e. Special taxing districts

Passed 3-2 on party-line vote.

HB 2649 – An emergency measure that restructures and modifies the definition of political committee. Contains a retroactivity date of September 30, 2013. This is in response to the U.S. District Court Judge James A. Teilborg ruling in Galassini v. Town of Fountain Hills that the definition of political committee found in A.R.S. § 16-901 is vague, overbroad and consequently unconstitutional. Passed 3-2 on party-line vote.

HB 2644 – Changes the time period during which municipalities and counties are prohibited from removing political signs from the public right-of-way from 60 to 86 days before an election. Passed 5-0.

HB 2664 – Allows a political party to nominate partisan candidates for appearance on a primary election ballot by way of a political party caucus for each of the following public offices:

a. U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.
b. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Mine Inspector.
c. Arizona State Senate and Arizona House of Representatives.
d. Any countywide office.
e. Any partisan city or town office.

HELD in committee.

And  more election related bills from another committee:

House Committee on Government and Higher Education

HB 2265 – Creates the office of Lieutenant Governor and appoints that person to be director of the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA). Passed 4-1.

HCR 2001 – Raises the threshold for passage of an amendment to the Arizona Constitution from approval by a simple majority of voters to approval by 60% or more of voters. Was scheduled to be heard 2/17, no recorded vote.

And finally, the tax inflation-indexing bill that Gov. Ducey says he wants to dig Arizona’s structural revenue deficit hole even deeper:

House Ways & Means

HB 2069 (SE) – Strike-everything amendment to HB 2069 reduces individual income tax rates in order to offset increased revenues received from online sales tax that is the result of Congressional action. Passed 6-3.

Things were just as crazy over in the Senate this week, with another batch of Neo-Confederate bills from the previous week:

Senate Rural Affairs and Environment Committee

SCM 1001 – Expresses the Legislature’s opposition of the establishment of the Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument, encompassing 1.7 million acres of the Kaibab Plateau and the Kaibab National Forest, expressed by three Arizona Congressional delegates.

SCM 1002 – Urges the U.S. Congress to enact legislation consistent with the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in County of Shoshone v. United States confirming that state law determines the entire scope of R.S. 2477 rights-of-way for the construction of highways over public lands not reserved for public uses.

SCM 1003 (SE) – Expresses the Legislature’s concerns regarding the presence of Mexican wolves in Arizona and encourages Arizona’s Governor and Attorney General to defend against overreaching federal action.

SCM 1004 (SE) – Urges the U.S. Congress to enact legislation that invalidates the federal rule defining Waters of the U.S. under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Senate Public Safety, Military and Technology

SB 1271 – Redefines the distance of a physical or virtual fence from the Arizona-Mexico borderline to be as close as practicable to the Arizona-Mexico borderline, instead of within one mile, and appropriates $10,000,000 from the state General Fund for construction. Passed 5-1.

SB 1330 (SE) – Prohibits state agencies, political subdivisions and their employees from participating or using state monies in the enforcement of certain federal acts or regulations regarding personal firearms, accessories or ammunition, except as required by a court order. Subjects any agent or employee of the state or a political subdivision who knowingly violates these restrictions to the following: a) a civil penalty of up to $3,000 for the first violation; and b) a class 1 misdemeanor for a second or subsequent violation. This is the ammosexual gun fetishists and gun worshippers bill from Sen. Kelli Ward. Passed 5-1.

Some more election related bills, and one to usurp the independence of the judiciary to regulate itself, in violation of the separation of powers doctrine:

Senate Committee on Government

SB 1309 – Requires that a proxy given by a state committee member for use at a state committee meeting be given to a member of the same political party as the member and caps the amount of proxies a person can carry from members of the committee to a meeting at ten. Caps the amount of proxies a person can carry from members of a county committee or legislative district committee to a meeting of the county or legislative district committee at four proxies. Passed 6-1.

SB 1340 – Requires any person who delivers more than ten early ballots to an election official for tallying to provide a copy of the person’s photo identification to the election official. Requires, if a person delivering ballots does not provide a copy of their photo identification, that an election official record information from a person’s photo identification and retain the information as part of the records of the voting location as prescribed in the SOS’s instructions and procedures manual. Directs the SOS to compile a statewide report on the submittals and that the information be made available to the public on the SOS’s website. 4-3 party-line vote.

SCR 1002 – Specifies that the Supreme Court has the power to make rules relative to all procedural matters in any court, subject to amendment by the Legislature by joint resolution or by the people by initiative or referendum. Requires the Secretary of State to submit the proposition to the voters at the next general election. Prime sponsor is Sen. John Kavanagh. HELD in committee.

A bad idea to allow for the interstate sale of health insurance plans, which will result in a race to the bottom by insurers locating in states with the least consumer protection interest, and you will have to sue your insurer in that foreign jurisdiction rather than here in Arizona:

Senate Committee on Financial Institutions

SB 1189 – Allows foreign insurers to offer health and sickness insurance to the residents of this state, provided that they: a) issue policies in another state; and b) hold a certificate of authority in that state. Allows residents of this state to purchase health and sickness insurance policies offered by foreign insurers. Stipulates that all foreign insurance policies meet all benefit requirements for the state in which these policies are held. Specifies that any policy issued by the insurer to a resident of this state is subject only to the benefit requirements of the state in which the insurer’s certificate of authority is held (choice of laws provision). Passed 4-3 party-line vote.

Finally, yet another school voucher tax credit:

Senate Committee on Finance

SB 1103 – Expands the qualifying foster care charitable tax credit to include donations made to qualifying organizations that provide services to persons under 21 years of age in a transitional independent living program.

This is not intended as a comprehensive list of bad bills for you to track and to submit testimony on through the legislature’s RTS system. There are many more previously approved in committee, and there is certain to be further abuse of the “strike everything” amendment in days and weeks to come.

You have got to watch your lawless legislature like a hawk.