After the first three weeks of the 53rd Legislature, things are starting to heat up. Hundreds of bills have been filed, and as usual, they run the gamut from boring to hopeful to dangerous.
I want to personally thank Speaker J.D. Mesnard for assigning some Democratic Party bills and some more moderate Republican bills to committee. (In recent Legislatures, bills from these sponsors were never assigned to committee. Of course, it’s up to the committee chair to put the bills on their agendas, but getting assigned to a committee is a welcome first step, in my book.)
Assignment to committee and very orderly and cordial floor meetings are positive notes in what has been a fast-paced time. Last week we shift from third gear to fifth gear and floor debates start on Tuesday, January 31. If you like reality TV, you should watch your Legislature in action. (The Arizona Capitol Television link on the Arizona Legislature’s website will take you to live proceedings and archives.)
All action and inaction on the floor of the House and Senate is televised– as are the Democratic and Republican Caucus Meetings (10 a.m. on Tuesdays, where we discuss the bills with staff, audience members, and paid lobbyists) and all committee meetings. Representatives have TVs on our desks, so we can keep up with the action while doing email, etc. Rep. Randy Friese’s motorcycle bill (HB2046) crashed and burned in the Transportation Committee but not without over an hour of testimony pro and con (bikers vs doctors). It was TV worth watching– as was the lengthy preemption discussion about local IDs and “illegals”.
When a variety of bills are heard, more constituent voices are heard. Here are a variety of bills that are coming down the pike this week (or in the near future). This is by no means an exhaustive list. Every committee meets every week, and agendas can include any number of bills. (Translation: there’s a lot happening.)
My Bills
HCR2012 (Powers Hannley) ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment in Arizona. (Assigned to Judiciary Committee in the House, headed by Rep. Eddie Farnsworth.) We only need three states to ratify the ERA to meet the requirement for a new amendment to the US Constitution. The ERA deserves to be debated in committee and on the Floor of the House and the Senate. Senator Martin Quezada has sponsored SCR1003— a mirror bill in the Senate (assigned to Government, headed by Senator John Kavanagh). Farnsworth and Kavanagh are blocking the ERA in the Legislature. If you think women’s rights should be debated and voted on in the Arizona Legislature, contact those two and your representatives and senators this week to get it on an agenda.
HB2172 (Powers Hannley) offers medical treatment instead of arrest in overdose situations. (Assigned to Judiciary, Farnsworth, again.) Thanks to the Arizona Republic‘s EJ Montini for giving a shoutout to this bill every time it has been proposed. Yes, this will save lives. Unfortunately, Farnsworth told me that he “doesn’t want to offer immunity to criminals” and refuses to hear this. If you think drugs addicts deserve a second chance at life, contact his office and encourage him to allow public testimony on this. There are several Moms lobbying Legislators to hear this bill– including the two pictured with this blog post.
HB2336 (Powers Hannley) allows terminally ill patients to make the decision to take their own lives with the help of their physician and medical team. (Assigned to Health Committee.)
HB2401 (Powers Hannley) requires medical providers to reveal the services they will not provide due to their religious beliefs. This is a major issue for women, particularly pregnant women. If you’re in a pregnancy-related emergency, you don’t want to end up in a hospital with services restricted by religious beliefs. Also – we should know which pharmacies dispense medications based upon the religion of the pharmacist and not based upon what is best for the patient. (Assigned to Health Committee.)
HB2400 (Powers Hannley) lengthens the renewal period for medical marijuana cards from every year to every five years. We have heard multiple bills to make other newals easier and less cumbersome, why not make the medical MJ card easier to renew? If you have arthritis, it’s not going away in a year– so why do patients have to renew every year and get a new ID card every year. Seems like too much bureaucracy to me. (Not assigned to committee.)
HB2439 (Powers Hannley) requires home health aides to have the same training, regardless who pays for the care. Currently, in Arizona, home health aides whose care is paid for my Medicare or Medicaid have to meet certain basic training requirements, but there are no standard training requirements for home health aides who are otherwise funded. (For example, an individual could pay for home health themselves.) There has been a rise in elder abuse cases, and I think better training could help that situation. This is a topic that the Health Committee has tried to fix in the past but didn’t have the votes for change. (Not assigned to committee.)
HB?? (Powers Hannley) expands the Clean Elections system to county and local, unpaid boards. There was a backlash against big money politics in the 2016. The original “chosen candidates” with the most money– Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush– lost. Multiple Clean Elections candidates beat traditionally funded candidates in Legislative races. I think candidates running for county and unpaid boards (like school boards, water boards, etc.) should have a Clean Elections option. (Not assigned to committee.)
HB?? (Powers Hannley) establishes a feasibility study to create a state public bank. The Arizona Legislature is hearing multiple economic development bills that theoretically boost our economy by giving away more taxpayer funds. The basic premise behind all of them is giving a tax break to someone who will develop land. Is development our only economic development tool? When will we jump off this merry-go-round? At every level– city, county and state– politicians say we don’t have the money we need to have the schools and roads we want. Then… why do we continue to give away tax money? Setting up a public bank would give us an alternative, sustainable economic development tool. We could offer low-interest loans to local, small businesses and college students, while strengthening our community bank system. The return on our low-interest loans who go back to the state to pay for public education and/or transportation infrastructure. (With our current economic development system based upon giveaways, there is not direct return on investment of taxpayer funds… only promises of jobs and prosperity in the future.) I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the trickle down.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Here are some other bills you may be interested in. This is by no means an exhaustive list. You can investigate bills by going to your Legislator’s page to see what bills they sponsored, or by going to the bills page for information by bill number, or by going to Bill Tracker and Request to Speak, both linked on the front page. (The Legislature’s website has been redesigned, and it is much more user friendly.)
Constitutional Convention
These all passed out of the Federalism Committee (serious reality TV in that committee). We should begin debating these on the floor this week. Our first federalism/states rights debate was covered by the Capitol Times, and I was quoted.
HCR2010 (Townsend) declares that the Arizona Legislature wants a Constitutional Convention. (Concurrent resolution with the Senate.)
HCR2006 (Thorpe) includes a wish list of changes to the Constitution. (Concurrent resolution with the Senate.)
HCR2013 (Mesnard) calls for a Constitutional Convention for a federal balanced budget. (Concurrent resolution with the Senate.)
HB2226 (Mesnard) also calls for a Constitutional Convention for a federal balanced budget and includes details of the balanced budget.
Prison Reform
Many people on both sides of the aisle realize that we need prison reform. You can look up these bills here.
SB1067/HB2154 (Burges, Coleman) supervised prisoners; violations; graduated sanctions
SB1068 (Burges) community supervision; earned release credits
SB1069/HB2291 (Burges, Rivero) vacating felony conviction; record destruction
SB1071/HB2290 (Burges, Rivero) provisional licenses; criminal convictions
SB1158 – reasonable sanctions (no debtors prison)
SB1160 – court-ordered education/treatment; reduced sentences/fines for technical violations
SB1163 – eliminate money for freedom (No release for money)
Substance Use
HB2002, 2003 and others: Marijuana Legislation
HB2335 (Carter) raises smoking age to 21
Medical
HB2190 (Cobb) establishes a stroke registry
Rape Kits
HB2268 (Syms) rape kits
Felonies
HB2024 (Lawrence) makes it a class 4 felony to make a false report of a crime. (It’s already a misdemeanor.)
HB2302 (Kern) makes it a class 3 felony for Electoral College Electors to vote for a different candidate other than the one to which they are pledged.
Forfeiture
HB2281 (Thorpe) is one of many anti-racketeering bills this session. This one directs the AG “to investigate all allegations of unlawful use of monies.” Go to Thorpe’s page to look for his other forfeiture bills.
More action today with a full calendar of votes. It’s TV worth watching; all of the meetings are live-streamed, videotaped, and archived. Archives are here. Live streaming link here.
Floor action begins daily at 1:30 p.m. Committee meetings are at 9 a.m. or 2 p.m. (or after Floor). Republican and Democratic Caucuses meet at 9 a.m. today. All of these meetings are Monday – Thursday, so out of town Legislators can be home on the weekends with family and constituents.
Vote for Townsend’s bills that prevent innocent parent’s children being taken for federal funds attached to each child detained. As a parent, teacher and taxpayer I experienced firsthand dependency court especially since the Mesa police and court would not document crimes and I could not get restraining orders against a felon paying to get my teen although I have and had three hours of recording proving she was being threatened. Myselfand ofher parents are or havefried suing in federsl to get things but apparently Maricopa County controls that as well based on my case infedersl sjnce 2015 pro se. Kelly Townsends bills addrsss what is clearly establihed comstituinal law ..cps is not allowed to lie reports to detain children…and FYI..they lie in every report because the state can not get federal funds until a child is detained to under state care… and furthermore the law is warrants unless exigent danger ..warrants people ..warrants..for soon you will get sued and pay.. it is the constituional law and has been for years ..so with that said our children are not a commodity for you to support your warrant projects like prisons and legislators whom make foster care a business when us parents do it free…..I will spend the rest of my life fighting against immunity for judges for like in Kids for cash ..no judge should be immune for recklessly emdangering children amd destroying families for cash while using the Nazi tactics my family endured here in the name of child abuse that never happened. I did my homework ..do yours. 9 th circuit 15-17308 pissed off mother and granmother
The ERA failed to be passed by the required number of states and was declared by the US Supreme Court to be dead in 1982 in the case of NOW v. IDAHO.
As I have explained to Rep. Powers Hannley and ERA supporters, they should move to amend the Arizona Constitution for an Equal Rights Amendment which includes the judicial standard of review of strict scrutiny. This would effectively put Cathi Herrod and the CAP out of business.
At least we agreed that her approach is flawed.
At least we agreed that her approach is flawed. Although I do not support your goals.
Great job getting more info out on pending legislation. An army of Democratic bloggers is exactly what the AZ lege needs!
I sure would be interested in seeing Burges and her crowd of idiots shamed over Senate Bill 1468, which will fine Catholic Charities and the like $1000 a day for helping Federally approved refugees resettle in Arizona.
HB2172 – drug abuse as a crime is a manufactured problem, kudos to you for treating drug abuse as the medical issue it actually is.
It’s cheaper to treat drug abuse than to lock someone up. And it’s far more humane.
the bill I am most angry about is the one making it a crime not to have id while passenger in car. this is aimed at the latino immigrant community. is the democratic party doing anything about it besides nothing?
The Democratic Party is outraged at this bill (I’ve talked to people in the Party) and is doing everything it can. But until we have control of at least one body in the Legislature, or the Governorship there isn’t much that can be done beyond trying to talk some sense into the Republicans. If it passes then the only option will be a court challenge but we don’t have the money or the standing in court for that.
Folks, if you want Democrats to do something vote for Democrats, get your neighbors to vote for Democratic candidates, up and fine the ballot EVERY ELECTION, not just the Presidential ones, and EVERY office. If you don’t like the candidates, run in the primary. If you want to run for an office where there isn’t a primary, we often have trouble finding candidates to run in Republican districts for down ballot offices.
“HB?? (Powers Hannley) expands the Clean Elections system to county and local, unpaid boards. There was a backlash against big money politics in the 2016. The original “chosen candidates” with the most money– Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush– lost. Multiple Clean Elections candidates beat traditionally funded candidates in Legislative races. I think candidates running for county and unpaid boards (like school boards, water boards, etc.) should have a Clean Elections option. (Not assigned to committee.)”
While I definitely agree with the spirit of this bill, I am not really sure why this should be introduced at the state level, rather than being pushed for at the level of the County Supervisors, and funded by each county rather than through the state collection mechanism. I can see exceptions in cases where boards cross county lines (big example being the CAP Board).
The reason it is a state bill is that the original law was created as a state bill (although by voter initiative). Modifying it HAS to go through the state.
I guess my point was that rather than the state expanding the Clean Elections system at the state level for these board positions, I think the counties should be establishing their own publicly funded elections board and ordinances, rather than doing it through an expansion / modification of state law.
I’m not sure I like the idea of the state encroaching on stuff I think is better handled at the county level. That was the point I was gunning for.