By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
Today, the Arizona State Senate defeated SB1433 by a 12 – 18 vote. SB1433 would have created a legislative committee with the authority to "nullify," or ignore, any federal law, regulation, or order that they don't like.
This was one of the new Confederacy bills that have clogged up legislative agendas and calendars for weeks.
All nine Democratics senators voted against the measure, as well as nine out of 21 Republican senators.
Democrats who voted against the measure:
David Schapira
Leah Landrum Taylor
Paula Aboud
Olivia Cajero Bedford
Steve Gallardo
Jack Jackson Jr.
Linda Lopez
Robert Meza
Kyrsten Sinema
Republicans who voted against the measure:
Nancy Barto
Rich Crandall
Adam Driggs
Linda Gray
John McComish
John Nelson
Michele Reagan
Steve Yarbrough
Lori Klein
Klein's "no" vote wasn't an expression of opposition to the bill – she was the originating sponsor of it. She just voted "no" today because under the rules of the Senate, only a Senator who voted with the majority in defeating a measure can move to reconsider, or bring the bill back to the Senate floor for another vote.
When it was obvious that the bill wasn't going to pass, she changed her vote from "yes" to "no."
As such, they need three, not four, votes to switch to pass the measure. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that they (meaning R leadership and Klein) will target Barto, Gray, and Reagan and/or Yarbrough. All have weaknesses or ambitions (pet bills, Congressional aspirations, etc.) that could make them vulnerable to entreaties or threats from their caucus' leadership. The others, while thoroughly conservative (though they'll be denounced as "RINOs" or worse in the RW blogosphere, have been pretty consistent about having a line that even they won't cross.
Some serious arm-twisting is going on down on West Washington tonight…