by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
As usual, all info gathered from online sources, mostly the website of the Arizona Legislature, and subject to change without notice.
While there are more active committee agendas than last week, they're still short enough for both the Senate's and the House's work to be combined into one post.
Most committees in each chamber, other than the respective chambers' Rules committees, are now considering bills that have passed the other chamber.
Note: an "SHR" prefix indicates that a room is a Senate Hearing Room; "HHR" indicates a House Hearing Room.
All legislative calendars (1st Read, 2nd Read, 3rd Read, COW, and Caucus) can be found here.
House committee agendas can be found here.
Senate committee agendas can be found here.
All legislative bill proposals can be found here.
Capitol events for the week can be found here (courtesy the lege's website) and here (courtesy Arizona Capitol Times).
On the Senate side of the Capitol –
– Rules will meet on Monday in Caucus Room 1 at 1 p.m. Lots of bad bills to be rubberstamped for floor consideration later in the week. However, SB1611, Russell Pearce's latest anti-immigrant measure isn't on this particular agenda, even though many of the other bills that were on the same Appropriations agenda last week *are.* Not sure why not, but it could be related to the hubbub over Pearce's "blacklisting" of certain critics from the Senate building. Or maybe he is getting some flak from his own caucus over breaking his promise not to push his nativist agenda before the state has a balanced budget.
Of course, SB1611 could pop up on a Rules agenda later in the week. Rules is a gatekeeper for the legislative leadership, and all bills must be considered by the committee prior to floor consideration. If a Senate President/House Speaker doesn't want a particular bill to reach the floor, he can just ensure that it never sees a Rules agenda.
At this point in the legislative session, it isn't unusual for the Rules committees in each chamber to meet two or more times each week. Right now, only Monday's agendas are posted.
– Natural Resources and Transportation will meet on Monday in SHR109 at 2 p.m. Relatively quiet. Of possible interest: HB2360, relating to the membership of the Game and Fish Commission Appointment Recommendation Board. Legislative summary here.
– Judiciary will meet on Monday in SHR1 at 2 p.m. Looks quiet thus far, but this committee is chaired by Ron "fly a confederate flag on the Fourth of July" Gould, so that could change at any time.
– Education will meet on Monday in SHR3 at 2 p.m. Looks relatively quiet, but there could be some fireworks over HB2197, barring the establishment or operation of charter schools in "an age restricted community in unorganized territory." Better known as a "keep children out of Sun City" bill. Also: a presentation from AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal.
– Banking and Insurance will meet on Tuesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Government Reform will meet on Wednesday in SHR1 at 9 a.m. On the agenda: HB2005, loosening the rules regarding subdivisions "acting in concert." Looks like the real estate equivalent of weakening antitrust laws. Legislative summary here. All House Democrats opposed this one.
– Commerce and Energy will meet on Wednesday in SHR109 at 9 a.m. On the agenda: HB2558, giving landlords the ability to collect larger, utility-related, deposits from tenants. All House Democrats opposed this one.
– Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m. Quiet so far.
– Water, Land Use, and Rural Development will meet on Wednesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m. One presentation and no bills on the agenda thus far.
– Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet on Wednesday in SHR1 at 2 p.m. On the agenda: HB2443, banning abortions whose purpose is race or gender selection.
– Finance will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in SHR1. Looks quiet so far.
– Border Security, Federalism, and States Security will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in SHR109. No bills on the agenda, so this *should* be a quiet one, but leave it to Sylvia Allen to come up with this agenda item –
4. Presentations
Attorney General Tom Horne — Update on the Arizona Lawsuit
David & Donna Lamoreaux — Drug & Human Smuggling Route Affecting Farmers
Richard Valdemar — The Unholy Trinity: American Street Gangs, Mexican Drug Cartels, & Radical Islamic
Terrorists
After the meeting, collectibile Burning Cross keychains will be available in the lobby.
On Monday's Third Read (final passage) Calendar:
SB1334, allowing hunting within city limits, and forbidding a municipality from regulating same
SB1388, barring Maricopa County from regulating the sale of consumer fireworks in unincorporated areas of the county
SB1546, declaring that the state can use eminent domain to acquire federally-owned land.
SB1466, giving a justice of the peace control over the prosecution of a case in his/her court, specifically requiring a county attorney to gain a JP's approval before diverting or defering prosecution of an offender. The JP pushing for this, Lester Pearce of the North Mesa Justice Court in Maricopa County and brother of Senate President Russell Pearce, is noted for his belief that the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is too lenient. And that the amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting the right to vote to women is a violation of states' rights.
SB1174, barring the establishment or operation of a charter school in an age-restricted community.
SB1231, decreasing the state's revenue expenditure limit
SB1403, barring conditioning the award of public works projects on the use of union labor
SB1406, allowing the governor to enter into interstate compacts/New Confederacy treaties regarding the creation of a fence along the border with Mexico
SB1465, barring the acceptance of consular-issued identification cards as legally valid identification
SB1525, restricting a municipality's ability to assess development fees
SB1530, creating the most important appointed position in the state, that of "Poet Laureate."
SCR1024, asserting state sovereignty over "intrastate water resources." A "federal government GO AWAY!" postcard to D.C.
SCR1025, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution to eliminate public funding for candidates for public office (aka – end Clean Elections)
…On the House side of the Capitol –
– Rules will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 1 p.m. Long agenda, lots of bad bills, rubber stamp.
– Energy and Natural Resources will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 2 p.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Education will meet on Monday in HHR3 at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House floor session. Looks quiet so far, but sometime bills are "sneaky bad."
– Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday in HHR5 at 2 p.m. On the agenda: SB1094, "requires a legislative committee of reference to examine data from multiple sources and evaluate effectiveness when considering a legislative proposal regarding mandated health coverage"; SB1122, exempting faith-based "health care sharing ministries" from insurance regulations.
– Government will meet on Tuesday in HHR4 at 2 p.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Employment and Regulatory Affairs will meet on Tuesday in HHR3 at 2 p.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet on Wednesday in HHR3 at 9 a.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Health and Human Services will meet on Wednesday in HHR4 at 9:30 a.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Commerce will meet on Wednesday in HHR5 at 10 a.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Technology and Infrastructure will meet on Thursday in HHR1 at 9 a.m. On the agenda (possibly): SB1171, allowing a municipality to force a county to transfer a wastewater treatment facility to the municipality.
– Judiciary will meet on Thursday in HHR4 at 9 a.m. Looks quiet so far.
– Agriculture and Water will meet on Thursday in HHR5 at 9 a.m. Looks quiet so far.
Monday's Third Read calendar hasn't been posted for the House yet, but the calendar (agenda) for the Committee of the Whole, or COW session has been. COW is the last chance to debate or amend bills on the floor of a chamber of the legislature.
There are fourteen bills on the House COW calendar, but two are certain to grab most of the attention, both at the Capitol and in the media.
HB2384 and HB2416, both attacking women's reproductive rights.
From the legislative summary of HB2384: "HB 2384 prohibits the use of public funds for abortion procedures to any person or entity that provides, pays for, promotes, provides coverage of or referrals for abortion and training related to abortion procedures that are paid by tuition or fees for students at an Arizona university or community college.
From the legislative summary of HB2416: "HB 2416 specifies an abortion shall not be performed without voluntary and informed consent by the woman receiving an abortion and prohibits the use of telemedicine to perform an abortion.
Note: Given the length of the floor calendars for Monday, both Third Read and COW, no one should expect Monday's (non-Rules) committee meetings to start on time.