By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
In normal years, the three categories above are enough to cover the
activities of the lege. There hasn't been "good" coming out of West
Washington for years, so everything that could be labeled as "Well, it
coulda been worse" (surprise vetos, watered-down bad ideas, bad bills that actually failed, etc.) were lumped into the "good" category.
This year, some actual "good" happened at the Capitol.
Which is good, of course, but it creates a dilemma –
Is
it better to put the "coulda been worse" items into the "good"
category, and possibly diminish the perception of the actual good items,
or put the "coulda been worse" items into the "bad" category, and risk
raising the perception of the truly bad items?
This was a vexing matter, until I remembered one thing –
I'm not Sergio Leone, so I'm not restricted to three categories.
Did keep the title though – "The Good, The Coulda Been Worse, The Bad, and The Ugly" just doesn't pack as much oomph. 🙂
On to the meat of the post…
The Good:
Medicaid restoration. Possibly the most "good" thing to come out of the Capitol in decades. Signing scheduled for Monday morning.
Personal
note: Let me now thank the lege's entire Democratic caucus for standing
tall and standing united for the people of Arizona. Additionally,
there are 15 Republican electeds who, amazingly (to the rather cynical me, anyway)
did the same thing. I may never have cause to say or write anything
complimentary about them again, but today, credit will be given where
credit is due –
Governor Jan Brewer
Sen. John McComish
Sen. Steve Pierce
Sen. Adam Driggs
Sen. Rich Crandall
Sen. Bob Worsley
Rep. Doug Coleman
Rep. Jeff Dial
Rep. Frank Pratt
Rep. TJ Shope
Rep. Ethan Orr
Rep. Kate Brophy McGee
Rep. Heather Carter
Rep. Doris Goodale
Rep. Bob Robson
The Coulda Been Worse (mostly bad bills that died or were vetoed):
SB1439, a neo-secessionist measure to make gold and silver bullion legal tender; vetoed by the governor on 5/2/2013
SB1371, messing with local bond and tax elections; vetoed by the governor on 5/2/2013
SB1178,
making a citation of religious belief a blanket exemption from all
state laws and regulations; vetoed by the governor on 5/23/2013
A striker to SB1069
that would have placed all sort of onerous requirements on the
operation of abortion clinics; passed by the House Appropriations
Committee but died in the House this past week
Strikers to SB1432 and SB1045
aimed at legalizing some discrimination toward the LGBT community,
known as the "show your papers before you pee" bills. Run by Rep. John
Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) at the behest of the Center for Arizona Theocracy
Policy which aghast at the City of Phoenix' passage of a
non-discrimination ordinance. Also passed by the committee but died for
lack of further consideration.
The Bad (some of these could move up or down a category based on their final disposition):
SB1465,
under certain circumstances, exempting solid waste operators from
specific ADEQ requirements and oversight; signed by the governor on
4/16/2013
SB1370, messing with local franchise elections; signed by the governor on 4/10/2013
SB1363, expanding Sen. Steve Yarbrough's revenue stream school vouchers; awaiting action by the governor
HB2617,
a smaller expansion of Yarbrough's revenue stream, specifically
relating to corporate "contributions"; awaiting action by the governor
SB1346, making "class action" status for lawsuits more difficult to attain and retain; awaiting action by the governor
SB1288,
barring federal projects and agencies from receiving any funding
through the Arizona Water Protection Fund; awaiting action by the
governor
HB2645,
expanding the exemption from unemployment insurance laws accorded to
churches and church-affiliated organizations; awaiting action by the
governor
HB2446, expanding the property tax exemption accorded to religious organizations; awaiting action by the governor
HB2305,
an election "reform" bill that makes it more difficult for citizens to
place initiative questions on the ballot; awaiting action by the
governor (will definitely qualify as "ugly" if the governor signs it into law)
SCR1015,
The legislative Republicans' love letter to the NRA in the wake of the
Newtown massacre. Would be in the "ugly" category, but it has no real
impact, other than embarrassing the state.
The Ugly:
HB2593,
the lobbyist shakedown bill, drastically raises or completely removes
limits on campaign contributions; signed by the governor on 4/11/2013
HB2326, barring cities and towns from keeping records relating to ownership of firearms (a Newtown massacre memorial measure?); signed by the governor on 4/29/2013
HB2147,
raises adminstrative barriers faced by workers applying for
unemployment insurance benefits; signed by the governor on 3/28/2013
SCR1016,
a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution that would purport that the
state could ignore any federal law, regulation, rule, action, or
anything else that it doesn't like; will be on the ballot in 2014. I
was going to put this in the "bad" category because of its pending
status, until I realized that the presence of this proposal on the
ballot next year means that we will be faced with scads of TV and
newspaper ads…and mailers…and radio spots…and emails…and so
on… from tea party types and other Koch Brothers-funded astroturf
groups.
Given that fact and the content of the proposal itself, this one is definitely in the "ugly" category.
Note:
The above lists are not meant to be comprehensive, but I think that
I've covered the worst of the worst, and in the case of Medicaid
restoration, the best of the best.