Month: February 2013

Arizona Legislature: The coming week, part 2

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By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

Because of the length of a few of the agendas, this post covers only committee activities scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.  Monday and Tuesday's activities are covered here.

As usual, all committee agendas, floor calendars, and event schedules are  subject to change without notice. Call ahead to confirm plans before travelling  to the Capitol based on an agenda, calendar, or schedule cited  here.

Notes:

If an agenda is summarized with "looks harmless so  far" that only means that nothing on the agenda set off "bat-shit crazy" alarm  bells; if the committee in question covers an area of interest to you, check out  the full agenda yourself. And if I missed something significant, please leave a  comment letting me know.

A hearing room designation of "SHR" means it is  a hearing room in the Senate building; "HHR" means that the hearing room is in  the House building.

Lastly, this summary is not, nor is it intended to  be, comprehensive. Many bills have been covered, but not all of them. Again, if  a committee covers an area of interest to you, check out the full agenda  yourself.

Floor activity:  Wednesday's House COW calendar is here and Third Read calendar is here; Wednesday's Senate Third Read calendar is here.

Daniel Hernandez: Mensch

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by David Safier Calling Daniel Hernandez a mensch may seem like an odd cross-cultural reference, but I didn’t come up with the term to describe him. At his reading and book signing at UA today, Daniel repeated how uncomfortable he still is with the title, “hero,” but when Debbie Wasserman Schultz told him he was … Read more

The ‘Kochtopus’ ALEC bill against climate science

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Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this month I posted that the Birther Queen, Sen. Judy Burges wants to be the Grand Inquisitor of the Tea-Publican Inquisition against climate science:

SB 1213 says school boards and officials cannot prohibit a
teacher from helping students analyze and review the "strengths and
weaknesses of existing scientific theories," which means teachers would
be free to tell students not only that they believe global warming is a
myth, but would open the door for teachers to argue for the scientific
validity of "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution.

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"The bill has all the markings of model legislation written by the
American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative business-backed
organization, to suppress certain issues like global warming."

That media speculation is now confirmed by Think Progress. Kansas Bill Would Require Teachers To Misinform Students About Climate Change:

KochLast week, the Kansas House Education Committee introduced a bill that mandates teachers question
the scientific basis of global warming, becoming the latest state to
take up one of American Legislative Exchange Council’s “model bills”
aiming to misrepresent climate change in schools.
Kansas would join Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Oklahoma as the fifth state to cast climate change as a “controversial” topic. [I guess Think progress was not aware of the Arizona bill, which makes number six.]

The ‘Kochtopus’ and Arizona GOP war on public-sector unions continued on Monday

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publicans in the Arizona Legislature continued their unhinged assault on public-sector unions on Monday. Bills target public-sector unions:

Union-fightRepublicans at the Arizona Legislature are continuing efforts to restrict [destroy] public-employee unions.

Three bills to restrict unions passed a Senate committee on Monday. Another is scheduled for a House committee vote [Tuesday]. Several other bills are at various stages in the legislative process.

On Presidents Day, when most public employees had the day off, the Senate Government and Environment Committee held public hearings on three union-related bills. Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Peoria, sponsored all three bills. The committee passed:

SB 1348, which would prohibit a public employee from doing union activities during paid work time.

SB 1349, which would prohibit outside groups, such as unions, from deducting money from public-employee paychecks unless the employee provides written or electronic permission annually.

SB 1350, which would prohibit any individual who contracts with the state, counties or local governments from being able to strike.

The votes were all along party lines, with Republicans supporting them and Democrats opposing them.

NRA gun bill advanced by ‘Tommy Boy’ Horne in the Lege

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Back in late December, Arizona's Attorney General who still believes he is the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne, came up with the "genius" (sic) idea of training and arming volunteer principals or other top administrators at every public school because, by God, we just can't afford to pay trained police officers. Horne calls for armed principals. You will recall that this was the policy proposal of the NRA in the immediate aftermath of the massacre of first graders and their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Newtown, Connecticut.

"Tommy Boy" got wingnut Rep. David Stevens (R-Sierra Vista) to sponsor this NRA bill. Arizona bill would allow principals, teachers and janitors to have guns on campus:

Attorney General Tom Horne and Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, are pushing a plan to let principals, teachers and janitors at public schools carry guns.

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Stevens stressed nothing in HB 2656 requires any school district to go along. He said it simply provides an option, with locally elected boards having the final decision.