by David Safier
NOTE: This is my first post since Saturday that deals with a topic unrelated to the tragic shooting of Giffords and others. After being able to think of little else since then, I'm ready to expand to other topics.
David Schapira is introducing legislation to ban racial profiling by police officers. The bill is SB1071. Schapira wanted it to be this year's SB1070 until Pearce officially retired that number for as long as he heads the Senate.
SB1071 is:
. . . a ban in state law against "racial profiling" by police officers in stopping individuals and making investigations.
It also would require police to document each traffic stop with information about the person detained, the reason for the stop, and whether any property was seized or an arrest made. That kind of data could be used to determine if race is a factor in traffic stops.
We'll find out if the bill is going to be heard. Democratic bills are shut down more often than not.
NOTE: On the Star website, there's a short AP story dated Thursday saying Pearce was planning to use this year's SB1070 "for a bill of his own making grammatical changes to part of the 2010 law that he championed." Today's story saying the number is retired is from Howard Fischer, who usually has his facts right.
NOTE #2: The Star's headline team decided to title today's article, 'SB 1070' is a number that's one of a kind. A pretty celebratory headline to my ears. The Yuma Sun uses the headline, Controversial bill number not back this year, and the East Valley Trib strikes a somewhat snarky note with its head, Will there be a jersey? Pearce retires bill number 'SB 1070'.
UPDATE: Or maybe Fischer got it wrong. According to the Capitol Times Thursday [subscription only]:
Pearce said reserving the bill number is a way to respect Arizona and preserve what his original legislation now means for people here and abroad.
[snip]
[T]he legislation that Pearce introduced this year — the one that is actually numbered “SB1070” — offers a minor technical change to the state’s immigration laws.
CT also gave Schapira a chance to get it his licks.
To [Schapira's] surprise, he got bill numbers “SB1069” and “SB1071,” but “SB1070” went to Senate President Russell Pearce, the author of last year’s hotly-contested immigration policy.
“It’s a weird thing in this place. Sometimes, counting and time go out the window,” Schapira said.
[snip]
“Once again, the laws of time and space don’t apply to the state Senate of Arizona,” the minority leader said.