Sine Die (Special Session to Follow Governor’s Vetos)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Steve Farley (D-Tucson) reports:

[The House has] adjourned the session sine die. This session is history — the kind of history that you are condemned to repeat if you don't remember.

Over in the Senate, they managed to defeat the Clean Elections bill which may well lead to the end of Clean Elections in Arizona, once the final ruling is delivered by a federal judge who is likely to get rid of matching funds for participating candidates. That may be awfully technical, but the bottom line is that Clean Elections will no longer be a viable option for most candidates.

While this was going on, the Senate and House finally transmitted all the budget bills to the Governor around 6am, and she immediately set about vetoing budget bills, with some combination of line-item and full vetos. However, the Senate did not want the vetoed bills delivered, or else a new bill would have had to be delivered to her immediately.

To guard against this possibility, they locked the Senate doors briefly while debate continued on the Clean Elections bill. Once that bill was defeated, Sine Die was declared, and the session ended.

Many things are still not clear. What exactly has/will Governor Brewer veto? Will we have to come back in special session, perhaps as early as this morning? Will there be continuing resolutions? What's happening in the outside world as state employees arrive for work and government is shut down? Is government shut down?  Right now, no one knows at any level of government.

We'll find out soon. If we are in session by next Tuesday, I will do another Farley report to let you know.