az legislature

Just because their pants are in a perpetual state of fire doesn’t mean we should assume everyone else is dishonest

by

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Arizona political consultant Barrett Marson is not the first conservative to make the strangely candid admission that he could not be trusted with ballots while advocating for SB1339, a striker bill that bans so-called “ballot harvesting” – that is volunteer canvassers collecting mail-in ballots by voters and delivering them to the county recorder. I appreciate the (rare) candor, guys. It’s refreshing, but your slipping up and letting us know what you would do with Democratic voter ballots is not a good reason to disallow collecting ballots, thus cutting voters off from a convenient way of getting their votes counted.

Read more

AZ House approves the “Lady Money Is Not Real Money” bill.

by

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

pin moneyPhoto: Etsy.com

Arizona bill SB1318, which requires doctors to pass on medically dubious information about “abortion reversal”, also bans coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, even if a policy holder has purchased an entirely separate rider with her own money which does not sully the pristine money of “taxpayers” – a group that (again) apparently does not include women who use any reproductive health care not directly related to having babies.

The bill went for third read on the House floor, the last step before before being transmitted to Governor Ducey, who is certain to sign it, and was passed on a 33/24 party line vote. I listened to the testimony at work and heard the Democrats valiantly (as always) trying to explain why it was a bad idea on several levels Republican Rep. Steve Montenegro waxed lugubriously about the need to “do everything possible to ensure a child has every opportunity to have it’s first breath!” and Rep. JD Mesnard anti-choicesplained, “We all know how accounting gimmicks work!” (He clearly doesn’t.)

Read more

In case you didn’t already know, you peons and your petty “getting on the airplane” troubles are an afterthought to Governor Ducey

by

real idPhoto: homelandsecuritynewswire.com

Arizona drivers licenses aren’t compliant with new federal Real ID requirements to board airplanes and a change to a state law (passed a few years ago to assuage the fears of the black helicopter crowd) is necessary to correct that. Our conservative-led legislature, naturally, is a averse to this so the AZ Republic ed board was recently reduced to begging readers to contact Speaker of the House David Gowan to relent.

It shouldn’t have come to this. A Legislature that puts Arizonans first would have passed this bill weeks ago. Residents wouldn’t have to cross their fingers that an answer will be found.

Read more

AZ anti-choice legislators actually think you can reverse an abortion

by

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

pill cartoon

SB1318 was already bad enough. The anti-choice bill would bar any insurance exchange operating in the state (including the ACA) from covering abortion even if the woman purchased a separate rider, on the theory that money out of a woman’s own damn pocket that she earned herself is somehow “taxpayer dollars”. It also mandates that abortion doctors report to the state health director that they have admitting privileges at a local hospital, a requirement that opponents say could expose personal information about doctors to dangerous anti-choice zealots. But they weren’t done. Now there’s this amendment.

Read more

More poor bashing than usual in AZ legislative session

by

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

King Crab Legs 6-92

It definitely seems as if this is the Year of Going After the Poor with a Vengeance for Republicans in the Arizona Legislature. Which is saying something, since these are people who have shown an abundance of enthusiasm for punishing low income residents for their (real or imagined) transgressions for several years now. Bills going through committees this session target poor people’s public assistance and voting rights, perpetuating narratives about their being shiftless and untrustworthy. (And the usurious lenders that Arizona voters drop-kicked out of the state in 2008 are back.)

The complete takeover of our state by Americans For Prosperity (funded by the Koch brothers) types in the 2014 election has created the perfect conditions for a total war on low income people. There’s not likely to be much push-back on it from the public as we non-poor Americans are a bunch of judgmental pricks about poor people’s life choices, as Bryce Covert of Mother Jones notes:

Read more