The Farley Report: May 4, 2010

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for the Farley Report by Rep. Steve Farley (D-LD28):

At last the Legislature has adjourned, with no special sessions on the horizon (for now, anyway). Adjournment Sine Die was declared at 11:07pm last Thursday, April 29.

Every year, the House runs a Sine Die pool, where a few hundred Capitol denizens pay a buck each to guess the date and time that the Legislature officially adjourns. The winner this year was a true legislative hero, Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr.

From her perspective as Arizona's strongest watchdog for the environment, her victory may be the only good thing that happened in the Legislature this session, given the flurry of bills to block the state from regulating greenhouse gases, allow more dust pollution, shut down state parks, and endanger state rivers.

So many bills — so little time. Over the last couple of days, most legislators were running back and father from the House to the Senate and back in an attempt to push through live bills and resurrect dead ones by amending them onto live ones through floor action or conference committees.

The ensuing chaos left lawmakers in many cases unsure of what the amended bills actually did once they were put to a vote. Our Democratic policy staff was working overtime to make sure we Dems knew what was happening, so for the most part we knew what we were voting for or against.

In those final days there was also a last-ditch effort to bring back the Speaker's corporate bailout bill (HB2250), which thankfully failed, along with a bill to refer all voter-approved initiatives since 1990 back to the ballot for re-approval (and inevitable death) in 2012, and a bill to ask voters to kill Clean Elections. The Birther Bill also met its demise as a majority of Senators realized that accusing President Obama of fabricating his U.S. citizenship just wasn't worth the national shame the issue was bringing upon us.

Other good stuff that happened was the restoration of KidsCare health insurance for kids in poverty and the re-funding of AHCCCS health coverage for those who earn between 33% and 100% of the poverty line. This means that we will not lose out on the $7 billion we get annually from the federal government.

My bill (HB2300) to ban trucks from driving in the left lane of I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix is now sitting on the Governor's desk, awaiting her signature, having been approved in the Senate 21-8 and gaining final passage in the House 46-12. ADOT was very helpful in the process, and I have high hopes that the Governor will sign it in the next few days.

Once that happens, ADOT will begin a one-year study to determine how the lane restrictions can best be implemented, followed by a two-year pilot program that will put those implementations into place by June 2011. We can all look forward to fewer dangerous accidents, injuries and fatalities — this simple idea makes our roadways safer and more efficient.

HB2300's passage from a bill to a law will clearly not make up for the new law allowing anyone to carry concealed weapons without training or testing, the legalization of racial profiling, the elimination of full-day Kindergarten, the wholesale slashing of the safety net for our most vulnerable citizens, or the Republican failure to deal with the budget in a way that doesn't destroy our state — but at least some lives will be saved.

With the session and its surfeit of silly and scary bills safely out of the way, the campaign season is beginning to heat up and the stakes could not be higher. Never in Arizona history have voters had as clear a choice as the one we will face in November.

Do we elect a Legislature and Governor who will continue on our current path of destruction, or will we elect a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislative majority after 44 years of Republican wrong-track rule?

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If you would like to see me in a classic campaign debate about state issues with Senator Frank Antenori, you have an opportunity to get a front row seat this Friday, May 7, at high noon at the Sheraton Fire & Ice restaurant on Grant just east of Tucson Medical Center. This event is sponsored by the folks at the Wake Up Tucson! radio show, so it will not be your typical Democratic crowd. I'm looking forward to a free-ranging discussion of the issues of the day and I plan to invite the independents and Republicans in the audience to reconsider which party is actually standing up for Arizona values.

Finally tonight, don't forget to vote Yes on Prop 100 on or before May 18. As you know, I think this is one of the worst ways to raise revenues for the state, given our pre-existing dependence on sales tax that contributes to our fiscal instability. We should be attacking some of those $10 billion in corporate tax loopholes instead. But until we elect a Democratic majority, Prop 100 is the only tool the Republicans will allow us to use to save our schools, senior services, and other programs for our most vulnerable residents.

So hold your nose and vote Yes on May 18, and promise yourself you will permanently fix our problems by voting for Democrats on November 2.

With the session over, I will be returning to our monthly Farley Report format so as not to overload your inbox, although I may insert a few Special Reports from time to time with important updates.

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