Arizona Legislature Week In Review – Week Ending Jan 29, 2021

arizona capitol

If we may paraphrase a popular motto:

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of COVID stays these politicians from the excessive introduction of mostly irrelevant and unnecessary legislative bills.

One would think that under the current restrictions to citizen access to the legislative process, there would have been a sharp decline in the number of bills introduced, with limits as to number and relevance.

However, as of the time of this writing, the count had surpassed 1,300 bills introduced, with more to come. For 99.9% of voters and most legislators this is not a problem because they do not read these bills anyway. But it is a huge problem for us, the 0.1% of voters who actually try to read as many of these bills as possible. We never cease to be amazed by not only the sheer number, but also the poor wording of so many bills.

Still, we try our best to keep the voting public informed, hoping that they will pay attention and be well informed participants in the process. To that end, here is what has been happening with the relatively few bills we are capable of tracking.

Last week, the main endeavor of Republicans was the reining in of the governor’s out of control power grab. Strangely, the Democrats would not have any part of it, and chose instead to side with the governor. That was reflected in the way they voted. For a companion piece that chronicles in some detail this activity, click HERE

One problem that we see with the lifting of forced COVID restrictions is that of liability. If the restrictions are lifted and businesses are free to impose restrictions or not, then they may be reluctant to lift restrictions for fear of being sued if someone claims that he/she was infected as the result of the business not taking proper precautions. This whole debacle has created a brand-new type of fear mongering among gullible individuals that we may never overcome. The solution is easy. The legislature could create a law protecting business owners from unwarranted COVID related litigation. That was tried last year and it failed. It is also not likely that the governor will sign such measure into law even if it does clear both chambers of the legislature. Out-of-control politicians have created a monster.

There was also other business conducted, mainly dealing with the old standbys, education and elections. In the education front, two bills took center stage

SB1058 – schools; learning materials; activities Passed Senate Education Committee 5-3. This is a good bill because it forces schools to make public the materials and activities that students are being exposed to. But it had a major flaw in that it only applied to previous year’s materials and activities, not the current year. So even if parents were made aware of what has happened, it does not help them correct the situation. It is our understanding that this flaw has been fixed via amendment

HB2268 – schools; total compensation statements Passed the House Education Committee 10-0. This is one of those rare occasions in which even the Democrats recognize the need to act. This bill requires that school districts disclose the full compensation package. It would be nice if we had a law requiring that generic total compensation packages are disclosed to the public, so that we know exactly how our money is being spent.

The election reform issue was led by two modest bills.

HB2039 – elections; hand counts; five percent Passed the House Government and Elections Committee 7-6. This bill increases the percentage of precincts that must be counted during a hand count from the current 2% to 5%. There is a similar bill in the senate, but it has been amended in such a way that it really not good.

HB2307 – voting equipment; overvote notice Passed the House Government and Elections Committee 12-0. Another rare example of cooperation from the Democrats. This bill makes a lot of sense because voters a often woefully ignorant of what goes on. Very simply, this bill requires that voters be made aware that if a ballot is rejected because of a problem, and the voter overrides the machine and votes the ballot anyway, that the vote for the office with the problem will not be counted.

Those readers who wish to view complete reports on what activity has taken place, or will be taking place next week, with the bills we are tracking, may do so by going to: https://www.facebook.com/AZRRT or https://mewe.com/i/joseborrajero

Both sites provide opportunities for readers to make comments, including suggestions for bills to add to our tracking list.