At week 8, we are deep into the second half of this year’s legislative session, and the action is nothing short of fast and furious. Lots of bills saw action this week, and lots more are scheduled for next week.
However, all that was eclipsed by a second week of legislative idiocy displayed by our legislators. Last week, by the enactment of HCR2039, under a suspension of the rules, our state legislators handed the K-12 education establishment an unjustified, unneeded, and unwise increase in their aggregate expenditure limit. This week, under the same insane suspension of the rules, they essentially did away with the office of elected Precinct Committeemen as we know it, via HB2839.
HB2839 – candidate nominations; signatures; redistricting
This bill contains a lot of provisions, some of which are questionable, but we are concentrating on the most egregious provisions, which are the ones dealing with precinct committeemen. Here is a direct quote of that portion of the bill:
“Sec. 2. Laws 2021, chapter 155, section 2, is amended to read:
Sec. 4. 2022 election cycle; precinct committeemen; county party committee; board of supervisors
Notwithstanding any other law, for the 2022 election for political party precinct committeemen only, the following apply:
- Candidates for precinct committeeman shall submit to their county political party committee a nomination paper or other similar written statement of candidacy not later than April 18, 2022 and shall not be required to submit a nomination petition or file other documents with a filing officer.
- The county political party committee shall verify the potential candidates’ eligibility based on the April 1 voter registration totals prescribed by section 16-168, subsection G, Arizona Revised Statutes.
- Not later than May 2, 2022, the county political party committee shall submit to the county board of supervisors one precinct committeeman candidate’s name for each election precinct in the county for appointment pursuant to section 16-410 and section 16-822, subsection B, Arizona Revised Statutes. The county political party committee is the sole determiner of the single political party precinct committeeman candidate whose name is to be submitted for appointment from each election precinct in the county.
- The county board of supervisors shall appoint the political party precinct committeemen from the names submitted pursuant to paragraph 3 of this section. Precinct committeemen who are appointed pursuant to this section for the 2022 term of office are deemed elected precinct committeemen for all purposes.
- For any vacancies in the office of precinct committeeman that occur during the 2022 term of office, the county political party committee shall appoint eligible persons to fill those vacancies and shall maintain a current roster of precinct committeemen for the remainder of the 2022 term, and no further action regarding vacancies is required by the county board of supervisors.
Sec. 5. Emergency
This act is an emergency measure that is necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety and is operative immediately as provided by law.”
If the legislature did not intend to do away with elected precinct committeemen, the foregoing language could have been corrected, except that, under the suspension of rules, there were no committee hearings and no opportunity for citizen input. It is very likely that neither Bowers, nor Fann, nor Ducey read this bill before attaching their signatures to it. That is not only idiotic, but also negligent and irresponsible.
The second legislative action that caught the attention of the public involved only the Senate. It was the vote to censure Sen. Rogers.
Senate censures Rogers for conduct not becoming a seasoned politician
This week the AZ Senate voted to censure Sen. Rogers in response to some comments that she has made. It was a bi-partisan vote, with 11 out of 16 Republicans and 13 out of 14 Democrats voting in favor of the censure resolution.
It is not exactly clear what the purpose of this move was, or what it will accomplish beyond posturing. Rogers is one of the staunchest supporters of the conservative/Republican ideology, as reflected by the bills that she has introduced, sponsored, and voted on. As such it is very likely that this move by the Senate will not diminish her popularity among her constituents.
It was not all negative behavior at the state capitol. A bright spot involved the approval of Senate bill SCR1012, which calls for an improvement in the way we identify those who are legitimately qualified to vote.
SCR1012 – voter identification; affidavit; procedure
As the result of having been approved by the legislators, the language of this bill will be placed on the November ballot as a proposition to create/amend statutes dealing with voter identification. If approved by the voters, this will be a giant step toward improving election integrity in Arizona.
It is noteworthy that both the Senate vote a few days ago and the House vote this week went along party lines. Not one single Democrat voted in favor of this bill. The right to vote is so important that voting should be allowed only by those who are eligible. There is no way to determine eligibility except by providing proper identification. Maybe someday, rank and file Democrats will begin electing to office individuals who favor election integrity instead of opposing it every step of the way.
For a complete report on the bills that we have been tracking, including links to the text of the bills themselves, go to REPORT