Welcome to the first week of the first session of the fifty-sixth legislature. This is also the first legislative week following redistricting, which means that we now have both freshmen and returning, seasoned politicians dealing with mostly new constituents.
Under these circumstances it is difficult to predict what will happen legislatively.
Adding to the state of uncertainty is the fact that, again, the Republicans have a razor-thin majority of one vote in each chamber. This means that whatever bills the Republicans advance have to appease every one of the 31 House Republicans and the 16 Senate Republicans, not an easy task. Every one of those 47 Republicans has the ability to kill bills singlehandedly. Democrats are not likely to assist.
What is worse this year is that, with a Democrat governor, it is not likely that any conservative bill that comes out of the legislature will make it into law. We are not even remotely capable of mounting any veto override.
But even worse is the fact that the governor can get her way if she is able to flip four Republican legislators, two in the House and two in the Senate. In past years, such a flip would have been quite possible. This year, we are being told that this is the most conservative legislature in years, but with so many freshmen that don’t have a voting record, it is anyone’s guess.
In the last few days, we have been treated to a governor who did a perfect imitation of a giggly Valley Girl during her swearing-in ceremony and who submitted a budget that sported the same degree of seriousness. It was a laundry list of socialist projects that, if enacted, it will be the end of Arizona as we know it.
Not surprisingly, Republicans pronounced this budget dead on arrival. It will be interesting to see what happens eventually.
To view a summary of Hobbs’ budget, go to
As far as legislative activity, House members introduced just over 400 bills this week. The reason for this was a mad dash to beat the deadline of January 12, when the seven-bill limit began. We are tracking at a rate that will give us about 1,200 bills by the time it is all said and done. But let us not fret. It is considerably better than the 1,700+ number we had last year.
At AZ Peoples Lobbyists, we track only those bills that are likely to have an impact on citizens and be controversial.
Among those bills, only one saw action this week, which is understandable because most standing committees either did not convene or dealt with housekeeping items.
HB2003 – corporate income tax; rates This bill reduces the corporate income tax rate from the current 4.9% to 2.5% over the next four years. It was heard and voted on in two committees, Appropriations and Ways and Means. It passed in both committees pretty much along party lines.
Next week is shaping up to be more like a typical week at the legislature. They are scheduled to take up some controversial issues, like
- Pronouns vs. biological sex in government schools
- Municipal partisan elections
- University free speech zones
- Duties of the attorney general
- Municipal taxation of food
- Parental bill of rights
- Residential picketing
It is going to be an exciting session for those of us who pay attention to this activity, but really, every citizen should be interested in these issues because they do affect how we conduct our lives.
For more information on what bills will see action next week, go here.