The third week of the legislative session bore a lot of resemblance to the previous week in terms of what was accomplished. Even though there was some legislative activity, the main news came from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Budgetary Funding Formulas. The subject of this hearing was a presentation about the Aggregate Expenditure Limit for both K-12 and community colleges, although most of the discussion involved K-12.
The discussion centered almost exclusively around the need to override the limit this year. It is very likely that supporters of overriding the limit will garner the required 2/3 votes in both chambers. Given the recent massive increases in education funding by our legislature, it is very likely that we will have the same situation quite often in the foreseeable future. However, none of the elected officials present suggested a viable permanent solution to the problem. The only such suggestion came from a civilian. Eventually, we will know whether his suggestions are considered seriously. A video recording of this hearing may be accessed at the state legislature’s website by clicking HERE .
Since last week was only the second week of the session, legislative activity was still fairly low. Among the bills we are tracking, eight advanced by clearing their committee hearings. Some of these bills had bipartisan support, but all the NO votes cast came from Democrats:
As of the time of this writing, 941 bills have been introduced. At AZ Peoples Lobbyist, we do not limit our attention to specific subjects. We choose bills to track based on whether they are likely to have a profound effect on our lives, and are likely to be controversial. Of those 941 bills, we are tracking 125. Next week, the legislative activity will be at or near full speed. Among the bills we are tracking, 25 are scheduled for action.
The topics of these bills will include immunizations, elections, taxes, education, ballot measures, and foreign affairs. These are all topics that we consider important, and many can be quite controversial.
For a detailed report on this upcoming activity, click HERE