In recent months, it has become fashionable for some irresponsible Republicans to attack Republican members of the Arizona State Legislature who are in fact doing an outstanding job under very difficult circumstances.
For example, in some districts, Republican precinct committeemen have censured both Speaker Toma and President Petersen for failing to defund the governor’s office. It is questionable whether the legislature has the authority to conduct this type of targeted defunding, but even if it did have that authority, such a move would spell political suicide for Republicans.
The latest iteration of this irresponsible behavior came in the form of this drivel published in the September 14, edition of the Republican Briefs.
Tom Platt, PC – LD27
Just think, every single Republican in the Arizona Legislature voted this year (2023) in favor of HCR 2039, which if adopted by the residents of Arizona on the next ballot, would give the Governor of our state the constitutional authority to call a state of emergency whenever they want. Now imagine instead of the New Mexico Governor who called a state of emergency last week, which suspends laws that allow open and concealed carry of firearms for 30 days, imagine it was our current Governor, Katie Hobbs who used her emergency powers to suspend open and concealed carry. That my friends is the constitutional authority that HCR 2039 will give the Arizona governor. The Republicans will tell you that the Governor already has that authority but they don’t. All current laws pertaining to the governor’s emergency powers are unconstitutional. The Republicans want to make these emergency powers constitutional which would allow a governor to be a dictator. They will tell you HCR 2039 will put limitations on the governor’s emergency powers but the truth is the Governor has no constitutional emergency powers now. If HCR 2039 passes, it will be very harmful to our state.
I will not try to decipher whether this rant is the result of malice or neglectful ignorance, because either way it is misleading and harmful to the extent that some voters may believe it and vote accordingly. But I will point out the extremely important requirement that people read and understand legislative bills before they take action, pro or con. This read-the-bill sermon is something we have been preaching for the last 12 years via my personal activist group, AZ Peoples Lobbyist, which may be reached at https://azpeopleslobbyist.com/ This is so important that in that website we have posted an article on how to read legislative bills. This information may be reached by clicking HERE.
The statement that “All current laws pertaining to the governor’s emergency powers are unconstitutional” is both false and misleading.
There are two ways in which an action becomes unconstitutional.
One is for the constitution to state so, as in “Congress shall make no law…” There is no such language in the AZ constitution regarding the governor’s emergency powers. Concerned citizens may read the AZ constitution by clicking HERE.
The other way is for a court of law to declare something unconstitutional. That has not happened regarding the governor’s emergency powers.
The fact is that the emergency powers that the governor currently enjoys were enacted by previous legislatures. They are ill-advised in that they are too broad and lack proper balance by legislative action, but are not unconstitutional.
Those powers are contained in ARS 26-303, and may be read by clicking HERE.
The best way to correct bad legislation is to amend or repeal such legislation via new legislative bills. Unfortunately, that avenue is not currently available and will not be available for some time because we have a governor who experiences pleasure of orgasmic proportions by vetoing Republican bills.
Under these circumstances, the only course of action left is to take the issue to the voters in the form of a ballot measure, which is what happened with HCR2039. One may debate whether it would have been better to do this as a statute instead of as a constitutional amendment, but the need for action is evident either way.
This brings us back to the original premise that people should not take action based on someone else’s recommendation, because that recommendation could very well be false and misleading. In the case of HCR2039, folks should read the bill itself by clicking HERE or read an official summary like the one available by clicking HERE.
Voters may agree or disagree with my position that this is a good bill that should be approved with a YES vote. However, that decision should be reached only after reading and understanding the bill. Voters who have difficulty reading legislative bills should seek assistance, which is available from a variety of sources. One such source has been mentioned earlier in this piece.