The Arizona state legislature has settled into what passes for normal. As of the time of this writing, there have been over 1,200 bills introduced, and we are not done yet.
We are tracking 392 of those bills. We know that most of them will not see any action, but we have to track them just in case. Most people who look at the number of bills introduced wonder why so many. Cynics may conclude that the reason is that legislators must justify their existence by appearing to be doing their job, and a good way to do that is to play with a lot of bills.
There is one positive legislative trend that we have observed. It seems that this session there are more bills that include a legislative intent clause, and that is a good thing.
People who pay attention to legal challenges of statutes will notice that most of the time, challenges and counterchallenges involve discussions of what the original intent of the statute was. This is particularly important when these discussions happen many years later, often after the crafters of the legislation are long gone. A lot of time, effort, and money could be saved if there is a foolproof way to determine the original intent of statutes, instead of trying to divine it.
Here is what happened last week with the bills we are tracking:
Full details may be viewed by clicking HERE
Among the bills to be considered next week, two are of particular interest to most Arizonans.
HB2402 Introduced by representative Matt Gress. Recently, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) has come under scrutiny for some practices that apparently are not in the best interest of the children involved. This bill may be a step toward alleviating this problem.
SB1064 Introduced by senator Justine Wadsack. Among the major issues that affect citizens, issues that affect our pocketbooks are at the top of the list. This bill is aimed at addressing the unnecessary, over $5/gallon gasoline cost last summer. Senate president Warren Petersen promised some legislative action at a press conference held January 13. Details of that press conference may be seen by clicking HERE
Among the bills we are tracking, here are the ones that will see action next week:
Full details may be viewed by clicking HERE