Week 5, which is now behind us, experienced the highest number of committee hearings so far this session. That is because we are rapidly approaching the deadline for hearing bills in their original chamber. That deadline will be February 21. If one did not know that, it could be easily surmised by the extremely large number of bills that are scheduled for committee hearings next week. Not all bills scheduled for hearings will get a hearing.
As usual, the overwhelming number will cause committee chairmen to skip some bills, thereby causing them to be dead this session. However, there is a way to resurrect at least some of those dead bills, namely via the Strike Everything Amendment.
STRIKE EVERYTHING AMENDMENT. This is a special type of amendment involving a host bill and a donor bill. The host bill is a bill that its sponsor considers expendable or one that was introduced specifically for the purpose of being the recipient of a strike everything amendment. The donor bill is one that is dead but its supporters think that it will prevail if cloaked within an active bill. The strike everything amendment replaces the full text of the host bill with the full text of the donor bill. What emerges is a bill with the same number and track record as the original bill, but with the text of a dead bill. Sometimes, the host bill will show both its original short title and a new short title preceded by “NOW”, but that is not always the case.
A list of bills that are the recipients of strike everything amendments is available HERE However, the only way to identify the donor bill, without insider information, is to take on the painstaking task of reading the content of the host bill.
When it comes to the number of bills introduced, we are ahead of last year, which was a near-record year.
| INTRODUCED
HOUSE |
INTRODUCED
SENATE |
INTRODUCED
TOTAL |
TRACKING BY
PEOPLES LOBBYISTS |
REACTED TO BY PEOPLES LOBBYISTS |
| 1,027 | 775 | 1,802 | 477 | 125 |
Most bills that pass throughout the session do so along party lines. As a rule, Democrat legislators do not embrace the idea of mutual cooperation. However, this week two bills passed out of committee with a unanimous vote:
HB2683 – businesses; requirement to accept cash In an era when most purchases are made using credit cards or other electronic means, it seems odd that accepting cash would be an important issue. However, cash purchases are the only ones that enable the buyer to remain anonymous and prevent unwanted tracking by others, including government entities. This is a win for privacy.
HB2514 – notices; directory information; disclosure; consent This bill strengthens the parents bill of rights by requiring that parental consent be obtained before disclosing student directory information.
While most bills scheduled for this week’s committee hearings passed, five did not. Among those five, three have been rescheduled for next week and they are important enough to deserve comment:
SB1694 – higher education; withholding state monies This bill deems an Arizona higher education institution ineligible from receiving state monies in a fiscal year that the higher education institution offers one or more courses on diversity equity and inclusion (DEI). In the private sector, the pendulum is beginning to swing away from support for DEI policies. This is the result of corporations becoming aware that success suffers when hiring and promoting decisions are made based on criteria other than the ability of employees.
SB1164 – immigration laws; local enforcement This bill calls for state agencies to use their best efforts to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. They MAY do this by entering into a Memorandum of Agreement with federal agencies. But some of the language was unacceptable. For example, it REQUIRED that state agencies enter into those Memorandums of Agreement on or before January 1, 2026. A substantial proposed amendment will remove this and other offending language, which will greatly improve the likelihood of SB1164 making it through the legislative process.
SB1371 – income tax; subtraction; retirement distribution This bill calls for the distributions from retirement plans to be reduced from taxable income when calculating Arizona’s income tax, if the taxpayer is 59.5 or older. A proposed amendment would increase the age of eligibility from 59.5 to 67.0 and make other corrections that will make this bill more palatable.
HERE IS THE LIST OF ALL THE TRACKED BILLS THAT SAW ACTION THIS WEEK
Next week, avid political junkies will think they have died and gone to heaven. It will be the most active week so far in terms of committee hearings. The reason, as we have already mentioned, is that next week will be the last week in which bills may be heard in committees of their original chamber. If a bill has not been heard in committee by the end of next week, it will be dead.
Several organizations send out, via email, updates and calls to action regarding upcoming legislative activity. Our own AZ Peoples Lobbyists has been doing this, free of charge, since 2011. To be added to the list of recipients, all that is needed is to email a request to joseb4538@outlook.com. These emails describe the bills in great detail and provide recommendations in support of or opposition to the bills listed.
LIST OF ALL TRACKED BILLS SCHEDULED FOR ACTION NEXT WEEK