Our 7th year, week 6
In a way, this week was a replay of last week because there continued to be a mad dash to get as many bills through committee as possible before the deadline. This was the last week for bills to be heard in the committees of the chamber of origin. The only exceptions are the appropriation committees, which get one extra week. Thus, next week the only committee hearings will take place in appropriations committees. Bills that do not get a hearing by the end of next week are considered dead for this session.
However, when it comes to politics, there are always exceptions. Dead bills may be resurrected in the form of Strike Everything Amendments to bills that are still viable. These are instances in which the whole text of a viable, host bill is replaced with the whole text of the striking bill. Since doing this kills the host bill, it must be done carefully and the host bills are generally those regarded as not too important or controversial. Not all states allow this activity, but Arizona is one that does.
As of the time of this writing, there have been 68 such amendments proposed and 51 adopted. A full list of Strike Everything Amendments may be seen here.
We are entering the portion of the session when bills begin to trickle out of the legislature and on to the governor’s desk. The AZ legislature’s website publishes that information, which may be accessed by clicking on the following links.
Bills sent to the governor can be found here.
Bills vetoed by the governor can be found here.
Among the bills we are tracking, all but one that saw action this week passed:
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