Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Sadly, this has become a regular feature. When the people we elect despise the voters who elected them:
Our Tea-Publican legislators appear not to believe that they were elected, but were divinely selected for office, which imbues them with power and priviliges far beyond the "citizen legislator" they are supposed to be.
Under the Arizona Constitution the citizens are a "super legislature," whose acts through citizens initiatives and referendums take supremacy over simple legislative acts. And our Tea-Publican legislators hate this because they believe that they have a divine right to lord over us, even though we elected them -- they despise the voters who elected them.
The Tea-Publican tyranny has been busy voting for several more bills they hope to send to the ballot in November in an attempt to reverse the will of the people.
On Monday, it was the citizens initiative that voters approved 2-1 in 2006 to enact a state minimum wage. GOP asks voters to reconsider minimum-wage rules:
House Republicans voted Monday to ask voters to repeal the state's minimum wage.
House Majority Leader Steve Court acknowledged the original measure was approved by voters six years ago on a nearly 2-1 margin. The law requires the Industrial Commission to use inflation to make annual adjustments in the minimum that companies doing business here must pay their workers.
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Court recognized the intent of voters in 2006 was to ensure workers at the bottom of the pay scale do not fall farther behind due to inflation.
"I think in normal times that might not be so bad," the Mesa Republican said. "But in a down economy like we have, we've continued to ratchet up our minimum wage while the federal government has kept theirs flat."
The result, he said, is Arizona employers have to pay their minimum wage workers 5 percent more than companies in surrounding states.
Rebecca Friend, executive director of the state AFL-CIO, which championed the 2006 initiative, said businesses made the same arguments that year, with claims that it would unduly harm Arizona businesses. She said six years later, no one has been able to present concrete evidence that Arizona having its own minimum wage has hurt the economy.
"Wall Street crushed the economy, not the minimum wage," she said.
Friend said if the issue reaches the ballot in November - it still needs Senate approval - supporters will once again remind voters that, even with indexing, what Arizona requires is not exactly making anyone rich.
"The minimum wage is not a living wage," she said.
Also on Monday, the Arizona Senate approved a measure to amend the Arizona Constitution to make recall of elected officials more difficult. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Senate OKs recall elections overhaul - Arizona Capitol Times:
The proposal, which passed 17-11, would require primary and general elections in recalls, instead of the current winner-takes-all system in which all voters can participate.
It now goes to the House for further action.
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The measure, SB1449, essentially mirrors the process for selecting officeholders in regular elections.
The measure fundamentally alters recall laws in Arizona, where candidates, so long as they meet the threshold for collecting signatures, can compete for everybody’s vote.
Last week the Senate gave final approval to SCR 1035, a ballot measure to repeal the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) created by a citizens initiative. This would allow House Speaker Andy Tobin and his House GOP troll John Mills to draw up redistricting maps in secret without any public input and to gerrymander districts to create a permanent GOP majority. Senate Oks measure eliminating independent redistricting panel - Arizona Capitol Times.
In the meantime, the continuing Tea-Publican asault on the AIRC is taking the form of denying the AIRC funding for its budget on the specious grounds that the commission has spent so much on unexpected litigation costs - litigation prompted by Tea-Publican assaults on the AIRC, litigation the Tea-Publicans have lost and should pay for attorneys fees and costs under their loser pays "tort reform" proposals. The AIRC is now in the postion of having to sue to obtain funding for its budget. IRC prepares to sue over funding - Arizona Capitol Times.
The Arizona Senate gave final approval to a purposefully deceptive ballot measure that would let voters decide whether to repeal Citizens Clean Elections, created by a citizens initiative in 1998. State senate passes bill barring public money | KVOA.com.
The House also gave final approval to HCR 2005, which would would require any voter-approved ballot measure that requires a public fund to be submitted back to voters every six years for re-authorization. it is retroactive to 1998, which makes it an unconstitutional ex post facto law. For more commentary on this measure, see Mike McClellan: Legislators keep choosing to defy the wishes of the voters - East Valley Tribune.
As you can see, our Tea-Publican legislature wants to reverse and repeal everything the voters of this state have enacted as a super-legisature through citizens initiatives. Our authoritarian Tea-Publican masters know what is best for us. After all, they were divinely selected for office, not elected by us voters.
I'm looking into the change in recall election bill. You state it is SB 1449 but when I checked on the AZ legistartion site (http://www.azleg.gov/Bills.asp?FirstBill=SB1401&LastBill=SB1450) SB 1449 is a bill about prisons reporting. Am I looking in the wrong place?
Posted by: James B | March 07, 2012 at 09:28 AM
I double-checked, and this is the correct bill number. Try http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=sb1449&Session_Id=107&image.x=6&image.y=8
Posted by: AZ BlueMeanie | March 07, 2012 at 03:49 PM