Blog For Arizona

Arizona House Democrats release 2014 Policy Blueprint

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the House Democratic Caucus:

Arizona House Democrats release 2014 Policy Blueprint

Legislative agenda focuses on restoring Arizona

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – Arizona House Democrats today unveiled a policy agenda for 2014 designed to restore the state’s economic stability and to lay the groundwork for a stronger future.

“Our state is recovering from a difficult few years,” House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix (District 24), said. “Arizonans have struggled with high unemployment, incomes that aren’t rebounding and increases in the cost of living. Our schools have been forced to absorb deep budget cuts and our public and private infrastructure has been neglected. Despite all this, we are making progress. This legislative session, House Democrats are focused on building the foundation for the Arizona we want for today and for the Arizona we want in ten years.”

Campbell added that building a stronger state starts with education.

“The K-12 education system has suffered from a long-term lack of capital funding,” Campbell said. “If we expect our schools to prepare our kids for college and for an increasingly global economy, we have to invest in education. That includes providing resources for the reforms we’ve already implemented. Also, making tuition more affordable and costs more predictable, as well as creating a state-funded tuition assistance program for students pursing higher education should be priorities.”

Ethan Orr's special interest bill for space tourism

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic's Political Insider had a bit of fun mocking Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) on Sunday:

Tucson, we have a problem ... The Arizona Legislature has yet to agree on how to stop texting and driving, fix the state’s broken child-protection agency or improve K-12 education. But it’s apparently all over the whole space-travel thing.

Rep. Ethan Orr, R-Tucson, has introduced a bill that would assure a company is not legally liable for any injuries, emotional distress or death a space-flight participant may incur if the participant signed a liability release.

Next up, proposed regulations for teleporting.

Beam me up, Scotty.

Ha!Ha! You guys at the Republic are hilarious. The only problem is your superficial reporting in an attempt to reduce politics to humor ignores the obvious: legislators don't file these kinds of bills unless they are carrying it on behalf of a special interest, probably one that is a contributor to his or her campaign.

For serious news reporting on this story, we have to turn to the Phoenix Business Journal. Mike Sunnucks reports, Space: The final frontier, but not for lawyers - The Business Journals:

A bill at the Arizona Legislature would give space flight companies — yes space flight companies — protections against being sued.

The measure is aimed at helping possible space tourism and commercial space flights being planned in southern parts of the state.

Arizona Legislature: The Coming Week

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

Reading tea leaves time ("tea leaves" means "Wild-Ass Guess" based limited information):

Committee activity is ramping up early at the lege, lending credence to the theory that they are planning on/working toward a short session this year.  Most years, committee activity doesn't truly ramp up until two or so weeks before the deadlines to consider bills (this year, the 21st of February for consideration of same-chamber proposals and the 21st of March for bills from the other chamber).

This year, however, things are speeding up.  It's still January but the committee schedule is already packed.

Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, please leave a comment letting me know.

All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.

 

On the House side of the Capitol this week -

This week in the Arizona GOP's war on democracy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This has been some week in the Arizona GOP's war on democracy, hasn't it?

On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny the citizens of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum, was pulled after angry citizens and the media showed up at the hearing. More than 100,000 Arizonans signed the petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to vote to veto the legislature's anti-democratic measure. No matter.

The Arizona GOP's plan is to repeal HB 2305, and to pass the separate provisions for voter suppression in the bill as separate bills to make another citizens referendum virtually impossible, and to get their way by "skullduggery," as Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts called it. Are legislators plotting end run around voters in election-law referendum?" "Fast Eddie" promises to bring his bill back up for a hearing, possibly as early as this week.

On Friday, the Arizona GOP was in U.S. District Court arguing to a three judge panel of federal judges that you, the voters of Arizona, by enacting a citizens referred initiative to create the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), Prop. 106 (2000), violated their federal constitutional right to gerrymander congressional districts in favor of GOP candidates. (Where are the Neo-Confederate "states' rights" federal "guvmint" haters now?) As I explained, their legal argument is entirely without merit. Arizona Legislature v. the AIRC court hearing this Friday. This is one of those frivolous "junk lawsuits" you hear about.

SWAG for 2014 (State Offices)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It's a thankless job, but I suppose someone has to do it. That's right, it's time once again for the Silly Wild Ass Guess (SWAG) list of who is running for office in 2014. 

If there are additions, subtractions or corrections to the list below, please post it in the comments. I appreciate your help in cleaning up this list.

I will try to update the list once a month.

Let's begin with state offices, because these are the important races which affect your life directly. Voters don't pay enough attention to state office races. It's time to pay attention!

Governor

Fred DuVal (D)
Ronald Martin Cavanaugh (D) - he does have a web site.

Jan Brewer (R) - said she will decide in February (termed out)
Ken Bennett (R)
Doug Ducey (R)
Al Melvin (R)
Andrew Thomas (R)
Christine Jones (R)
Scott Smith (R)
Frank Riggs (R)
John Molina (R)
Alice Lukasik (R)
Gary Tupper (R)
Joe Arpaio (R) - always pretends to run for governor

James Lee Draper (I)
Harold "Chip" Howard (I)
Diana Elizabeth Kennedy IV (I)

Barry Hess (LIB)

John Lewis Mealer (AEL)

'Constitutional' chickens coming to a backyard near you

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Legislature has only been in session for two weeks, and already we are getting the wingnut "crazy base" bills that seek to redefine the meaning of the Constitution according to their alternate reality.

Coming soon to a backyard near you . . . "constitutional" chickens!

No, really. Sen. David Farnsworth (R-Mesa) -- Geezus, there's more than one nutty Farnsworth in the lege? -- claims that you have a "constitutional right" to fresh chickens and eggs. And "constitutional" chickens trump your neighbor's property rights and any complaints they may have about noise from your chickens, and the odor of chicken poop.

Weak Tea in District 9

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

While researching the upcoming Arizona legislative races in 2014, I pulled up an editorial I bookmarked from Inside Tucson Business from last June, shortly after Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) from Legislative District 9 was one of the "RINOS" (Republicans in name only) who voted for Gov. Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion bill.

In the Obama Derangement Syndrome Tea Party, this one vote somehow made Ethan Orr a "moderate" (he votes with his Tea-Publican caucus well over 90% of the time) and guilty of "compromising with Democrats" and the anti-Christ, Barack Obama. There was talk of a Tea Party purge in the 2014 GOP primary in District 9 at the time.

Inside Tucson Business tried to talk the teabaggers down from the ledge. Ethan Orr is not the enemy:

The ink hasn’t even dried on bills signed by Gov. Jan Brewer and the post-mortems are only beginning on how this year’s session of the Arizona Legislature went but already some in his party are targeting state Rep. Ethan Orr, R-Tucson, in next year’s — yes, we’re talking 2014 here — elections.

Apparently they are unhappy the moderate hasn’t stayed a true Republican and he played too nice with Democrats. They say they want to find two conservative Republicans to challenge him in next year’s primary election, which should knock him out of the race.

That would be winning a battle but losing the war.

Sunshine Is Best Disinfectant: AZ Legislature Delays Voter Suppression Discussion

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Yesterday, the Judiciary Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives was scheduled to discuss repealing last year’s omnibus voter suppression bill (HB2305). Since thousands of Arizona citizens had signed petitions to stop implementation of HB2305 and put voter suppression on the 2014 ballot, sneaky legislators had devised a plan to do an end-run around voters by repealing the destined-to-fail-at-the-polls bill and replace it with several individual voter suppression bills. (After all, we can’t let citizens decide issues as important as who gets to vote or how measures are put on the ballot.)

Thanks to a widely distributed press release from the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee, news of Republican legislators’ Voter Suppression Plan B flew out across the blogosphere on Wednesday, resulting in much citizen– and news media– interest.

Overnight, hundreds of concerned Arizona voters called and wrote to members of the committee urging them to respect the will of the voters and let them have their say on HB2305 in November. Dozens of people showed up to speak at the hearing as well as three television news crews. Judiciary Chairman Eddie Farnsworth then told the amassed crowd that he was holding his repeal bill (HB2196). He has since rescheduled the hearing on his bill for next week.

Proving once again that sunshine is the best disinfectant and voter suppression is a topic best discussed in the dead of night with no witnesses, Farnsworth decided not to open discussions with TV cameras rolling and citizens watching.

Controversial bills pulled from House Judiciary Committee hearing

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I cleared my schedule so I could watch the House Judiciary Committee debate two controversial bills this morning, but after a late start it was announced that the bills had been pulled from the agenda to "work on language." I hate when that happens!

-- House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny the citizens of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum (and to clear the way for the GOP to enact other voter suppression bills this session).

-- House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2153 (.pdf), the House version of Sen. Steve Yarbrough's (R-Chandler) religious bigotry bill, SB 1062 (.pdf), for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), which would effectively give a license to any individual -- and to any corporation, association, foundation or other fictional legal entity ("corporations are people my friend") -- the right to discriminate against others simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs." This is an attempt to eviscerate state and federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination. Ostensibly about "hatin' on the gays," Sen. Yarbrough acknowledged there may be individuals who have religious beliefs about unmarried women, or even employing people who do not share their same beliefs.

 Keep an eye out for these bills popping up on committee calendars.

Rep. John Kavanagh's 'The Wall'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Daily Star's David Fitzsimmons nails it with a parody of Pink Floyd's The Wall. This would be a good project for an aspiring video producer/director to make a music video of this. If you do, please send us a link.

HB2305 Redux: Arizona Legislature Hell Bent on Suppressing Your Right to Vote

by Pamela Powers Hannley

In the wee hours of the 2013 session of the Arizona Legislature, Republican legislators cobbled together several voter suppression initiatives that had gone no where and passed them (at the urging of House Speaker John Boehner) as an omnibus voter suppression bill (HB2305).

During the summer, outraged Arizonans collected 145,000 signatures to halt implementation of HB2305 until the people voted on it in 2014.

Hell bent on cheating their way into office… er… voter suppression,  a group of legislators now wants to circumvent a statewide vote on HB2305 by repealing HB2305 and re-introducing its component parts for potential passage in the 2014 session.

Below is a press release from the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee. It’s time to make some phone calls -- especially to Ethan Orr (LD9)-- and tell your representatives that if they want to pass a voter initiative it should be a bill that guarantees the right to vote– not a set of bills that will deny citizens their rights.

 

The Arizona Legislature: Anti-Federal Government measure masquerading as a civil liberties measure

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

In 2013, news came to light (due to the now-world famous Edward Snowden) that the US government, via the NSA, was collecting "metadata" about the cell phone calls of Americans.

Metadata is pretty much all of the information about a phone call except for a recording of the conversation (number called, time of call, duration of call, where the parties to the call were located during the call, etc.).

Civil libertarians from across the political spectrum were outraged by the news (though a few folks were more outraged by the fact that someone dared to "out" the program; those folks are part of the problem, and not part of the solution).

Critics of the president and people who were heretofore supporters of President Obama pounced on the news - civil liberty is perhaps the one area those two groups can find common ground.

Amazingly, the legions of the President's critics, who would denounce him if he found a cure for cancer, did not focus on this issue, perhaps one of the few legitimate areas where support for the President isn't widespread and strong.

As an observer of the political scene, this lapse baffled me.  I could not hazard even a guess as to why the President has received an almost-complete pass on this.

Today, I figured it out.

They're not upset over the collection of metadata; they're upset that *they're* not the ones doing it and controlling and using the data.

See: SB1156. 

Arizona Legislature v. the AIRC court hearing this Friday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tea-Publican members of the Arizona Legislature are challenging the constitutionality of the voter-approved initiative creating the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), Prop. 106 (2000), to determine redistricting election boundaries rather than the state legislature. Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (CV12-01211-PHX-PGR). A hearing is set for oral argument in U.S. District Court before a three judge panel on Friday, January 24, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.

Based upon case law precedents, this should be a no-brainer for the court in favor of the AIRC.

A nearly identical claim was made by the Florida Legislature against a citizens initiative, Amendment Six, for a state constitutional provision establishing standards for congressional redistricting. The Florida Legislature, as does the Arizona Legislature, asserted that the citizens initiative was contrary to the Elections Clause of the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 4.

Republican members of Congress and the Florida House of Representatives appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals from a U.S. District Court summary judgment order in Diaz-Balart v. Scott, No. 1:10-CV-23968 (S.D. Fla.) upholding Amendment Six. They asserted that "Amendment Six is unconstitutional because it was enacted by citizen initiative rather than by the state's legislature in the ordinary 'legislative process.' Moreover, they asserted that Amendment Six -- even if properly enacted pursuant to Florida's legislative process -- imposes substantive requirements that far exceed the state legislature's Elections Clause powers."

Action Alert: bill to repeal HB 2305 and to deprive you of your right to a 'citizens veto' to be heard Thursday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Your presence is requested. For those of you who have signed up for a legislative account to submit testimony online, now's your chance.

Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305 subject to a citizens referendum ("citizens veto"), HB 2196 (.pdf), will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Press release from the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee:

NEWS ALERT! House Committee to Vote on Repeal of HB2305

First Step in Effort to Circumvent Protect Your Right to Vote Referendum

PHOENIX -- The Legislature will attempt on Thursday to revive a massive effort to make it more difficult for Arizonans to vote in 2014, a plan that had been put on ice by a successful citizen’s referendum during the summer.

The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee referendum gathered over 146,000 signatures to put the omnibus House Bill 2305 – which would prevent tens of thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots if it becomes law – to a statewide vote in 2014. According to recent media reports, incumbent lawmakers bent on getting tough with voters intend to circumvent the referendum vote by first repealing HB2305, and then re-passing the various voter roadblocks as new individual bills this session.

Step one begins Thursday morning when the House Judiciary Committee hears House Bill 2196, which repeals last session’s HB2305. Judiciary Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Mesa, is the sponsor of both bills. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4, 1700 W. Washington Street.

CAP's latest assault on the constitutional right of privacy in health care decisions of Arizona women

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On the opening day of the Arizona Legislature this year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Arizona's appeal from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals striking down the legislature's 20-week abortion ban as unconstitutional. The source of this anti-choice bill, Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), vowed to retaliate against Arizona women. Arizona cannot enforce abortion ban, Supreme Court rules:

Herrod signaled that her organization, which has been at the forefront of pushing lawmakers here to enact more restrictions on abortion, is not done yet.

"We are already taking the next steps to protect women and their pre-born children from the dangerous and deadly practices of the abortion industry," she said, promising details in the coming days.

One of CAP's foot soldiers in the Arizona Legislature, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Peoria), is the sponsor of HB 2284 (.pdf) which would, among other provisions, allow for the Christian Taliban to make unannounced "inspections" of abortion clinics to harass and intimidate abortion service providers and their patients. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Anti-abortion bill would permit unannounced inspections of clinics:

A Peoria lawmaker has introduced an anti-abortion bill that would allow health inspectors to examine clinics unannounced. The bill also would make it a crime to circumvent the state’s parental consent law.

The bill, HB 2284, introduced Thursday by Rep. Debbie Lesko, also requires abortion clinics to report whether an infant survived a procedure and what steps doctors took to save it.

The legislature's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood before the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last November the state of Arizona petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Arizona legislature's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood of Arizona as a family planning service under Medicaid (AHCCCS) on the specious argument that it also separately provides for abortion services. Providing funding to the family planning services side of Planned Parenthood allegedly "indirectly" subsidizes the separately maintained and accounted for abortion services of Planned Parenthood.

State and federal law have long prohibited public funding of abortions, hence the separation of services and separate accounting by Planned Parenthood. Should the state of Arizona succeed on its specious claim, many areas of the state would lose family planning services because Planned Parenthood is the only provider in those areas. Planned Parenthood also provides wellness services for such things as cancer screening for cervical and breast cancers, and a host of other services. In effect, the Arizona legislature, at the behest of Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), would deny low income Arizona women access to basic health care and family planning services.

The case is Tom Betlach, Director, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, et al., v. Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc., et al. (Docket 13-621). A responsive brief was due on January 21, 2014.

PDA Meeting, Jan 23: Should Arizona Move Its Money? (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Following the Wall Street crash and the housing market collapse a few years ago, the Move Your Money campaign encouraged millions of Americans to take their money out of big commercial banks and hold the funds locally in credit unions and community banks.

Is it time for state governments to move their money?

Across the US, millions of dollars of taxpayer funds are held in big commercial banks and invested on Wall Street. If Arizona had a public bank, the state’s rainy day funds would be held and invested in Arizona.

Local investment of state funds translates into jobs and a stronger economy. An Arizona public bank could create jobs by investing in public works projects, can boost entrepreneurship by backing small business loans through community banks, can build our state’s future by helping finance college loans—and much more. Isn’t it time that Arizona invested in Arizona—instead of Wall Street?

Why does Arizona need a public bank?

• Maybe it's because Arizona has a crumbling infrastructure and "no money" to fix roads, bridges, and public buildings?
• Maybe it's because Arizona's entrepreneurs can't get the capital they need to grow and innovate?
• Maybe it's because cities and towns are strapped for cash and have have to sell bonds and pay high fees in order to get credit?
• Maybe it's because Arizona has the 3rd lowest credit rating in the US, making borrowing extremely expensive?
• Maybe it's because Arizona is among the 10 worst states in the country for home foreclosures?
• Maybe it's because 10 Arizona banks have failed in the last few years?
• Maybe it's because university tuition continues to increase, pricing young Arizonans out of the market for higher education?

The answer is, of course, all of the above and more. 

Come to the January 23, 2014 meeting of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter to learn how public banking can build Arizona’s economy and benefit Arizona’s citizens. [Event details and video after the jump.]

Rep. Andrea Dalessandro appointed to LD 2 Senate seat - special election to fill her House seat

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Carolyn Classen of the Tucson Citizen covered the Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting this morning and reports, House Rep. Andrea Dalessandro selected to fill vacant seat in LD 2 State Senate:

The Pima County Board of Supervisors met today and voted 5-0 to appoint LD 2 House. Rep. Andrea Dalessandro to the vacant LD 2 State Senate seat. Long time Democratic Senator Linda Lopez resigned due to her full time job at Easter Seals. She had served in both the Arizona House and Senate since 2000.

* * *

District 2 Supervisor Ramon Valadez made the motion to appoint Dalessandro, 2nd by Supervisor Richard Elias. Supervisor Valadez said he felt that a level of legislative experience was needed for this position to represent District 2. Only nominee Demion Clinco was present at today’s board meeting.

Dalessandro will serve until the end of 2014, since this seat is up for election in November. She has said she will run for the seat.

* * *

Since this appointment will open up the LD 2 House seat, the same process of a precinct committee meeting to select 3 nominees will be held shortly in LD 2.

The Pima County Democratic Party in a press release adds:

Dalessandro is tentatively scheduled to take her oath of office Wednesday at the State Capitol in Phoenix. The Senate Majority staff continues preparations for the ceremony and has not yet set a time. Dalesssandro will serve out the remainder of Lopez's term.

* * *

A special election will be held to fill Dalessandro's seat in the Arizona House of Representatives. That process will begin once the Speaker of the House informs the Secretary of State of the vacancy left by Dalessandro's appointment.

Congratulations SENATOR Andrea Dalessandro! Give 'em hell!

John Kavanagh Does Not Want People Like Himself To Go To College

By Tom Prezelski

Re-posted from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) is an ex-cop from a working class background who earned a PhD at a public university and teaches at a community college. This should be considered in light of his recent comments attacking financial aid for allowing "too many" Arizonans to attend our state's universities.

I am not going to pretend that I know exactly what programs Kavanagh may or may not have benefited from during what must have been a remarkable academic career. Though I served with him for two years, I really know little about his story. Suffice it to say, I made many Republican friends while I was at the capitol and he was not one of them.

However, during my college career, I knew many people from backgrounds very similar to Kavanagh's. Most of them were helped directly by financial aid in one way or another. More importantly they were helped by the fact that the college experience is very different than it was in previous decades because legislation like the GI Bill (the brainchild of Arizona's own Senator Ernest "Mac" McFarland) and the Higher Education Act of 1965 made college accessible to more people. As a result, colleges have been forced over the years to accommodate so-called "non-traditional students," including working people, older students and students with families by altering their schedules, loosening stuffy traditions, and providing services on campus for a population with different and diverse needs. The once-elite experience of college has been democratized, and financial aid has been a big part of this.

(Update) Kavanagh for the kleptocracy of the 'Kochtopus'!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I recently posted Kavanagh for the kleptocracy of the 'Kochtopus'!:

I am guessing that the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star is also behind this latest bill attacking the state employee pension system as well, sponsored by its waterboy, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills). Lawmaker seeks to allow cuts in public pensions:

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state constitution amended to allow cuts to public employee pensions and increases in employee contributions if the systems are badly underfunded.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh introduced a bill [HCR 2001 (.pdf)] that would refer the proposal to the voters. He said in an interview he is targeting automatic cost-of-living increases but acknowledged nothing in his proposal would prevent cuts to existing pensions.

* * *

Kavanagh said that under his proposal, payouts from the state’s three major pension plans would have to be trimmed and contributions from employees and employers raised if reasonable accounting practices found cuts were needed.

“These decreases are only triggered when it’s necessary to maintain the health of the system,” he said. “If the system doesn’t need the cuts, you can’t do them.”

Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times recently went into greater detail of Kavanagh's ties to the "Kochtopus," Legislator John Kavanagh Could Teach Panhandlers a Few Tricks, Like How to Score a Free Trip to China:

State Representative John Kavanagh revels in his self-appointed role as the rightwinger Arizona lefties love most to hate.

Since recalled, disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce (Kavanagh's pal) was pounded into mainstream political irrelevance in 2011, Kavanagh's eclipsed his erstwhile mentor to become Sand Land's Lord Voldemort for liberals, dreaming up all kinds of ways to send those on the D-side into fits of apoplexy.

* * *

Lately, he's been on a roll, twirling his mustache and doing his best Oil Can Harry.

Meet Paula Pennypacker, the Democratic challenger to John Kavanagh

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last August I posted that Paula Pennypacker, an unsuccessful 1993 Republican candidate for mayor of Toledo, Ohio and a candidate for the Arizona state legislature in 2010, had officially switched her party registration to the Democratic Party. Republicans bail on the GOP and head for the exits.

Ms. Pennypacker explained her endorsement of President Barack Obama to the Toledo Blade in October 2012. Ex-Toledoan laments political state:

Ms. Pennypacker, who ran as a Republican for the Arizona state legislature in 2010, said her side-switching in the presidential race has turned friends into enemies, but she’s determined to make a make a stand against what she said is the excessive rightward drift of the Republican Party in Arizona.

“I have never seen a more polarized environment. It has cost me friends; horrible hateful emails. Romney, I never believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Obama is going to win,” she said in a telephone interview from Scottsdale.

Have you heard about The Steve Yarbrough Disclosure Act?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's most corrupt state senator, Steve Yarbrough (R-Chandler), who uses his position to write charter school bills to steer state funding to his Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization to benefit himself financially. It's like writing checks to yourself. Unbelievably, this allegedly does not violate Arizona's ethics rules for legislators. (See Steve Murtarore at the Arizona Eagletarian for the latest self-dealing by Sen. Yarbrough, regarding a KPHO Channel 5 investigation by Morgan Loew. Is Republican Sen. Steve Yarbrough's approach the only thing corrupt in the Arizona Legislature? and Will you tolerate Steve Yarbrough's brazen self-service?)

Senate Democrats have decided to do something about the self-dealing by state legislators to line their own pockets, filing SB 1068 (.pdf), a bill which should go by the popular name of The Steve Yarbrough Disclosure Act.

Mike McClellan at the East Valley Tribune writes Legislature helping out powerful while most left in dark:

[T]he bills are pouring in already, 50 introduced in the House, 76 in the Senate at the time of this writing.

And two are colliding with each other already.

One is SB 1068, sponsored by a bunch of Democratic senators, including Tempe’s Ed Ableser. Here’s what it calls for:

A legislator who casts a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives or the Senate with respect to any bill, memorial or resolution in which the legislator has a direct financial interest shall prepare a written statement that identifies the bill, memorial or resolution, the legislator’s vote and the nature of the legislator’s direct financial interest. The legislator shall file the statement with the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate. The statement shall be posted on the internet web page corresponding to the legislator as found on the legislature’s website. The Web page for each legislator shall have an area entitled 'Disclosure of Direct Financial Interest' for each statement to be posted.

In other words, if my representative floats a bill and will have a direct financial benefit from that bill’s passage, he must file a statement explaining how it benefits him.

Arizona legislature: The coming week

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

Time for the first 2014 post previewing committee activity in the Arizona legislature.

 

Notes:

All committees meetings and agendas are subject to change without notice, and frequently do.  If you plan to travel to the Capitol to observe or weigh in on the consideration of a particular measure, check with the lege ahead of time to confirm that the meeting that you are interesting in is still on schedule and your item(s) of interest is still on the agenda for that meeting.

Meeting rooms designated "HHR" are in the House of Representatives building.

Meeting rooms designated "SHR" are in the Senate building.

Some agendas are summarized as "looks harmless", but if they cover an area of interest to you, examine the agenda and the bills on it.  If I missed something significant, leave a comment letting me know.

All House committee agendas can be found here.

All Senate committee agendas can be found here.

 

On to the meeting schedule, which is relatively sparse this week.

Gun worshipers and fetishists rally at the Capitol

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

As if to make my point for me, the gun worshipers and fetishists are using the Sabath to worship their false idol, the gun, at the Arizona Capitol today with a "Stand Your Ground" rally -- because being purposefully confrontational and insensitive (MLK weekend? Really?) is part of their religious dogma -- sponsored by Gun Rights Across America.

Yeah, you see that's just the problem. Guns have rights in Arizona superior to the private property rights of individuals, and gun worship is the official state-sanctioned idolatrous religion of Arizona. We even have an official state gun (holy relic icon). Guns are not threatened in Arizona, people are.

Check out this paranoid conspiracy theory-laced rant for the rally, Website: www.facebook.com/events/432330883562221

Gun Rights Across America is hosting the Second Guns Across America Nationwide Rally to say, “Stand Your Ground!”

With corruption at every corner and our Second Amendment Rights being trampled on, GRAA asks you to come out, bring your family, signs and your unwavering American Pride and peacefully assemble. Our own ability to defend ourselves from a tyrannical Government, and from those that wish to do us harm is being threatened now. We are not criminals, we are law abiding American citizens! We are mothers, fathers, soldiers, veterans and your every day man, woman and child. We walk among you every day. We will no longer let the misinformed and uninformed classify us into a genre that is not ours.

We are American. We are protectors of the Second Amendment, we are the majority and we will Stand Our Ground! We also know that like many of us, a majority of you will be attending church on Sunday morning. Please note this is why the event is scheduled to start at High noon and run for at least 2 hours.

Arizona lege 2014: Puttin' the "AZ" in "crazy". Again.

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

Maybe it's time to move the Arizona State Hospital six (or so) miles to the west, and a little south...

Still sticking by the prediction that this year's session of the Arizona legislature will be a short one, but I now expect them to pack a lot of punch line-worthy material into the session.

We've already had one sitting state senator, Don Shooter, baldly announce that he intends to keep taking bribes "gifts" of tickets to sporting events from lobbyists until he receives a pay raise.

Another one is fast-tracking a bill to make discrimination that can be rationalized by citing a religious justification a protected civil right...for the bigots.

 

And that's just the beginning.

Some of the other "colorful" measures that fall into the "making comedy writers' lives easier" category (some are new, some are rehashes of schemes proposed in earlier sessions of the lege):

LD 2 nominees for state senate

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Thanks to Carolyn Classen at the Tucson Citizen for covering this morning's special election to replace retiring Sen. Linda Lopez. Clinco, Dalessandro & Nunez nominated for selection in LD 2 Senate vacancy:

The Democratic precinct committee persons in LD 2 met today in Green Valley and nominated the following three individuals, one of whom will be selected by the Pima County Board of Supervisors at their January 21, 2014 meeting as the successor until the end of the year:

1 – Andrea Dalessandro, current LD 2 House Rep. (elected 2012), who has said she will run for this vacant seat in the November, 2014 election. She had run for State House in former LD 30 twice before unsuccessfully.

2 – Demion Clino, President of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, political newcomer

3 – Annabelle Nunez, associate librarian with Arizona Health Sciences Library at U of AZ, political newcomer

* * *

If you have any input about these candidates and their qualifications to serve in the AZ State Senate, contact the five members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors before Tuesday:

District 1 Ally Miller
District 2 Ramon Valadez
District 3 Sharon Bronson, Chair
District 4 Ray Carroll
District 5 Richard Elias, Vice Chair

The Board of Supervisors will make their choice at the next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 21.

Arizona Legislature Opens: Watch ‘State of the Hate’ Address (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

January 13 marked the opening of the Arizona Legislature’s 2014 session. Since Governor Jan Brewer took over the helm, this day of speecheshas evolved into a day of protest.

Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA) organized a major demonstration on the capitol plaza for the opening day. Chanting “stop the hate”, approximately 150 CBA supporters  brought attention to Brewer’s failure to protect the children of Arizona on multiple levels.

Late in 2013, Arizonans learned that more than6500 Child Protective Services (CPS) cases have gone uninvestigated. While the administrator in charge of CPS has said that his regular reports to the governor and the legislature included the large number of uninvestigated cases, Brewer has been acting shocked since the news broke. During her state of the state address on the opening day, Brewer announced that she has disbanded CPS and created a new agency that will report directly to her.

Calling attention to the CPS scandal, CBA activists moved their protest inside the capitol building and tried to go up to the 8th floor, where the governor’s offices are, to deliver dozens of stuff animals, representing the children who were lost in Arizona’s CPS system. (Watch CBA’s protest and interaction with capitol police in the video below.)

At Monday’s action, CBA also urged Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne to stop their attacks on DREAMers and allow them to drive legally. Watch the video after the jump.

Dueling dipshits in the House battle for CD 1

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There's nothing like a self-involved legislator who wants to abuse the legislative body in which he serves for his own personal gain, especially when he is squaring off against another member of that legislative body for the same contested seat. The Arizona Capitol Times (subcription required) reports that Rep. Adam Kwasman (R-Oro Valley), has filed a bill to repeal Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion plan as a ploy to posture himself against House Speaker Andy Tobin in the Republican primary for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. Republican lawmaker proposes repealing Medicaid expansion.

These dueling dipshits should take their fight outside. There is no chance the coalition of votes that passed Governor Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion are going to change their minds. This is all about appealing to the GOP crazy base in the GOP congressional primary. Only a court ruling -- which is still pending -- could upset this balance.

And you know who neither Kwasman nor Tobin give a damn about? The more than 300,000 desperate working poor in Arizona who are now eligible for medical care under AHCCCS, many for the first time in their lives. They are just collateral damage to these dueling dipshits.

That didn't take long: Religious bigotry bill clears senate committee

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week I posted that Religious bigotry rears its ugly head in the Arizona Legislature. Arizona's most corrupt state senator, Steve Yarbrough (R-Chandler), is carrying this religious bigotry bill, SB 1062 (.pdf), for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP). While the bill is ostensibly about "hatin' on the gays," Yarbrough "acknowledged there may be individuals who have religious beliefs about unmarried women, or even employing people who do not share their same beliefs."

Got that? If you are not one of the Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists of the CAP who want to impose a Christian theocracy in the United States -- which would include Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and the hundreds of other religious beliefs and sects, and non-believers alike, all of whom are protected by the First Amendment from state-sanctioned establishment of religion or interference with the free exercise of their religion -- this bill would grant a "get out of jail free card" for compliance with civil rights laws based upon the mere assertion of "sincerely held religious beliefs," not just for a religious institution, but for individuals and corporations or any business (because "corporations are people my friend").

Apparently they never learned that "hate is not a Christian value." All the CAP does is hate.

As I pointed out, "This is a slippery slope which can easily be abused to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex and religion simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs."" It is a bald-faced attempt to eviscerate the civil rights acts hiding behind the gossamer thin veneer of "religious freedom" to be a discriminatory bigot. A nearly identical bill passed the Arizona Legislature last year but was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer.

Legislative District 2 Special Election Saturday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A reminder to those of you who are Democratic elected precinct committee persons in Legislative District 2 living in Pima County: the special election to nominate three individuals to the Pima County Board of Supervisors to replace retiring Sen. Linda Lopez is this Saturday.

The January 18 meeting will be held in the second-floor meeting room of the DCSRA Headquarters, Continental Shopping Plaza, 240 W. Continental Road (exit 63) in Green Valley. Check in begins at 9:30 a.m. The meeting is open to the public.

The Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, Bill Roe, will oversee the special election.

According to the Arizona Daily Star (and you may know better) the potential candidates include:

• Rep. Andrea Dalessandro, D-Sahuarita
• Former state lawmaker Tom Prezelski
• Former Tucson Unified School District Governing Board member Miguel Cuevas
• Demion Clinco, president of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation
• Annabelle Nuñez, an associate librarian with the Arizona Health Sciences Library at the University of Arizona

The reality is that whichever nominee has the support of the three Democrats on the Pima County Board of Supervisors will be the next senator from LD 2. That will be decided at the Board's next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 21. If you want to lobby on behalf of a nominee, the Democratic supervisors are whom you need to call.

They're baaack! The gun worshippers and fetishists file a slew of bills

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

They're baaack! The gun worshippers and fetishists in the Arizona Legislature have a slew of new bills to honor and worship their false idol god. Howard Fischer reports, Laws upping gun owner rights coming to Legislature:

A Senate panel voted Thursday to strengthen laws allowing people to bring weapons into public buildings if there’s not an easy and immediate way to check them.

Dave Kopp, lobbyist for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, said a 2006 law says individuals are permitted to arm themselves. He said that law allows those operating public buildings to tell people their weapons are not welcome only if there are convenient lockers available .

He said some government agencies claim having lockers near entrances would be too costly. Kopp said that puts those who refuse to disarm themselves at risk of being arrested on a charge of misconduct with a weapon. SB 1063 (.pdf) would end that risk.

“The only thing the bill changes is it basically says if you are not providing the required storage that’s been required since 2006, then folks can just walk on in,’’ Kopp said.

That didn't take long: new versions of the GOP Voter Suppression Act to be filed

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Well that didn't take long. Yesterday i posted that the AZ Lege seeks to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, to deprive the voters of their 'citizens veto'. A co-author of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale), indicated that she would like to "repeal the bill before it goes up for the referendum election. However, she would like lawmakers to go back and pass portions of the bill once again in 2015."

"Republican Sen. Adam Driggs of Phoenix, who has had discussions with both Reagan and McComish about repealing the law, said he can’t control what bills lawmakers decide to introduce.  But he said he would discourage lawmakers from immediately sponsoring new legislation including measures from a repealed HB2305."

Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth (R-Gilbert), has already filed the bill for repeal of HB 2305, as HB 2196 (.pdf).

Howard Fischer reports, Arizona lawmaker considering end run on voting-law referendum:

State lawmakers are moving to repeal major changes in voting laws made last year — and then re-enacting at least some of them in a way to thwart a referendum drive.

The proposal by Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, comes after foes of those changes gathered enough signatures to put the measure on hold until voters have a final say in November.

HB 2196 would repeal the law, making the November vote unnecessary.

AZ Lege seeks to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, to deprive the voters of their 'citizens veto'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Several capitol observers have been warning about this possibility for some time now. The face of voter suppression in Arizona, Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale), is now preparing to proceed with a despicable plan to deprive the voters of Arizona of their citizens referendum ("citizens veto") of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, that she co-authored by pulling an Emily Litella: "Never mind!"

That's right, the evil GOP bastards, seeking to deprive the Democratic Party of a major motivational tool for their base voters to turn out in force in November, is proposing to repeal HB 2305, and then to enact portions of the law as new legislation. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Legislators consider preemptive repeal of controversial election bill:

Lawmakers are considering introducing legislation to repeal last year’s election reform bill, HB2305, which remains on hold because opponents gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the law this November.

Republican Sen. Michele Reagan of Scottsdale said she is working with leadership to repeal the bill before it goes up for the referendum election. However, she would like lawmakers to go back and pass portions of the bill once again in 2015.

Arizona Legislature 2014: not much new under the sun

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

A couple of early updates from the new session of the legislative session:

While some of the names have changed, some things haven't changed at the Capitol.  Like the arrogance and culture of entitlement among the majority caucus.

Exhibit 1:  They're proposing to pay any legislators, current and past, who claim to have incurred legal costs from lawsuits against their infamous anti-immigrant measure, SB1070. (Arizona Capitol Times, subscription required)

Something similar to this has been proposed before this week; after former senator Russell Pearce was recalled.  There was a move to reimburse him for the costs of his campaign in (unsuccessful) defense of him.  That move didn't go far, not least because he didn't actually pay for his defense - contributors did.

Pearce's acolytes in the lege may have failed the first time, but they haven't stopped looking for ways to funnel taxpayer money to him.

Exhibit 2: One state legislator, Sen. Don Shooter (R-Yuma), in response to proposals to end the practice of legislators accepting tickets to sporting events from lobbyists, proclaimed that unless legislators get a pay raise he's going to keep accepting bribes tickets.

For the record: I actually agree with Shooter on one thing - legislative pay should be raised.  Most would-be public servants are honest and honorable people.  However, they also have families to support and cannot do that on the current legislative salary of $24K per year.

So, instead of people who want to work for the best interests of their constituents and the state, Arizona ends up with the majority of the legislature is made up of whackjobs and grifters.

I'll leave it to readers to determine for themselves which category (or both, they're not mutually exclusive) that Shooter fits in.

In any event, he knew what the pay level for legislators was *before* he took his oath of office.  While I think that legislative pay is too low, that doesn't justify corruption.  He gets absolutely no sympathy on this.

Kavanagh for the kleptocracy of the 'Kochtopus'!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last year I posted that the Goldwater Institute declares war on public employees:

Now the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star wants to extend this fiscally reckless amd irresponsible idea [Tucson public employee pension initiative] to state and local governments in Arizona through a statewide initiative. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Initiative would tie government spending to pension funding:

A proposed ballot measure would effectively bar state and local governments from increasing spending across the board until its employee pension systems are adequately funded.

[The purposefully deceptively named] Responsible Budgets Act, which was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, would bar political entities with underfunded pension systems from increasing spending, except for inflation and population growth. A provision in the initiative defines “adequately funded” as 80 percent funded.

[I-02-2014 Responsible Budgets in Support of Proposition __ and Petition Serial # ____, full text of initiative: PDF]

I am guessing that the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star is also behind this latest bill attacking the state employee pension system as well, sponsored by its waterboy, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills). Lawmaker seeks to allow cuts in public pensions:

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state constitution amended to allow cuts to public employee pensions and increases in employee contributions if the systems are badly underfunded.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh introduced a bill [HCR 2001 (.pdf)] that would refer the proposal to the voters. He said in an interview he is targeting automatic cost-of-living increases but acknowledged nothing in his proposal would prevent cuts to existing pensions.

Religious bigotry rears its ugly head in the Arizona Legislature

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this month I told you about the bill by Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Litchfield Park) to make it illegal for government to “require a minister to solemnize a marriage inconsistent with a minister's sincerely held religious beliefs.” A solution in search of a non-existent problem. As I said at the time:

I commend Rep. Montenegro for trying to keep his measure as narrow as possible. The New Mexico wedding photographer case he cites is an example of an individual claiming an overly broad definition of "religious liberty" to essentially assert a license to discriminate against members of the public. This is a slippery slope which can easily be abused to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex and religion simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs." If this wedding photographer had refused services to African-Americans or Jews, or to Arab-Americans and Muslims instead of "the gays," he would have been rightly condemned as a bigot. A "get out of jail free card" for compliance with laws based upon the mere assertion of "sincerely held religious beliefs" leads to anarchy.

Rep. Montenegro's restraint is not shared by Arizona's most corrupt state senator, Steve Yarbrough (R-Chandler), who uses his position to write charter school bills to steer state funding to his Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization to benefit himself financially. It's like writing checks to yourself. Unbelievably, this allegedly does not violate Arizona's ethics rules for legislators. (See Steve Murtarore at the Arizona Eagletarian for the latest self-dealing by Sen. Yarbrough, regarding a KPHO Channel 5 investigation by Morgan Loew. Is Republican Sen. Steve Yarbrough's approach the only thing corrupt in the Arizona Legislature? and Will you tolerate Steve Yarbrough's brazen self-service?)

Governor Brewer's bogus 'Arizona Comeback'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Linda Valdez at The Arizona Republic is appropriately skeptical of Governor Jan Brewer's State of the State Address, where the Guv injured her arm patting herself on the back. Brewer's speech: state of the state 2014 :

This time it was her announcement that she abolished CPS. Jaw dropping. But it will accomplish little if chronic underfunding is not corrected. Unless the new agency gets adequate staffing and equipment, Brewer’s bold move may be little more than a distraction. Let’s hope not.

She offered a litany of smiley-face ideas. Who is going to oppose helping abused kids or victims of human trafficking? Who isn’t glad Arnold vs. Sarn is settled? But these goals will be impossible unless the state has more revenue. But the governor is pushing more revenue-robbing corporate tax cuts.

That does not compute.

* * *

More tax breaks for business means less revenue for education.

Brewer approach to schools? Gotta get better.

Following recession-era cuts to K-12 that were among the worst in the nation, she talks an “ambitious” proposal to reward successful students. A nice idea. Interesting pilot. But this is no way to rebuild a fund that was attacked with a meat cleaver.

Calling on the Board of Regents to hold the line on tuition makes sense. But how can the universities pay for this?

First Day of the Arizona Legislative Session

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

“No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” - Mark Twain

The GOP Insane Clown Posse is arriving in their clown car today at the "meth lab of democracy," the Arizona Legislature, for the first day of the legislative session. Hide the women and children! They are routinely abused, when they are not being ignored by these clowns.

Case in point is the CPS scandal, which has existed for years, and the legislature has been fully aware of the problem. The legislature will do what it did a decade or so ago during the last CPS scandal: some politician will use the Kangaroo Court hearings to advance his or her political career by grandstanding on the issue, as former Sen. Jonathan Paton did, but don't expect the Arizona legislature to accept any fault for its own lack of concern, oversight and inadequate funding of CPS over the years. They are looking for a scapegoat, not actual solutions to resolve the problems.

The Arizona Supreme Court last year ordered the legislature to restore the voter-approved mandate for education funding at inflation-adjusted spending levels before the budget cuts of recent years, but our lawless legislature is still fighting this in court, and will likely defy the court in appropriating education funding this year.

BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court rejects Arizona's abortion law appeal

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For those of you heading up to the Capitol this morning for the Stand With Arizona Women rally, there is breaking news from the U.S. Supreme Court. Arizona's petition to the court requesting review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature's 20-week abortion restrictions, Horne v. Isaacson (13-402), has been DENIED. The Order list is Here.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com reports, Court bypasses abortion test case:

The Supreme Court on Monday chose to bypass the first case to reach it testing a new round of state laws restricting abortion rights.  Without comment and without any noted dissents, the Court refused to hear an Arizona case involving a ban on abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy.  The case was Horne v. Isaacson (13-402).

Arizona's legislative session opens today with a major defeat for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), and her allies in the anti-choice, anti-constitutional rights for women movement. It is a major victory for women's rights.

Let's make this the first in a series of victories for women's rights this year.

This can't be good

by David Safier

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce announced its 2014 legislative agenda. Along the way, Speaker of the House Andy Tobin, who's running for Congress in CD-1, said Washington is what's wrong with Arizona.

“If the federal government took its foot off the throat of Arizona, we would be doing a lot better,” he said.

The ed news is, the Chamber wants to promote a world-class education system. So far so good. It wants to do it by adding more educational choice -- not so good. That's code-speak for more vouchers, more money and latitude for charters and a continuing shrinking of funds for our school district schools. If there's any question about the direction this is heading:

Toward that end, the Arizona Chamber announced nationally recognized education leader Lisa Graham Keegan, a past Arizona superintendent of public instruction, will lead an effort to bring about major reforms to Arizona’s education system.

Keegan brought us charter schools when she was in the state senate, made sure they were under-regulated when she was Arizona's Ed Supe, was McCain's education advisor when he ran for president, and currently works fist in glove with Craig Barrett, the multi-millionaire ex-CEO of Intel who is Brewer's point man for the state's conservative "education reform" agenda and has said he wants to make sure we don't "throw money" at education.

At least there's no question where the Chamber stands.

Arizona Legislature: 2014 Preview

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

The 2014 session of the Arizona Legislature starts Monday with the Governor's State of the State Address to a joint session of the AZ House and AZ Senate (and a slew of media types, lobbyists, staffers, and well-connected lookie-loos).

Time for a preview of, and a few predictions for, the new session:

 

Membership/personnel changes at the lege for 2014, all in the Senate:

Out: Sen. Jack Jackson Jr. (D-LD7)

In: Sen Carlyle Begay (D-LD7)

Jackson resigned from the Senate to accept a position with the Obama administration.  Begay is "officially" a Democrat from LD7, but there are concerns/rumors that he his neither a Democrat nor a resident of LD7.

 

Out: Sen. Rich Crandall (R-LD16)

In: Sen. David Farnsworth (R-LD16)

Crandall resigned from the Senate to accept the top education job in Wyoming.  Don't know much about Farnsworth.

 

Out: Sen. Linda Lopez (D-LD2)

In: TBA

Lopez has resigned from the Senate in order to focus on a new job.  No replacement has been selected as of this writing.

 

Out, as Senate Democratic leader: Sen. Leah Landrum-Taylor (D-LD27)

In: Sen. Anna Tovar (D-LD19)

The most surprising news emanating from the lege between the sessions was the unexpected change in the leadership of the Senate Democratic caucus.  There were some hard feelings at the time, but like the Rs with their rift over AHCCCS restoration, most of the focus this session is expected to be on finishing as quickly as possible so that all members can focus on campaign activity.

 

Explorer News, a press release is not a news story

by David Safier

In the interest of full disclosure, I need to mention that I write a monthly column for The Explorer, a weekly distributed mainly in the Marana/Oro Valley/Foothills area. But seeing as how I'm criticizing the paper, it probably isn't necessary.

A few days ago, I went to the online home page of The Explorer and found the image at right among its news clips. No problem with the headline, "State Senator Al Melvin signs 'No New Taxes' pledge" or the pic of him shaking Grover Norquist's hand. But I looked at the copy below and thought, "This sounds like it's written by Melvin's PR team, not by a reporter."

Sure enough, I followed the link to the "story." It's more than a mere puff piece. I'll bet my blogger's hat it's nothing more than a copy of a Media Release Melvin sent to The Explorer, and most likely to every news outlet in the state (except maybe the Weekly, which Melvin hates).

If the Explorer thought this Media Release was newsworthy, it should have rewritten it as an objective piece stating what Melvin did -- he went to Washington D.C. and signed the "No New Taxes" pledge. The paper could include a quote from the release, that's fine. But to publish a campaign-crafted puff piece with all its self-congratulatory language as news goes against any notion of what journalism is supposed to be.

If the paper is going to publish all or part of a Media Release, at least it should be called what it is by revealing the source. Don't simply put this at the bottom:

"© 2014 The Explorer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed."

If I'm right, that's not even accurate, unless The Explorer can copyright material that was sent to the paper.

NOTE: The link to the Melvin story is no longer on The Explorer's home page. However, the story itself is still on the website.

A self-indulgent trip down memory lane

by David Safier

My new home on The Range is official. While New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is clinging to his last shred of plausible deniability, Weekly editor Dan Gibson lost his when he committed to my new position in print. He went so far as to say my presence on the blog "should class up the joint a bit." Stay  classy, The Range!

I've been looking through my old BfA posts and found (a) there are a lot of them and (b) a few of them are worth remembering. So, without anyone requesting it, I'm taking a trip down memory lane. This one stops in July, 2009. If I don't get bored, I'll keep plowing up through to the present.

• I met Mike Bryan, who started BfA, when he and I co-blogged an election integrity trial in late 2007. At lunch one day, I told him I'd like to write regularly on the blog, mainly about education. He quizzed me, probably to see if I had anything to say, then handed me the keys to the kingdom. I wrote my first post under my byline in February, 2008. Since then, the blog has grown to include multiple contributers from the Tucson and Phoenix areas.

• McCain declared his rustic pleasure palace in the Sedona area was a "ranch" in 2008. Dr. Word (a character I created for that post) was furious, saying that a ranch had sheep and cows and animals like that, and McCain's spread was all opulence, no cattle. A few others made the same observation independently of mine, but the Guardian in the U.K. actually referenced my post directly. I decided to look through the web to see if there was a real McCain Ranch and discovered there once was an appropriately fictional McCain Ranch, owned by The Rifleman on the old TV series. I uncovered a bunch of black and white stills from the show, put McCain's head on Chuck Connors' shoulders and captioned them.

Scott Smith for Governor? Beware of "centrist" mayors.

I'm about to do a post that is similar to one I did on Democratic Diva a while back but since that site is down and Brahm Resnik of 12 News in Phoenix just tweeted that Mesa Mayor Scott Smith intends to announce his bid for the GOP gubernatorial nod in Arizona, I'm going to repeat my warning:

There was a guy by the name of Pat McCrory in North Carolina. He was the Mayor of Charlotte, a medium-sized city which had enjoyed a good bit of high tech development in recent years. McCrory was considered a centrist, and was the darling of the Chamber of Commerce and media establishment types in NC. When he ran for governor in 2012, McCrory styled himself as a keen-eyed, business focused pragmatist. At debates and endorsement interviews he swore up and down he wasn't going to indulge the tea party ideologues in the state legislature. He was all about jobs jobs jobs! When he was specifically asked about abortion at one forum, he gave a one word answer - "no" - to signing any bill involving abortion into law. 

The incubators have to be carefully taught

So this was on Phoenix ABC15's website this morning.

TEMPE, AZ - A sexual education presentation is causing lots of controversy in Tempe and has even sparked threats of a lawsuit.

Planned Parenthood will be making their presentation Tuesday in front of officials from  the Tempe Union High School District's Sexual Education Curriculum Committee.

It's not clear yet exactly what will be said during the presentation, but a group calling themselves the Alliance Defending Freedom wrote a letter to Tempe officials saying Planned Parenthood's presentation could be illegal under Arizona law.

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/tempe/sexual-education-causing-controversy-in-tempe#ixzz2pkAU2Z9N

The 'Kochtopus' Death Star seeks to privatize education for profit

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

David Safier has posted about the plans of the "Kochtopus" Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, to "voucherize", i.e., privatize education in Arizona for profit. "Vouchers on steroids" for all!.

This is a clear violation of the Arizona Constitution which prohibits state funding to private and parochial schools:

Article 2, Section 12: "No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment."

Article 11, Section 7: "No sectarian instruction shall be imparted in any school or state educational institution that may be established under this Constitution, and no religious or political test or qualification shall ever be required as a condition of admission into any public educational institution of the state, as teacher, student, or pupil;"

Several years ago, the Goldwater institute convinced the Arizona Supreme Court to accept a sort of "straw man exchange" argument common in real estate transactions to uphold tax credits that supported private and parochial schools. The argument was that the money went to the parents, not directly from the state to the schools, and thus did not violate the constitutional provisions above. The legal fiction created by the Court was in error, but established a legal precedent that the Goldwater Institute has been trying to exploit ever since.

If successful, the "Kochtopus" Death Star could nullify the above constitutional provisions without ever submitting a repeal to the voters by employing the legal fiction previously accepted by the Court. That would mean the death of public education in Arizona at the hands of Republicans who want to privatize education for profit.

"Vouchers on steroids" for all!

by David Safier

Republicans love widows and orphans funds. What better way to pass conservative legislation than to have it serve the least fortunate? "How dare you oppose services for those poor, neglected [fill in the blank]!" Then, once the legislation is passed and the elephant's trunk has slipped under the tent flap, the rest of the pachyderm's body inches inside the tent, expanding the legislation to serve the people they really care about. Hint: it's not the widows and orphans they really care about.

Our Republican lege passed the Goldwater Institute-created Education Empowerment Accounts (also called Education Savings Accounts) in 2011. If you want a play-by-play accounting of the bill, you can read my 2011 post about it. The basic idea is, the state sets up voucher-like accounts for children which their parents can spend for a variety of educational purposes -- private school, tutoring, educational materials and so on. What they don't spend one year rolls over to the next. Anything left unspent when the child graduates can be used for college tuition. It's the first of its kind in the country and possibly the most dangerous form of school voucher legislation I've seen.

Originally the bill was limited to students with learning disabilities and foster children. Then it was expanded to include children attending schools with state grades of D or F. In this next legislative session, Rep. Debbie Lesko, holding hands with G.I.'s ed guy, Jonathan Butcher, will push a bill to make the vouchers available to every child in Arizona. (FYI: Butcher is also co-chair of ALEC's Education Task Force.)

Single mothers ruining everything again!

Alia Rau of the Arizona Republic is someone I've thought of as a straightforward news reporter so I was surprised to see such a biased article under her byline. The piece is a woman-blaming mess from the title on down.

More moms in Arizona skip marriage

Debate over reversing the trend, providing a secure environment for children

What?! Okay, there's a good chance that Rau didn't pick that title but someone did. Someone who has been living in what culture their entire life? Because the rest of us live in the one where it's still customary for the man to propose marriage. It worth noting that in the two times that fathers are even mentioned in the article it's to describe a successful co-parenting situation and a longterm cohabitation where the couple, who were already parents of two children, recently married.

Beyond that, it's a story of wicked, wicked women who apparently steal sperm from unwitting men. And it's the unwillingness of these wicked, wicked single mothers to force the fathers of their children to marry them that is the cause of most modern social ills. Not widening inequality, not lack of opportunity and economic mobility. Certainly nothing to look at in the fathers. We are just to assume that the flaw lies entirely in the mothers. 

Conservatives love this story and have ready-made solutions for the "problem".

Former Mesa Republican state lawmaker Mark Anderson was the force behind several successful bills to promote marriage, including using federal funds to create a state marriage education program and establishing so-called covenant marriages.

He said he doesn’t believe anybody, regardless of political affiliation, thinks the rising cost of unmarried mothers is OK.

“But if you ask them what to do about it, that’s another issue,” Anderson said. “It’s not simple.”

I'm not sure why Mark Anderson thinks I must share his anxiety over unmarried mothers. There's also no basis to conclude that what he implemented changed anything. So-called covenant marriage was clearly designed for middle class to affluent people who already intended to marry and who shared a certain religious sensibility. It was not a prescription to encourage marriage in general. 

Cultural shift

Conservatives say the solution is a cultural shift to reinstate the value of marriage.

“Increasingly, and most especially with this youngest generation, they don’t see marriage as something that has to come before children,” Hymowitz said. “It’s been very, very hard to get any consensus that this is a societal and economic problem.”

But more than a decade ago, the federal government did acknowledge the problem. And the resulting efforts to solve it have been unsuccessful.

One of the goals of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, authorized in 1996, was to encourage two-parent families. States, which receive the TANF funds to distribute, responded in a variety of ways.

Arizona established the option of covenant marriage contracts, which require the couple to get premarital counseling and can only be dissolved in limited situations such as adultery, abuse or abandonment. The state passed laws to require more education on the impacts of divorce as part of the divorce process. It created a commission that appropriated more than $1 million in TANF funds for a program to support marriage and published a marriage handbook.

Oklahoma in 1999 started the nation’s largest and longest-running state program supporting marriage, investing $10 million into the effort. But like Arizona, Oklahoma’s marriage rate continues to decline and its rate of unmarried mothers continues to rise.

Hymowitz said local and national leaders may need to be more blunt about the benefits of marrying before having children.

Really? The millions they've already spent on, uh, bluntly promoting the benefits of marriage haven't panned out already? You don't say! 

UCLA researchers probed this mystery recently. They found that low income people valued marriage as much as their higher income counterparts. Perhaps lack of willingness to marry isn't the problem after all. Looks like marriage follows financial stability, not the other way around. 

And not for nothing but, hey, didn't the single mothers "choose life"? Do conservatives even have grounds to criticize them? Would they be happier if the women had chosen abortion? I think not. Conservatives are also not exactly at the forefront of promoting sex ed and widespread contraception access either. Why, then, would any reporter take conservatives at their word on the subject of single mothers? They clearly know nothing about them. 

 

 

 

 

A solution in search of a non-existent problem

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." -- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The progressive Arizona Constitution similarly protects "liberty of conscience," Ariz.Const. Article 2, Sec. 12.

There are federal and state laws that also protect the free exercise of religion from government interference.

Nevertheless, Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Litchfield Park) wants to make it illegal for government to “require a minister to solemnize a marriage inconsistent with a minister's sincerely held religious beliefs.” Dude, there already is a law! This is a solution in search of a non-existent problem. Proposed law offers religious leaders exemption from conducting gay marriage services:

Montenegro acknowledged there is currently no danger of such a mandate.

* * *

Montenegro said he is trying to keep his own measure as narrow as possible.

For example, it spells out that the protections against having to recognize a same-sex marriage does not extend to hospitals, hotels, restaurants, businesses or other places of public accommodation. That is designed from it becoming a weapon in legal fights similar to one in New Mexico where that state's high court ruled that a commercial wedding photographer could not refuse to take pictures of a same-sex wedding.

“We're not trying to go out and pick a fight,” Montenegro said. He said nothing in the legislation would bar a pastor, minister, rabbi or other religious leader from voluntarily presiding over a same-sex marriage, though under current Arizona law it would not be recognized by the state.

Montenegro conceded that the entire effort could prove meaningless even if he gets it approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer: A court could still rule the measure unconstitutional. But Montenegro said he still thinks the effort is worthwhile.

“As representatives of the people here in Arizona, we want to make sure we're doing our part to protect the religious freedoms of pastors, ministers, and the churches,” he said.

GOP solution to CPS scandal: Help abused children in AZ by undermining the education and health of all children in AZ

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

In the classic novel 1984, George Orwell coined a term, "doublethink", meaning the acceptance of two contradictory ideas at the same time.

It seems that the GOPer caucus of the lege has made doublethink a linchpin of their ideological platform tactical planning.

From Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, via the Arizona Daily Star -

A veteran state lawmaker wants voters to siphon cash away from a program for early-childhood development and redirect it to help fund services for foster children and the families that care for them.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said it’s clear that additional money is needed to ensure laws against child abuse and neglect are being enforced.

Child Protective Services has been running a backlog of 10,000 cases listed as inactive, meaning there has been no action on them in at least two months. And that is on top of the more than 6,500 complaints that were recently discovered to have been entirely ignored and now are finally being investigated.

All that, Kavanagh said, will have to come from general tax revenues.

But he said there is other money potentially available for foster-care families: revenues from an 80-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes that voters approved in 2006. He said some of the funds from First Things First, which now finance everything from pre-kindergarten programs to subsidized child care, might be better spent on families with more immediate needs.