Hobbs continues her vetoing spree, although the list of vetoed bills has not been updated. Last week, another 15 bills were sent to Hobbs, bringing the total to 276. However, the official AZLEG count of vetoed bills remains unchanged at 99.
Even the June 2 governor’s press release of vetoed bills was just a repeat of the May 26 report.
For a list of the bills sent to the governor, click HERE.
For a list of vetoed bills, that includes the veto letters, click HERE.
The legislature is still in recess, and will continue so until June 12. As a result, there have not been any committee hearings dealing with legislative bills. However, there have been hearings dealing with other subjects.
One such hearing, held last week, was by the Senate Committee on Director Nominations. The subject of this meeting was the consideration of Martin Quezada’s nomination for Registrar of Contractors. The committee soundly rejected Quezada’s nomination for some very good reasons. A thorough report of this action was reported on the Arizona Daily Independent, and may be read by clicking HERE.
Behind-the-scene activity has been occurring in two fronts.
One of those is the issue of the renewal of Maricopa County’s Proposition 400, which is due to expire at the end of 2025. This is the mechanism whereby Maricopa County residents experience a sales tax surcharge to help fund transportation.
A relatively unknown fact is that this surcharge applies to more than the sales tax. In fact, the surcharge is applied in three areas:
- The sales tax
- The jet fuel excise tax
- The electricity and/or gas use tax.
The main bone of contention is the allocation of the funds generated by this tax surcharge. In the past, voters have been misled into believing that it would be used to support all forms of transportation, according to need and use. The reality is that an obscene portion of the revenue generated had been used to support boondoggles like the light rail, which is the darling of socialists, but used by an extremely small percentage of commuters. Hopefully, an equitable compromise may be reached.
The other major issue that needs to be resolved is the disposition of SB 1117, the horrible housing expansion bill.
This bill has been split into three strike-everything bills (HB2536, SB1161, and SB1163), in an effort to sneak its draconian measures through. Hopefully, legislators will come up with a market-friendly solution that does not rob municipalities of the right to set their own zoning and building codes.
Looking ahead to next week, the only scheduled activity is that of two committees. The Senate Committee on Director Nominations will be considering the nominations of directors for the Department of Corrections and the Department of Real Estate. The Senate Education Committee will be dealing with a nomination to the AZ Board of Regents.
