During the week ending today, the 131st day of our legislative session, some legislative progress was made, but the budget still appears to be a stumbling block.
The holdup seems to be that we have about $5 billion in surplus and some legislators are squabbling over how to spend it. There doesn’t seem to be much thought about giving some of that money to those who earned it.
With the Biden hyperinflation causing gasoline to be about to hit the $5 a gallon mark, and food prices going through the roof, one would think that a major objective of our legislators would be to provide some immediate relief in the form of some tax holidays in areas like fuel taxes, retail taxes, and property taxes. But no, it seems that we are going to spend all of it in pet projects to buy budget support from some unscrupulous legislators.
The legislative progress we did make was modest, but significant. The AZLEG website is reporting that 253 bills have been sent to the governor and 236 have been signed.
Among the bills we are tracking, seven went to the governor this week, and two were signed.
The two that have been signed;
SB1008 – elections; recount margin
SB1329 – elections; counties; tabulation; posting
The five that are awaiting the governor’s action:
HB2025 – schools; parental classroom visitation policies
HB2086 – DHS; school immunizations; exclusions
HB2237 – same day voter registration; prohibition
HB2453 – governmental entities; mask requirement; prohibition
SB1477 – voter registration; felonies; clerk; database
Next week’s scheduled activity includes action on eight bills that we are watching. Of those, one deals with education and the other seven deal with election integrity, as follows:
HB2495 – schools; sexually explicit materials; prohibition
HB2236 – voter registration; request required
HB2238 – ballot drop boxes; prohibition
HB2602 – polling places; emergency voting centers
HB2617 – voter registration; cancellations; causes
HB2710 – registrations; counting procedures; observers; verification
SB1362 – early ballot on-site tabulation
SB1260 – registrations; early voting; move notice
More details about these bills will be provided on our upcoming People’s Lobbyists Call to Action. These alerts are routinely sent to our subscribers, as needed.
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