Legislation – Powers For the People

The Arizona Legislature has a 100 day target for the length of each session. With more than 1000 bills proposed and more than 300 signed into law each year, the Legislature rarely finishes in 100 days.

April 19, 2022 is day 100 for this year. We are lurching slowly toward a budget, with more than 100 bills waiting to be heard and a few large projects — like education funding, the proposed Water Authority, and a potential “repeal and replace” revival of the Flat Tax — hanging in limbo. As I write this note, it is Wednesday, April 13, and the Arizona House is temporarily adjourned until Monday, April 18. This is a repeat of last week, when we gaveled in for business on Monday, April 4 and promptly adjourned until Thursday.

NOBODY wants a repeat of 2021.

Continue reading What Did the Arizona Legislature Do in the First 100 Days of 2022? (video)

This is my fifth year in the Arizona House, and it is full of surprises.

It started last fall when a whole cadre of newly elected Libertarians joined forces with other conservatives and attempted to oust Speaker Rusty Bowers. Bowers is still in the speaker’s chair, but he doesn’t have the power he once did.

It’s very obvious that the place is being run completely differently from what happened in the last two years. In fact, I wonder if the Republicans are watching my videos. Some of the tactics that I complained vehemently about have changed. For example, keeping Ds in the dark about everything, gaming the floor schedules in order to make sure 31 R votes were in their chairs, refusing to pass bills that would have a majority of D votes, refusing to hear D bills, and gaveling down the Ds when we’re speaking were common practices in the 54th Legislature.

In the 55th Legislature, these things are not happening with the frequency that they did in the past. Also, the leadership teams are meeting regularly. Everything is more orderly and respectful. That said, we are still hearing some really horrible bills. The voting is different with so many Libertarians who are willing to vote independent of their leadership. They need the Ds to help them pass the more reasonable reasonable bills — like voting to draw down federal funds for childcare assistance or voting for criminal justice reform.

Continue reading Libertarians Shake Up #AZHouse: Bipartisanship Abounds (video)