...On Tuesday, State Representative Juan Mendez (D-Tempe) now-famously led the House in a non-prayer "prayer", honoring the secular humanist tradition that a growing percentage of Americans embrace.  Today, State Representative Steve Smith (R-Maricopa) insisted that the House do two prayers this afternoon to make it up to the God he believes in.  Apparently his God is an accountant.  Or just simply in need of constant positive reinforcement.

Still, while Smith's actions are complet...

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Remember the 10 budget bills that the Arizona Senate passed so dramatically...way back in the mists of time...last Thursday?  They were transmitted to the House, where...

...They are just sitting there.  Not heard in committee, not assigned to committee, not even officially introduced in the House.  And they're not scheduled to be introduced any time soon (though that could change at a moment's notice).

This pretty much puts paid to my prediction that the lege would finish their wor...

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While I no longer live in his district (thank you Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission), apparently I'm still on the email list compiled by Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZCD6).  I expect that to change shortly after this post is seen by the Congressman his senior staff a junior member of his staff OK, some lowly intern reading this stuff for college credit and chance to make contacts for a future political career.

On Friday, news broke that the Heritage Foundation, an influential ...

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KPHO.com (Phoenix channel 5), written by Phil Benson -

A Phoenix police officer and a city firefighter have been killed in two separate incidents, city officials said a news briefing Sunday morning.

Bradley Harper, 23, a two-year veteran of the Phoenix Fire Department, died after being crushed between two fire vehicles at a mulch fire Saturday near Lower Buckeye and 35th Avenue, said Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan.

Darryl Raetz, 29, a six-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, died from injur...

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passed a package of budget bills, including provisions for Medicaid expansion.

Now the whole package is scheduled to go over to the House for consideration.

As of this writing, there isn't anything in terms of committee agendas or floor calendars posted for the coming week for either chamber, so all that's left to do is speculate a little.

1.  The bills face a murky path in the House, but speculation is that they are likely to pass.  There just may be a little drama first.

2.  On Frid...

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SB1492 that contained the restoration language.

It's not over yet, as it still must go through Third Read (final approval) in the Senate and then go over to the House for consideration, so bad things could still happen, but for today, thanks go out to...

...All 13 Senate Democrats, who are standing together in their duty of standing up for *all* Arizonans -

- Sen. Ed Ableser
- Sen. David Bradley
- Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford
- Sen. Steve Farley
- Sen. Steve Gallardo
- Sen. Katie Hobbs
- Sen. Jack Jackson ...

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'cuz some of them seem to be killing off their brain cells at an alarming rate...

On Tuesday, the House gave its approval, by an almost-completely party-line vote, to SCR1016.

That SCR places a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution on the ballot in 2014.  If passed by the voters, it would add a clause to that document stating that Arizona could "nullify", or ignore, any federal action, law or rule.  AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has a great rundown of that here.

This post is m...

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Correction added on 5/15 - during my initial perusal of SB1492, it appeared as if some Medicaid expansion provisions were included in it already.  While there are some changes to AHCCCS provisions contained in it, they are minor and *not* part of a Medicaid restoration package.

Well, the Senate has introduced its budget package, placing the Medicaid restoration plan in the budget itself but adding a kicker, SB1493.

It has the rather innocuous subject of "elections; omnibus".

It really should ...

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David Safier and Tom Prezelski at Blog for Arizona (and in Tom's case, Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion) and Steve Muratore at Arizona Eagletarian broke the news that a possible deal on Senate passage of a budget and Medicaid restoration could be presented today.

The Arizona Capitol Times finally has the story, but a subscription is required there.

Nothing is clear yet (most of the players aren't talking), but there are concerns that some members of the Democratic caucus are cutting their own deals wi...

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conducting a major witch hunt into the attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012.

If I thought that they were legitimately interested in preventing the unnecessary loss of American lives or addressing the safety of American diplomatic personnel, I could actually support the "inquiry".

However, given the huge number of attacks on US embassies during the Bush Administration that took place with little more than a peep from the Rs, the thousands of Americans (and hun...

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- Tuesday's House COW (Committee of the Whole) calendar is here.  Two bills on the agenda, and one of them is a neo-secessionist special: SCR1016, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution declaring that Arizona can ignore any federal action that it doesn't like.

- On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce, Energy, and Military Committee is meeting to consider executive branch nominations.  9:30 a.m., SHR1.

- On the lege's Capitol Events calendar, there is only one scheduled event - a pro...

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...For the record, to the best of my knowledge, everything Bennett is doing is allowed under Arizona law.

...For the record2, everything Bennett is doing is definitive evidence supporting the idea that the last people who should be allowed to write or enforce ethics laws covering public officials are the public officials themselves.  That's kind of like trusting the Mob with the writing and enforcement of racketeering laws.

From AZFamily.com (Phoenix channel 3), written by Dennis Welch (empha...

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Apologies go out to both Jerry and readers for the tardiness on publishing this.

This was sent to me well before May 5th.  However, it went to an email address that I don't check often, and I checked that address earlier today.  After having last checked it at the beginning of April. :(

Anyway, on to Jerry's observations, published here with thanks -

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The hangup still seems to be AHCCCS/Medicaid restoration.

Many of the Rs in the legislature, led by Senate President Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert) have dug in their heels, blocking anything.  It's gotten so bad that the Arizona Republic published an editorial advising Biggs to get the hell out of the was of progress (OK, so they chose to be more tactful than me :) ).

Negotiations are ongoing - now it appears that Governor Jan Brewer is placing anti-family planning language into her proposal, which i...

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training session on Thursday -

AHCCCS Training Session on The Governor’s Medicaid Coverage Plan

PURPOSE: The future of Medicaid is at a critical time. Support for the

Governor’s Plan is needed to ensure that over 60,000 people

do not lose coverage. Learn more about how YOU can help! 

DATE: Thursday, May 9, 2013; 6:00-7:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Disability Empowerment Center (DEC), 5025 E. Washington St., Suite 202, Phoenix, AZ 85034

RSVP to: Info@azahcccs.gov

REASONS TO ATTEND:

-Become an expert on the ...

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Arizona Republic, written by Jim Walsh -

An East Mesa justice of the peace accused of shoplifting resigned Wednesday from the bench, citing medical problems. 

Judge Mark Chiles resigned effective May 31, according to a letter he sent to the Board of Supervisors. He was cited by Mesa police on a misdemeanor shoplifting charge on April 3 involving the theft of a $40 speaker from a Walmart near his court. 

“Although I believe that I have never acted with criminal intent, I wish to apolog...

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Edited on 5/3 to correct a couple of errors, one that is a spelling error, which is far less bad than the other one, an error of fact.

The first was a failure to to capitalize the "P" in "LaPlaca".  I followed the spelling of her Facebook candidate page, but it turns out that place is the only place that I can find where "LaPlaca" is spelled with a small "p".

As for the error of fact, commissioner Gary Pierce is termed out in 2014 and his seat will be open, regardless of whether or not he run...

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Probably not a coincidence there...

From The Atlantic Wire, written by Alexander Abad-Santos -

It wasn't easy dethroning Mitch McConnell as America's least favorite Senator, but Jeff Flake has done that in just three short months, a new poll out Monday reveals — and his fall from rising-star grace is not quite the head-scratcher you might think. In November, Flake won his Arizona Senate seat by almost 5 percentage points, but it was a lot closer than "the double-digit lead he held earlier in t...

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"Hurry up and wait" will be the main activity this week.

Tuesday's House Committee of the Whole (COW) calendar is here.  As of this writing, no other floor calendars, for either chamber, are posted.

The Senate Health and Human Services committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday, 1 p.m., SHR1, for executive nominations.

The House Rules committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, 1 p.m., HHR4.  Short agenda.

Nothing is scheduled for Monday; the only event on the Capitol events calendar for Monday...

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It has now come up with a way to both send a message to Arpaio and to raise funds to support their efforts.

Pink Postcards.

For $2 each, or 3 for $5, people can send a message to Arpaio, letting him know why you think he should be removed from office.

Every Thursday at 5:30 p.m., the newest batch of messages from the people of the county, state, and country are delivered to Arpaio.  If you want to participate in the recall, if you want your voice to be among the thousands clamoring for justice...

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