In marathon sessions, House members worked late on March 11 and 15 to finish work on 317 of their bills.

They spent nearly 14 hours on the floor over the two days debating and voting on a horde of bills. In all, the House sent the Senate 317 bills by the time they wrapped up. In contrast, the Senate had sent the House 172 bills by March 16.

Speaker Jake Flake, R-5, congratulated House members on March 16 after a final vote on 14 bills saying they had successfully concluded work on House bills.

“That’s the good news,” he said. “The bad news is that the Senate won’t get all its bills over here until next week. So, we will have a week less to work on their bills.”

Actually, work was not officially completed until March 17 when House members reconsidered their votes on H2060, which extends a property tax exemption for seven university fraternities.

On March 15, the House rejected the measure, 21-38, and the second time around it was defeated again, 26-26.

Rep. Clancy Jayne, R-7, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure was misunderstood. “This doesn’t change a thing,” he said. “It keeps things the same as it has been for 40 years.”

Rep. Phil Hanson, R-9, said he was a charter member of one of the fraternities affected.

But, Rep. Ken Clark, D-15, seemed to sum up the opposition when he said the affected buildings had no historic value and the measure only benefited about 400 students.

Among the bills that did pass was H2028, which establishes a school district redistricting commission. The bill passed 39-21, and there were no floor speeches.

Voting For Judges

One that did not survive was HCR2024, which would have asked voters to approve Senate confirmation for appointees to the State Supreme Court and Court Appeals.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-22, said the bill was aimed at providing a check on the judiciary. “The current system does not work because there are no checks and balances,” he said. “Nobody gets bounced out.”

Rep. Carole Hubbs, R-4, objected to the measure saying, “I don’t want a popularity contest.”

HCR2024 was defeated, 24-36, on March 16.

No Child Left Behind

One of the stranger coalitions of the 46th Legislature formed during a March 15 floor debate to support H2594, which, with a strike-everything amendment, requires the Department of Education to amend the state’s compliance plan to exempt schools from the federal No Child Left Behind program.

Democrats, such as Reps. Ben Miranda, John Loredo, Linda Lopez, Tom Prezelski and Steve Gallardo, stood in support of the bill with Republican Reps. Karen Johnson, Eddie Farnsworth and Mr. Biggs.

“We are not sending a message,” said Ms. Johnson. “This is good policy for Arizona. We are looking at a federal takeover of our schools.”

H2594 survived the debate, but sponsors decided not to subject it to a final vote because of mounting opposition. Both Governor Napolitano and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne weighed in against the measure because of the potential loss of an estimated $300 million in federal education funds. —