If 2007 at the Arizona Capitol had to be summed up in two words, those words would be “employer sanctions.”
No other issue dominated Arizona’s political landscape like the debate over new punishments for employers who hire workers who illegally reside in the United States, as well as how to implement a ballot proposition passed the prior year that limited bail for illegal immigrants who were charged with serious crimes.
But 2007’s biggest issue is likely to steal the spotlight once again in 2008 — and probably much longer as the courts now grapple with the complexities of an issue that the U.S. Congress has failed on several occasions to pin down.
Meanwhile, the tone of budget negotiations this session will be decidedly different, as lawmakers will have to find ways to make up for a billion-dollar shortfall in the midst of a souring economy, and as committee leaders urge restraint in filing bills that require more spending.
But it remains to be seen whether the Republican-controlled Legislature will build on the tenuous relationship sparked between Democrat Gov. Janet Napolitano and Senate leaders who teamed up to pass a bipartisan budget in 2007, or whether partisan bickering will stall progress on key state issues.
State legislators’ departure from the Capitol on June 20 marked a tie for the fifth-longest session (164-day sessions were recorded in both 2007 and 2006) since the 90-member Legislature was established in 1967. The session culminated in a caucus- dividing $10.6 billion budget package, transportation upgrades, enhanced drunk-driving penalties, air-quality legislation to avoid federal penalties, and updates to Arizona’s laws regarding campaign finance and workers’ compensation. Tort and state trust land reform didn’t make the cut, and neither did payday loan-business restrictions intended to protect borrowers. On the immigration front, legislators examined the National Guard’s role at the border, day laborers and consular cards, but no measure during the 2007 session would bring more attention than the passing of sanctions for employers caught knowingly employing illegal immigrants.
A
Applause
On Feb. 27, the legislative family was finally complete, as Rep. Jonathan Paton returned to the Legislature amid a thundering applause after completing a six-month tour of duty in Iraq. A lieutenant in the Army Reserve, Paton volunteered for the tour in the summer of 2006 because “it (was) the right thing to do.”
Upon his return, the District 30 Republican was presented with a United States flag that had flown over the Capitol; in return, he presented the House with a U.S. flag that was flown over one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Baghdad that had been transformed into a multinational headquarters in Iraq.
AZ Capitol TV
The Legislature’s dedicated cable channel, Arizona Capitol Television, debuted in March on Cox Cable. The channel offers 24/7 legislative coverage to digital-cable subscribers; during session, it airs some live committee hearings and floor proceedings, and rebroadcasts all hearings multiple times.
B
Bridge
The collapse of an interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis in August prompted Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to order a review of all bridges in the state, which produced no surprises and reaffirmed what many officials had been saying — Arizona has “one of the safest inventories” in the nation.
The review cited bridges’ relatively young age, modern design, the state’s dry climate, and a thorough inspection program as reasons for their consistently high ratings. Less than 1 percent of state highway bridges are listed as “structurally deficient,” meaning they need repairs, not that they were unsafe, the Arizona Department of Transportation said. There are 4,720 interstate and state highway bridges in Arizona, and the state spends roughly $20 million annually on maintenance projects, according to ADOT.
But a 2006 report from the Auditor General’s office indicated the picture is not all rosy. ADOT does not fully document progress of its projects, the report says. “As a result, it is unclear whether the work met specifications, whether there were problems or if problems were resolved, and whether payments are accurate,” the report stated. ADOT agreed on the report’s findings and has moved to address the concerns raised.
Budget
As it is every legislative session, the budget was a primary focus and the root of the most intense politicking and deal-making. Praise was heaped on Senate President Tim Bee by the media and political observers for his willingness from the outset to begin negotiating a deal with Democrats. He began meeting with Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger and Gov. Napolitano early in the session; conversely, House Republicans were reluctant to engage in the negotiations.
The result was a pair of dueling budget proposals, though one was little more than a paper tiger: The Senate plan was backed by Napolitano and Democrats in both chambers, while the House plan had support of only that chamber’s Republicans. The House plan also had the ignominy of failing a floor vote before being approved.
In the end, the $10.6 billion budget adopted was nearly identical to the Senate budget and it did not include the large tax cuts supported by House Republicans. Though the House supported the final budget, Republicans voiced their disapproval, as almost two-thirds of the majority caucus voted against the plan.
Boston
A visit to Boston by Sen. Albert Hale, D-2, landed him in the hospital in May. The former president of the Navajo Nation was in a restaurant when he complained of a severe headache, went to the restroom to splash water on his face and later became ill.
Doctors saw some blood spotting in his brain, but initial tests showed no trace of aneurysm or vessel rupture. Weeks later, Hale was back in the capitol, where he told the Arizona Capitol Times he was “feeling great.”
C
Child Protective Services
Spurred by the deaths of three children in Tucson earlier this year, the House Government Committee held a public hearing to discuss the actions of Child Protective Services and the challenges the agency faces. Although most CPS issues are shrouded in secrecy because of state and federal confidentiality laws, the September and December hearings were open to the public because a court ordered the release of documents in the cases in question. The hearings are expected to result in legislation aimed at increasing transparency in the agency and ensuring children are better protected.
Clean Elections
Devoted allies and enemies of Arizona’s controversial system of publicly funded campaigns put ideology aside and passed substantial changes to the state’s campaign finance laws.
In short, the bargaining over the legislation spearheaded by Rep. Michele Reagan, R-8, was eased by a mutual desire among public and privately funded candidates for more money.
The major payoffs for privately funded candidates were increased contribution limits for individuals and political committees, as well as the smoothing over of matching-funds provisions of the Clean Elections Act that tended to punish candidates who raise their own cash.
In return, supporters of the system — including its operator, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission — received the ability to offer more money to publicly funded contenders. Candidates for statewide offic
es, in particular, have long complained previous allotments made it impossible to viably challenge incumbents.
The removal of a greatly feared amendment to officially rename the Clean Elections Act to the less-appealing Publicly Funded Elections Act also sweetened the deal for supporters, who believe renaming the act would help the chances of a future attack against the system by ballot initiative.
In the end, opponents, including Reagan, allowed the system they loathe to operate more smoothly, and they increased the likelihood of its survival. In return for the upgraded security, supporters tolerated political and economic “special interests” to contribute to candidates in greater amounts.
The tradeoff was more than acceptable to both parties. Reagan’s H2690 escaped the supermajority requirement to amend successful initiatives — previously a death trap for all Clean Elections legislation — by wide margin before being approved by Napolitano. Only Sens. Ron Gould, R-3, and Pamela Gorman, R-6, opposed the measure.
Courts
Maricopa County Superior Court received about 135,000 new cases during the last year, but nothing dominated headlines like the legal community’s sparring with Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.
The prosecutor and defense attorneys first traded barbs over the handling of the county’s pending death-penalty cases. Thomas blamed capital defenders for stalling cases and judges for failing to enforce court rules and deadlines. Attorneys and a host of officials responded that Thomas was deliberately overwhelming the courts with an avalanche of death-penalty cases to score political points.
Proposition 100 was the next high-profile squabble. The overwhelmingly successful 2006 ballot initiative forbade the setting of bond for illegal immigrants accused of serious felonies.
News of a 2006 memo sent by court officials instructing that defendants not be asked about their legal status, and the setting of bond for several illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes, helped fan the flames.
Thomas and several legislators accused the court of defying public will and sacrificing safety by ignoring the law. Defenders of the court fired back, charging that the initiative failed to clearly instruct the courts on how they should implement the goal of the new law and did not establish a clear burden of proof to use. Relief finally came when Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor entered the fray to issue orders, and lastly a legislative fix by Sen. Linda Gray, R-10.
Before the end of 2007, Thomas, through the use of special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik, would clash further with the courts. Alleging a pattern of bias, Wilenchik sought to bar the county’s associate presiding criminal judge from hearing all cases presented by the County Attorney’s office. The attempt was unsuccessful. And Thomas would later fire Wilenchik for his handling of the prosecution of the Phoenix New Times, a case swiftly abandoned after the paper publicized the scope of several subpoenas against the New Times and several of its reporters.
D
DUI and texting while driving
The 2007 legislative session produced, in combination with measures already in place, one of the toughest DUI laws in the country. A new law requires first-time drunk drivers to install an ignition-interlock device on their car. An ignition interlock, an electronic device slightly larger than an older version of a mobile phone, has been touted as a practical solution to keep drunk drivers off the road. It is wired to the vehicle’s ignition system, and a driver blows into it to measure the alcohol level in his or her blood. If the alcohol level is above a preset level, the engine will not start.
But the law came under fire even before it took effect. Efforts to pull back the law resulted in some of the most passionate debates and interesting maneuvers of the session.
Lawmakers also created a new category of drunk-drivers — those with a blood-alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 will now spend 45 consecutive days in jail and pay at least $500 in fines, even when convicted for the first time.
Early in the session, Rep. Steve Farley, D-28, proposed a statewide ban on sending text messages while driving. The bill was never heard in committee. But Farley’s drive to outlaw the practice was renewed after the deaths of two women in Peoria in a car accident reportedly caused by a driver sending text messages on a cell phone. “I already know I was going to be bringing it back next year, but the deaths brought it up again,” Farley said. “I knew this was so important that I’d never let go of this bill.”
Death penalty
Robert Comer, often described as “Arizona’s most dangerous inmate,” was executed by lethal injection on the morning of May 22 at the state prison in Florence. The event marked the first execution in the state since November 2000 — and somewhat of a triumph for Comer, who for years fought his own appeals attorneys for the opportunity to die.
The inmate had a long history of violence, serving years for rape in several of California’s prisons before he traveled to an Arizona campground in 1987 and brutally murdered a disabled man and repeatedly raped a young woman. Interestingly, Comer’s journey to the death chamber in Florence was largely postponed by his own eagerness to die. He was carefully examined by court-appointed mental health experts who differed on his competence to make the decision to end his appeals process.
His appointed defense attorneys, whom he bitterly hated, argued years spent in crushingly isolating segregated housing units in prison had left Comer mentally deranged and legally incapable ending his appeals. But a federal judge would take the recommendations of a doctor whose resume included examinations of famous inmates such as the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Reagan: Comer was fit to die.
Other appeal efforts decried Comer’s battered condition during sentencing and argued the lethal injection process violates protections against cruel and unusual punishment. But those efforts were unsuccessful. Robert “Gypsy” Comer’s last words were “Go Raiders!”
Democrats
It was a good year to be a Democrat. After gaining six seats in the House and one in the Senate last year, Democrats have raised more campaign money than Republicans at the state and national levels. In fact, an analysis of third quarter federal financial reports by congressional or potential congressional candidates showed that in what Democrats see as competitive races in Arizona, their financial advantage is even more significant.
In congressional districts 1, 3, 5, and 8, where Democrats hope to defend two seats and pick up two more, six of their candidates aggregately raised $2.7 million. Five Republicans, on the other hand, received about $1.1 million. That means the average advantage of Democrats over Republicans in so-called battleground races is more than $223,000. In all congressional districts, Democrats out-raised Republicans by a ratio of 2-to-1. “I think these numbers reflect the broad support Democrats enjoy in the state right now,” said state Democratic Party spokeswoman Emily Bittner.
Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the state Republican Party, acknowledged the Democrats’ financial edge but added that the fundraising stage is only half over. “It’s kind of like a football game or a basketball game,” he said. “The first half has been beneficial to them, but right now, they sort of shot themselves in both of their feet, and our team is coming off the halftime break, looking … quite rested, quite ready to play.”
The state GOP has adopted several strategies for next year’s e
lections. The focus will be on legislative races, with the hope that efforts will trickle up and benefit higher races. The party has also been working on registering voters in legislative districts they want to retake.
Deficit
After two years of unprecedented growth, the bottom seems to have fallen out of the state’s economy and lawmakers must now deal with a deficit that may approach $1 billion. October marked the seventh consecutive month the state’s revenues came in below projections, and economists said the financial doldrums are expected to continue until 2010. Immediately upon returning to the Capitol in January, legislators will have to figure out how to address a $970 million shortfall in the budget that was approved in June, as well as grapple with what could be a $1.8 billion deficit for the fiscal year that begins in July.
E
Employer Sanctions
Arizona passed unprecedented employer sanctions legislation to punish businesses that hire illegal immigrants. The measure received a complete overhaul as it moved arduously through the legislative process, transforming from a requirement that all businesses sign an affidavit promising not to hire illegal workers to its final form, which requires businesses use a federal online employment-status-verification program and subjects violators to a suspension or revocation of their business licenses.
It was approved by a wide margin in each chamber, but still there were critics of the bill’s provisions and the politics behind its passage. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-15, said she didn’t think it was right for the law’s architect, Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18, to push to get an even more strict sanctions program on the ballot in 2008 as leverage to force the Legislature to approve the bill.
Napolitano signed the bill into law, much to the chagrin of the business community and many Democrats. Since then, several Republican lawmakers have said they regret voting for the bill, House Speaker Jim Weiers formed a special panel of business members to recommend changes to the law four lawsuits have been filed over the measure.
The first two suits — one brought by a dozen business-advocacy groups and the other by Hispanic civil-rights organizations — were combined by a federal judge and then dismissed in early December when the judge ruled the challenges named the wrong defendants and were filed before any businesses had been harmed by the law.
The third suit, which named the 15 county attorneys as defendants instead of the governor and the attorney general, was filed days after the dismissal. Attorneys for the business groups were hoping for an injunction against the law to prevent it from going into effect Jan. 1, but a judge denied that request.
Meanwhile, organizers for a grassroots effort to get an even stricter employer sanctions measure on the 2008 ballot said they expected to gather the required signatures by April, while some business groups hoped to get a weaker counter-initiative on the ballot.
F
Flores Appeal
The Flores v. Arizona lawsuit continues to linger, as a federal appeals court in early December sent the suit to mediation in hopes of hashing out a deal between the Legislature and a public-interest attorney over the funding levels for English programs in public schools.
In January, a federal judge in Tucson conducted an evidentiary hearing at the request of the appeals court to determine if changes to the education-funding landscape since the court’s 2000 ruling against the state in the Flores suit — namely, the large influx of federal money stemming from No Child Left Behind — made the findings in that ruling moot. The judge found the state still did not comply with federal education law and further ruled that a law passed in 2006 aimed to address the problem contained provisions that violated other portions of federal law. If the mediation does not produce results, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will rule on the 2006 law.
Fish
In 2006, the saga of Harold Fish helped convince legislators to implement broad changes to Arizona self-defense laws, but it didn’t culminate with him benefiting from the new law, which upgraded legal protections for defendants claiming self-defense.
In 2004, Fish shot Grant Kuenzli to death on a northern Arizona hiking trail, claiming he feared for his life when the stranger charged him after he fired a warning shot to deter Kuenzli’s aggressive dogs. The law change switched the burden of proof in self-defense cases, making prosecutors responsible for proving by beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant’s claim of self-defense is invalid.
Fish’s trial began in Coconino County on April 24, 2006, four days after Napolitano signed S1145 into law. The retired school teacher and father of seven had the burden of proving he acted lawfully when he shot Kuenzli with a pistol he carried to scare off wildlife, if necessary, when hiking. Fish was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to ten years in prison, and the Arizona Supreme Court would later overturn an appellate decision that found the law was meant to be applied retroactively.
In 2007, legislators, led by Fish’s senator Linda Gray, R-10, scrambled to declare their intent that the changes to the law were meant to apply retroactively. On two occasions, legislation that would help Fish receive a new trial was vetoed. Fish’s appeal of his conviction is pending before the Arizona Court of Appeals.
G
Guns
State Sen. Karen Johnson admitted that she carries a .22 caliber gun into the Senate building, a potential violation of state statute, which prohibits a person from bringing a weapon into a public building unless “specifically authorized by law.” And she might not have been the only one. At least one other lawmaker, Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, also admitted to carrying a firearm “everywhere” she goes. Senate President Tim Bee came to Johnson’s defense and said he sees nothing wrong with members carrying a weapon in the building. Members who stay late at night might feel safer carrying a gun, he said.
Johnson has been pushing for several measures to ease gun laws, many of them vetoed by Napolitano. But the governor did sign the “Katrina bill” after her office hammered out an agreement with the National Rifle Association. The new law prohibits the state from seizing citizens’ firearms during an emergency. The governor’s actions this session showed a tendency to reject bills opposed by law enforcement agencies. Her vetoes signaled she is unwilling to dilute Arizona’s gun laws if the law-enforcement community believes they keep officers safer on the job. Napolitano rejected three gun bills, two of them dealing with Arizona’s laws on concealed weapons.
Groe
In March, Rep. Trish Groe was arrested for drunk driving while traveling from her Phoenix apartment to her home in Lake Havasu City. Police reports show the District 3 Republican was driving 70 mph in a 55-mph zone, and her blood-alcohol level was borderline extreme. Separate breath tests show the lawmaker had a BAC between 0.158 and 0.148 percent. Lab results confirmed that her blood-alcohol level was 0.148 percent at the time of her arrest, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Less than a week after her arrest, Groe announced she was taking a leave of absence from the Capitol to enter a rehabilitation program.
The DUI arrest was not her first: In 1999, she pleaded guilty to a drunken-driving charge in Orange County, Calif., where she lived at the time.
In September, a grand jury in La Paz County indicted her on one count of aggravated DUI, a Class 4 felony, and a second count of false reporting, a misdemeanor related to inaccurate statements that police said she gave them on the night of her arrest. If she had been convicted of a f
elony, she would have been required to forfeit her legislative seat. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and served 10 days in jail.
Gould
What is one person in a 30-member chamber? A lot, if that person does ample homework. Take, for example, Sen. Ron Gould, R-3. In April, the Senate tackled a proposal to require owners of off-highway vehicles to pay for an annual sticker, a measure that Gould regarded as a tax increase. During the previous two weeks, Gould had argued, pleaded and threatened his colleagues if they voted for the measure. On April 30, he did something a little different. He used a Senate rule to force one goal — stop the Senate from reconsidering the bill, at least for one night. That afternoon, Sen. Bob Burns, R-9, had made a motion to reconsider H2443, which had failed by a 14-13 vote on April 26. With the rulebook in his drawer, Gould made a substitute motion to adjourn, teaming up with Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-23, who seconded the motion. Then he deliberately held off voting on his own motion, bringing business to a halt. According to rules, every lawmaker on the floor “shall vote on every question put.” Eventually, a deal seemed to have been struck and Gould finally voted on his motion, which eventually failed. But Burns also withdrew his motion. The bill was finally reconsidered in May, and failed on reconsideration in June.
H
Housing Bubble
The recent drop in the economy, and the resulting state budget shortfall, can be attributed most directly with the deflation the housing bubble. Home sales directly impacted sales taxes, as contractors buy supplies to build the homes and people buy furnishings to fill them. But the state’s coffers are feeling the pinch now that the market has slowed. Economists said normal levels of home sales and construction may not be seen until 2011.
House Speaker Vote
Opening day of the 2007 session hit a snag when it came time for representatives to vote for the next House speaker. What is historically a perfunctory vote — Republicans, being in the majority, all support the Republican nominee, while Democrats vote against him — turned into a series of floor speeches, as Democrats offered Minority Leader Phil Lopes as a candidate, though he withdrew his name from consideration before the vote. Democrats used a procedural move later in the day to stall floor proceedings for several hours.
I
Iraq
Gov. Janet Napolitano made a secret trip in March to visit Arizona troops in Iraq. In a conference call with reporters March 7, she said the trip gave her a “more direct view” of what soldiers are doing in Iraq. “Moving forward, I think this will assist me, as commander-in-chief of our National Guard, in asking the right questions” about training and missions, she said. The governor left Arizona on March 4, but did not disclose details about the trip until her return.
Initiative
Arizona’s relative ease of bypassing the Legislature by putting initiatives on the ballot was unsuccessfully challenged this year by Rep. Kirk Adams, R-19. The move came after the 2006 ballot contained a record 19 initiatives and referendums covering contentious topics such as illegal immigration, gay marriage, eminent domain and minimum wage.
Supporters of reining in the process had ample evidence to support their claim that nearly irreversible initiatives are capable of creating unintended consequences. A move to raise the minimum wage resulted in layoffs of developmentally disabled workers. And the attorney general was required to issue three separate opinions to clarify tobacco-tax rates, and tobacco sales on Indian reservations in response to 2006 voter-approved measures.
But supporters of using the ballot to advance goals held firm, thwarting at least five measures dealing with the signature-collection process, disclosure of contributors, the naming of initiatives, the establishment of an expiration date for the required supermajority to amend ballot initiatives, and legislative review of ballot proposals.
ID theft
Last-ditch efforts to give Arizona residents a tool against identity theft fell short near the end of session. S1345, sponsored by first-term Senator Amanda Aguirre, faced too many legislative obstacles. It was passed unanimously in the Senate, but was assigned to three committees in the House. Few measures ever get out of three committees. Rep. Bob Robson, R-20, chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, also was concerned that in trying to combat identity theft, the Legislature might be “overreaching” and, in the process, could be stifling people’s ability to gain access to their own reports. In short, it might place undue burden on commercial transactions. The bill sought to set a mechanism to freeze a credit report until the consumer says it can be lifted. In November, talks between Robson and Aguirre ended on a high note after they reached consensus on the legislation’s key points. Robson said he recommended substantive amendments, and Aguirre said she is comfortable with the changes. If it holds, the consensus could mean smoother sailing for the measure next year.
Immigration
Illegal immigration once again dominated many discussions at the Capitol. Though most of the debate centered on the employer sanctions legislation, there were countless floor speeches about illegal immigration and a march in support of federal immigration reform that concluded at the Capitol.
J
Juveniles
Last session, lawmakers approved and Napolitano signed a measure that spares some juveniles from being prosecuted as adults. Passage of the measure indicated Arizona’s lawmaking body might be “beginning to open the door” to reassessing juvenile laws, said Sen. Karen Johnson, R-18, author of the “reverse transfer” law. The new law states that if a juvenile is being prosecuted as an adult at the discretion of the prosecutor, the defendant can ask the court to hold a hearing to determine if jurisdiction should be transferred to a juvenile court.
The court must also hold a hearing if the offense was committed more than a year before the date that criminal charges were filed. Under the new law, the court can initiate a hearing on its own, in effect giving judges more authority in the matter. The judge shall order a transfer if the court finds “by clear and convincing evidence” that public safety and the rehabilitation of a juvenile is best served by transferring the offender to a juvenile court. “I would say it is at least a first step in hopefully making some more changes down the road,” Johnson said.
Joining forces
Political observers said Democrats and the business community — long considered to have separate and distinct goals — were working to join forces to oppose the employer sanctions law and create a partnership that could have both immediate and lasting effects. Democrats hope the alliance can be used to garner business support and donations for their candidates in the 2008 election, especially those running against Republicans who spearheaded the employer sanctions law.
K
Kirkpatrick/Konopnicki
The trials and tribulations that led U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi to declare he wouldn’t seek re-election resulted in two lawmakers declaring interest in his seat: Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-2, resigned her legislative seat in July to form a congressional campaign, and Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-5, formed an exploratory committee in October.
L
Leaf Blowers
The use of leaf blowers was banned on high-pollution days under Arizona’s first major air-quality legislation in a decade. The new law also requires the use of clean-burning gasoline in Pinal County during the summer, and prohibits open burning in certain parts of Maricopa County during the sum
mer. It requires the paving of certain dirt roads and parking areas. The law, which landed on Napolitano’s desk following intensive negotiation among stakeholders, is estimated to remove more than 10,000 tons of particulate matter from the air. Arizona passed the legislation as it faced a Dec. 31 deadline to come up with a plan to reduce the amount of dust in the air until it meets the federal standard. A failure to do so could mean sanctions, including hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts in federal highway funds. For the measure’s author, Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-8, it was a victory for citizens, especially those who suffer from respiratory problems. Allen had steered the bill to its passage after a difficult start. S1552 was initially gutted by a panel of lawmakers when it was first introduced.
M
Mortgage Fraud Bill
Arizona approved and the governor signed into law a bill that makes mortgage fraud a crime. The new law gives prosecutors more efficient tools in going after those who defraud mortgage lenders, supporters said. It makes it a crime to deliberately use or omit relevant information, with the intent to defraud, during the mortgage-lending process. Mortgage fraud is now a class 4 felony, punishable by up to three years in prison. A pattern of fraud could land a person up to 10 years in jail.
Mitchell
No sooner had Harry Mitchell pulled off an upset win over J.D. Hayworth in the 5th Congressional District, than the National Republican Congressional Committee named him one of 11 Democrat freshmen to knock off in 2008. An early-rumored candidate to take on Mitchell, a former state senator, was former congressman, gubernatorial candidate and GOP Chairman Matt Salmon, who took himself out of the race. But it was not long before Republican candidates and potential candidates began to appear. The following have filed for the seat: Attorney James Ogsbury, former State Rep. Laura Knaperek and former Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert. Rep. Mark Anderson has filed an exploratory committee.
Mental Health Contract
In June, the Arizona Department of Health Services awarded a three-year $1.5 billion contract to Magellan Health Services to oversee mental-health care in Maricopa County. Handling care of the county’s estimated 17,000 residents with serious mental illness previously was the responsibility of ValueOptions, which patients and caretakers viewed with great skepticism.
ValueOptions received mixed reviews in a 2006 report by the state’s Auditor General. The report found lax oversight and contract stipulations that allowed the company to divert funds for the seriously mentally ill to cover losses in other areas or to boost profits. The company and Mercer Government Human Services Consulting briefly appealed the department’s decision to award the contract to Magellan, but the efforts failed. And mental-health advocates said they generally look forward with “cautious optimism” for improved services.
Minimum wage
Supporters of Proposition 202, a 2006 ballot measure establishing a state minimum wage of $6.75 with annual cost-of-living adjustments, hailed its passing as a necessary step to help the poor make ends meet.
But the initiative’s lack of exemptions would soon open a debate regarding the developmentally disabled community, a demographic group often paid less than minimum wage for performing duties in work shelters operating on tight budgets. And in late January, legislators attempted to create an exemption for the workers. The House Commerce Committee heard hours of emotional testimony from people who viewed the exemptions as necessary to employ workers with diminished capabilities, while others believed equal treatment of developmentally disabled people requires equal wages.
Advocates for the exemption argued the work centers needed the exemption so clients could work with dignity and commingle with their peers. The argument convinced the committee’s lawmakers, but the Legislative Council had doubts that an exemption would be legally permissible. Relief would come later from the Industrial Commission, which by rulemaking authority allowed operators of handicapped work shelters to set wages below the minimum-wage standard. Follow-up legislation that shielded employers from liability in minimum wage-related lawsuits was signed into law in July.
Med-Mal Failure
For the second year in a row, legislation aimed at making it more difficult to bring medical malpractice lawsuits against emergency room physicians came to a halt at the Capitol.
The bill, S1032 by Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-8, faced strong opposition from Democratic lawmakers and the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association. Though passing the Senate by a 16-12 majority, the House twice rejected the measure in May by 28-28 and 26-29 votes. The bill sought to heighten the burden of proof of malpractice to “clear and convincing evidence” from the current “preponderance of evidence” standard. It would have affected only emergency room physicians, other emergency personnel and hospitals.
It followed a series of tort reform measures approved by the Legislature in recent years to deal with a medical malpractice situation that health and insurance officials blame for discouraging physicians from practicing in Arizona and forcing others to leave the state or retire. Democrats attacked the measure, saying it would have made it nearly impossible for a patient to sue an emergency room worker by setting the burden of proof too high.
N
National Guard
The House Homeland Security and Property Rights Committee heard testimony from Maj. Gen. David Rataczak, the adjutant general in charge of the Arizona National Guard, regarding a Jan. 3 incident in which a National Guard patrol was approached by armed gunmen. No shots were fired and the gunmen returned to Mexico, but several Republicans on the committee wanted to know why the troops didn’t attempt to detain the intruders.
“We want them to fire first and ask questions later,” Rep. Ray Barnes, R-7, told Rataczak. But Rataczak defended the soldiers and said they did the right thing by not escalating a situation in which the soldiers said they did not feel threatened.
NBA All-Star Game
It was only a single clause in the $10.6 billion budget lawmakers approved this year, but a sales-tax exemption granted for tickets sold for the NBA All-Star Game in 2009 was certainly a factor in the professional basketball league’s decision to choose Phoenix as host of its premier event. The item’s inclusion in the budget wasn’t without some argument, though. Rep. Ed Ableser, D-17, said in May the NBA didn’t deserve the tax break because it is “incompetent” for suspending a pair of Suns players during last year’s playoff series.
New House and Senate Buildings
The governor included in her annual budget plan funding to begin the process of building a new Capitol complex, complete with new homes for the House and Senate. The money she sought did not make it into the final budget, but the Legislature did create a task force to meet in the interim to discuss issues related to finding more short-term space for lawmakers and staff.
O
Online video archives
In March, the Legislature launched an online video archive of committee meetings and floor action, allowing members of the public to follow action on legislation from the comfort of their desks. The archive system also allows users to search for a specific bill and view only the testimony and action on that piece of legislation.
Obits
Obituaries in 2007 included the following people well known at the Capitol:
Carmen Cajero, 90, former legislator, mother of Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford and widow of former lawmaker Bernardo Cajero.
Louis Rhodes, 59, former executive
director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.
Kimberly Sue Harris, 46, daughter of Sen. Karen Johnson.

Chuck Shipley, 57, lobbyist.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Gaylord, 50.
Scott Steward, 44, an active member in the Arizona and California Republican parties for more than 20 years
P
Pearce
Rep. Russell Pearce dictated the progress of what many say is the state’s most important piece of legislation ever: the employer sanctions law. The District 18 Republican introduced the measure and then, in March, announced he was co-chairing an effort to get an even stricter sanctions plan on the ballot in 2008.
Pearce has been weighing a Congressional run in recent months and has forming an exploratory committee to challenge U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake. Despite that, he didn’t shut the door completely on returning to the Legislature. Though he has reached his term limit in the House, he may opt to run for the Senate, while Sen. Karen Johnson runs for his House seat.
Prisoners
A proposal that taps into prisoners’ wages to expand a program meant to prepare them to rejoin society won legislative approval this session. The law takes 5 percent of prisoners’ pay to be used for the expanded program.
The bill is estimated to generate $650,000 a year and will enable roughly 650 inmates to participate in a transition program, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections. ADOC officials said the transition project and programs that allow inmates to work and study have been successful to a certain degree in reducing recidivism.
Q
Quarrels
The budget process was awash in very public quarrels for the first time since a group of House Republicans revolted against their leaders in 2004 to negotiate directly with Democrats.
House Republicans, in fact, fractured twice over the budget in 2007.
In May, two disparate groups of Republicans — one faction more moderate and one very conservative — sank the first budget proposal. The same plan was passed a week later, but the damage had been done.
In June, after House Republican leaders had tried unsuccessfully to transfer tax-cut proposals from the House budget into the package endorsed by both the Senate and the governor, House Republicans showed their displeasure with the end product by voting against the budget. At the end of the day, 22 of 33 House Republicans voted against the budget, including all of the caucus’ freshmen. On top of that, several Republicans gave floor speeches chastising their leaders for not being able to craft a budget with principles important to the caucus.
Quotes
Some memorable quotations from 2007:
“I was paying unattention.” — Rep. Andy Biggs after misspeaking on the floor.
“(H)alf of the stuff that comes out of this body is garbage.” — Sen. Ron Gould
“I can investigate and lock up anybody, including the governor. Nobody is immune from the sheriff.” — Sheriff Joe Arpaio
“It is the ultimate feminine protection.” — Sen. Karen Johnson explaining why she carries a gun
“California wants to drop a giant extension cord in Arizona and draw out our power.” — Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes on California Edison’s proposed transmission line.
“I may be on the street with a tin cup in my hand, so if you see me put a quarter in it.” — Attorney Bob McWhirter, who was considering filing an ethics complaint against Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas
“It’s not hard to believe (the Chandler rapist is an illegal immigrant). We know what’s going on.” — Rep. Russell Pearce
“We’re going to unconstipate this state.” — Gov. Janet Napolitano announcing she will present options to unclog state roadways to the Legislature
Quantity
Lawmakers filed 1,434 bills, 19 fewer than the previous year when a record 1,453 were filed. Senators filed 640 bills, the most bills in Senate history. Members of the House filed 794, well shy of their record of 877 in 2006.
R
Resign to Run
Senate President Tim Bee, who has filed an exploratory committee for a potential bid in the 8th Congressional District, is under fire from Democrats for allegedly violating the state’s resign-to-run law. Bee’s fundraising efforts also came under close and constant scrutiny, and his every move seemed to provide Democrats with ammunition for an attack.
But the Democratic Party has yet to follow up on its initial statement that lawyers were looking into Bee’s activities. A party spokeswoman said a legal route remains open. In fact, it was a Democratic blogger and lawyer, Michael Bryan, who sent the Attorney General’s Office a letter of complaint against Bee. The senator’s exploratory team has maintained that Bee is within the bounds of the law. The senator had said forming an exploratory committee is “not only legal, but it’s the right thing to do.” Pima County Republicans have also come to Bee’s defense, saying “Phoenix Democrats are so out of touch with southern Arizona that they fail to realize that Tim Bee works hard for everyone in our area — Republicans and Democrats.” The state GOP also shot back and said U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ team is scared of a Bee challenge.
The Arizona Constitution states that “except during the final year of the term being served, no incumbent of a salaried elective office, whether holding by election or appointment, may offer himself for nomination or election to any salaried local, state or federal office.” State statute further explains that an elected official shall be “deemed to have offered himself for nomination or election” upon the filing of nomination papers or a formal declaration of candidacy.
A 1993 attorney general’s opinion attempted to clarify the state’s resign-to-run law. Addressed to then-Secretary of State Richard Mahoney, the opinion stated: “As long as an incumbent’s conduct and statements do not constitute a formal declaration of candidacy and he does not file a nomination paper, he has not violated (the law).” The question was: Does an incumbent’s forming of an exploratory committee constitute a formal declaration of candidacy that might put the incumbent in violation of the law? “We believe that it does not,” then- Attorney General Grant Woods wrote.
The AG opinion also stated that Arizona’s laws do not specify what constitutes a “formal declaration of candidacy” nor do they define exploratory activities. “In sum,” Woods wrote, “we believe that allowing state officials to form exploratory committees strikes a proper balance of interest by permitting the officials to test the waters of the campaign pool for another position while enabling them to dedicate themselves to the office for which they were elected.” But he also said: “We caution, however, that the mere creation of an exploratory committee does not automatically shield an incumbent from the resign-to-run laws if other statements or conduct constitute a formal public declaration of candidacy.”
Rock ‘n’ Roll Theme Park
Phoenix-based investors are hoping the Legislature will change the law to allow them to build an $800 million rock ‘n’ roll theme park near Eloy. The park, known as Decades Music Theme Park, would rival Disney World, supporters said, and also would include a luxury hotel, condominiums and 120,000 square feet of retail space.
Republicans
Arizona Republicans did not have the best of years in 2007, a year that began with an intra-party schism when Randy Pullen was elected chairman by only four votes over Lisa James. Sean
McCaffrey, who has been candid about the party’s challenges in raising money after Democrat victories in 2006, was brought in from the D.C. area as executive director. The party’s new finance director left after a short stint and was not replaced for months.
The state GOP got crosswise with Sen. Jon Kyl over immigration. Mid-year, GOP consultant Nathan Sproul blasted Pullen’s leadership, and Pullen later hired controversial consultant Constantine Querard to help with legislative races. Toward the end of the year, there was a shakeup in the Pima County Republican Party, where the executive director, Linda White, was let go. Party insiders say she was a Pullen supporter.
S
Soldiers’ names
The Legislature passed a law that effectively bans the use of a dead soldier’s name without his or her family’s consent in response to complaints from families upset that a Flagstaff-based businessman, Dan Frazier, had been selling anti-war T-shirts with the names of soldiers who had died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The T-shirts say “Bush Lied/They Died.” Frazier, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, went to court to prevent facing possible prosecution. He argued that the law violates his right to free speech.
A U.S. District Court judge subsequently blocked the enforcement of the criminal portion of the law. Judge Neil Wake did not mince words in his ruling, and observers said given the strong language he used, it is unlikely he would change his mind and rule otherwise at the end of the trial. But Sen. Jim Waring, R-7, who pushed for the legislation and who expected it would wind up in court, is not about to throw in the towel. Already, he has pre-filed a measure in anticipation of Wake’s final decision. The gist of Wake’s 30-page ruling on Sept. 27, which surveyed previous court decisions, is that the T-shirts constitute political speech, and therefore, are protected speech. Wake wrote, “Commercial speech that is inextricably ‘intertwined with informative and perhaps persuasive speech seeking support for particular causes or for particular views on economic, political, or social issues, by contrast, is treated as political speech and is fully protected by the First Amendment.”
The mere fact that Frazier sells them does not transform them into less-protected commercial speech, the judge said.
School redistricting
A special panel was charged with developing a plan to put school district unification on the ballot in 2008. After working most of the year, the committee finalized its redistricting plans in December.
Next November, voters in more than 80 school districts will vote whether to scrap the existing district and join a unified district.
T
Transportation
Transportation remained a prominent topic this session, though it took a back seat to other burning issues — employer sanctions, the Flores case, and air quality, among others. The overriding question was how to pay for highway construction and decongest Arizona’s streets. At the end of the session, the state extended the maturity of highway bonds for another 10 years to generate approximately $500 million. The fiscal 2008 budget appropriated $10 million to the Statewide Transportation Acceleration Needs or STAN account. The Legislature also established the Blue Ribbon Transportation Committee to recommend ways to best to solve the state’s transportation woes.
Recently, the committee focused its attention on the feasibility of toll roads, common in other parts of the country but rare in the western U.S. The idea could be gaining traction. Federal Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, in a visit to Arizona in September, suggested electronic tolling, which allows road charges to vary depending upon the time of day and traffic level.
Tax Cuts
There was little lawmakers could do to top themselves after passing the largest tax-cut package in state history in 2006. But that didn’t mean there weren’t any tax cuts, as a key component of the budget was an acceleration of a business property-tax reduction that was originally passed in 2005. The budget also included a measure that allows parents and grandparents to claim a tax credit if they contribute money to a 529 college savings plan.
Tunnel
The employer sanctions bill was sent to the Senate in mid-March, and was passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee within a couple of weeks. But it then sat idle for about seven weeks as Senate Republican leaders negotiated a compromise between their caucus and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Russell Pearce. During that time, House Republicans hoping to help senators remove portions of the bill they found objectionable met surreptitiously with their senior-chamber colleagues. To do so, they traversed the Capitol lawn by using the tunnel that connects the House and Senate basements.
U
Underwater
Two water leaks within days of each other forced two senators — Victor Soltero and Richard Miranda — out of their third floor offices in February, prompting talk of new legislative buildings. The leak also slightly damaged Senate President Tim Bee’s office, the Senate floor and a hearing room. The sight of the session floor wasn’t pretty. The dais was covered with plastic and a container stood nearby to catch water as it dripped from the left side of the ceiling. “It’s old, it’s dilapidated, and we’re pouring money down the rat hole,” said Sen. Robert Blendu, R-12. There also was flooding in the basement two years ago.
Unforgivable Sin
When a group of Democrats asked the Republican House speaker to intervene in a dispute they were having with their leaders over committee assignments, they lit a powder keg that exploded on the House floor and will have lasting effects through the upcoming session.
The changes were made at the behest of four Democrats — Reps. Manny Alvarez, Olivia Cajero Bedford, Martha Garcia and Ben Miranda — who felt they had been treated unfairly by their leaders when committee assignments were doled out. The four Democrats spoke with Speaker Jim Weiers about the committee assignments, as did a pair of Democrats, Linda Lopez and Pete Rios, who unsuccessfully sought caucus leadership posts in November 2006.
Democrat leaders responded in House floor speeches, saying the six members who asked the speaker to make the committee changes committed an unforgivable sin: betraying their fellow Democrats.
The incident led other Democrats to believe their six peers had made a deal with Weiers for the changes. When Lopez, Rios and Cajero Bedford successfully amended and voted in support of the House Republican budget in the Appropriations Committee in May, many in the caucus thought the deal had come to fruition.
In retaliation, Democrat-leaning advocacy groups struck back, making automated phone calls in the three lawmakers’ districts that denounced their actions and encouraged voters to call and complain.
V
Vouchers
Supporters of school vouchers fared well this year, twice claiming victory in Maricopa County Superior Court.
In March, Judge Janet Barton threw out a constitutional challenge against a 2006 law allowing corporations to receive tuition tax credits for donations to private schools. She declared the program as “legally indistinguishable” from an individual tax-credit program that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1999. However, teachers’ unions, school administrators and the ACLU of Arizona filed a similar challenge against corporate tuition-tax credits in federal court, where the case is pending.
In June, Judge Bethany Hicks upheld two school voucher programs that designate funds to send foster and special-needs students to private schools. Challengers charged that the vouchers violated the state Constitution by
providing money to private religious schools.
Attorneys for the state and the Institute for Justice said the programs were legal as long as the state didn’t favor one particular religion over another and that parents — not the state — were ultimately responsible for choosing where to send their children with the vouchers.
Veteran Home
Patient-care problems at the Arizona State Veteran Home resulted in the firing of Patrick Chorpenning, director of Veterans Services and a $10,000 federal fine against the state.
The aftermath became quite political when Gov. Janet Napolitano said she had not been informed of the problems prior to a newspaper story about them. DHS Director Susan Gerard and then-Deputy Chief of Staff Alan Stephens also became the targets of Napolitano opponents, and Sen. Jack Harper, chairman of a legislative panel looking into the problems at the home, drew heavy criticism himself when he questioned Stephens about Napolitano representing him during the 1991 “AzScam” investigation.
Verschoor
People who had not seen Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor since the session ended did not immediately recognize him when he dropped by the Capitol in October. Not only has he cut his hair short, he has lost almost 80 pounds — in 16 weeks. Verschoor said he was taking multiple vitamins and supplements, exercising a lot and was on what he describes as an “extreme diet.” His staff said the senator is extremely disciplined in his dieting. During a recent conference of legislators in Boston where food was plentiful, he never indulged. Verschoor said he goes to the gym at least six days a week, doesn’t eat breakfast and makes sure he doesn’t consume more than 500 to 1,000 calories per day. He also drinks at least 80 ounces of water. “When I started the diet, I weighed 307 pounds, and now I weigh at 230 lbs,” he said. He said he’s following the Stillman Quick Weight Loss Diet, a low-carb, low-fat diet that dates back to the 1960s. “He [Stillman] basically says that there’s only really two reasons why people are overweight: One is they’re lazy, and two is they’re undisciplined,” Verschoor said. “I said, well, it sounds like me.”
W
Workers’ Compensation
On the last day of session, the Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill that gives Arizona workers a $400 increase in their injury compensation for the first time in eight years. The bill, H2195, received overwhelming support in the Senate and the House. It was the product of weeks of intense negotiation among lawmakers, industry and labor. “It’s good for the workers. They have an increased benefit amount. It’s good for business. They are able to help their employees who legitimately are hurt on the job. It’s a win for everybody,” said Sen. Barbara Leff, R-11, one of the bill’s architects.
The increase brings the cap to $3,000 a month next year and to $3,600 the year after. Workers’ compensation is reached by multiplying the cap by two-thirds. So if a worker gets a monthly salary of $2,400, which is the current cap, he or she would get approximately $1,600 as compensation for an injury. The bill also requires the Industrial Commission of Arizona to adjust the cap thereafter to reflect the annual percentage increase in the state’s mean wage, also a compromise since management has traditionally opposed indexing and labor has wanted the adjustment to be made based on the consumer price index.
Wake
Judge Neil Wake may well become a household name before long. The federal jurist dismissed in December a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s employer sanctions law and will preside over hearings in a second suit filed days later.
He also ruled earlier in the year that a law banning the use of the names of dead soldiers for profit without permission from the soldier’s family was unconstitutional. He said in his ruling that the law unfairly disregarded the free-speech protections in the First Amendment.
X
X-rays
Collectively, lawmakers and the governor had a pretty healthy year, but still there were some pretty significant injuries, and the resulting x-rays: Gov. Janet Napolitano dislocated her shoulder playing tennis, putting her in a sling; Rep. David Schapira, D-17, threw his back out and was briefly hospitalized; and Sen. Meg Burton Cahill, D-17, had ankle surgery and navigated the Capitol in a wheelchair and then on crutches in the weeks that followed.
Y
Yes
The Legislature passed 318 bills. Because Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed 22 of these, statutes grew by a net of 296 new laws. In 2006, the Legislature passed 438 — the most ever. That year, Napolitano vetoed 43, for a net 395 new laws. The most vetoes ever occurred in 2005 when Napolitano nixed 58 bills.
Z
Zeal
Rep. Marian McClure, R-30, has been waging an ongoing battle against the payday loan industry that has changed shapes several times in recent years. Initially, she intended to scrap the industry entirely, but that morphed into an attempt to work with the lenders to strike a compromise that would heavily regulate them, but allow them to exist.
But a deal to do just that fell through at the last minute, prompting McClure to return to her roots: She announced she was launching an initiative drive that would criminalize payday loans.
Her zeal to undo the industry has been met with stiff opposition from the lenders, but McClure said she is well on the way to collecting enough signatures to let voters in 2008 decide the fate of payday loans in Arizona.