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Recent Articles from Hank Stephenson
Disabled community stops bill to ban service animals in restaurants
The disabled community turned out en masse to oppose a bill that would allow restaurant owners to ban service animals from their restaurants, and the bill went down during a committee hearing.
Bill seeks to crack down on fake service animals by allowing restaurants to ban all service animals
Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff wants to ensure that the fluffy dog sitting next to you in a restaurant is really a service animal, and not just someone’s pet.
Mesnard revives proposal to cut income taxes based on Marketplace Fairness Act
In his quest to ensure the state doesn’t bring in more revenue if the federal Marketplace Fairness Act comes online, Republican Rep. J.D. Mesnard of Chandler isn’t taking no for an answer.
New governor renews hope for old gun bills
Dale Wiebusch stood before the Senate Federalism, Mandates and Fiscal Responsibility Committee feeling the sensation of déjà vu.
Online taxing bill killed by GOP defectors
A handful of Republicans in the House on Tuesday joined with Democrats to kill legislation meant to keep the state from collecting more income if Congress approves legislation requiring online sellers to collect state sales taxes.
Water fight: Bill takes Lake Havasu City’s side in fight with state agency
The old saying that “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting” is ringing true at the Capitol this year as lawmakers wade into a fight between Lake Havasu City and the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, an independent state agency.
Yee bill would shed light on local lobbyists
While many lawmakers are proposing legislation to restrict access to government meetings and documents, one Republican senator is going the opposite direction, and attempting to shed some light on who is lobbying local elected officials.
Behind closed doors: Flurry of bills would increase government secrecy
When it comes to public records and government transparency, the Legislature this year has been a hotbed of activity. Republican lawmakers have introduced a host of proposals that would increase government secrecy by restricting access to public records and allowing more political discussions to happen behind closed doors.
Senator’s bill would scale back Arizona’s open meetings law
A Republican senator is pushing legislation that would dramatically scale back the Arizona open meetings law to allow elected officials to meet in secret to propose and debate policies. The measure would only require the public be allowed into meetings if an official action is taken.
Democrats chided for holding secret meetings while complaining about secret meetings
While House Democrats blasted Republicans for voting to change the rules to allow closed caucus meetings, Republicans fought back by calling Democrats hypocritical for opposing the change because Democrats have held secret meetings for years.
Crimes against children: Boyer fights uphill battle to provide $5M for child Internet victims
When Gov. Doug Ducey released his budget proposal for the upcoming year, Republican Rep. Paul Boyer of Phoenix had only one question.
Lawmakers offer bills to prevent another tragedy, but are they Orwellian?
Republican Reps. Sonny Borrelli and Kelly Townsend are concerned about lawmakers’ safety. So they have sponsored two proposals they believe will protect legislators from attacks by citizens who could target them specifically because of their titles.
