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Recent Articles from Julia Shumway
Q&A with Senate President Karen Fann
In her second term as Senate president, Karen Fann controlled a one-vote Senate majority and oversaw a side audit of 2020 election results that drew national headlines and derision from late-night comedians.
Passing bills means wise choices, gaining support
Gov. Doug Ducey signed and vetoed more bills than ever before, and almost one-third of the Legislature went home batting .000 for passing bills.
Election audit overshadows work in Senate
In some ways, the most important event of the 2021 legislative session didn’t even happen at the Capitol.
Senate threatens lawsuit if Maricopa County balks at potential subpoenas
A plan to contact voters at their doors, which Fann nixed after the U.S. Department of Justice warned it could constitute voter intimidation, could be back on the table after the Senate’s contracted auditors insisted they need door-to-door canvassing to verify results.
Dem groups start effort to take new election laws to voters
Democratic organizers who succeeded in sending a 2017 voucher expansion to the ballot and defeating it are setting their sights on three new election laws.
GOP lawmakers seek limits on voter power
In 2022, depending on which advocacy groups succeed in gathering enough support, voters may see questions on their ballot asking about capping medical debt, stopping secretive election spending or ending machine counting of ballots.
GOP pushes ‘vague’ ballot security measures
Last-minute amendments to Arizona’s $12.8 billion budget codify election security concerns could pose trouble for the election officials required to carry out the new provisions from Trump supporters who say they believe the election was stolen and there is a deep bias against conservatives.
In power play, senators override Ducey’s veto
Senators said the override is intended purely to send a message to Ducey that the Legislature is a co-equal branch of government that couldn’t be cowed by the executive branch. Earlier in the day, the Senate passed new versions of all 22 bills vetoed by the governor before the House and Senate took a two-week vacation.
GOP House leaders to appease Townsend with bill to organize national convention
As budget negotiations remain stalled, House GOP leaders decided to grant one conservative holdout a late hearing on a bill to organize a national convention to combat federal policies perceived as threatening “constitutional and traditional rights.”
Some lawmakers question need for special session
A bill moratorium and a budget stalemate meant the House and Senate weren’t conducting any real business before Gov. Doug Ducey called a special session – so why call one?
Lawmakers can call bluff with slim margin
House Republican leaders bent on passing a flat tax and succeeding with threadbare majorities where past Republican supermajorities had failed hatched a plan last week: put the tax bills up for a vote and embarrass their outspoken holdout into voting for it.
House to put budget to vote on Monday
The Arizona House plans to return Monday morning to pass – or fail – a budget, with or without the Senate, a top House Republican confirmed Friday.
