PHOENIX — Monday is Opening Day for the Arizona Legislature, raising the curtain on a session that could be longer and more chaotic than those in the recent past.
Here's what you need to know:
State of Speech Address:
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is the headliner, delivering his final "State of the State" speech to a joint session of the House and Senate, and their guests, at 2 p.m. Monday.
The governor will lay out what he wants the Legislature to do this session. He told business and political leaders on Friday that his top priorities are dealing with a looming water shortage; beefing up border security; and, in the governor's words, "Something very special on education." He didn't say more.
What the Arizona Legislature wants:
The Republican-controlled Legislature is expected to move bills that could change the way we vote (in the wake of Senate Republicans' partisan election review); could ban all government mandates to deal with Arizona's ongoing pandemic; and could affect what children are taught in schools (such as a ban on the teaching of critical race theory, which is a college-level - not K-12 - curriculum).
Urgent issue one:
A school funding cliff could force Arizona schools to cut their budgets by 16% on April 1.
School administrators are warning of layoffs and school closings if the Legislature doesn't meet a March 1 deadline to lift a school spending cap.
Urgent issue two:
Arizona's major source of water, at Lake Mead, is dwindling faster than anticipated just two years ago. Water experts are sounding the alarm.
History:
Arizona's statewide elected officers can serve a maximum of two terms. When Ducey leaves office a year from now, he will be Arizona's first two-term governor since Democrat Bruce Babbitt left office 35 years ago.
The first backdrop:
Last year, amid a huge spike in COVID cases, the governor delivered his speech virtually. This year, again amid a huge spike in COVID cases, Ducey will speak in person to a House chamber packed with people.
Masking is optional.
A pregnant Democratic lawmaker, whose due date is Tuesday, said House rules effectively bar her from participating in this year's session.
The governor is not expected to announce any new responses to the current COVID surge.
The second backdrop:
People who follow the Legislature closely and even lawmakers themselves predict a long, hard, even chaotic session.
Here's why:
There's the hangover from Arizona Senate Republicans' partisan election review.
Last week, Maricopa County issued a point-by-point refutation of six-dozen claims in the Senate review.
But many GOP election-deniers are still fired up about changing the state's election laws, despite a lack of substantiated findings in their review. And they're waiting for the outcome of AG Mark Brnovich's 4-month-old investigation.
Others include:
- The "Great Resignation." A dozen lawmakers in the 90-person Legislature quit after last year's session. A 13th lawmaker, Republican State Rep. Frank Pratt, died in September. The freshmen will have to get up to speed very fast.
- A looming mid-term election. Elections can make lawmakers do some crazy things.
- No more "logrolling." This will also make for some crazy - or maybe eliminate it.
In a precedent-setting ruling last year, Arizona Supreme Court barred lawmakers from inserting non-spending bills that have nothing to do with the state budget into budget legislation.
This tactic was a way for lawmakers to trade a vote for a budget in exchange for pet legislation. In many cases, that legislation never got a public hearing.
Last year's session saw extreme examples of budget-stuffing: changes to election laws, a ban on COVID mandates, and a prohibition of teaching "critical race theory" in schools (it's not taught in Arizona's K-12 schools). The Supreme Court ruling threw them all out.
The court ruling will force up-or-down votes on more bills and might make haggling over votes for the state budget -- the last piece of legislation passed every year - more difficult.
As a lame-duck governor, Ducey will be clearing his things out of his ninth-floor Executive Tower suite a year from now.
A governor's ability to punish a balky lawmaker in the future vanishes in his final year in office.
Given Republicans' one-vote majority in both the House and the Senate, Ducey might need Democratic votes, for a change.
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