Divided government that works

Who has “never” in the sine die pool? … Who’s your favorite neighbor state? … And who else is gonna rent us a desk for $113.19?

As the legislative session drags past the 100-day mark and into summer, Gov. Katie Hobbs has now officially vetoed more bills cumulatively than any governor in history.

It took former Gov. Janet Napolitano six years to veto 181 bills.

Hobbs has already vetoed 185 bills, and this is only her second year on the job. Hundreds more bills could wind up on her desk before the legislative session comes to a merciful close.

Our art intern, ChatGPT, knows the “Voverrnor” of Arizona wears glasses.

But before that can happen, lawmakers still have a handful of items they have to — or at least should — deal with. 

Besides the budget, lawmakers still haven’t done anything major to address Arizona’s affordable housing crisis, the state’s rapidly dwindling groundwater supplies or the extension of public school funding with Prop 123 — to name a few.

But today, instead of ranting about all the things lawmakers have yet to do this year, we’re looking back at a half-dozen bills lawmakers did pass this year, and that Hobbs didn’t veto, that didn’t get a lot of press.

Who says a divided government can’t get anything done?! 

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• More campaign finance reports: Statewide officeholders will now have to file campaign finance reports each quarter of all four years of their term, rather than only during one year of their term. That’s thanks to Senate Bill 1571, a strike-everything amendment to a bill from Republican Sen. T.J. Shope. 

• Free police reports: Victims of domestic violence and sexual crimes will no longer have to pay for their police reports after Hobbs signed Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick’s SB1371, which will also speed up the records request process for victims.

• Racist deed restrictions: If your house’s deed has one of those illegal “cannot be sold to non-whites” clauses, you can now get that ugly piece of history struck from the paperwork. Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard’s SB1432 instructs county recorders to accept amendments from property owners to strike “unlawful and unenforceable” deed restrictions. 

• Affordable (mobile) housing: Mobile home residents are also getting some relief with a pair of new laws. Republican Rep. David Cook’s House Bill 2146 would block landlords from prohibiting people from installing air conditioning units on their mobile homes. Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Matt Gress’ HB2316 would let mobile home owners pull more from the state’s mobile home relocation fund, which will now cover up to 40% of the cost of moving the unit, up from 25%.

• Drunk (Uber) driving: Lawmakers lowered the threshold for how much ride-share drivers can drink on the job. Republican Sen. John Kavanagh’s SB1025 puts Uber drivers on par with other commercial drivers, who can get a DUI charge for having 0.04% blood alcohol content, as opposed to the 0.08 limit for most drivers.

Correction: Friday’s edition, which covered the strange case of MAGA Democrat Mario Garcia, stated that a photo of him with Kari Lake appeared to be taken at a fundraiser for the Arizona Republican Party. After publication, we found out the photo was taken at a legislative event for Republicans. 

Update: After we published our story, which was a collaboration with local LGBTQ+ news publication LOOKOUT, Garcia’s campaign consultant dropped him, saying Garcia had “deceived us” by claiming that the photo was taken at a business conference.

Did you know that more than a third of our readers found out about the Agenda through a friend or family member?

Neither did we!

Last week, we asked you to fill out a survey about yourself and what you love and love less about the Agenda. (If you didn’t fill it out, it’s not too late! Just click here.)

Nearly 700 of you replied! Thank you so much! 

We spent a good chunk of the weekend going through the results, which were fascinating, funny and immensely insightful. Since we can’t reply to all of you individually, we wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who filled it out. 

One of the most frustrating parts of writing on Substack is that we generally have no idea who you readers are unless your name is in your email address. So it’s really nice to meet you! Thanks for coming along for the ride.

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Like a good neighbor: California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to introduce legislation to expedite the process for Arizona abortion providers to get licensed in California, Politico’s Rachel Bluth reports. The details aren’t clear yet, but Newsom said he will introduce a bill to create a five to 10-day timeline for Arizona providers to be approved in California as an emergency measure this week. Meanwhile, California's abortion providers are preparing for a surge of Arizonans seeking abortion care, and some researchers are assessing whether California pharmacists can prescribe abortion pills to out-of-state patients, Cecilia Nowell writes for the Guardian. Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest said 10% of all abortion patients at its 20 clinics come from out of state, but many patients can’t make that journey. 

A tale of two speakers: The New York Times zooms in on Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma for its profile of Arizona’s ongoing battle to repeal the 1864 abortion law that was recently reestablished as the law of the land here. Toma thinks pointing to the fact that it’s a territorial-era law is “sort of ridiculous.” And the Washington Post zooms in on William Claude Jones, the speaker of the Arizona House back in 1864, who “had already abandoned his first wife, and married a 12-year-old and was just weeks away from marrying a 15-year-old, though still a few years away from marrying a 14-year-old” in 1864 when lawmakers wrote that abortion law. 

​​“Even all of our laws are actually based on, what, the Ten Commandments, and the Book of Genesis, which are thousands of years ago,” Toma told the Times. “The whole idea that we are equal in the sight of God, our maker, that we have unalienable rights, all that, that is all fundamentally a Christian worldview.”

Ballot battles: Mohave County Supervisor Ron Gould asked a superior court judge to declare he’s allowed to vote to throw out machine-counted ballots. Attorney General Kris Mayes is asking the court to shut down that bid, Captiol scribe Howie Fischer writes. To make that call, the judge would likely have to make a consequential ruling on whether hand counts are legal. Fischer also reported that attorneys for two Cochise County supervisors, who were indicted for refusing to certify the 2022 election results, lashed out at Mayes over the charges and called it "vindictive and in retribution.” Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd are facing up to two and half years in prison for voting to table a motion to certify the election, but Mayes’ side is arguing the votes were part of a larger conspiracy to force a hand count.

Breaking the silence: Navajo Nation Vice President Richelle Montoya alleged she was sexually harassed at a meeting last August, the Navajo Times’ Krista Allen reports. Several former appointees of President Buu Nygren previously told the Navajo Times that women on staff have experienced violence and abuse, and Montoya is the first high official to speak publicly about it. The legislative counsel office is being asked to initiate an independent investigation into the women staffers’ allegations.

“I was not physically hurt,” Montoya said. “I’m OK. But I was made to feel that I had no power to leave the room,” she added. “I was made to feel that what I was trying to accomplish didn’t mean anything. That I was less than––”

Deadbeat ads: A new GOP attack ad against Senate candidate Ruben Gallego accuses him of walking out on his wife, current Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, and newborn while branding him a “deadbeat dad.” The Republic’s EJ Montini gave some context to Gallego’s divorce and pointed out the hypocrisy of the criticism amid Donald Trump’s abysmal history with women, while conservative podcaster Garrett Lewis praised the ad and called Gallego a “raving lunatic.”

Mayoral madness: Several local races are heating up, including a five-person race to become Mesa’s mayor where former Mayor Scott Smith raked in a record amount of campaign cash, the East Valley Tribune’s Scott Shumaker reports. Glendale mayoral candidate Jamie Aldama is having his signatures challenged in court today over allegations that 670 of them are invalid, per the Daily Independent’s Richard Smith. Meanwhile, a three-way race for mayor and four-person race for two city council seats plays out in Gilbert, Cecilia Chan writes for the Gilbert Sun News. And the Verde Independent‘s Vyto Starinskas has a Q&A with the two candidates for Cottonwood mayor.  

Rest in Peace: Former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Jim Weiers died on Friday at age 70. He served 18 years as a lawmaker, including two separate stints as speaker. His brother, Jerry, also served in the Legislature and is still mayor of Glendale.

“Weiers was fond of comparing the Legislature to school: the Senate was the library and the House was the playground. Jim preferred the House,” per an obit in the Capitol Times.

After opposing any legislation that could help decrease Arizona’s housing prices, the Arizona League of Cities and Towns, which houses the Capitol press corps, is jacking up our rent by 10%.

To be fair, it’s still the cheapest co-working space in the state.