Upon Further Reconsideration

It's the Legislature's delete button ... We prefer our supervisors uphold democracy ... And it's a trippy day at the Capitol.

Lawmakers are in the grips of “crossover week,” taking hundreds of rapid-fire votes on bills that they probably haven’t read before. 

Mistakes are bound to happen. 

Luckily, lawmakers can always reconsider.

“Reconsideration” is a tool that lets lawmakers buy more time to cajole or bully their colleagues into supporting or opposing a bill that has already passed or failed. Lawmakers are allowed to “reconsider” their vote on any given bill within a certain timeframe, assuming they voted on the prevailing side.¹  

And while a politician who “flips their vote” is often derided as weak-spined, susceptible to pressure or a sell-out, lawmakers occasionally use reconsideration to fix legitimate mistakes. 

The House and Senate had 286 bills scheduled for a debate and vote on Monday (lawmakers only actually made it through about 80) and had nearly 100 more scheduled for Tuesday. It’s long hours of voting on dozens of bills in rapid succession. Sometimes they simply hit the wrong button. 

Our art intern, ChatGPT, thinks the Legislature is like a game show. Which really isn’t too far off.

For example, on Monday, Senate Democratic Leader Mitzi Epstein stood on the Senate floor to explain her opposition to Senate Bill 1369, which would require schools to report incidents of bullying, sexual assault, harassment and other crimes, as well as post online certain civil rights data. During the debate, Epstein said the bill didn’t do enough to protect student confidentiality and warned she’d vote against it. When it came time to vote, she again stood to explain why she was opposing the bill. 

Then she hit the green button and voted yes. 

Epstein immediately recognized her error and called for reconsideration. Within a few minutes, the Senate revoted and she had corrected the record as to where she stood on the bill. Democratic Sen. Eva Diaz, who had voted with Epstein for the bill on the first round, also switched her vote. 

But others aren’t so lucky. Bringing a bill back for reconsideration is a motion that requires its own vote, and sometimes other lawmakers don’t want to revisit their decision.

Yesterday, Democratic Sen. Christie Marsh regretted a vote she took on Monday to approve SB1295, which deals with nurse licensing, and she asked the Senate to reconsider it. Her colleagues, including many Democrats, weren’t having it. Her motion to reconsider failed by a vote of 10-19. Marsh didn’t return our call about why she wanted to reconsider the vote. 

Last week, Democratic Rep. Analise Ortiz reconsidered HB2770, which would allow the governor to coordinate with other states on marijuana-related business enforcement and delivery of marijuana products across state lines.

Ortiz said her vote was rushed during a long, five-hour committee hearing with lots of bills. At some point before the committee wrapped up, she received more information from pro-pot lobbying group NORML that made her change her mind. So she called for reconsideration and helped pass the bill.

Every year, plenty of bad bills come back to life after lawmakers call for reconsideration and then twist their colleagues’ arms to change their minds. But considering the breakneck speed at which lawmakers work, Ortiz said she’s grateful to have a way to go back and reconsider their sometimes rash or rushed decisions. 

“Especially when we have these miles-long agendas and we’re trying to make amendments, I’m happy to have that tool to fix our errors,” she said. 

Lesko’s encore: Republican U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko announced on Twitter yesterday that she’s officially running for Clint Hickman’s seat to represent the West Valley on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Earlier this year she announced that she not running for reelection to Congress to spend more time with her family. Lesko’s election-denying history (she voted to overturn the results of Arizona’s 2020 presidential election) would put a damper on the board’s reputation as a defender of democracy in the county. 

No one agrees on Prop 123: There are now three competing plans to expand the Gov. Doug Ducey-era Prop 123 to raise teacher pay using state land trust revenue after House Republicans threw a new proposal into the mix, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger reports. House Republicans want to draw 5.5% from state land trust money, Senate Republicans 6.9% and Democrats 8.9%. Republicans say they can work it out, and Gov. Katie Hobbs has yet to talk to Republican leadership about a compromise. Meanwhile, the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board is considering cutting 385 positions next year due to low enrollment and waning COVID-19 funding, per 12News’ Chase Golightly. 

Not so blissful: Republican Rep. Selina Bliss’ bill that would give cities and counties the authority to limit the number of short-term rentals in a neighborhood died in a House committee, the Payson Roundup’s Peter Aleshire reports. Town planners worry the multi-billion dollar short-term rental industry could further reduce the housing stock while residents of quiet residential neighborhoods have complained about rowdy parties and increased traffic. Cities like Payson have implemented some available regulations, like licensing fees and occupancy limits. 

School of Rock: A Phoenix woman was indicted for fraudulently using $106,540 in Empowerment Scholarship Account funds she said were spent on homeschooling her son with a medical condition. Investigators say the son heads a punk-rock band and shows no evidence of a disability, while receipts show the school vouchers were used for “day-to-day living at retail stores and restaurants,” including more than $12,000 on Amazon and $700 at Airbnbs, 12News’ Joe Dana reports. The story is the latest fodder for education advocates demanding regulations of the program, but State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne blamed the case on his predecessor. 

Tight on funds? Try prison labor: The Gila Bend Unified School District’s board members voted to pay inmates at Lewis Prison 50 cents an hour to clean up campus grounds when kids aren’t at school, the Republic’s Madeleine Parrish reports. The district is calling it a cost-saving measure after its budget override request failed by 11 votes last year. The $18,000, 18-month contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections is much cheaper than hiring maintenance staffers at $40,000 each. 

The ballot battle: Arizona has become the latest destination for President Joe Biden’s campaign message of expanding voting rights after the Democratic National Committee and Arizona Democratic Party filed motions to intervene in Republicans’ legal challenge of Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ Election Procedure Manual, per Politico. Two GOP-led lawsuits want to invalidate the manual, partially over provisions that restrict intimidation at ballot drop-off locations. 

When the well runs dry: Arizona’s largest homeless shelter program, Central Arizona Shelter Services, faces a $1.5 million shortfall that could cause it to cut services, KJZZ’s Christina Estes reports. The group’s influx of federal COVID relief funding is drying up, and it didn’t receive any grant money from the state's $40 million homeless shelter and services fund. Phoenix City Council members increased their contract rate with CASS, but the looming end of American Rescue Plan Act funding could lead the city into a budget shortfall. 

Discarded: Organizations working with migrants on Arizona’s border documented nearly 1,000 cases of Border Patrol confiscating personal belongings, including religious items and life-saving medication, per a new ACLU report, the Arizona Luminaria’s John Washington writes. Border Patrol’s policy is to safeguard, catalog and return personal property that’s not considered contraband, and the report documents cases of a child's anti-seizure medication and vital medical records being taken and not returned. 

“My son needs an operation within two months because of drainage in his brain. I showed the agent I spoke with all of the medical documentation and medical records … The agent took all of the papers and threw them in the trash,” a migrant recounted for the report. 

Giving the children a say: A pair of Senate bills would effectively ban reunification camps that temporarily house children before placing them in the custody of a parent they don’t want to be with. The kids aren’t allowed to have communication with their preferred custodian, and the camps they attend before the transfer are rife with issues, the University of Arizona Don Bolles Fellow Leah Britton reports. Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick’s SB1372 and SB1373 would ban reunification treatment under certain circumstances and require courts to consider the preferred custody arrangement of children 14 or older. 

False hope for NIMBYs: Some northwest Mesa residents were relieved after a fraudulent sober living home causing nuisances in the neighborhood went up for sale, but the potential buyer plans to put another addiction recovery center in its place, the East Valley Tribune’s Scott Shumaker reports. The new prospective owner has 16 licensed facilities throughout the state and assured adequate supervision of its tenants, but the Arizona Department of Health Services issued several citations to one of the program's facilities in Phoenix.

A magic mushroom farmer and a shaman walk into the Capitol… Literally. 

Yesterday’s “doctor of the day” in the state House was Sue Sisley, Arizona’s renowned weed and psychedelic mushroom researcher. 

Lawmakers introduced her by noting she has the country’s only license from the DEA to grow magic ‘shrooms (for medicinal research purposes), and she grows 12 different strains.²

At the same time, the QAnon Shaman, AKA Jacob Chansley,³ sans his horns and barely recognizable as a shirt-wearing congressional candidate, was also at the Capitol to lobby lawmakers against a bill that would more than double the salaries of the governor, secretary of state and treasurer.⁴ The bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 4-4 vote. 

“Jake convinced me. I’m a no,” fellow traveler and Republican Sen. David Farnsworth said.

If Chansley’s quixotic congressional bid doesn’t work out, maybe he has a career in lobbying ahead of him!

1. Oftentimes, when a lawmaker’s bill is about to be voted down, they’ll switch their position at the last minute and join the “nay” votes against it. They do that so they’re “on the prevailing side” and can reconsider it later.

2. It’s worth noting that just a few short years ago, lawmakers were getting Sisley fired from her university medical marijuana research gig. Now they’re giving her millions to research magic mushrooms!

3. The shaman is also a fan of mushrooms, it seems.

4. It’s also worth noting that just a few short years ago, lawmakers were storming the U.S. Capitol with Chansley. Now they’re taking his advice on how much to pay politicians!