Survival of the fittest

Turtles all the way down … Bounty on fake electors … And if you’re gonna protest, do it quietly and politely.

Bills at the Arizona Capitol have a life cycle not unlike that of sea turtles.

Every January, hundreds of bills hatch on the beaches of the state Legislature and make a break for the ocean. Only a select few make it to the water, let alone survive to adulthood.

Today marks the deadline for state House committees to hear House bills, and Senate committees to hear Senate bills.

That deadline is the flock of seagulls of our analogy — it’s the first obstacle that our turtles must survive. There will be many other challenges as our bills struggle on to adulthood — fish, sharks, starvation — but the seagulls are the real killer.¹

Of the 1,800 bills that have piled up at the Arizona Capitol since the legislative session began six weeks ago, only about half survived the first committee deadline hurdle.

One important distinction between turtles and bills is that, unlike turtles, dead bills can be revived from the dead.

Our art intern, ChatGPT, captures the terror in the eyes of the turtle.

Lawmakers have lots of tricks — like strike-everything amendments, withdrawal petitions, rules suspensions, or other maneuvers — to resurrect their hatchlings.

But after this week’s culling, the vast majority of the bills that you’ve read about this year are dead.

So today, let’s celebrate the life and mourn the tragic demise of hundreds of Arizona’s political turtles.

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Housing

For all the people who make hundreds of rent payments on time and still have bad or no credit, that’s not changing. Democrats introduced a bill that would require rent payments to be counted toward credit scores. The hope was that it would benefit many low-income people with low credit scores, since rent is one bill people generally pay on time.

Smoking weed will still get you evicted. Another Democratic bill would have prohibited landlords from evicting someone solely because they use marijuana.

People who own pit bulls know they are a loving family breed. But lawmakers apparently don’t. A Democratic bill would have prevented rental properties from discriminating against different breeds of dogs.

And of course, Democrats sponsored legislation to eliminate the state ban on cities from imposing any kind of rent control.

None of those ideas survived the first committee hearing deadline.

Short Term Rentals

But it’s not just Democratic legislation that falls victim to the legislative seagulls.

Republicans struck out on their attempts to implement even some basic regulations on the short-term rental industry.

City council members will still have no way to limit the explosive growth of Airbnbs after a Republican bill to allow cities and counties to limit the overall number of new short-term rentals never got a hearing.

And Airbnb owners’ taxes won’t increase after a Republican bill to allow municipalities to regulate and tax short-term rentals as hotels, and a Republican attempt to tax them as commercial properties, both died without a hearing.

Kids in media

We mentioned last year the push to ensure parents of child stars can't exploit them.

But exploit away, parents, because this year, a bill to require parents to set up an independent trust for their famous kid never got a hearing, nor did a bill to require parents who make money off of “family vlogging” to pay their kids a portion of those proceeds.

And student journalists will still have to cow to overzealous school censors after a bill to protect student journalists from their school administrators’ meddling did not get a hearing.

Public safety

Keep an eye out for unmarked police vehicles. They’ll still be able to pull you over after a bill to require all traffic stops be made by marked police vehicles died.

And keep your cell phone handy during that stop because there’s no statewide law requiring law enforcement officers to wear body cameras. A bill that would have required cops to strap on cameras and enacted penalties for failing to turn them on never got a hearing.

And it’s still perfectly legal to leave your loaded gun easily accessible to kids. A law requiring gun owners to take “reasonable steps” to prevent minors from accessing stored guns didn’t go anywhere this year.

Politicians

Our lawmakers can continue to be shady felons thanks to the death of a bill that would have required background checks and fingerprinting of politicians.

Lawmakers will have to keep working for their $24,000 base salaries (plus all the lobbyist-purchased meals they can eat) after several attempts to raise their own salaries never got hearings.

And finally, Arizonan politicians can still say “howdy” to strangers, but they won’t be uttering the official state greeting when they do so because a bill to give Arizona an official greeting didn’t catch on.

Have you no decency?: Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman wants to put a bounty on catching undocumented immigrants. The newest phase of the most powerful people in Arizona punching down at people who can’t fight back includes paying $2,500 to local law enforcement agencies that arrest an immigrant who ends up getting deported, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger reports. The money would come from a new remittance fee charged on international wire transfers. A spokesman for Gov. Katie Hobbs said “there’s no way in hell” she would sign it into law.

Want to claim a bounty that actually benefits your community? Click below to support local reporting that holds power to account.

Better call a lawyer: Hoffman might find himself in legal trouble of his own, beyond being indicted as a fake elector for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He was pulled over last month for driving 24 miles per hour over the speed limit, but he didn’t get a citation because lawmakers have immunity from most infractions during the legislative session. Gov. Katie Hobbs says an executive order signed by former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey stripped lawmakers of their immunity for “breach of the peace,” such as criminal speeding (more than 20 mph over the limit), Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer and Bob Christie report. Also, House Judiciary Committee gave the green light on Wednesday to a constitutional amendment that would ask voters to do the same. GOP Rep. Quang Nguyen introduced the bill after Sen. Mark Finchem got out of a ticket for driving 49 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Not exactly hardened criminals: The Trump administration is halting a program that provides legal aid to migrant children, setting up the situation where “children so young their feet can't touch the floor when they sit in courtroom chairs” will be left without representation in immigration court, the Associated Press reports. The decision could affect more than 4,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the Arizona-Mexico border over just the past four months, the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Rebecca Gomez reports.

“These services are critical not only as a matter of fundamental fairness — children should not be asked to stand up in court alone against a trained government attorney — but also for protecting children from trafficking, abuse, and exploitation and for helping immigration courts run more efficiently,” said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, the deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.

Caving to pressure: University of Arizona officials took down websites for the school’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Cultural and Resource Centers, the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. The UA has been under pressure from the Trump administration to get rid of DEI programs, or risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding. The UA officials in charge of those programs didn’t respond to the Star’s inquiries, while a UA spokesman offered up a bland statement about “taking a measured approach toward ensuring compliance with new policies and procedures.”

Where does it end?: Researchers at Arizona State University are wondering how far the anti-DEI crusade will go, the Phoenix New Times’ Morgan Fischer reports. Scott Menor, a researcher who studies eukaryotic cells, which are building blocks for humans and most lifeforms and have up to 14 different sexes, is worried the Trump administration’s ban on instruction of “gender ideology” could put his research at risk. And it’s not just federal policy. GOP lawmakers in Arizona are trying to withhold state funding from universities that offer courses on DEI.

“It sounds like a joke,” Menor said. “But just talking about them probably runs afoul with the only two sexes kind of language.”

Learning from the past: Arizona could soon be one of the first states to cover traditional healing practices in its Medicaid program, the Republic’s Stephanie Innes reports. A state Senate panel approved SB1671 from Tucson Democratic Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, which would provide $1.3 million from the General Fund starting next year for practices like sweat lodges, prayers, and songs. If the full Legislature passes it, Hobbs is expected to sign the bill into law.

Former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer gets way over his skis when he tells protesters how to protest.

Basically, don’t be a nuisance. Don’t hate on everything all at once. Don’t wear black clothes. Or wave anything but the American flag. And try looking a little more friendly.

That’s how you affect change, the former Republican politician writes.

“I’m not the street protesting type, so I’m afraid you’ll never see me out there,” he writes to the protesters. “But by following the above five recommendations, you might be able to expand your movement and effect change.”

1. Or maybe the seagulls are actually the committee chairmen who exercise their near-unchecked power to not give bills a hearing ahead of the deadline. Whatever…