Capitol Roundup: Lawmakers busy for crossover week
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It's the end of crossover week — after the deadline for House and Senate committees to hear their own chambers' bills — so there was a lot of action at the Legislature the past few days.
🔥 The state House passed legislation Tuesday that would make it harder to sue utilities if their equipment causes wildfires.
- Lawmakers removed a provision barring homeowners from filing class action lawsuits after rejecting the legislation a week prior.
⚾ Legislation to allow the Arizona Diamondbacks to fund Chase Field improvements using sales and income tax revenue generated by the team was passed by the House Wednesday with bipartisan support.
📱 Students' cell phone and social media use at school would be limited under a bill the House passed on Monday.
🧪 Ultra-processed foods with certain dyes and other additives would be banned for sale at schools under a bill inspired by the "Make American Healthy Again" movement, which passed the House unanimously on Monday.
🥤 The Department of Economic Security would have to request a federal waiver to ban people from using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy soda under a bill the House passed Wednesday.
🏥 A proposal to eliminate AHCCCS coverage for some adults under age 65 if federal matching funds fall below 90% of the cost — instead of the 80% threshold established by Arizona's 2013 Medicaid expansion program — was pulled from consideration in the House on Wednesday.
- Gov. Katie Hobbs told reporters Wednesday she will "absolutely not" support this bill.
🚦 Voters would have an opportunity to ban photo radar traffic enforcement systems under a ballot referral that received preliminary Senate approval Wednesday.
🎒 The Arizona Department of Education would be required to notify the county schools' superintendent if it determines a district has overspent beyond its budget under a bill approved overwhelmingly by the Senate on Wednesday.
- The legislation was inspired by the fiscal disaster at the Isaac School District.
🌦 The Senate gave preliminary approval on Thursday to a bill that would ban "geoengineering" projects that attempt to change sunlight intensity by putting chemicals or other substances into the air.
🙅 The Senate rejected Hobbs' nomination of Joan Serviss to lead the Arizona Department of Housing on a party-line vote, citing a state audit's findings that the agency lost $2 million in a wire fraud scam on her watch and concerns over plagiarism allegations from her time at a housing nonprofit.