In a race against Thursday’s deadline to prevent a potential conflict between state law and the federal election calendar deadline, Republican lawmakers have advanced a proposed set of bills while Democrats have balked. It’s unlikely the bills will become law, however, as Gov. Katie Hobbs quickly rejected them as “dead on arrival.”
Republican lawmakers from both the House and Senate announced their proposed solution, two bills, on Monday afternoon; by Tuesday morning, a joint committee had advanced the bills.
In a press release, the lawmakers said that the pair of bills, SB1733 and HB2785, would provide counties with an additional 19 days in the primary election calendar and an extra 17 days in the general election calendar to comply with federal deadlines.
State Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-LD07), chair of the Senate Elections Committee, expressed hope that Hobbs would sign the legislation if passed, claiming that a refusal would cause election turmoil and voter disenfranchisement. However, Hobbs dismissed the proposal almost immediately after its release.
“This commonsense solution promises to strengthen voter confidence, is backed by all Arizona county recorders, and allows our men and women who are serving in our armed forces overseas the opportunity to cast a ballot in our elections,” said Rogers.
HB2785 sponsor State Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-LD03) remarked that it was “highly unlikely” the feared calendar conflict would come to fruition, and that the solution was “more complicated” than some other, unnamed solutions.
“There were many simpler ways to solve this problem, some of which do not require legislative solutions,” said Kolodin. “Nevertheless, we negotiated in good faith and agreed to accept this more complicated solution in exchange for signature verification and several other commonsense reforms.”
The solution aligns with recent requests by election officials, including that of Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates over the weekend.
On Tuesday, both SB1733 and HB2785 passed quickly and narrowly out of a special joint meeting with the Senate Committee on Elections and the House Elections Committee. Democrats uniformly opposed the bills, while all Republicans voted for them.
Arizona House Democrats described the bills as “a Christmas tree of unrelated and controversial policy provisions” that they and, likely, Hobbs would oppose.
Watch now, joint House/Senate Elections committees hear GOP bill for emergency recount issue. Far from a clean fix, their bill includes a Christmas tree of unrelated and controversial policy provisions that are non-starters with Dems & Governor’s Office.https://t.co/jxH2G5QbDr
In a joint statement issued over the weekend, Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes clarified that the governor wouldn’t approve any bill that carried “harmful unrelated legislation.”
The contested provisions include the imposition of the state’s first signature verification standards, as well as the expansion of signature curing hours to the weekend before and after an election for those elections including federal offices.
The proposed legislation would also create a category of verified early ballots exempt from review for voters who show ID when turning in their mailed early ballot in person.
The Arizona Association of Counties gave their support for both bills during Tuesday’s committee hearing.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A northern Arizona city is showing its support for the nation of Israel.
Earlier this month, the Prescott City Council passed a resolution to condemn Hamas and declare support for the Jewish State of Israel.
The motion to pass the resolution, taken during the City Council’s voting meeting on December 12, was unanimously adopted 7-0. After the result was announced, those in attendance, as well as some of the members behind the dais, broke into applause.
Prescott Mayor Phil Goode, who ushered the resolution through the meeting, said, “I’m quite proud of this council and our adoption of this resolution. As I said, I hope there are other cities and towns in this state that will follow our lead.”
In the resolution, Prescott leaders highlighted the state’s adoption of “the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism which includes anti-Zionism.”
The resolution gave seven action items for the city to follow in its support of Israel, which were as follows:
Reaffirm its support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of the Jewish State of Israel;
Recognize Israel’s right to act decisively and unilaterally in self-defense to protect is citizens;
Express its support for Israel’s right to pursue without interference or condemnation the elimination of Hamas;
Convey its most heartfelt condolences to all Israeli victims as well as their families and communities;
Call upon Prescott law enforcement to remain vigilant in protecting Israeli Americans, Jewish Americans and all supporters of Israel from acts of crime and unlawful discrimination that tend to manifest at such times;
Encourage all other Americans to likewise condemn Hamas as well as any official body that refuses to recognize Israel’s right to act decisively in self-dense to protect its citizens; and
Call upon the United States to provide all assistance as may be required to support Israel in its defense against Hamas and all other terrorist organizations.
The Prescott City Council’s strong demonstration of support for Israel follows a similar action taken by the Arizona State Legislature on October 11, when Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma issued a Joint Legislative Proclamation to “denounce the horrific acts of war against Israel and support Israel’s right to defend itself” – among other calls to action for the Legislature.
Today a Joint Proclamation Supporting Israel has been signed by @votewarren & @RepBenToma and condemns the hateful attack on our ally. Let's turn the Capitol Dome light blue to show AZ's support for Israel.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has the potential to find an effective resolution by considering the two-state option of relocating Palestinians to Jordan. This relocation would allow for their assimilation without hindrance, as there is already a significant number of Palestinians residing in Jordan, with 70% of the Jordanian population being Palestinian by ethnicity.
This proposed solution offers a viable pathway toward achieving peace, a goal that has been elusive for too long. Israel has consistently sought peaceful relations with its Muslim neighbors over the course of 75 years. However, these efforts have been met with horrifying acts of violence committed by Muslim terrorists on October 7, 2023. These acts have included heinous crimes such as rape, murder, and the mutilation of Israeli citizens. Such incidents not only caused outrage and shock but also demonstrated that Israel can no longer tolerate individuals who seek to eliminate the Jewish people from their biblical homeland.
Therefore, it is time for Palestinians to move toward the only two-state solution that makes sense. By designating Jordan as the Palestinian State, Palestinians will have the opportunity to create a prosperous society, which they have been deprived of under the oppressive rule of Muslim dictators and terrorists for decades.
The international community must now act as an honest broker to promote peace in the Middle East by acknowledging the historical importance of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza to the Jewish people. By accepting this historical context as undeniable truth and acknowledging Jordan as the legitimate homeland for the Palestinian people, it will pave the way for future generations of Jews and Muslims to coexist peacefully and permanently.
It’s time for COVID mandates to go away forever. And last month, one Arizona town took a step in this direction when it passed a resolution that needs to be a trend in every city throughout our state.
With a desire to take proactive measures to protect citizens’ constitutional rights, the Queen Creek Town Council passed Resolution No. 1540-23 with a unanimous vote during its regular meeting in September. And it’s quite clear. While the town recommends that people exercise personal responsibility to prevent illness, it committed to not implementing mandates concerning masks, vaccines, business closures, curfews, or “any similar measure.”
Arizona lawmakers mostly split along party lines in their votes last Friday on the continuing resolution that averted a government shutdown.
Freshman Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-03) was the only Republican to join his Democratic colleagues — Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07), and Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04) — in voting for the continuing resolution. Both Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema voted for it as well.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09), and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) all voted against the resolution.
Ciscomani said that the avoidance of a shutdown was of greater concern than a future financial burden.
Today I supported a temporary funding package to keep our government open. Plain & simple: this was not my first, second, or even third choice. In my first nine months in Congress, I have seen just how broken Washington is and nothing sums it up quite like the last few weeks.…
The resolution notably omitted funding for Ukraine. However, the House approved a separate bill sending another $300 million to the country and establishing an Office of the Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance.
Ciscomani, Gallego, Grijalva, Lesko, Schweikert, and Stanton all voted for that bill. Biggs, Crane, and Gosar voted against it.
In a statement, Gosar said that the U.S. shouldn’t issue any more funding for the proxy war. The federal government has sent over $100 billion to Ukraine. Gosar said the federal government should be advancing its own national security interest by securing the border.
“The southern border is under a sustained attack and invasion. Over eight million illegal aliens have entered the country,” said Gosar. “Rather than sending another dime to Ukraine, we should put our country first by increasing the pay of our brave service members right here in the United States.”
Following his “no” vote, Biggs declared that he would oppose the re-election of California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, citing the approved continuing resolution.
Last November, I ran for House Speaker because I feared that Kevin McCarthy would not rein in federal spending and take on Democrats.
As seen by his latest CR, these fears are now reality.
Biggs criticized the leadership-approved continuing resolution as a maintenance of unsustainable spending levels established by President Joe Biden, former House Speaker and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-11), and Senate President Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Instead of siding with his own party today, Kevin McCarthy sided with 209 Democrats to push through a continuing resolution that maintains the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer spending levels and policies.
Crane said that the approval of any continuing resolutions at this point was reckless. He blamed continuing resolutions as a major part of the $33 trillion debt burdening the country.
Congress is doing future generations of Arizonans a huge disservice by governing through these reckless CRs.
Crane further reflected on the continuing resolution with some levity on Monday.
“I’m heartened to see that Congress is getting serious now that we’ve avoided a shutdown for another 45 days,” said Crane. “Tonight, we will take critical steps to fix the national debt by considering legislation to rename some post offices.”
I’m heartened to see that Congress is getting serious now that we’ve avoided a shutdown for another 45 days.
Tonight, we will take critical steps to fix the national debt by considering legislation to rename some post offices.
However, Democrats viewed the government shutdown as a worse alternative to worsening the national debt.
Gallego did criticize the fact that the continuing resolution became an option in the very last moments possible.
Today, I joined a bipartisan group of my colleagues to avert a government shutdown, but let’s be clear – we should never have had to wait to the 11th hour to make this happen.
As Congress continues to debate funding over the next month, I’ll keep fighting for Arizona.
Stanton blamed “MAGA extremists” for nearly causing a government shutdown. He expressed dissatisfaction with the bill’s omission of even more funding for Ukraine on top of the $300 million he voted for in the separate bill passed Friday, as well as border security.
Today I joined Republicans & Democrats to avert a government shutdown.
This short-term bill is far from perfect. It leaves out critical funding to secure our border and support for Ukraine—I will continue to fight for these Arizona priorities.
