CEBV Weekly: April 22, 2024

Same song, different week: hiding behind "procedure" and "decorum" is an extreme affront to democracy

It’s Groundhog Day again, again. Just like last week, House Democrats motioned to waive the chamber’s rules and immediately vote on whether to repeal the Civil War abortion ban. Just like last week, the motion failed.

Hiding behind procedure. Other Republicans previously considered potential swing votes, such as David Cook (R-7) and Tim Dunn (R-25), said they supported a repeal but refused to circumvent (or “roll”) their own leadership to make that happen.

Just how spineless are these Republicans? They apparently have no qualms about abandoning some 45 years of GOP orthodoxy by rolling back a profoundly unpopular near-total abortion ban — the Holy Grail of the anti-abortion movement — but can’t stomach voting against their leaders to change House rules so the bill can actually receive a vote. (Jim Small in The Arizona Mirror)

What does “rolling” have to do with it? A rule adopted last year by House Republicans says any change in rules, including the procedure needed to bring a repeal bill to the floor, requires not just a majority vote of the chamber but also the consent of the speaker. This rule change effectively gives Speaker Ben Toma (R-27) unilateral veto power¹ — and Toma has vowed to continue to block any effort to repeal the 1864 law.

“The truth of the matter is, I’d have to agree to bring it to the floor and I’m against abortion so I’m not going to agree to bring it to the floor,” Toma said. “Quite frankly, I don’t know how it’s different.” (Capitol Times Yellow Sheet)

Conviction when it suits them. Just one Republican, Matt Gress (R-4), was willing to vote against leadership, which produced a 30-30 tie. (Unlike at the federal level, there’s no procedure for breaking a tie, so the motion failed.) Gress took full advantage of his moment in the sun, telling media he believed it was only a matter of time until the ban is repealed (although he acknowledged that won’t happen unless at least one other Republican changes their mind). Then, illustrating exactly how unlikely that is to happen, he then voted with the rest of his caucus to force the House to adjourn until next Wednesday, April 24.

Nothing says arrogance like eating up this kind of moment in the sun, then voting the other way when you think no one’s looking.

A new bill. On the Senate side, Anna Hernandez introduced her own repeal bill, SB1734. TJ Shope (R-16) and Shawnna Bolick (R-2), both in competitive districts, provided the necessary votes to allow her to introduce it. We well remember Bolick’s recent speech on the Senate floor vowing to introduce anti-abortion legislation “from the moment of conception,” and note that Bolick’s husband, Clint Bolick, was among the AZ Supreme Court justices hurling our state back to the 1860s.

Going nowhere fast. This bill could pass the Senate, but this will take at least 2 weeks. The Arizona Constitution mandates that bills receive 3 readings on separate calendar days; waiving this rule requires a 2/3 supermajority, which is not likely. As the Legislature is currently only meeting once a week, the earliest the Senate could pass the bill is Wednesday, May 1. (They show no desire to hurry it up; maybe they think we’ll forget?) And even then, to become law, the bill would still have to pass the House, where Speaker Toma would have to allow it to come up for a vote. This means Shope and Bolick aren’t really sticking their necks out at all.

A misrepresentation of democracy. This series of events contains plenty of disturbing elements: the anti-Christian miasma of toxic nationalism, exhibitionist prayer and public governance, for example.² But, perhaps, the misrepresentation of democracy itself is worst of all. Our representatives are taking rules which were meant to preserve order, and twisting them in order to silence dissent.

Last year, Tennessee Republicans expelled Rep. Jones for calling for gun control reform on the House floor. They were forced to reinstate him, but are still trying to keep him out.

“What we did today, in the sense of emotion, happened under regular order, which is very important to me,” Shope said. “I don’t like doing things that are going to just upend the traditional respect for the institution.” (Arizona Capitol Times)

This overreliance on “decorum,” “procedure” and “regular order” — in other words, hiding behind the rule book instead of standing firm on one’s moral convictions — is one of the most craven, reprehensible failings a politician can have. It signals a desire for power and control rather than a willingness to listen to constituents, much less the still, small voice within³ that tells each one of us to do the right thing.

We hear this kind of thing over and over from those in power. Know your place. Wait your turn. Stay in the kitchen. Don’t get “uppity.” We’re willing to let the minimum wage stagnate at $7.25 for 15 years, but when one guy wears a hoodie on the Senate floor, we’ll get an entire bill drafted, voted on and passed within a week.

Last year, Montana Republicans barred Zephyr, the state’s first transgender woman lawmaker, from the House floor for telling them they had “blood on their hands” for working to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Too many of our Arizona lawmakers are more concerned with decorum than rightdoing. It’s far past time we kicked that behavior to the curb.

Both the House and the Senate are scheduled to gavel back in on Wednesday, April 24 at 10 AM.

⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Use My Bill Positions (fondly nicknamed “RTS 2.0”) to show your support for SB1734 and HB2677, the two bills which would repeal the 1864 abortion ban. Confused about using RTS 2.0? This short video shows you how.

⏰⏰ If you have 15 minutes: Arizona desperately needs a different legislature. Find the competitive legislative district nearest you⁴, then sign up to volunteer for, or donate to, the candidates that best represent your values.

⏰⏰⏰ If you have 30 minutes: Contact Gov. Hobbs and ask her to veto one or more of the bad bills headed to her desk (see the “Veto Watch” section below).

⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom at 4pm on Sunday for our next CEBV Happy Hour conversation. This week we’ll feature Sarah Benatar, Coconino County Treasurer. We’ll meet every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of session. Sign up in advance here.

This past week, Gov. Hobbs exercised her power to protect Arizonans from the following harmful, CEBV-opposed legislation.

Vetoed: Tuesday, April 16

• SB1097, Wadsack (R-17), would have made school board elections partisan, completing their transformation into just another venue for extremist conflict.

• SB1146, Kern (R-27), would have allowed meat, poultry and seafood products made from animals that were not given a mRNA vaccination to be labeled "mRNA free." The bill appears to be driven by a false conspiracy theory that mRNA vaccines have entered the US food supply.

• SB1151, Kern (R-27), would have allowed public schools to post and read aloud the Ten Commandments in classrooms, violating the First Amendment.

• SB1153, Kern (R-27), would have inserted the Legislature into agency rulemaking by barring any rules that would increase regulatory costs by more than $500,000 over 5 years after implementation and requiring legislation instead.

• SB1189, Wadsack (R-17), would have banned cities from prohibiting or regulating gun shows within their boundaries.

• SB1299, Kern (R-27), would have made it harder to ban motorists from turning right on red lights by adding a layer of unnecessary, conspiracy-theory-based bureaucracy.

• SB1330, Mesnard (R-13), would have removed the word “drop box” from elections statute, potentially enable restrictions on drop boxes themselves and even the process of mail-in voting.

• SB1366, Bolick (R-2), would have added blockchain (related to cryptocurrency) to Arizona’s “regulatory sandbox,” essentially deregulating a volatile playground for the mega-rich.

• SB1628, Kerr (R-25), would have removed any reference to gender in Arizona law and replace it with a narrow, inflexible and unscientific definition of biological sex, eliminating any legal recognition of transgender people.

On the Governor’s Desk

GOP lawmakers passed the following 4 bills, which CEBV opposes, this week. They now await Gov. Hobbs’ veto. You can email the governor’s team at engage@az.gov to request she do just that.

• SB1060, Mesnard (R-13), would allow partisan observers inside the voting process on behalf of federal candidates, including during the setup process when other observers and the public are not permitted, in the name of “transparency.” This backstage access muddies a cleanly working process and could weaken confidence in our state’s elections. OPPOSE.

• SB1129, Rogers (R-7), would require law enforcement to immediately remove any "transient occupant" of private residential property and charge them with trespassing. State statutes already exist to cover this behavior. The bill does not include solutions for housing or shelter, and could be weaponized against domestic violence victims. OPPOSE.

• SB1182, Kavanagh (R-3), is a shower-only version of last year’s “bathroom bill” that would ban trans kids from using showers at school that align with their gender identities. Anyone who “encounters” a trans person in a shower area could file suit against public schools. OPPOSE.

• HB2328, Payne (R-27), would relax regulations on food trucks. The sponsor owns a food truck. The bill could lead to nuisances such as noise, along with gray water, trash and grease, being dumped in neighborhoods. OPPOSE.

2024 Session Timeline

These “deadlines” are highly flexible and can be changed or waived at any time with a simple majority vote.

Sunday, 6/30          Constitutionally mandated deadline for a state budget

Flag this handy list of contact info, committee chairs and assignments, updated for 2024.

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1. This has happened before, as Toma is acutely aware. In 2021, two Republican lawmakers rolled Republican leadership and forced a vote on a bill allowing Arizonans to repeal a ban on in-state tuition for Dreamers. Voters approved the measure, which is now law. Toma has no interest in seeing that happen to him.

2. Before you come at us for being “anti-Christian,” you might try reading Matthew 6:5-8. And then following it.

3. 1 Kings 19:12. Like we said, don’t even bother coming at us.

4. Those districts are 2, 4, 9, 13, 16, 17, 23, and 27.

Just like Arya Stark from Game of Thrones repeating the names of those who had wronged her, we’re repeating the numbers of the districts that can save us. Don’t judge.