January 26, 2009

Last week was short, but exciting.  We took Monday off to observe Martin Luther King Day, then saw the inauguration of Jan Brewer as the Governor of Arizona.  It will be a totally different experience to work with a Republican Governor, and I'm anxious to see how that plays out.

There was a lot of talk about how conservative Gov. Brewer would actually be, but I was heartened by her inaugural address in which she spoke of smaller government and of preserving the freedoms that we so take for granted.

We started our schedule of regular committee meetings, delayed by the "Budget Boot Camp" I described last week.  The first meeting of Appropriations was mostly organizational, as we introduced ourselves, met the staff and approved the rules under which we would meet.  That was followed by a presentation from Treasurer Dean Martin regarding the state's cash flow situation, which is not good.  Unless we can decrease our spending, the state will run out of money very shortly and be required to borrow to cover expenses.  Or perhaps like California, delay payment of income tax refunds!

We also had the first meeting of the Transportation Committee.  Again we did the organizational items, but we actually heard our first bill: HB2106, which would restrict photo speed radar from the State's highways.  I was happy to vote for this measure, as I have long thought this was much too an intrusive invasion of our personal space.  Under much questioning, the Dept. of Public Safety finally admitted that in addition to the photo taken of speeders, there is streaming video that records ALL vehicles passing by the cameras.  They stated that they cannot always record the license plate numbers of every car, but they have already used these videos in the investigation of other activities such as hit and runs or other violations.  These videos are kept for 90 days, and there is the distinct possibility that they could be used in other types of cases. 

Beyond the privacy issue, there was also the way in which this policy was implemented and for what purpose.  Our former Governor issued an executive order to get these cameras in place, bypassing the legislative process and any discussion of the people's views.  Also, she proposed this as a revenue measure, anticipating $90 million per year in fines as part of the so-called balanced budget passed for fiscal year 2009.  All of these issues were thoroughly discussed in this committee meeting as we passed this bill 5 to 2. They will also be brought up as this bill goes to the full House for a vote.

The committee which I will chair, Banking and Insurance, would have had its first meeting on the 19th -- MLK Day.  So we will meet for the first time on the 26th.  We will do the same organizational items and hear three bills on Monday, all of which were brought to me by the insurance industry for relatively minor issues.  Several people have told me that they expect we'll have some major bills because of the state of the banking industry.  But I don't see that happening.  Our state chartered banks are in relatively good condition; all the ones that are in trouble are federally chartered and not subject to our jurisdiction, so there's not anything to be done at the state level.

I'm sponsoring many more bills this year than I have done in the past.  It's turning out to be a lesson in organization as Lois Ann (my assistant) and I try to keep everything running smoothly.  I'll be talking about some of them in upcoming weeks.