Only one exciting tidbit on the legislative front:  I was able to corral Senate President Tim Bee this afternoon (Monday) and got him to commit to putting my Oatman bill on another calendar for Committee of the Whole.  This time I have my votes lined up and I'll be in the Senate during the vote to make sure it happens. 

Otherwise, the budget battle continues between the House and the Senate/Governor.  At the request of the Senate leadership, no information is being given to members -- and many of us are not happy about that.  The Speaker of the House was in Mohave County this past weekend and he stayed with Paul and me, so I was able to get a private briefing, but there still wasn't much detail and no indication as to when it might be resolved.

Even though there's not much going on in Phoenix, I did have a full weekend of visiting with constituents throughout the County.  It started with a luncheon annual meeting of the Lake Havasu Chamber of Commerce on Friday.  Saturday morning I was off to a ranch north of Kingman for the annual "Kids Fishing Day" put on by the Mohave Sportsmans Club.

Speaker Weiers joined me Saturday evening for the Community Achievement Awards at the Avi.  He presented the Spirit of the Colorado River award, and I was honored to present the Spirit of Arizona award to Bullhead City's Louise Zaborsky.

Sunday we were up early for another trip to Lake Havasu for the Elks Club flag day ceremony, which was a very informative look at the various flags that have flown over our country.  We followed this with a town hall meeting at the council chambers with Mayor Mark Nexsen and about a dozen citizens.  The prime topic of conversation was the high sewer bills, result of the bond issue to pay for the sewering of the city.  My sewer tax credit is dead for this year, but the Speaker mentioned several areas that are being looked into to provide some relief.  He has assured me that this is something that he is taking seriously and putting some effort into.  Mayor Nexsen also mentioned five points that he is investigating to mitigate the costs per residence, including spreading the bond payments from 20 to 30 years, asking for a waiver from AZ Dept. of Environmental Quality to exclude two areas from the required sewering, and delaying the construction of the second treatment facility.

I'll continue to lobby for state funds for all the River Communities who are protecting the water supply of Phoenix and Tucson.

I hope there's more to report next week.

Nancy McLain

Nancy McLain
nmclain@azleg.gov or
nmclainbhc@aol.com