Weekly Report

As predicted, the hope of an 85 day session was just a dream. We reach that day this coming week, and there is no way we are ready to adjourn. I hope that we will see a preliminary budget this week -- bets are being taken on how many budgets will be vetoed before we get one through. It may be a very long time before we are actually finished with our work.

The Governor visited Bullhead City last Friday and gave a brief talk before taking questions from the group. She was very proud of the fact that we now have a "surplus," but it's no thanks to her that we do. She also mentioned the importance of the "rainy day fund," but once again failed to mention that she vetoed the part of last year's budget that would have made a substantial deposit to that fund.

I did not join her for the meth forum that followed the luncheon, but friends reported that she did a credible job in answering questions for nearly an hour. This is obviously a subject of great concern to Mohave County, and I'm glad to see that it is getting the attention it deserves. There has been talk about the "Montana Project," which is an advertising campaign with graphic messages about the dangers of meth. In Montana, the program is funded by a wealthy private citizen who doesn't want government involvement because he believes that the message will be diluted if subject to bureaucratic review. The Governor indicated that her office has been in touch with the folks in Montana and that they are studying whether to adopt the same approach in Arizona.

A colleague in the legislature reported that a school district in Yavapai County refused to post posters showing the actual effects of meth on previously attractive young people, saying that the pictures were too graphic. These are exactly the images that should be seen by impressionable students. They have to know what they will be getting themselves into if they experiment with this cheap and extremely addictive drug.

I am supporting the legislation that would mandate statewide controls on the sale of products containing pseudoephedrine. Over 30 cities have passed their own ordinances after the failure last year of a similar bill. The current argument against this action is that right now most of the meth is coming from Mexico, rather than from labs in local areas. My response is that eventually we will get serious about closing the border to both illegals and drugs. Once that happens, the meth labs will spring up again. So let's do something now to be proactive rather than waiting to react later.

Until next week,

Nancy