In the House

This past Tuesday I had the distinction to hang out in a room in the House that few people get to hang out in. Granted, I have no idea what the official name of the room is but it’s the room directly behind the floor of the House. This is the room House members are lobbied and cajoled. It’s basically a lobby (go figure) with some leather couches, comfortable chairs and the plushest carpet you can imagine.

I can’t speak to the specifics as to why I was there or who I was with but suffice to say it was very, very cool to experience.

Movie Industry Tax Credits

The failure of the film industry tax credit bill, SB 1409, yesterday was an interesting display on how quickly votes can change. Though it went down 11-16 in the Senate according to many of our sources this bill was virtually tied as of yesterday.

While I can’t divulge our sources, or the specific Senators that we believe flipped, it was interesting to see the cascade effect once it was known it was going to fail. Instead of being say 14-13, once Senators knew their votes would not be the “deciding” vote they could jump off (or on, depending on your perspective) the bandwagon.

With Senator Nelson’s vote against it he can now hope to have the bill reconsidered, but given the expiring opportunity to have it heard in a Senate committee (let alone a House committee if it left the Senate) it appears this bill is all but dead.

Civic Duty

SB 1404 would require that 8th graders in Arizona pass a United States civics exam in order to move on to the next grade. My first reaction was that it would never pass the Parliament.

Sorry, that was a bad joke. Still this is interesting. The test will be the same one required by immigrants to become American citizens (the questions are listed at the bottom of the article).

I realize that there is a seemingly ongoing debate about testing in schools, whether it’s regarding the effectiveness of tests results vs. being educated or the potential pitfalls of the construct of the tests themselves. Still, if you read these questions I do not believe this is an overly burdensome test of 8th graders.

Busy Week Down at the Capital

State legislatures are attempting to make this upcoming week the last week for committee hearings. The talk around the Capital is that they want to end this session around the 1st of May; I’m sure in part so many of them can start fundraising in earnest.

To that end, the committees have a busy, busy week. The committee agendas for both the House and the Senate are packed (especially Senate Finance). I feel bad for the staffers and interns down at the legislature as this will be a long, long week for all of them.

Why I Think Sam Bradford is the Worst QB Ever

OK, I don't. That said, as a Detroit Lions fan I need the St. Louis Rams to not select Bradford #1 overall this April in the NFL Draft. Detroit, who has the #2 overall pick, obviously won't draft a QB after dropping $41.7M in guaranteed money to Matthew Stafford last year, but there are teams who might trade up for Bradford.

Detroit has such a terrible team they need help at virtually every position and trading down for more picks would be perfect for Detroit. And that is why I fully anticipate the NFL commish saying this April, "With the first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams select Sam Bradford, Quarterback, Oklahoma."

This is a virtual lock.

General Funds vs. Bond Money

There was a report in the Arizona Republic last week regarding Phoenix's new airplane used for prisoner extraditions and surveillance. The plane cost over $4 million dollars.

 

While an obvious public relations issue this illustrates the complexity of general fund money vs. public bond money. While this is a way, way oversimplified explanation the bottom line is this: general city operations (salaries, etc.) can only come from the city's general fund, which is funded from (certain) tax revenue and shared revenue from the state.

 

Bond funds can only be spent towards the specific items that were articulated when the bond was proposed. This is why the city cannot use this $4 million dollars toward police or fire fighter salaries and must be spent on the approved item: the airplane.

 

Again, that is a very oversimplified explanation of general funds vs. bond money but it is key that voters understand that there is a difference between the two pools of money and how they are able to be spent. I'm not saying this airplane purchase is right, wrong or otherwise but the city is correct in its application of this particular bond money.

Sustainability Unsustainable?

The Arizona Capital Times published an article regarding state agencies being non-compliant with a 2003 state law that "required" these agencies, "to reduce their energy consumption by 10 percent by the end of 2008."

 

Among the state agencies that have not complied with this mandate is the Board of Regents, the entity that governs Arizona's three state universities (ASU, NAU and U of A).

 

I find it odd that in this report there is no comment from ASU's School of Sustainability. While I'm unsure if the reporters never contacted the school (my assumption) or if the school did not respond, I think it would be wise for the school to get out in front and release a statement as to why this has occurred.