Arizona Senate plans to end legislative session today; House in limbo

The Arizona Senate plans to officially end its annual legislative session today, President Karen Fann announced Thursday, effectively killing hundreds of bills unrelated to the new coronavirus pandemic.

“There is a strong consensus that this is the right thing to do,” Fann, R-Prescott, said in a statement. “Recognizing that the health of Arizona citizens and our economic recovery are our highest priority, we are setting aside any legislative business that does not directly support this mission.”

Senators will meet at 11 a.m., according to a legislative spokesman. Fann said she’d made her decision “after conversations and communications with members of the Arizona Senate and House.”

The House also plans to reconvene today, accord

ing to an email that Speaker Rusty Bowers sent members on Thursday. But Bowers did not say whether the House also plans to adjourn sine die after representatives gather at 1 p.m.

If the Senate ends its work and the House stays open, House members theoretically could pass some legislation already approved by the other chamber.

Legislative leadership already attempted to resume proceedings — which were temporarily halted March 23, as the number of COVID-19 cases climbed — once before. They had hoped to bring a formal close to the annual session and await better data on an expected budget shortfall they could address, if needed, in a special session over the summer.

But that plan dissolved after several Republican lawmakers said they weren’t on board: Some pushed for resuming work on a broad slate of bills, while others argued for focusing on coronavirus-specific legislation.

In her Thursday statement, Fann said the Senate would create task force committees to address the state’s “most pressing” pandemic-related issues, including its economic recovery, the stability of its health care system and employer liabilities as employees return to work.

It was not immediately clear whether those committees would operate outside of or as part of a special legislative session, however.

Senator: Plan ‘extremely unwise’

It was also unclear whether legislative leadership had won over the majority of Republican lawmakers.

In an interview, Sen. J.D. Mesnard, RChandler, said he had concerns about lawmakers adjourning too early, given the rapidly evolving pandemic.

“I’m not suggesting that we should start business as usual at this moment, because I think at whatever point, hypothetically, that we do start business, it needs to involve the public. They need to be able to participate,” he said. “But I think it’s extremely unwise and disappointing to foreclose that possibility for the rest of the year.”

Mesnard said he was “elected to do a job” and was “hearing more and more from my constituents that they want me to do that job.”

“If we end the session, then the only thing we can do is whatever the governor allows — he would have to call us into special session and would decide the terms of that session,” he said. “Ending now would stop (the Legislature’s) ability to be a check and a balance, and I’m not on board with that at all.”

Two hours after Fann’s announcement, Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, posted on Twitter, simply: “I disagree with Sine Die.”

Possible deal?

One way to sway certain GOP lawmakers displeased with what they view as Gov. Doug Ducey’s heavy-handed actions to control the pandemic could involve agreeing to consider measures that would counteract those actions.

For example, Sen. Michelle UgentiRita, R-Scottsdale, and Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, are pushing mirror resolutions that would overturn Ducey’s emergency declaration and associated executive orders.

Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, also wants to pass legislation that protects people and businesses who defy pandemic-related executive orders — perhaps a more palatable option for Republicans who don’t want to risk losing federal dollars by overturning the state of emergency.

Fann seemed to allude to those lawmakers’ priorities in her statement, saying legislators would “identify the solutions necessary to accelerate our economic recovery while working to ensure that the constitutional liberties of all of Arizona’s citizens are preserved.”

Democratic lawmakers, for their part, have said they would support returning to address the state’s response to the coronavirus, but not other legislation. Adjourning sine die would effectively allow them to kill many of the Republican bills they had opposed.