Arizona has many things going for it: all the golf courses you could possibly want, clear skies, abundant sunshine, mild winters, a great public university and beautiful desert scenery.
However, we pay a price for this natural grandeur and spectacle.
In exchange for our eight months of gorgeous weather, we must suffer through the four months of blistering, agonizing, unrelenting summer hell.
Heat strokes, haboobs and scorpions — these are the things that plague us here. But that’s nothing compared to our frighteningly out-of-touch State Legislature, best known for laws like Senate Bill 1070.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Let’s not forget that just two months ago, Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, sponsored House Bill 2675, which would have required many students to contribute $2,000 out-of-pocket toward tuition. Kavanagh later withdrew the bill after students from across Arizona expressed their fervent opposition.
Then there was Senate Bill 1474, which would have allowed guns to be carried on campus. This also failed to gain popular support among students, the administration and the Arizona Board of Regents.
Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, introduced House Bill 2199. This would “allow companies to keep (cases of environmental pollution) secret,” thus avoiding liability for civil damages and lawsuits. Supporters of the bill argue that companies would have an incentive to clean up contamination if they so choose, because they could do it “quietly.”
House Bill 2563, the brainchild of Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, would allow public schools to offer an elective course on the history and traditions emanating from the Christian Bible. This would create an exception to the prohibition on “sectarian or denominational books … or doctrines” already outlined in Arizona law, but only for one religious text and no others.
Contravening the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution seems to be a trend for Arizona legislators. See Senate Bill 1467, under which teachers could be fired for using “indecent” language in a classroom setting.
Keep in mind, more students use coarse language in front of teachers than the other way around.
Originally, this ban on the F-word would have extended to professors at public universities – apparently, the legislature thinks college students are OK to carry guns, but are too delicate and “impressionable” to hear some raunchy language.
Now, Gov. Jan Brewer is set to sign a bill into law that would criminalize the use of “any electronic or digital device, instead of a telephone, with the intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend a person."
House Bill 2549 would “censor electronic speech,” according to the Media Coalition and would “criminalize every comments section, ever,” according to Comedy Central’s Indecision blog.
“When Arizona legislators outlaw trolling, only outlaws will be Arizona legislators,” quipped Ilya Gerner, one of the bloggers behind Indecision.
There are plenty more ridiculous, insulting, corrupt, unhelpful bills in the legislature I haven’t covered and many more to come.
It is a sad reality that more attention is paid to the presidential election every four years when local elections are just as important.
Leaders, for lack of a better word, and policies that affect us the most at the local level rarely receive the public attention they ought to have.
The best way to fight this phenomenon is to be informed, to pay attention and to demand accountability from our elected officials who rely on our votes.
Let’s make sure our leaders deserve our votes.
Reach the columnist at skthoma4@asu.edu
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