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If I had to guess, I'd say SB1404 is probably toast. A few of its provisions/protections for the taxpayer might be amended into SB1480, since a supporter of SB1480 testified yesterday that Sen. Lesko had some "concerns" and they want to work with her. But SB1480 doesn't appear to have anything in it that would slow the Coyotes plan, and having won in the Finance Committee 5-2 yesterday, it appears that Committee probably prefers that pro-development approach. The bill probably has nothing to do directly with the Coyotes, but its moderate pro-development language seems to have taken the wind out of SB1404's sails.
So if SB1404 goes down because it didn't have the support in the Finance Committee, as evidenced by Sen. Lesko pulling the bill from its hearing yesterday, that gets to Rep. Kern's frustration at what's happening with Worsley's bill. It also didn't have enough votes in its first Committee apparently, because Worsley pulled it from its scheduled Commerce Committee hearing. But Worsley finangled some transportation language into the bill, got it moved to the Committee he chairs, and presto, he passes the bill 6-1. Most bills don't have that opportunity for a second chance, so Rep. Kern is crying foul.
As far as what the Rules Committee will do next, it now probably won't have the competing bills passed from two committees that I anticipated - Worsley's and Lesko's - so it will have less excuse to let them cancel each other out and let them both wither without a vote. At some point, they probably will assign it to the Finance Committee or to the floor of the Senate. If Rules doesn't like the bill, they might wait and do it later in the session. At some point, the Rules Committee will probably have to start meeting more often than weekly, because as bills come out of committees, their job is to assign them elsewhere and make up the daily schedule for bills going to the floor, and that will start to happen fast and furious soon. By the end of the session, they'll probably be meeting daily, which means we might be here reading tea leaves almost full-time.
Oh, and since according to Worsley, every bill - and I guess that means every post, too - should have a "transportation" connection, I just want to point out I used a "take the wind out of SB1404's sails" reference above. That should make this post eligible to get to the favorable Transportation Committee. Just tryin' to play by the AZ legislature's rules!
