Catching Up

Dear Republican Friends,

Session is winding down & for the most part the majority of bills have been voted on & sent to the Governor. The House & Senate bodies continue to meet each day to Third & Final read a handful of bills that could probably be voted on in one or two days but the bills are being spaced out over the remainder of the session in order to have business to address when we convene each day. The House and Senate are not meeting tomorrow so the majority of members have the day off...most of them will get an extra day to work at their "regular" job or spend time gathering signatures for re-election. I will not have this luxury, though I cannot complain as I am doing what I love...assisting in the creation of a potentially conservative budget. Is that laughter I hear? No, don't laugh...it helps to have hope (and a strong dose of faith) with this job.

As I have mentioned before, Senator Gould & I are participating in lengthy daily budget meetings to create an acceptable, responsible solution to address the $2 Billion Dollar shortfall. The other participants (all Republicans) include House & Senate Leadership, the appropriations chairmen, & a variety of rank & file members who represent various ideological views. We have made some progress in the meetings, making slight cuts in a variety of government programs, attempting to stem the bleeding but unfortunately the bloodletting is still to come. Trimming $1 Million here or $13 Million there hardly makes a dent in this fiscal crisis. At this point though, personalities have taken a backseat to policy & for that I am thankful.

In other news, the Governor & her Regulatory Review Council have overstepped their authority by requiring automobiles in Arizona to meet new standards for greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2011. Besides the fact the Governor & her council have side-stepped the legislature (& therefore, the people) once again, she has followed California in this endeavor & The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has so far refused to give California the power to enact its own greenhouse gas emission standards. Many of the Phoenix area papers have written articles detailing this decision so check out my "reading room" feature for more information.