Our View: Hardworking local lawmakers may not see much success

Designation as the “prime” sponsor of a legislative measure is the equivalent of being the quarterback in football. Our elected state officials are carrying the ball on 85 different initiatives, trying to modify existing laws or enact new legislation.

Rep. Gail Griffin leads the trio with her name on 36 bills. Among her initiatives are laws to increase the penalties for criminal damage to critical infrastructure. She’s also got her name on several bills governing water and which agency has authority over the resource. She’s sponsoring consent measures urging Congress to empower state immigration enforcement, securing America’s lands from foreign interference, and proposing more federal involvement in wildlife conservation.

Her House mate — Rep. Lupe Diaz — is the prime sponsor on 14 bills, changing state codes for fire districts, increasing penalties for those who incite a riot, classroom preparation, election information requests and firearm modification, among other measures.

Sen. David Gowan has his name on 35 bills as the prime sponsor, calling for law changes for fireworks, constable salaries, marijuana licensing, middle-school civics instruction and death benefits for first responders, among other initiatives.

Considering these local lawmakers are paid a paltry $24,000 a year in salary, plus per diem, constituents are getting something of a bargain.

In addition to serving as the prime sponsor for these bills, our state officials are also co-sponsoring legislation with fellow members of their respective chamber. Gowan, for example, is co-sponsoring 36 measures, Rep. Griffin another 22 and Rep. Diaz another 26.

We’re not getting into the details on what each of these sponsored and co-sponsored bills entail, for good reason.

As hard-working as our locally elected state officials are, the number of initiatives they have introduced is minuscule compared to the total brought by the entire Arizona Legislature.

Our lawmakers in Phoenix have proposed 1,625 bills in this, the first session of the 56th gathering of the Legislature. Believe it or not, that’s actually a lot less than the total introduced by our state legislators last year. In 2022, a total of 1,747 bills were introduced, of which 422 were sent to outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey.

Considering the political makeup of our state government, with a governor who is a Democrat and a Legislature with a Republican majority, we anticipate far fewer of the proposed bills for this session will be turned into law. First-term Gov. Katie Hobbs has promised to veto initiatives she considers “too Republican,” and bills introduced by her party may not make it out of committee, let along be considered by the full Legislature.

Considering that dynamic, we’re fairly confident all the noise being made this session about initiatives to change firearm laws, crackdown on classrooms, penalize drag queens and other controversial measures will never see the governor’s desk.