Provided by Capitol Consulting, LLC
Day 166: In the House and Senate,1724 bills have been introduced, with 130 memorials and resolutions introduced, 394 bills passed, 169 bills vetoed, 32 memorials and resolutions passed, and 225 bills signed.
AFCCA Bill Tracking:
The Dept of Health Services and Pima County provisions impacting AFCCA on HB2065 were amended onto SB1048 which is now dead as the Senate failed to take action prior to Sine Die. SB1048 allows a county medical examiner or alternate medical examiner to oversee the preservation, disinfection, and final disposition of indigent deceased persons at a county-owned and licensed crematory. Authorizes the county medical examiner or alternate medical examiner to apply for a crematory license on behalf of the county. Allows the medical examiner or alternate medical examiner to perform services related to the disposition of indigent deceased persons, including registering the death as the responsible party.
ADHS Proposed Rulemaking
The Funeral licensing and regulation draft rules have been updated again (draft 2) and comments can be submitted through July 6th. While the rules aim to streamline oversight and reduce confusion, there is a lot of movement, and the industry should pay close attention. We are reviewing the latest iteration and will be providing comments to the agency as needed. ADHS is hosting a stakeholder meeting to discuss the rules and other subjects on Friday June 13th at 10:00 am at the ADHS (150 N 18th Ave.) with a virtual option available. Please reach out to Heather Pace or Courtney LeVinus if you want to attend.
Click here to view rules.
Budget Update:
That budget Governor Katie Hobbs negotiated with Senate Republicans, the one that House budget leaders swore could not pass their chamber, passed the House overwhelmingly last night, defying expectations and marking a significant bipartisan achievement.
After months of fixating on spending plans that have no chance of earning the governor’s signature, lawmakers in the House worked late into the night yesterday to mark up the budget that Gov. Katie Hobbs negotiated with Senate Republicans weeks ago.
And with just days ahead of a government shutdown, the House finally approved the negotiated budget and sent it back to the Senate for final approval.
In fact, the $17.6 billion budget that came out of the Senate is still $17.6 billion. Lawmakers in the House added, per our back-of-the-napkin math, less than $30 million in spending (not including a few million they cut). That’s roughly a change of 0.15%.
The budget received final approval in the Senate today at 10:00 AM. With this approval, it now heads to the Governor’s Office for signature into law.
Two Budgets Vetoed:
The House Republicans passed two different budgets in the last week, one that included $17.3B in spending and the other a baseline budget intended to continue spending at last year’s levels. Democrats unanimously voted no on each proposal. The Senate passed both packages Wednesday in mass motions on the floor, sending them to the Governor’s desk where both were almost immediately vetoed.