Bill to keep ADOT running passes
Without legislative approval, the Arizona Department of Transportation would be dissolved July 1. On Monday, a Republican-led Arizona Senate committee approved a bill to continue the agency.
But the vote came ONLY after several restrictions were added that include quashing any efforts to reduce the number of cars on Arizona’s roads.
"The Democrats have this weird idea of going back like a hundred years in technology as somehow the answer to commute issues," said Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman. "The reality is that people love automobiles."
The measure now needs full Senate approval. But a spokesperson for Gov. Katie Hobbs says politicizing ADOT is a non-starter.
Voter registration workers pay bill passes
On a party-line vote, an Arizona Senate committee passed a bill that would ban voter registration workers from getting paid strictly by the amount of names they register.
Republican Sen. Ken Bennett, the bill's sponsor, says the current rules incentivize workers to commit fraud by adding names.
"It doesn’t prohibit people employing people to do a voter registration project. You just can’t pay them by name," Bennett said.
Bennett says Hobbs had vetoed a similar bill last legislative session, so he would be willing to modify his latest bill to avoid a repeat of last year.
