Welcome to the third episode of Prickly, a podcast from KJZZ’s Politics Desk. Subscribe here or wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to the Prickly newsletter.
In Arizona political news, listeners hear plenty about contentious topics like abortion and border security, but there are hundreds of other bills that deserve attention: especially the ones proposed before their time.
We interviewed state lawmakers about some of the “futuristic” bills they’ve pushed this year.
- Certain kinds of artificial intelligence will be regulated in Arizona from now on due to Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) — and he used AI to help him write the bill.
- Another new law signed this year established the Arizona Space Commission, which bill sponsor Rep. Justin Wilmeth (R-Phoenix) hopes can make the state an attractive place for private companies to launch out of. He even hopes for an “Arizona space station” someday.
- The “Jetson’s Bill” hasn’t made it all the way through the state Legislature this year, but it would pave the way for a burgeoning flying car industry to come to Arizona. The legislation would allow Arizonans to register their flying cars for road and sky use.
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