The Arizona Legislature would add another 30 lawmakers under a proposal the current 90 members are considering. Right now, there are 60 representatives and 30 senators.
But Sen. J.D. Mesnard wants to divide each of the state’s 30 current legislative districts into three, with each getting its own representative.
Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services joined The Show to talk more.
Full conversation
HOWIE FISCHER: So we're going to decide whether, if you like the Legislature, having more of them around is a good thing.
BRODIE: Yeah, like, you're going to have to learn a lot more faces and names, a lot more mouths to stick your microphone in front of.
FISCHER: Exactly, exactly. This is an interesting concept, as you point out. You know, we have 30 legislative districts, you know, one senator and two representatives from each district. Now, the representatives represent the whole district, so they represent all 240,000-250,000 people in the district.
The idea is if you take each of those 30 districts and you further subdivide them geographically, you're leaving each representative that would be elected, like, with about 80,000 people, which is perhaps much more manageable, both in terms of getting to know folks.
It's probably cheaper to run for office because you don't have as many mailers to go out. It probably go door to door more the extent. But then there's obviously some geographic questions, including, we've got, so to speak, a packed House right now. Where do you put them?
BRODIE: Well, that's part of the issue, right. Like, I mean, as it is, especially in the House, you know, representatives share sort of an office suite. They share an assistant. Like, the floors are the size they are. Where do you put everybody?
FISCHER: Well, on the floor, you could give everybody smaller desk. I mean, look at the U.S. House. You've got 435 people there shoved in, and they don't even have desks. That's a little harder to work, I think, for state lawmakers who probably aren't as familiar with a lot of the bills as maybe members of Congress are.
But as you point out, also they've got this whole issue of office space. Now, there is some space in the basement that gets used for meeting rooms and such. And perhaps they could kind of spill over to the old Capitol. I mean, for years they met on the third floor of the old Capitol and they had these tiny little desks that look like student desks with lids that lifted up. And fact is, if you go there, if you ever go on a tour, open up some of the desks, lawmakers carve their names in there like a bunch of 6-year-olds.
And so it's possible, but the office space becomes an issue. Cost becomes an issue. I mean, if you're going to pay, you know, 30 more people $24,000 a year, plus the per diem, plus the staff help and everything else, you know, you could be talking over a million dollars. Now, is a million dollars a lot of the $17.8 billion budget? Well, depends on what you're getting for it, I guess.
BRODIE: Well, so, Howie, is there any sense that lawmakers are, especially those in the House, are up for having smaller constituencies?
FISCHER: Oh, I think there's a lot of interest in there. One of the funny things that's happened over the years is that the senators, every time that comes up, whether it's dividing the House or term limits, they like the House on two-year terms, but they want four year terms for themselves because we are the upper chamber, you know, we are, you know, you know, our stuff doesn't smell. And so it'll be interesting to see where this gets stuck in there with that.
Now, also note that even Sen. Mesnard suggests that there's some stuff to be worked out. Originally he was gonna try to do this after the 2030 census. Now he's trying to do it after the 2040 census. So when you and I get on the phone in 2042 on Monday morning to discuss this, we can decide how it's gonna work.
BRODIE: All right, I'll mark it on my calendar.
Now, Howie, a bill that's going before a House committee this week that's already cleared the Senate, deals with state agencies that would be required to share data on undocumented immigrants. Anything that the feds ask for, state agencies would provide.
FISCHER: Well, that's the question, I think that a lot of people have. I mean, there are already state laws that say you have to cooperate with federal agencies. What this does, we're not sure. I think this is interesting coming right as it does, what with federal agencies demanding, for example, our full voter registration records, the thing that's currently in front of a judge in federal court.
And so if you're telling the secretary of state he cannot go ahead and say no, this is protected by state privacy laws, because this is worded to say, regardless of any other law in the books, you still have to turn it over. Well, what else does that affect? Because when you have those clauses and legislation saying, never mind, anything else is anywhere in the 49 titles of the Arizona Revised Statute, you still have to cooperate.
It's the unknown that I think scares a lot of lawmakers. Certainly the Democratic lawmakers. The Republicans seem to be just fine with it based on the vote so far.
BRODIE: Well, and based on those votes, it would seem as though maybe this isn't one, you never like to predict the future, but maybe one that Gov. Hobbs, if it gets to her, would not be such a fan of.
FISCHER: Well, let's see, she's up to 14 already this year. I think she signed five. Interesting ratio there. I'd say given how fast we're going with the bills, I'd say she could set a new record this year and this just be the tip of the iceberg.
BRODIE: So have about a minute left. I want to ask you about a proposal that would ask voters whether or not they want to do away with photo radar. This is one of those issues that seems like it's been around the Legislature for decades.
FISCHER: Exactly. And this comes down to a question of local control here. You know, cities decide, we want to stop speeders. They also decide that, for example, we have a lot of problems with red light running. You know, try to drive through 35th Avenue, McDowell, and you pretty much ought to count to 10 before you go on the green light. Red seems to be sort of a suggestion.
So they've tried to outlaw this outright. Voters have rejected it, sometimes doesn't get out of the Legislature. So they're trying a different form. They say any city that has photo radar, first of all, this goes to the ballot, number one. And then if that passes, any cities that have photo radar would have to put it to voters so the voters would get the say as far as what they want.
Now, what's interesting to note is any city that does not already have photo enforcement, whether it's radar, whether it's red light cabinets, would never get to come in again under this measure. Now, again, this goes around the governor. What are the sentiments on photo radar? I think a lot of people probably question the issue of speed cameras, but I think a lot of other people say, do we really want to turn off those red light cameras given what we have going on here?
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