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Friday, March 8, 2019
Day 54
Bills to Watch
There are two bills awaiting action in the Senate that ASBA wants to bring your attention to. The first is HB 2026 (public resources; influencing elections; penalties). This bill allows a resident of a city, county, town, or school district to file suit with the county superior court if they suspect a public employee used public resources to influence the outcome of an election. This is already illegal (for school districts, it’s prohibited in 15-511), and the Attorney General or County Attorney is free to investigate suspected wrongdoing and file a suit under current law. We believe 15-511 is sufficient to address this concern and are worried that HB 2026 would result in many baseless and expensive lawsuits. HB 2026 is awaiting assignment in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The other bill is HB 2693 (misconduct involving weapons; school grounds). Under current law, an adult is allowed to store an unloaded firearm in their parked car on school grounds. HB 2693 would allow loaded guns to be stored in vehicles on school grounds. ASBA is concerned with the conflict between this bill and the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. Unless a person has a Concealed Weapons Permit (CCW), they could be in violation of federal law for storing a loaded gun in their vehicle at a school. HB 2693 is awaiting assignment in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Head over to Capitol Impact for our staff summaries of all the bills we heard this week.
AZEdNews: How unfunded mandates strain schools’ budgets
Next Week’s Agendas
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