Arizona legislative manual

              ARIZONA
LEGISLATIVE
MANUAL
1998 EDITION
Arizona Legislative Council
Phoenix, Arizona
Copyright c 1998
Arizona Legislative Council
Suite 100, Legislative Services Wing
State Capitol
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
www.azleg.state.az.us
Editor
David M. Thomas
Deputy Director
Arizona Legislative Council
Front Cover: Winged Victory on dome of Arizona State Capitol. All photos courtesy of research division, Arizona Department of
Library, Archives and Public Records, Phoenix.
The Arizona Legislative Manual is the product of several members of the Arizona Legislative Council
staff with the helpful input and support of several other members of the Legislature and the legislative
staff. These current and former legislators and staff of the Senate and House of Representatives have
taken an active role in reviewing and providing helpful comments, suggestions and directions. Moreover,
many organizational ideas and features were inspired by the published works of others, notably The
Arizona Legislature by Professor Charles W. Wiggins, Ph.D. (1974); From Idea To Bill To Law by State
Senator Randall Gnant (2nd ed., 1996); Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure (1989), the “Guide To The
43rd Legislature” published by Arizona News Service and handbooks and manuals generously contributed
by the legislatures of many other states.
This manual reflects the common use of various terms in the legislative environment that may
occasionally cause confusion for the uninitiated reader. The words “chamber” and “floor” are used
interchangeably to refer to the area (or arena) in the Senate and the House of Representatives where the
membership of the entire body meets for debate. “Chamber,” “body” and “house” are also used to refer
to either the Senate or House of Representatives as an institution (including the physical facility, the
membership and the staff), and if “house” is not capitalized, that is the intended usage, but if “House” is
capitalized, it is an abbreviated reference to only the House of Representatives.
People who work in and closely with the Legislature usually refer to the measures being considered
collectively as “bills.” This is inaccurate and incomplete because resolutions and memorials are also
introduced and considered by the Legislature along with bills. This manual attempts to use terms such as
“measures” or “legislation” for generic reference to the items under consideration by the Legislature and
use “bill,” “resolution” and “memorial” only when discussing the unique features of those individual
types of legislation. Nevertheless, there may be occasional occurrences of the use of “bill” in a general,
rather than the specific, sense, and the reader must read those uses in context to understand the accurate
meaning.
This manual reflects the fact that there is no official legislative protocol in Arizona regarding the use
of “chairman,” “chairperson” and “chair” in reference to the presiding member of a legislative committee.
All of these words are in contemporary and accepted use in the Arizona Legislature without any intended
or understood gender exclusivity or political correctness or incorrectness.
The Arizona State Senate and House of Representatives have equal status in the Legislature. This
manual does not use the terms “upper house” or “lower house” because they are inaccurate and carry an
incorrect connotation of superiority and inferiority. Nor is there any implied priority in listing “Senate”
or “House of Representatives” first in a sentence. The only time such an order may be significant is if
there is some chronological order in a particular legislative process. If there is any such instance, the
procedural order will be noted in the text.
Finally, this manual is not intended and should not be read to be an official statement or description
of the rules, procedure or policy of the Arizona Legislature. It is not an “official” legislative document.
Instead, it is a narrative of what the Legislature is and what goes on in the Legislature and restates in its
own words the actual requirements and practices that are prescribed by the constitution, laws and rules
for the Arizona Legislature.
Preface
Table of Contents
Chapter Page
One The Legislative Function ............................................................... 1
The Legislature.................................................................................. 1
Direct Citizen Legislation .................................................................2
Initiative .......................................................................................3
Referendum .................................................................................3
Amendment, Repeal or Veto of Initiated or Referred Measures4
Two The Arizona Legislature ................................................................ 5
History of the Arizona Legislature ...................................................5
Territorial Arizona ...................................................................... 5
The Enabling Act and Constitutional Convention of 1910 .......6
Early Arizona Legislature ........................................................... 7
Constitutional Principles Regarding the Legislature .................8
Size and Apportionment ...................................................................8
Membership ...................................................................................... 9
Qualifications............................................................................... 9
Elections ...................................................................................... 9
Term Limits .................................................................................. 9
Vacancies .....................................................................................9
Leadership ...................................................................................... 10
President of the Senate and Speaker of the
House of Representatives........................................................ 10
Majority and Minority Leaders ................................................ 11
Majority and Minority Whips .................................................. 11
President Pro Tempore and Speaker Pro Tempore ................. 11
Parliamentarian ........................................................................ 12
Standing Committee Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen ............... 12
The Committee System .................................................................. 12
Standing Committees ............................................................... 12
Subcommittees ......................................................................... 13
Joint Statutory Committees ..................................................... 13
Interim Committees ................................................................. 13
Political Party Caucuses ................................................................ 14
Staff ................................................................................................. 14
Secretary of the Senate ............................................................. 15
Chief Clerk of the House ......................................................... 15
Research Staff ............................................................................ 15
Rules Committee Staff .............................................................. 16
Committee Secretaries ............................................................. 16
Majority and Minority Staff ..................................................... 16
Members’ Assistants and Secretaries ...................................... 16
Accounting Staff ....................................................................... 17
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Chapter Page
Sergeant at Arms ...................................................................... 17
Pages ......................................................................................... 17
Other Staff................................................................................. 17
Legislative Agency Staff ............................................................ 17
Lobbyists ........................................................................................ 17
Press................................................................................................ 18
Three Legislative Finances..................................................................... 21
Legislative Budget .......................................................................... 21
Legislator Compensation ............................................................... 21
Salary ........................................................................................ 21
Per Diem and Other Expense Allowances .............................. 22
Retirement and Other Employment Benefits .......................... 23
Four Legislative Powers, Privileges and Responsibilities ..................... 25
Legislative Immunity ...................................................................... 25
Limitations on Legislative Power .................................................. 26
Crimes Against the Legislature ..................................................... 26
Legislative Discipline ..................................................................... 26
Reporting Campaign Finances ...................................................... 27
Reporting Personal Finances ......................................................... 27
Five Legislative Procedure .................................................................. 29
Parliamentary Procedure in the Senate and the
House of Representatives .............................................................. 29
Senate Procedure ........................................................................... 29
House of Representatives Procedure ............................................ 30
Six The Legislature in Operation....................................................... 33
Sessions: Organization of the Legislature ..................................... 33
Drafting........................................................................................... 34
Bills............................................................................................ 35
Resolutions ............................................................................... 35
Memorials ................................................................................. 35
Fiscal Notes .................................................................................... 36
Introductions.................................................................................. 36
First and Second Reading .............................................................. 36
Committee Action .......................................................................... 37
Notice and Agendas ................................................................. 37
Hearing ..................................................................................... 38
Subcommittees ......................................................................... 39
Amendments............................................................................. 39
Appropriations Committees .................................................... 40
Rules Committees .................................................................... 40
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Chapter Page
Caucus ............................................................................................ 40
Calendars........................................................................................ 41
Committee of the Whole ............................................................... 42
Floor Debate ............................................................................ 42
Floor Amendments .................................................................. 43
Engrossing ................................................................................ 43
Third Reading................................................................................. 44
Second House Consideration ........................................................ 44
Concur, Refuse, Conference Committees ..................................... 45
Final Passage and Transmission to Governor or
Secretary of State ........................................................................... 46
Gubernatorial Action..................................................................... 46
Effective Date ................................................................................. 47
Example.......................................................................................... 49
Seven The State Budget Process ............................................................ 51
Eight Legislative Oversight ................................................................... 55
Sunset Review of State Agencies and Programs ........................... 55
Administrative Rules Oversight Committee ................................. 56
Senate Advise and Consent on
Gubernatorial Appointments ........................................................ 56
Nine Impeachment ............................................................................... 57
Investigation and Indictment by House of Representatives ......... 57
Trial by Senate ................................................................................ 58
Historical Perspective .................................................................... 59
Ten Legislative Service Agencies ........................................................ 61
Legislative Council ......................................................................... 61
Joint Legislative Budget Committee .............................................. 62
Department of Library, Archives and Public Records .................. 62
Office of the Auditor General ........................................................ 63
Ombudsman-Citizens’ Aide ........................................................... 63
Ombudsman for Private Property Rights ...................................... 64
Eleven Legislative Constituent Services ................................................. 65
ALIS On-line ................................................................................... 65
Information Desks ......................................................................... 65
AZNet ............................................................................................. 65
Twelve Glossary of Legislative Terms ..................................................... 67
Addendum to Legislative Manual .................................................................. 85
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Chapter One
The
Legislative
Function
The Legislature is a complex institution
with traditions rooted in Colonial
American and European experience, but
it is also a contemporary institution in which
politicians with strong personalities and political
philosophies deal with current problems,
interests and strategies in a way that easily
overwhelms a casual observer. The Legislature
touches the life of every person in this state. With
such power focused in a complex organization
following esoteric processes, it is easy for the
ordinary citizen to become frustrated and
distrustful of government that, in the final
analysis, exists solely to benefit the public. This
manual is devoted to describing the Arizona
Legislature and what it does so that interested
citizens and new lawmakers can better
understand how their Legislature operates and
can be more effective in participating in the
legislative process.
The American system of government
recognizes three broad functions properly
assigned by the public to its representatives.
These functions are reflected in the separate
branches of government traditional in the United
States: The legislative or lawmaking function, the
executive or administrative function and the
judicial or adjudicatory function.
In Arizona, the people only partially
delegated the legislative power to the state
government. The Constitution of Arizona
provides:
The legislative authority of the State shall be
vested in a Legislature, consisting of a Senate
and a House of Representatives, but the people
reserve the power to propose laws and
amendments to the Constitution and to enact
or reject such laws and amendments at the
polls, independently of the Legislature; and they
also reserve, for use at their own option, the
power to approve or reject at the polls any Act,
or item, section, or part of any Act, of the
Legislature. (Article IV, part 1, section 1.)
The Legislature
The Legislature is a permanent organization
established to enact state laws and perform other duties
that are appropriate to the legislative branch of
government. The lawmaking function is certainly its
most visible activity, performed annually in formal
regular and special sessions. The Legislature is
organized specifically to enable it to deliberate issues
of public concern and resolve problem areas and
conflicts among competing proposals and interested
parties. The system of committees and multiple stages
and forums for hearings and debate are designed to
provide the opportunity for a thorough consideration
The Legislative Function
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of proposals before they can affect the public as new
laws, as changed or amended laws or as repealed laws.
Aside from lawmaking, however, the
Legislature performs several additional important
functions that allow state government to operate
in a normal productive manner. In a pure or
direct democratic political system laws would
be made by the mass citizenry, but because of
practical problems with having all citizens
participate in making complex and time-consuming
determinations, citizens elect their
representative legislators to make policy
decisions. To ensure that their representatives
adequately reflect the views of at least a majority
of the citizens, the State Constitution requires
the Legislature to provide for a system of
conducting elections to select major federal, state
and local officials, and to revise congressional
and legislative electoral boundaries every ten
years in the reapportionment process.
Arizona voters hold their legislators
accountable through biennial elections. In
addition, although seldom considered, the
Arizona Constitution also allows the citizens to
recall their legislators and vote them out of office
before their elected term of office expires.
Arizona legislators are thus highly accountable
for their performance in office, and one of the
major concerns in the Legislature is service to
constituents, whether it constitutes promotion
or support for local causes, acting as
intermediaries for citizens with government
agencies or providing citizens with information
or guidance in dealing with the government.
The Legislature shares with the citizens the
power to propose changes to the State
Constitution, the state’s fundamental political
document. Since statehood, the Legislature has
proposed a substantial number of amendments
to the State Constitution and has been successful
in getting them ratified by the electorate in a
majority of cases.
The United States Constitution delegates
responsibility for ratifying proposed amendments
of that document to the state legislatures. No
other branch of state government is involved in
amending the State or United States Constitutions
other than in a purely functionary capacity.
From the perspective of the ordinary taxpayer
the operation of state government appears to be
extremely expensive, and the Legislature is given
the daunting challenge of budgeting those
expenses and determining the financial priorities
among numerous competing worthy programs
and agencies. Monitoring the collection of state
revenues, allocating them and accounting for
their use is a full-time process and occupies a
major portion of the time and effort of the
Legislature.
The Legislature engages in several activities
to oversee and supervise the operation of state
government, again in an effort to ensure that the
state’s assets are properly and wisely used for
the benefit of the public and to avoid burdening
the public with cumbersome and unnecessary
government intrusion. State agencies and
programs are subject to periodic audits and
reviews and must prove to be justified or face
automatic termination. Increased legislative
review and supervision over administrative rules
and programs has been a notable trend in recent
years. Additionally, the Senate has the power to
consent to or reject the appointment of certain
executive branch officials and thus exercises
significant influence over the personnel and
governing philosophy of the people administering
the laws.
The ultimate oversight of elected officials is
the power of involuntary removal from office for
breach of their responsibilities and the public
trust. The Legislature is given the exclusive
power of impeachment over elected executive
officers and judges, and the Legislature may
police its own elected members and expel them
from office in the case of serious misconduct.
Direct Citizen Legislation
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While the Constitution gives the Legislature
the power to enact laws, it also reserves to the
people the power to initiate laws and
constitutional amendments and to approve or
disapprove laws passed by the Legislature.
Initiative
Under the initiative power, Arizona voters
can suggest changes to the State Constitution or
statutes by filing with the Secretary of State’s office
a petition that sets forth the title and full text of
the proposed measure.
Initiative petitions must be filed with the
Secretary of State at least four months before the
general election at which the measure will be
voted on. A number of registered voters equal
to at least ten percent of the total number of votes
cast for all candidates for the office of Governor
at the preceding general election must sign a
petition to propose a statutory change. For a
constitutional amendment, at least 15 percent
of such electors must sign the petition for the
measure to qualify for placement on the ballot.
If an initiative petition contains a sufficient
number of valid signatures, the measure is
submitted to the voters for their approval or
disapproval at the next general election.
Persons who gather signatures on initiative
petitions must be residents of Arizona and must
be qualified to vote in the election in which the
initiative will appear. After petition circulators
submit their completed signature sheets to the
Secretary of State’s office, the Secretary of State
and the county recorders undertake a verification
process to ensure that the sheets contain the
requisite number of valid signatures.
The Secretary of State then publishes and
mails to all registered voters a publicity pamphlet
that contains the text of each initiated and
referred measure, arguments advocating or
opposing the measures that have been submitted
to the Secretary of State and an impartial analysis
of the provisions of each measure prepared by
the Legislative Council.
An initiated measure becomes effective after
its approval by a majority of the voters who cast
votes on the measure and on proclamation of
the election results by the Governor.
Referendum
The referendum power allows the people to
voice their approval or disapproval of laws or
parts of laws passed by the Legislature. To allow
the referendum process to occur, the
Constitution provides that acts passed by the
Legislature do not go into effect for 90 days after
the close of the legislative session. Certain laws,
such as those that require earlier operation to
preserve the public peace, health or safety or
those that provide for the support and
maintenance of state agencies, are not subject
to the referendum power and take effect
immediately.
A number of registered voters equal to at least
five percent of the total number of votes cast for
all candidates for the office of Governor at the
preceding general election must sign a
referendum petition. The requirements that
apply to referendum petition circulators are the
same as those that apply to initiative petition
circulators. Completed petitions must be filed
with the Secretary of State no later than 90 days
after the adjournment of the session of the
Legislature that passed the measure being
referred.
If a referendum petition has been filed with
what appears to be an adequate number of valid
signatures, the law that is the subject of the
referendum does not go into effect until after the
voters have approved the law at the next general
election. A law that has been referred and is not
approved by the voters does not go into effect
unless the Legislature or the people take action
to enact the law at a later date. The filing of a
referendum petition against part of a law does
not prevent the remainder of that law from
becoming operative.
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The Legislature itself may refer statutes to the
voters for their approval or rejection. This is most
often done when a measure is particularly
controversial and the Legislature wants to allow
the people to vote directly on the matter, when
the matter at issue has been the subject of
previous voter-initiated measures or to bypass a
Governor who would veto the measure. These
measures go before the voters for approval or
disapproval at the next general election. In
addition, all constitutional changes approved by
the Legislature must be submitted to a vote of
the people. Constitutional amendments referred
by the Legislature may appear on the ballot either
at the next general election or at a special election
called by the Legislature for this purpose.
As with initiated measures, referred
measures, whether they appear on the ballot as
a result of citizen petitions or are referred directly
by the Legislature, become law when approved
by a majority of those voting on the measure and
on proclamation of the election results by the
Governor.
Amendment, Repeal or Veto of
Initiated or Referred Measures
If either an initiative or referendum is
approved by a majority of all persons qualified
to vote on the measure (rather than just a
majority of those actually voting on it), the
Governor’s veto power does not extend to the
measure. The power of the Legislature to amend
or repeal laws also does not extend to initiative
or referendum measures approved by a majority
of all qualified voters. Accordingly, if a majority
of all qualified voters were to vote for a ballot
measure, the Legislature theoretically could not
repeal or amend the measure immediately
following the election or at any time in the future.
However, of all the initiative and referendum
measures voted upon since statehood, none has
received a majority vote of all qualified voters.
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Chapter Two
The
Arizona
Legislature
The Arizona Legislature
History of the
Arizona Legislature
Every state in the nation has a distinct
history regarding its formation as a state
and as a government. Arizona’s early
settlers, in conquering the harsh and unforgiving
environment of the state’s frontier, necessarily
possessed courage, determination and not a small
amount of independence—attributes that would
impact greatly on the future state’s system of
government.
Territorial Arizona
The history of Arizona, as a part of the United
States, began officially in 1850 when Congress
formed the New Mexico Territory consisting of
the land that is now Arizona north of the Gila
River, along with what is now New Mexico, parts
of Colorado and Nevada. Mexico ceded these and
other western lands to the United States for $15
million under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo at the conclusion of the Mexican-
American War. In 1853, the United States paid
an additional $10 million to Mexico under the
Gadsden Purchase agreement to add to the New
Mexico Territory nearly 30,000 square miles of
land south of the Gila River in Arizona, forming
the state’s current boundary with Mexico.
Although officially part of the New Mexico
Territory, the territory’s western residents in
Arizona felt distanced both geographically and
culturally from the territorial capital of Santa Fe.
Numerous bills were introduced in Congress in
the 1850’s seeking to grant Arizona territorial
status, but to no avail. The primary opposition
to an Arizona Territory was the area’s low
population; according to the 1860 census, fewer
than 2,500 non-Indians resided there.
Interestingly, Confederate President Jefferson
Davis designated Arizona as a Confederate
territory on February 14, 1862—50 years to the
day before Arizona became a state.
Faced with evidence of Arizona’s mineral
wealth, however, the opposition in Congress
eventually relented and in 1863 President
Abraham Lincoln signed the Arizona Organic
Act creating the Territory of Arizona. The
following year, in September 1864, the First
Territorial Legislature convened in Prescott, the
territory’s capital at the time. The capital moved
from Prescott to Tucson and back to Prescott
again before being permanently established in
Phoenix in 1889.
While the early territorial legislatures may
have, in the words of historian John R. Murdock,
“lacked the dignity of older lawmaking bodies,”
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they nevertheless exhibited a progressive bent
as evidenced by their generous appropriations
for education, support for roads and railroads
and opposition to any kind of slavery in the newly
created region. The early territorial legislatures
busied themselves with creating counties,
expending funds and dealing with unfriendly
Indians. They also performed some unusual
functions, including the granting of divorces and
the changing of names of individuals. Special
legislation of this nature would later be expressly
prohibited by the State Constitution.
Arizona enjoyed certain benefits as a result
of its territorial status. Congress paid all costs of
the territorial government. The territory’s
citizens were well-treated by the federal
government and enjoyed the civil liberties
guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
Nonetheless, the Arizona Territory was
subject to Congressional control, and as such,
laws passed by the territorial legislature could
be stricken by Congress. Territorial officials,
including the Governor, were federally appointed,
which meant they were often of a different
political party than the majority of the territory’s
residents of the time. Congress controlled
territorial finances and could readjust territorial
borders, as it did by ceding Arizona’s former Pah-
Ute County to Nevada. Finally, territorial
residents could not vote for President, nor could
the territory’s delegate vote in Congress.
The territory’s citizens began to determinedly
pursue statehood and the greater degree of self-government
it would allow them. This goal met
with great resistance, however, as the perception
of Arizona among many in Washington, D.C. was
that of a lawless, feuding, undeveloped desert
populated by too few white settlers, too many
hostile Indians and too many Democrat residents
to suit the Republicans controlling Congress at
the time. A constitutional convention, held in
September 1891, resulted in a constitution that
was approved by Arizona’s residents but ignored
by Congress, which considered it to be too
radical. It would be another 19 years before
federal legislation was passed allowing the
citizens of Arizona to form their own
government.
The Enabling Act and
Constitutional Convention of 1910
On June 20, 1910, President William Howard
Taft signed the Enabling Act, allowing the
Arizona Territory (as well as the New Mexico
Territory) to hold a constitutional convention.
This act did not admit Arizona as a state but
rather conditioned statehood on the ability of
its citizens to adopt a constitution that would
meet with presidential approval.
In September 1910, territorial voters elected
52 delegates—41 Democrats and 11
Republicans—to attend the convention and
frame the new constitution. The delegates
convened in Phoenix at the territorial capitol on
October 10, 1910 and formed 21 committees to
consider and draft various constitutional
provisions.
While it is impossible to know the source of
every provision of the Arizona Constitution, it is
clear that the constitution adopted by the
convention was, in the words of historian John
R. Murdock, “in the forefront in every
progressive notion of the hour.” With the
progressives in control of the convention, several
measures that were considered liberal at the time
won approval, including those providing for
initiative, referendum and recall, secret ballots,
voter registration, direct primary elections and
a strong State Tax Commission and State
Corporation Commission. The new constitution
also provided generously for public education and
contained several wage and hour protections for
laborers. Although convention delegates rejected
constitutional provisions for prohibition and
women’s suffrage, voters added both within three
years of statehood.
The Constitution’s provisions were not
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established without a great deal of dissent among
delegates, however. While delegates split over
many issues, none were so divisive as initiative,
referendum and recall. The two direct legislation
provisions—initiative and referendum—were
gaining a great deal of popularity throughout the
western part of the country at the time and, while
most Democrats supported these provisions,
Republicans—including those in Washington
who would ultimately approve or disapprove
Arizona’s constitution—generally opposed them.
Conservatives feared—justifiably, as it turned
out—that statehood for Arizona would be
threatened if the convention formed too radical
a constitution. The convention delegates adopted
the Constitution of Arizona on December 9,
1910, 60 days after they convened, by a vote of
40 to 12. All but one Democrat signed the new
document, and only one Republican did so.
Territorial voters ratified the new Constitution
by a wide margin on February 9, 1911.
Citing objection to the provision allowing
recall of judges, President Taft vetoed the
Congressional resolution approving Arizona’s
Constitution. To achieve statehood, Arizona
eliminated the offending provision and was
admitted as the nation’s 48th state on February
14, 1912. Arizona voters, exerting their
independent streak from the start, promptly
reinstated the judicial recall provision in their
Constitution within months after statehood was
secured.
With the battle for statehood won and the
Constitution approved, Arizona’s citizens began
the task of forming a new state government.
Early Arizona Legislature
Arizona’s Legislative Department is governed
by Article IV of the Arizona Constitution, which
established the Legislature as a bicameral body
with a Senate and a House of Representatives.
The Legislature met on a biennial basis until
1950, when the Constitution was amended to
provide for annual legislative sessions.
Pursuant to the Constitution, the state’s first
Legislature had 19 senators, with five of the 14
counties having two each, and 35 representatives
in the House. Legislators earned seven dollars a
day for their service. The membership changed
in 1918 when the Constitution was amended to
provide for the creation of legislative districts
within each county. This section was
subsequently amended a number of times and
the current system provides for one senator and
two representatives from each of the state’s 30
legislative districts.
The first State Legislature convened on March
18, 1912. In the opening days of session, the
Senate established 24 standing committees and
the House established 25. Session was limited
by law to 60 days, but after the initial session’s
allotted time expired, the new Legislature still
had much work to complete. Therefore, a special
session was called immediately after the
conclusion of the regular session to continue the
work of establishing the new state government.
The Constitutional Convention of 1910
framed a document that gave the office of
Governor largely ceremonial duties. The new
Constitution, for example, gave the Governor few
executive appointive powers, instead providing
for several separately elected executive officials.
The Constitution further called for certain
independent commissions that were exempt from
control by the Governor.
The reasoning for the initial restraint on
executive authority dated back to territorial days.
Congress’ appointment of Republican officials in
the heavily Democratic Arizona Territory created
great resentment toward the appointees, which
at the time included the Governor. Although
subsequent changes to Arizona’s Constitution
eventually expanded executive branch powers,
the framers clearly and intentionally gave the
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executive office little authority, preferring instead
to concentrate the bulk of powers closest to the
state’s citizens—with their Legislature.
Constitutional Principles
Regarding the Legislature
Separation of Powers
Article III of the Arizona Constitution
(Distribution of Powers) provides for three
separate and distinct departments of
government—the legislative, which is
empowered to determine policy and make laws;
the executive, which carries out the laws; and
the judicial, which is charged with interpreting
the laws and adjudicating disputes under the
laws. While the United States Constitution and
some other state Constitutions have an implied
separation of the three branches, the framers of
Arizona’s Constitution expressly set forth the
powers and limitations of each branch.
The establishment of three coequal branches
is a principle known as the “separation of
powers,” one that is fundamental to our
constitutional form of government. Separation
of powers means that one branch cannot
encroach on the functions that belong to the
other two branches. Further, it requires that
those who make the law be different from those
who execute and interpret it.
Checks and Balances
Related to separation of powers is the concept
of “checks and balances.” This means that
governmental authority among the three
branches is arranged so that one branch is
empowered to keep in check, or to balance, the
powers of the other two branches. This system
of checks and balances prevents power from
becoming concentrated in a single branch of
government by authorizing each branch to
“restrain” the others in express ways.
The principle of checks and balances is seen,
for example, in the Governor’s ability to restrain
legislative power by vetoing a bill passed by the
Legislature. The Legislature may impact on
judicial power by increasing or decreasing the
number of Justices on the Supreme Court or by
establishing intermediate appellate courts. The
House of Representatives has the sole power of
impeachment over the Governor, and impeached
officials are tried by the Senate. The Supreme
Court may restrain legislative authority by
determining that a law passed by the Legislature
violates the Constitution and declaring it
unconstitutional.
Size and Apportionment
Beginning with the 28th Legislature in 1967,
Arizona’s Legislature has been composed of 30
Senators and 60 members of the House of
Representatives, for a total membership of 90.
The members are apportioned among 30
legislative districts. The districts for the Senate
are identical to the districts for the House, so
that each district elects one Senator and two
Representatives.
The Constitution of Arizona provides that the
legislative districts are “established by the
Legislature,” which means that the Legislature
passes a bill to establish the district lines. The
district lines are described in A.R.S. section 16-
1102, using United States Census Bureau
designations for the specific areas that comprise
each district. Under federal law, the legislative
districts are drawn to be equal in population,
and are redrawn every ten years, immediately
after the United States census. Additionally,
Arizona’s state redistricting process is subject to
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, a federal law
that requires “preclearance” by the United States
Department of Justice of any changes to the
Legislature’s district lines or to the state’s voting
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practices or procedures. The current legislative
district lines were subject to this review process.
On completion of the next decennial census in
2000, Arizona’s legislative district lines will be
due for revision to reflect the continuing changes
in Arizona’s population.
Membership
Qualifications
The State Constitution requires that members
of the Senate and the House of Representatives
be at least 25 years old at the time they take
office. Additionally, each Representative and
Senator must be a resident of the state for the
three years immediately preceding the person’s
election and a resident of the county from which
the person is elected for at least one year
immediately before election.1 Under the
Constitution, each house judges the qualifications
of its own members.
Like all public officers, members of the
Legislature must be qualified electors.
Accordingly, they may not be under guardianship
or otherwise legally incapacitated and must not
have been convicted of treason or a felony, unless
their right to vote has been restored.
In general, the State Constitution prohibits
federal, state and local officeholders from serving
in the Legislature. Specific exemptions exist for
justices of the peace, federal commissioners,
notaries public and school trustees. Additionally,
no legislator may be employed by the state or
any county, city or town. This prohibition does
not extend to public school teachers.
Elections
All legislators are elected for two-year terms.
Elections are held in even-numbered years.
Candidates are nominated by voters who are
registered with their political party at primary
elections held during the first part of September.
The names of candidates nominated at primary
elections as well as the names of independent
candidates who have formally qualified to run
for legislative office but who do not belong to a
political party appear on the ballot for the general
election. The general election is held on the first
Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Once elected, a legislator has the right to
remain in office during good behavior. In the case
of misconduct, however, either legal or political,
a legislator may be removed from office, either
by the other members of the body in which the
legislator serves or by the voters of the legislator’s
district through the recall process.
Arizona has a “resign-to-run” statute that
requires a legislator who is not in the last year of
office to resign from legislative service before
becoming a candidate for any other public office.
A state legislator may run for another public
office without resigning during the final year of
the person’s term as a legislator.
Term Limits
In 1992, Arizona voters amended the State
Constitution to impose term limits on state
legislators. Currently, both Senators and
Representatives may serve only four consecutive
terms in their offices. No legislator who has
served four consecutive terms (including any part
of a term) may serve in that same office again
until the person has been out of that office for at
least one full term. Only terms beginning on or
after January 1, 1993 are counted.
Vacancies
State law provides that if a vacancy occurs in
the Legislature due to the death or resignation
of a legislator or some other reason causing an
inability to serve, the Board of Supervisors of the
county in which the legislator’s district is located
1Although legislators are no longer elected “from” counties,
the county residency requirement remains in the Constitution (Art.
IV, part 2, sec. 2).
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appoints another person to fill the office. The
appointee must meet all of the constitutional
requirements for legislative service and must
belong to the same political party and reside in
the same district as the person who filled the
office immediately before the vacancy. The Board
of Supervisors must make this appointment
within ten days after the office becomes vacant.
A person appointed to fill a vacancy holds office
for the remainder of the unexpired term.
If the legislative district of the legislator
creating the vacancy is not entirely within one
county, the Board of Supervisors of the county of
residence of the vacating legislator fills the
vacancy.
The procedure described above also applies
when a vacancy occurs after the election of a
legislator but before the person has actually
taken the oath of office. However, if a vacancy
occurs due to the death, mental incapacity or
voluntary withdrawal of a legislative candidate
after the deadline has passed for persons to file
candidate petitions but before the primary or
general election, the precinct chairman of the
prior candidate’s political party in the legislative
district where the candidate was running
nominates a new candidate to represent the party
in the upcoming election.
Leadership
President of the Senate and
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
The President of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of Representatives are the only
legislative leadership positions mandated by state
law. However, both the State Constitution and
statutes leave to the Legislature the method of
selecting these officers and the powers and duties
they possess once elected.
Traditionally, majority party members of the
Senate nominate the President and the majority
party members of the House nominate the
Speaker at presession organizational caucuses,
usually held shortly after the November general
election. Caucus members must decide on rules
to govern the nomination process. Voting may
be open or by secret ballot. Candidates for
President or Speaker may run individually or may
run as part of a slate with other legislators-elect
who are seeking the position of Majority Leader
or Majority Whip. While the majority caucus
nominates the President and the Speaker, each
must be elected by a majority of the entire body
at the beginning of each legislative session.
Traditionally, the person nominated by the
majority caucus to serve as President or Speaker
is elected by the entire chamber. However, any
member, including members of the minority
party, can be nominated to serve as President or
Speaker when this vote takes place.
Senate and House Rules prescribe many of
the powers of the presiding officers. These
powers include the right to appoint committee
chairmen and vice-chairmen and to assign both
majority and minority legislators to statutory,
standing and interim committees. Additionally,
the President and Speaker designate seating
assignments on the floor and allocate office and
parking spaces to all members of their chamber.
They must approve all debts incurred by their
respective house. The President and Speaker also
make decisions regarding employment and
compensation of legislative personnel and other
matters relating to the general administration of
the institution. While it is not required, the
presiding officer may consult with other
members of majority leadership in making these
decisions.
As presiding officers, the President and
Speaker are responsible for referring bills to the
appropriate committees, setting the agenda for
floor action, calling the body to order and
maintaining decorum during floor sessions. The
President or Speaker recognizes members who
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wish to speak on the floor and, subject to appeal
by any member, decides points of order. The
President and the Speaker relinquish their chairs
during meetings of the Committee of the Whole
and assume their seats on the floor. Senate and
House Rules provide that the President and the
Speaker sign all bills, memorials and resolutions
passed by the house over which they preside.
Majority and Minority Leaders2
Majority and Minority Leaders (also referred
to as “Floor Leaders” or “Party Leaders”) are
elected at the presession organizational
caucuses. Unlike the President and the Speaker,
there is no need for these officers to receive a
vote of the full body. However, the Majority and
Minority Leaders (like other partisan leaders)
do not officially take office until they are sworn
in on the first day of the legislative session.
The Majority Leader in each house works
closely with the presiding officer to develop and
implement the party’s main policy objectives. The
Majority Leader traditionally communicates with
other members of the party regarding majority
positions on specific issues. He or she may also
talk with minority members to determine how
their views may impact the outcome of a majority
program bill.
It is often the responsibility of the Majority
or Minority Leader to determine whether
consensus exists among party members on a
given issue. He or she also may attempt to
ascertain whether a party position on a selected
bill is desirable. The person who serves as Party
Leader frequently assumes the role of party
spokesperson to the media.
The Minority Leader tries to keep members
of the minority party informed about majority
leadership decisions on the scheduling of bills
and other matters. The Minority Leader also
makes recommendations to the presiding officer
regarding the appointment of minority members
to committees and the seating and office
assignments of members of the minority party.
The presiding officer is under no obligation to
heed the suggestions of the Minority Leader on
these matters. Traditionally, however, the Speaker
or President does give some weight to the
Minority Leader’s recommendations.
In recent sessions, the minority caucus has
also elected an Assistant Minority Leader. This
person schedules and chairs minority party
caucus meetings and works with the other party
leaders to make decisions regarding party
objectives and minority staffing.
Majority and Minority Whips
Traditionally, the duty of the Whip has been
to “whip up” votes to support a caucus decision.
In fact, the term derives from the British fox
hunting term “whipper-in,” which describes the
person responsible for keeping the foxhounds
from leaving the pack. The person who serves as
the party whip will likely ascertain how members
of the caucus stand on a given issue, often tallying
actual vote counts, and may try to solidify
partisan support on an issue that leadership
deems especially important. This may include
getting members to the floor if they are needed
for a vote. The Majority Whip may also serve as
chairman of the party’s caucus meetings.
President Pro Tempore and
Speaker Pro Tempore
The Senate and House Rules, respectively,
provide for the appointment of a President Pro
Tempore and Speaker Pro Tempore by the
presiding officer. As their titles suggest, the chief
duties of these officers are to preside over Senate
and House proceedings and to otherwise assume
the duties of the President and the Speaker when
they are absent from the Legislature. The Rules
2Beginning with the 43rd Legislature in 1997 the Democratic
members of the House of Representatives designated themselves as
the “Democratic Caucus” and the leadership of that caucus as the
“Democratic Leader,” “Assistant Democratic Leader” and
“Democratic Whip.”
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provide that if the presiding officer does not
make such an appointment, the entire body elects
a member to preside during the President’s or
Speaker’s absence.
Parliamentarian
The President and the Speaker each appoint
a legislator as the Parliamentarian for their
respective chamber. The person chosen as
Parliamentarian must be familiar with the rules
of the particular house and other procedural
rules because the presiding officer refers to this
person when questions arise regarding process
or the order of business. Final decisions on
procedural matters rest with the presiding officer,
subject to appeal of the entire body. In addition
to the Parliamentarian, the President or the
Speaker may choose to consult with the
chamber’s Rules attorneys for advice on these
matters.
Standing Committee Chairmen and
Vice-Chairmen
The President and Speaker appoint all
chairmen and vice-chairmen of standing
committees. Accordingly, committee chairmen
are customarily members of the majority party.
Generally, the person chosen to chair a
committee will have an interest in and an
understanding of the areas over which the
committee has jurisdiction. Committee chairmen
also must be familiar with legal requirements
regarding public notice and with open meeting
laws. Committee chairmen set the agenda for and
preside over standing committee meetings.
Committee chairmen wield a great deal of
power, largely because they can decide whether
or not to hear measures that have been assigned
to their committees. A chairman who chooses
not to hear a bill effectively kills the bill by failing
to report it out of committee. If a committee
chairman refuses to hear a bill, two-thirds of the
committee members may sign a petition
requiring the chairman to schedule the bill on
the next agenda. In addition, the measure may
proceed to the floor over the chairman’s
opposition if three-fifths of the members of the
entire body sign a petition calling for the bill to
be discharged from the chairman’s committee or
if the presiding officer withdraws the bill from
that chairman’s committee and reassigns it to
another committee whose chairman will hear
the bill.
The chairman may meet with the vice-chairman
to set the committee meeting agenda.
The vice-chairman has the powers and duties of
a chairman when the chairman is absent. The
vice-chairman often makes the motion to begin
discussion on a bill that is before the committee
and moves bills for a committee vote after the
committee has taken testimony on and debated
the bills.
The Committee System
Due to the volume and diversity of issues
before the Legislature each session, it is
impracticable for each entire chamber to hold
extensive hearings on all introduced bills. Instead,
bills receive their first detailed consideration in
committees. There are several types of
committees, each fulfilling a different function.
Standing Committees
State law authorizes the presiding officer of
each legislative chamber to appoint standing
committees but provides that either chamber, by
resolution or rule, may direct otherwise.
Traditionally, the practice has been for the
President and Speaker to determine the number
of committees and their subject matter
jurisdictions at the beginning of each legislative
session. However, the committees must then be
formally established in Senate and House Rules,
which requires approval by a majority of the
members of each chamber.
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The number and titles of legislative standing
committees vary from Legislature to Legislature.
Each house generally has separate committees
to deal with matters such as agriculture, health,
education, finance, transportation, government
operations, commerce, natural resources,
taxation, insurance and the judiciary. Each
committee considers bills that are within its
subject matter jurisdiction and that have been
assigned to the committee by the presiding
officer.
The Rules Committee, while it is considered
a standing committee, has a different function
from other standing committees. The charge of
the Rules Committee is to consider the
constitutionality and proper form of bills and
amendments reported from the other standing
committees. (The function of the Rules Committee
is described in more detail in Chapter Six.)
As noted earlier, the presiding officer appoints
members to each committee. Most members
serve on more than one committee. The general
practice is for the majority party to have a
majority of the members of each committee.
Every measure must pass through the
committee system for scrutiny, debate and
possible amendment. Some standing committees
have much heavier work loads than others, and
the number of measures assigned to a committee
can vary greatly from year to year, depending on
the amount and subject matter of legislation that
is introduced in each chamber.
Standing committees adopt their own rules
of procedure and, during the legislative session,
meet weekly, or more often as necessary, at a
regularly scheduled time and place. Meetings are
open to the public and press. Special meetings
may be called by committee chairmen, but in the
case of House committees, this requires the
permission of the Speaker. The President or the
Speaker also must give permission for a
committee chairman to cancel a scheduled
meeting.
Subcommittees
Except for the Appropriations Committees
of each house, which have permanent
subcommittees, all legislative subcommittees are
established on an ad hoc basis. Any committee
chairman can appoint a subcommittee consisting
of several members of the standing committee
to deliberate on a specific bill and report back
to the full committee. A chairman may choose
to take this route to allow a smaller group of
legislators to study and prepare amendments to
a complex bill that would consume an
inordinately large amount of the full committee’s
time. Standing committees are not required to
accept the recommendations of a subcommittee.
Joint Statutory Committees
State law establishes several permanent
committees with members of both houses. These
include the Joint Legislative Budget Committee
(JLBC), the Joint Committee on Capital Review
(JCCR), the Joint Legislative Audit Committee
(JLAC) and the Legislative Council. These
committees are comprised of members from both
houses appointed by the President and the
Speaker. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee
and Legislative Council have sizable professional
permanent staffs, while the other committees
receive support from the House and Senate staff.
These statutory committees differ from
standing committees in that they do not meet at
regularly scheduled times and places, they often
meet during the interim when the Legislature is
out of session and they usually deliberate on
matters other than bills, memorials and
resolutions. For example, the Joint Legislative
Budget Committee makes recommendations to
the Legislature regarding the state budget and
fiscal operations of state agencies. The Joint
Committee on Capital Review has
responsibilities involving land acquisition and
capital projects. The Legislative Council oversees
the bill drafting functions of the Legislature,
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prepares analyses of ballot measures for inclusion
in the statewide publicity pamphlet and operates
many legislative facilities.
Interim Committees
As the name implies, interim committees
(often referred to as “study committees”) operate
between legislative sessions. They may be created
by legislation or by the President or Speaker, or
both. Often, persons other than members of the
Legislature serve with or instead of legislators
on interim committees.
Interim committees undertake studies and
investigate issues about which the Legislature
desires further information. Free from the
legislative session deadlines and other pressures,
interim committees have the time necessary to
tackle complex problems in depth. They may hold
meetings, take testimony and break into working
groups to gather additional information. Interim
committees usually report their findings to the
Legislature and often suggest legislation to be
considered in the next legislative session.
Political Party Caucuses
A person who is first exposed to the
Legislature and the legislative process will
initially be confused by the word and institution
“caucus.” It is not provided for in the
Constitution or by law. It is generally overlooked
in civics and government classes. Yet, the concept
of a caucus is as old as the United States. The
word means a meeting of persons belonging to
the same political party or faction, and in the
Arizona Legislature the House and Senate
Republican and Democrat caucuses have a long
institutional history.
The caucuses begin organizational meetings
soon after a new Legislature is elected in the
general election in November of each even-numbered
year. In one or more meetings each
caucus elects a nominee for the presiding officer
of the respective body, either the Speaker of the
House or President of the Senate. The minority
caucus usually offers a nominee even though it
is understood that the minority nominee has little
chance of election. The Speaker and President
are actually elected from the nominees by the
full House or Senate on the first day of the regular
session. In addition each caucus elects a leader
(Majority Leader or Minority Leader) and a Whip
or other officers.
The purpose of a caucus is to foster a sense
of political unity and loyalty. This is accomplished
by regular meetings throughout the session and
occasionally at other times during the interim
between sessions. Meetings of the caucuses are
commonly conducted as part of the legislative
process to discuss legislation that has cleared the
committees to which it has been assigned but
before consideration and debate by the full
chamber. The members of each caucus may also
meet to discuss other issues such as the state
budget, general party positions on legislative
issues and, in the Senate only, the Governor’s
nominations to state boards and commissions.
Senate and House Rules provide that caucus
meetings are open to the public, but a caucus
may conduct a closed meeting to elect officers
and for other specific purposes. Although caucus
meetings are usually open to the public,
individuals other than the members of the caucus
and staff are not invited to participate directly.
Staff
According to A.R.S. section 41-1102, the
Senate and the House may hire as many
employees as each chamber directs.
Furthermore, the Senate Rules provide that “the
appointment, terms and conditions of
employment, compensation, discipline and
discharge of employees of the Senate shall be
determined by the President, subject to the
approval of the Senate.” The House Rules simply
state that “employment, compensation and
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termination of personnel shall be determined by
the Speaker.” Both the Senate and House Rules
prohibit an employee from lobbying during the
employee’s term of employment and specify that
any violation is sufficient cause for the summary
discharge of the offending employee.
A.R.S. section 41-771 also provides that the
Senate and House staff are employees in positions
that are not covered by the state employee merit
system. Such employees are often referred to as
“uncovered,” “exempt” or “nonmerit system”
employees, and they have no right to continued
employment or right of appeal to the Arizona
Personnel Board from disciplinary actions taken
against them. As uncovered employees, Senate
and House staff may be removed at any time.
Some of the specific House and Senate staff
positions are described below.
Secretary of the Senate
Pursuant to custom, the Secretary of the
Senate is a nonlegislator who is elected by the
members of the Senate. The Secretary acts as an
officer of the Senate and maintains all records of
any official action by the Senate, including
complete bill files, files on committee minutes,
tapes of committee and floor testimony, the Senate
Journal and various other historical documents.
The Secretary assigns numbers to all Senate
measures as they are introduced and oversees
the printing and engrossing of these measures
and amendments and conference committee
reports and assists in the preparation of session
laws in even-numbered years.
During floor sessions, the Secretary
coordinates the flow of legislation, prepares and
distributes Senate calendars, as instructed, assists
in parliamentary decisions, coordinates among
the House, Senate and Governor’s office all
messages, bills and information and works closely
with the Chief Clerk’s office in the House to
economize time and effort. The Secretary is
responsible for assisting the President and the
members in ensuring that all Senate action
conforms to the Senate Rules, the statutes and
the Arizona Constitution. The Secretary has a
staff that includes an assistant secretary, a journal
clerk, an administrative assistant, an enrolling
and engrossing supervisor, a file clerk, an index
clerk, a duplicating and supply supervisor, supply
clerks, an information desk clerk and a runner.
The Secretary also supervises the Senators’
assistants/secretaries and committee secretaries.
Chief Clerk of the House
The Chief Clerk is the counterpart to the
Secretary of the Senate. Similarly, the Chief Clerk
is a nonlegislator who pursuant to the House
Rules is elected by the members of the House of
Representatives and who acts as the chief
administrator of the chamber. The Chief Clerk
prepares the agenda for daily floor action at the
direction of the Speaker, assists the Speaker and
the members in ensuring that statutory,
constitutional and House Rules are followed,
signs all enrolled bills, memorials and
resolutions, oversees the preparation and
publication of the House Journal and assists in
the preparation of the session laws in odd-numbered
years. Other responsibilities of the
Chief Clerk include coordinating record keeping
and maintaining all official records, supervising
the operation of the voting and sound systems,
directing the public information services,
maintaining and updating information of current
and former members and assisting with new
member orientation.
The Chief Clerk assigns numbers to all House
measures as they are introduced and oversees
the printing and engrossing of these measures,
amendments and conference committee reports.
The Chief Clerk has a staff that includes an
assistant chief clerk, an administrative assistant,
a journal clerk, a bill and index clerk, a bill
tracking secretary, an archivist, a reader, an
information supervisor, an information desk
clerk, a duplica-tion supervisor, a duplicating/
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supplies clerk and a mailroom/billroom
supervisor and clerk.
Research Staff
Each house has a research division comprised
of full-time personnel managed by a research staff
director. While the Senate research staff is
nonpartisan, the House research staff is
considered to be part of the majority staff. The
research staff members, known as research
analysts and assistant research analysts, perform
various functions including drafting summaries
of all legislative measures, providing verbal
explanations of these measures during
committee hearings and caucus meetings,
drafting amendments, assisting the chairpersons
of the standing committees, staffing interim
committees and responding to constituent
inquiries. Each research analyst and assistant
research analyst is assigned to one or more
standing committees. During the legislative
session, the research staff is supplemented by
college interns who are paid a modest stipend
and receive college tuition and credit. The interns
assist the research analysts and assistant research
analysts.
A constituent service office is also a part of
the research division in both the Senate and
House. This office responds to constituent
inquiries for information or requests for help to
resolve problems. The constituent services staff
will either refer the constituent to the proper
source or will attempt to help resolve the
constituent’s problem.
Rules Committee Staff
Both the Senate and House have full-time and
part-time Rules staff that consists of attorneys and
other administrative staff. After a measure is heard
in its assigned standing committee or committees,
the Rules attorneys review it to make sure that it is
constitutional and in proper form for consideration
by the entire body. The Rules attorneys check the
form of the measure by reviewing the measure’s
formal title and other legal constraints. The Rules
attorneys also make recommendations on how to
correct legislation that is not constitutional or not
in proper form by drafting proposed amendments
for consideration by the Rules Committee and the
entire body. The Rules attorneys also respond to
inquiries regarding parliamentary procedure and
compliance with the body’s rules.
Other nonattorney members of the Rules staff
perform various administrative functions
including preparing Rules Committee amend-ments
and preparing Rules Committee agendas.
The Rules staff is also assisted by legal interns
(usually law students) during the regular
legislative session who conduct legal research and
prepare memoranda.
Committee Secretaries
In addition to the committee research staff, each
standing committee is assigned a committee
secretary who is responsible for taking roll,
recording committee votes, taking and preparing
the minutes of meetings of the committee, typing
committee reports and blending all amendments
passed in the committee meeting into a single
amendment for consideration by the entire
chamber during Committee of the Whole. When
the Legislature is not in session, the committee
secretaries perform similar duties for the various
legislative study committees that meet during the
interim.
Majority and Minority Staff
Each caucus has full-time partisan staff that
serve the members of that caucus. The majority
and minority staff assist the leadership of their
respective caucus in developing a legislative
agenda, serve as advisers to all members of their
caucus, provide policy and legal analysis on
specific issues, answer members’ information
requests, brief members on legislation, conduct
research projects, develop and draft legislation
and amendments, respond to constituent
inquiries and assist with press relations,
communications and speeches.
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Members’ Assistants and
Secretaries
Each member has an assistant/secretary who
works in the member’s office. The assistants and
secretaries perform many duties, including
maintaining the member’s bill files, preparing
committee agendas if the member is a
chairperson of a committee, coordinating and
maintaining the member’s schedule, greeting and
assisting guests, responding to telephone
inquiries, facilitating solutions to constituent
problems, managing the member’s
correspondence and performing various other
duties associated with the administration of the
member’s office at the capitol. Some assistants
and secretaries are assigned to work with more
than one member.
Accounting Staff
Both the Senate and House have an accounting
office with a controller who is in charge of
handling the body’s fiscal affairs.
Sergeant at Arms
Each body has a Sergeant at Arms who
maintains order under the presiding officer’s
direction. The Sergeant at Arms also compels the
attendance of members sent for by the body,
directs the delivery of mail, supervises the pages,
clears the chamber floor of persons not
authorized to be present and performs various
other administrative functions.
Pages
The Senate and House pages perform a variety
of tasks that assist the members and other staff
such as supporting committees and caucuses and
members during floor sessions, acting as
messengers and distributing documents.
Other Staff
Additional staff operate the public
information desk, duplication and supplies room,
bill room and mail room. These individuals in
large part supervise the considerable volume of
paper that is generated by and passed through
each house during the legislative session.
Legislative Agency Staff
The Legislative Council, Joint Legislative
Budget Committee, Auditor General and
Department of Library, Archives and Public
Records each maintain full-time staff that
specialize in the work of their respective
agencies. (See Chapter Ten for further details on
these agencies.)
Lobbyists
There are approximately 4,800 lobbyists
listed on registration forms filed with the
Secretary of State and nearly 1,000 registered
entities that lobbyists represent when they are
engaged in lobbying activities, such as advocacy
groups, professional societies, public and private
corporations, trade and volunteer associations
and state and local governmental entities.
Lobbyists range from part-time volunteers
and grass roots coordinators to attorneys and
full-time corporate executives. Lobbyists attempt
to convince legislators to sponsor, support or
oppose legislation, and they monitor pending
legislation on behalf of their clients. Despite
intermittent adverse publicity concerning
lobbyists, they play a positive role in the
legislative process by providing useful
information on legislative policy questions and
giving a voice to other individuals who are
members of the groups that the lobbyists
represent and for whom direct contact with the
Legislature is inconvenient or impossible.
The first step in understanding the lobbying
laws in Arizona is to know what activity is
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considered lobbying. This is important since
individuals who are engaged in lobbying have to
register with the Secretary of State and file
expenditure reports. The statutory definition of
“lobbying” (A.R.S. section 41-1231) includes any
attempt to influence the passage or defeat of any
legislation by directly communicating with any
legislator or any attempt to influence any formal
rule making proceedings by directly
communicating with any state officer or employee
on behalf of another person. However, the statute
also exempts certain activities from the definition
of lobbying. These exemptions include
interagency communications between state
agency employees, communications between a
public official or employee of a public body,
public lobbyist and any state employee or officer,
except a legislator, or any oral communication
made in a public meeting that is sponsored by a
state entity by a person to a state officer or
employee regarding a proposed rule.
In general, a person must register with the
Secretary of State before lobbying on behalf of
another entity. This requirement applies whether
the person is paid or a volunteer. The Secretary
of State publishes a handbook that explains the
state’s lobbying laws and includes the forms that
must be completed by lobbyists. The objective
of the handbook is to make it easier for everyone
to understand the lobbying laws and comply with
the statutory requirements. There are various
categories of lobbyists, and each has different
registration and reporting requirements.
Completed registration forms are public
documents and available for inspection.
Arizona law provides that in certain situations
registration with the Secretary of State is not
required. Those exempt from registration
include:
! A person who appears for himself before
a legislative committee or state entity to
lobby in support of or in opposition to
legislation or an official action.
! A person who, acting on his own behalf,
sends a letter to or has a conversation
with a legislator, state officer or state
employee for the purpose of supporting
or opposing any legislation or official
action.
! A person who provides technical
information at the request of a lobbyist
or legislator.
! An attorney who represents clients before
any court or quasi-judicial body.
! A person who contacts a state officer or
employee solely to acquire information.
Except in some limited circumstances, a
lobbyist must file with the Secretary of State a
quarterly report that lists expenditures made on
behalf of a principal (a person who hires a
lobbyist) or a public body (a governmental entity
that hires a lobbyist). The designated lobbyist
for a principal or public body must also sign an
annual report on behalf of that principal or public
body that lists all expenditures, including gifts,
that were made by or on behalf of that principal
or public body and that benefitted or were
received by a legislator or other state officer or
employee, whether or not the expenditure was
made in the course of lobbying. Expenditure
reports are public documents and available for
inspection.
During any calendar year a principal or
lobbyist is prohibited from giving to any state
officer or state employee, and a state officer or
state employee is prohibited from receiving from
a principal or lobbyist, gifts with a total value of
more than ten dollars or any gift that is designed
to influence the official conduct of that state
officer or state employee. Similar prohibitions
also apply to public bodies and public lobbyists.
A gift is defined by statute (A.R.S. section 41-
1231) as any payment, distribution, advance,
deposit or donation of money or any intangible
personal property or any kind of tangible
personal or real property. The lobbying statutes
specifically exempt numerous items from the
definition of gift such as a plaque, book or
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calendar or a campaign contribution that is
received and reported as required by law.
Any person who knowingly violates any
provision of the lobbying laws is guilty of a class
1 misdemeanor. The Attorney General may serve
a person an order requiring compliance with any
provision of the lobbying laws and may assess
the person a civil penalty of not more than one
thousand dollars for failure to comply with the
order. In addition, the Secretary of State must
compile and issue an annual report to the
Legislature that contains the names of all
principals, public bodies and lobbyists that fail
to report lobbying expenditures as required by
law.
Press
The capitol press corps consists of news
reporters who represent various newspapers,
news services and television and radio stations.
These individuals regularly report the activities
of state government, including proceedings by
the Legislature, actions by the Governor and
executive branch agencies and notable decisions
by the courts. The capitol press offices are
located on the first floor of the Senate building.
In addition to the usual capitol press corps who
cover the day-to-day activities of the Legislature,
additional news organizations will periodically
cover controversial or notable legislative action.
The Senate and House Rules require each
chamber to maintain a press gallery. The current
practice by the Senate and House is to reserve
tables for the press on the floor of each respective
chamber. However, House Rules specify that the
Speaker may assign an alternative location for
the press gallery in the House. The Sergeant at
Arms is responsible for ensuring that only
representatives of the press who are duly
accredited by the President or Speaker are
allowed access to the press gallery on the Senate
or House floor. Press passes are nontransferable
and revocable at the discretion of the President
The Arizona Legislature
or Speaker. The House limits the number of press
passes issued to any newspaper or news gathering
organization to no more than four representatives
of that newspaper or news gathering
organization. In addition to the press gallery on
the floor, the Senate provides reserved press
seating in the Senate hearing rooms and majority
caucus room. that newspaper or news gathering
organization. In addition to the press gallery on
the floor, the Senate provides reserved press
seating in the Senate hearing rooms and majority
caucus room.
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Chapter Three
Legislative
Finances
Legislative Budget
As with any other state agency, the
Legislature is funded by separate
appropriations of state money to the
Senate, House of Representatives and each
legislative agency (Legislative Council, Joint
Legislative Budget Committee, Auditor General
and Department of Library, Archives and Public
Records).
During each even-numbered year the officers
and leaders of each of the legislative houses and
agencies work with the budget staff of the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee to determine an
adequate level of funding to meet the projected
financial requirements for each of the next two
fiscal years. (The state fiscal year is July 1 through
June 30.) Early in the first regular session,
appropriation subcommittees of the Legislature
meet to consider the budget proposals for all of
state government, including the legislative houses
and agencies. The appropriation subcommittees
report their determinations that are then
included in the state budget and general
appropriation bill, which is enacted in a special
session in March of odd-numbered years.
The appropriations include amounts for each
house and agency for each of the two fiscal years
in the following biennium. The appropriation for
the second fiscal year in the biennium is subject
to revision to accommodate changing and
unforseen circumstances.
Once appropriated, the money becomes
available to the various houses and agencies of
the Legislature from the state general fund for
use in the designated fiscal year according to any
terms and conditions prescribed by the
appropriation. (The Auditor General and the
Department of Library, Archives and Public
Records also receive nonappropriated monies
from sources outside of state government for
some of the unique activities of those agencies.)
The routine expenses of the Legislature include
legislator and staff salaries and travel expenses
and operating costs. Extraordinary expenses
might include things like litigation costs,
construction and renovation costs and
reapportionment costs.
(More detail regarding the state budget process
is included in Chapter Seven of this manual.)
Legislator Compensation
Salary
The procedures for setting the salary of
The Legislative Finances
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legislators are found in Article V, section 12,
Constitution of Arizona. The Legislature
establishes the Commission on Salaries for
Elective State Officers to make periodic
recommendations regarding pay increases for
state officials, including legislators. The
membership, compensation and duties of this
commission are established by law. Members are
appointed biennially and serve until they submit
a report of their recommendations. The
commission is comprised of five members from
the private sector, two of whom are appointed
by the Governor and one each appointed by the
Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate
and the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.
The commission’s recommended salaries for
nonlegislative elected officers are subject to
approval by the Governor and the Legislature.
With respect to legislative salaries, however,
the Secretary of State certifies the commission’s
recommendation and submits it to the voters at
the next regular general election. If the
recommended salary increase for legislators is
approved by the voters, it becomes effective at
the beginning of the next regular legislative
session and no other authorizing legislation is
necessary. If the recommendation is disapproved,
legislative salaries remain unchanged.
Currently, members of the Legislature earn
$15,000 each year, which is paid on a bi-weekly
basis throughout the calendar year. This amount
has not been changed since 1980 when the salary
was raised from $6,000. Since then,
recommended pay raises have been rejected by
the voters in 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994
and 1996.
Per Diem and
Other Expense Allowances
Legislators who reside in Maricopa County
(the metropolitan Phoenix area) are paid $35 a
day in per diem expenses for the first 120 days
of regular and special sessions, then $10 a day
thereafter. Members who reside outside
Maricopa County receive an additional $25 a day
for the first 120 days of session (for a total of
$60 a day), and then an additional $10 a day
thereafter (for a total of $20 a day). Members
are required to submit vouchers, receipts or
some other verification of their expenses in order
to claim the per diem allowance. However, they
are paid the maximum per diem allowable
regardless of the amount of actual expenses.
For legislative work during the interim
between legislative sessions, per diem payments
are determined by the Speaker of the House and
the President of the Senate for members of the
respective chambers. Legislators who are not in
leadership positions receive per diem for each
day they attend committee meetings, and, with
the prior approval of their presiding officer, for
additional days of constituent work. House
members who are not in leadership positions
generally may receive only one day of per diem a
week while House leaders are not limited in the
number of days they may receive per diem.
Senators who are not in leadership positions may
receive two days of per diem in a two-week
period, and Senators in leadership positions are
allowed six days of per diem in the same time
period. The President and Speaker are
reimbursed for every day of actual work during
the interim, without limit.
Legislators receive reimbursement of 30 cents
a mile based on the actual number of miles driven
for official business, both during session and in
the interim. This reimbursement is in addition
to any per diem amounts allowed. All in-state
and out-of-state travel must be approved in
advance by the Speaker or the President,
respectively. If approved, reimbursement of travel
expenses is provided for as specified in the State
Accounting Manual, which gives reimbursement
amounts for all incidental expenses, such as taxis,
airfare, food and mileage, except that the Speaker
or President may overrule the State Accounting
Manual’s hotel rate limit if the lodging is at the
site of a conference or seminar the member is
attending.
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Although legislators are provided offices, staff
support and parking spaces at the capitol, they
do not receive allowances for offices or staff in
their home districts, nor are they afforded state
automobiles, credit cards or expense accounts.
Retirement and Other
Employment Benefits
Legislators receive the same employment
benefits as Arizona state employees, except for
retirement options and long-term disability
insurance. Legislators do not receive annual or
sick leave as do full-time state employees.
Legislators may choose to purchase the same
health, dental or vision insurance offered to
other state employees by paying a share of the
premium. The state pays the remainder of the
premium.
State employees and legislators receive a
standard $10,000 life insurance policy, with an
additional $10,000 payable in the case of
accidental death, and may purchase additional
life insurance in $5,000 increments, up to three
times the amount of their annual salary ($45,000
in the case of legislators). The premium for the
supplemental life insurance varies according to
the legislator’s age.
All legislators are provided with long-term
disability coverage at no charge. (This is distinct
and separate from the plan offered to other state
employees.) The plan provides legislators with
two-thirds of their salary if they are absent from
work due to an extended illness or injury,
beginning after six months of continuous total
disability. Additionally, legislators may purchase
short-term disability insurance to cover the first
six months of disability.
Legislators may elect to participate in the
Elected Officials’ Retirement Plan (EORP) or the
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) or may
decline to participate in either retirement
program.
EORP members contribute seven percent of
their income to the plan. They are eligible to
receive a normal pension at age 65 with five or
more years of service, at age 62 with ten or more
years of service or at age 60 with 25 or more
years of service. Members with ten or more years
of service may take early retirement at age 50
with a reduction in benefits. The normal annual
pension is currently four percent of the member’s
final annual salary multiplied by the member’s
years of credited service, with a maximum annual
payment of 80% of the member’s final annual
salary.
Legislators who elect coverage under ASRS
are treated like other state employees under the
plan. The member contribution rate is
determined annually (3.05% of the member’s
pretax salary in 1997-98). Members become
eligible for normal retirement on the accrual of
80 “points” (the member’s age plus years of
service), at age 65 with any amount of service or
at age 62 with ten or more years of service.
Members with five or more years of service may
take early retirement at age 50 with a reduction
in benefits. The normal monthly pension is two
percent of the member’s average monthly
compensation during the three highest
consecutive paid years of the last ten years of
service multiplied by the member’s years of
credited service. Retiring members can choose
from a number of benefit payment options.
Retirees under either EORP or ASRS are
eligible to receive health insurance with premium
amounts based on the members’ years of credited
service with the state and their eligibility for
Medicare coverage.
Legislators receive other benefits that are
provided to all state employees, including Social
Security and optional deferred compensation
plans and medical and dependent care
reimbursement accounts.
The Legislative Finances
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Legislative Immunity
Pursuant to the Constitution of Arizona,
members of the Legislature are immune
from arrest or civil process for 15 days
before and during the course of a session.
Members of the legislature shall be privileged
from arrest in all cases except treason, felony,
and breach of the peace, and they shall not
be subject to any civil process during the
session of the legislature, nor for fifteen days
next before the commencement of each
session. (Article IV, part 2, section 6.)
The legal doctrine of “legislative immunity”
also provides some protection to legislators, staff
and the Legislature in legal proceedings involving
legislative acts. Legislative immunity derives from
the common law theory that began to evolve
approximately 500 years ago from issues arising
between the English King and Parliament. When
the United States was founded, the United States
Constitution included a provision to create
legislative immunity for members of Congress.
Article I, section 6 provides “[f]or any speech or
debate in either house, [the members] shall not
be questioned in any other place.” The
Constitution of Arizona has a similar speech and
debate clause that provides “[n]o member of the
legislature shall be liable in any civil or criminal
prosecution for words spoken in debate.” (Article
IV, part 2, section 7.)
Thus, based on the Constitution of Arizona
state legislators are entitled to immunity from
civil and criminal liability for legislative acts. This
immunity generally protects legislators from
being sued, arrested or ordered to testify or
produce documents about legislative acts,
subject to certain court created exceptions.
Generally, legislative immunity applies to all
types of legislative actions relating to introducing,
developing and voting for legislation including:
! Voting or refusing to vote to reduce a
budget, to eliminate job positions, to
redistrict, to unseat a member or to
confirm an executive appointment.
! Speaking on the floor or in committee
regarding legislation.
! Lobbying other legislators regarding
legislation.
! Conducting a hearing and enforcing
committee or chamber rules, including
allegations of illegally issuing legislative
subpoenas, examining witnesses or
otherwise obtaining information.
Chapter Four
Legislative
Powers,
Privileges and
Responsibilities
Powers, Privileges and Responsibilities
26 Arizona Legislative Manual
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! Activities relating to developing legislation
prior to introduction.
Legislative immunity not only protects a
legislator from liability but also from having to
testify or produce documents in court
proceedings relating to legislative activity and
prohibits actions seeking declaratory judgments,
injunctions and other legal actions against
legislators acting in the scope of their official
duties.
The immunity is absolute, and it is personal
to the individual legislator. It can only be claimed
or waived by the legislator. It does not end when
the legislator leaves office but continues
indefinitely for the legislative acts undertaken
while in office.
There are exceptions and instances where
legislative immunity does not protect legislators,
typically relating to administrative and political
areas that are not directly related to the
legislative process.
Legislative aides and staff are also entitled to
legislative immunity for acts relating to the
legislative process such as developing and
processing legislation.
Limitations on
Legislative Power
In exercising the legislative function of state
government, the Legislature has far-reaching
powers. The Legislature has all the power that is
not granted to the executive or judicial branches
of government or that is not prohibited by the
State Constitution or federal law.
The Arizona Constitution does impose
specific limits on this power. For example, the
Legislature may not pass:
! Laws that would increase the punishment
for a crime after the crime has been
committed.
! Laws that will impair contract obligations.
! Certain types of local or special laws that
would give an individual a special privilege
or immunity.
In addition to these subject matter limitations
on the authority of the Legislature, the Arizona
Constitution prescribes procedural requirements
for legislative action. Although a legislative act
may deal with a subject within the Legislature’s
authority, the act may still be invalid if the
Legislature did not comply with the
constitutional procedural requirements in
enacting the act. Examples of these requirements
are that:
! All parts of an act must be expressed in
the title of the act.
! An act may embrace only one subject.
! All appropriations other than the general
appropriations act must be made by
separate bills.
Crimes Against the
Legislature
The statutes set forth specific crimes against
the legislative process. A person who illegally
alters or removes an introduced or enrolled bill
is guilty of a class 4 felony for which the
maximum term of imprisonment is two and one-half
years. A person who prevents the Legislature
from meeting is guilty of a class 5 felony, which
carries a prison term of one and one-half years.
A person who disturbs or interrupts the
Legislature’s proceedings is guilty of a class 2
misdemeanor and may be sentenced to jail for
up to four months.
Legislative Discipline
The Arizona Constitution provides “[e]ach
house may punish its members for disorderly
behavior, and may, with the concurrence of two-
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thirds of its members, expel any member.” (Article
IV, part 2, section 11.)
The House of Representatives and the Senate
have each included a number of provisions in
their respective rules to implement this
constitutional provision. Both houses have
established rules of decorum to allow for open,
but orderly, debate of the issues before the body.
For example, members of the House are not
allowed to “indulge in personalities, use language
personally offensive, arraign motives of members,
charge deliberate misrepresentation or use
language tending to hold a member of the House
or Senate up to contempt.”
Both houses of the Legislature have
established in their rules codes of ethics and
requirements pertaining to conflicts of interest
and financial disclosure. An Ethics Committee
is established in the House and Senate pursuant
to statute. Each Ethics Committee must
investigate ethics complaints against members
of its respective house.
A violation of the code of ethics, conflict of
interest requirements, financial disclosure
requirements or rules of the body subjects the
offender to punishment or expulsion pursuant
to Article IV, part 2, section 11 of the Arizona
Constitution.
Reporting
Campaign Finances
The Arizona statutes prescribe extensive
requirements for election campaign
contributions and expenses for all candidates
including candidates for the Legislature. Every
candidate for the Legislature who receives
campaign contributions or makes campaign
disbursements of more than $200 is required to
establish a campaign committee. The candidate’s
campaign committee must file a number of
campaign finance reports that set forth the
receipts and disbursements of the committee.
These reports must be filed with either the
Secretary of State or the Clerk of the County
Board of Supervisors several times during an
election year and by January 31 of the following
year for years in which there is no election.
The reports must include a detailed listing of
the campaign committee’s assets and the source
of revenues. The committee must also report the
total disbursements and an itemized list of
disbursements in nine categories. The reports are
certified and signed under penalty of perjury by
the committee treasurer or the candidate. If a
campaign committee fails to file a timely,
complete and accurate report, the committee and
the candidate are liable for a civil penalty of $25
for each day of noncompliance with a maximum
penalty of $1,000.
Reporting Personal Finances
The general statutory standards for financial
disclosure by public officers apply to members
of the Legislature. Under these requirements
each member of the Legislature must file an
annual verified financial disclosure statement
with the Secretary of State by January 31 that
covers the prior calendar year.
The statement must provide a wealth of
information concerning the legislator and the
members of the legislator’s household. Some of
the information required in the statement
includes:
! The name and address of each source of
income of over $1,000 during the year.
! A description of any business owned by
the legislator including identification of
any large customers.
! The name and address of any business or
trust in which the legislator has an interest
of over $1,000.
! A description of all interests the legislator
has in Arizona real estate.
Powers, Privileges and Responsibilities
28 Arizona Legislative Manual
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! A list of all creditors to whom the legislator
owes over $1,000 and a list of all major
creditors of any business owned by the
legislator.
A legislator who knowingly fails to file the
statement or files a false statement is guilty of a
class 1 misdemeanor, which is punishable by a
sentence of up to six months in jail. The offender
is also subject to a civil penalty of $50 for each
day of noncompliance, with a maximum penalty
of $500.
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Legislative Procedure
Chapter Five
Legislative
Procedure
Parliamentary Procedure in
the Senate and the House of
Representatives
The legislative procedure of the Senate and
House of Representatives is established
by the rules of each chamber. The rules
adopted by the Senate state that legislative
procedure shall be governed by the constitutional
provisions, the Senate Rules, Arizona statutes,
Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure, Senate
customs and usage and general parliamentary
law, in that order.
The Rules of the House of Representatives
also state the order in which authorities on
legislative procedure take precedence when the
rules do not address a specific issue of legislative
procedure. The order is the constitutional rules
or stipulations, statutory rules, adopted House
Rules, judicial decisions, adopted parliamentary
authority (Mason’s Manual of Legislative
Procedure, Rules of the United States House of
Representatives and Jefferson’s Manual), general
parliamentary law and custom and usage. The
House Rules state that these authorities shall be
consulted in that order to resolve any conflict or
ambiguity in legislative procedure.
The rules adopted by the Senate and the
House of Representatives can be modified by a
majority vote each session and are published for
each Legislature, or when amended. The rules
are reprinted in the Addendum to this Manual.
Senate Procedure
The Senate Rules cover a range of subjects
that include the powers of the officers of the body,
the establishment of committees, introduction
of legislation, decorum and debate, legislative
procedure, length of the session and a code of
ethical conduct.
Currently, there are 13 standing committees
in the Senate. The President of the Senate
appoints a member to serve as chairman of each
committee. The committee chairman sets the day
and time for the committee’s regular weekly
hearings. Since all members of the Senate serve
on more than one committee, the committees
meet on different dates and times to
accommodate the members’ schedules. The
chairman may add additional meeting times as
necessary.
Generally, there are between seven and nine
members on a Senate committee. A quorum for
a hearing on a measure in a committee consists
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of a majority of the members of the committee.
A majority of the members of the committee is
required to report a bill or any other measure
out of the committee. To pass an amendment to
a bill, a majority of the members of the committee
who are present must vote for the amendment.
The committee may introduce a bill, resolution
or memorial as a “committee” measure on a
unanimous vote of the committee. A majority of
the committee may introduce a bill, resolution
or memorial as a “majority of committee”
measure on the vote of a majority of the members
of the committee.
The President calls the Senate to order each
day of the session. This is usually done at the
same time every day unless the President has
adjourned the Senate to meet at a different time
on the next day of the session.
A majority of the senators elected constitutes
a quorum for conducting business on the Senate
floor. A member may raise the question of
establishing a presence of a quorum at any time
while the Senate is in session on the floor of the
chamber. If it is determined that a quorum does
not exist, then a majority of the senators present
may seek a “call of the Senate” requiring senators
to return to the chamber until a quorum is
present. Pending the execution of the call the
President cannot entertain any debate or other
motions, except to adjourn. The President directs
the Sergeant at Arms to request or compel the
attendance of the absent Senators for purposes
of establishing a quorum when there is a call of
the Senate.
The order of Senate business is established
in the Senate Rules as follows:
1. Prayer by the Chaplain
2. Pledge of allegiance
3. Roll call
4. Reading of the Journal
5. Business on the President’s desk
6. Petitions, memorials and
remonstrances
7. Orders of the day
8. Introduction and first reading of bills
9. Second reading of bills
10. Reference of bills
11. Reports of standing committees
12. Reports of select committees
13. Committee of the Whole
14. Report of the Committee of the Whole
15. Third reading of bills
16. Other business of the Senate
A member may request that the President
alter the order of business during a floor session.
House of Representatives
Procedure
The Rules of the House of Representatives
include the powers and duties of the presiding
officer, the formation of standing committees,
introduction of legislation, decorum and debate
and legislative procedure.
There are currently 19 standing committees
in the House with chairmen appointed by the
Speaker. Under the Rules of the House of
Representatives, the chairmen of the standing
committees set the meeting day and time for the
weekly committee hearings. The chairman may
cancel or set additional meetings as is necessary
with the permission of the Speaker. A majority
of the members of a committee of the House of
Representatives constitutes a quorum for
purposes of considering a bill, resolution or
memorial.
The Speaker calls the House to order on the
floor of the chamber at 11:00 a.m. each day of
session, unless the Speaker has adjourned the
House to a different hour. A majority of the
members elected to the House of Representatives
constitutes a quorum to conduct the business of
the full House. A smaller number of members
may meet, adjourn and compel the attendance
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of any members who are not present. A member
may raise the question of a quorum and, if a
quorum is not present, the Speaker of the House
must either order a “call of the House,” recess
or adjourn.
The House order of business is as follows:
1. Roll call
2. Prayer
3. Pledge of allegiance
4. Approval of journal
5. Petitions, memorials and
remonstrances
6. Reports of standing committees
7. Reports of select committees
8. Business on the Speaker’s desk
9. Bills and other business from the Senate
10. Motions to discharge committees
11. First reading of bills
12. Second reading of bills
13. Third reading of bills
14. Unfinished business
15. Committee of the Whole
16. Disposition of business from
Committee of the Whole
17. Orders of the day
Members may request that the Speaker
change the order of business during floor session.
Legislative Procedure
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Chapter Six
The
Legislature in
Operation
The Legislature in Operation
Sessions: Organization of
the Legislature
Every two years, 60 members of the House
of Representatives and 30 members of the
Senate are elected or reelected to a new
Arizona Legislature. Each Legislature has been
numbered consecutively since statehood in 1912,
and the new Legislature is assigned the next
number from the previous Legislature. The
Legislature that was elected in 1996 and took
office in 1997, for example, was the 43rd
Legislature.
Each Legislature covers a two-year period.
The first session following the general election
is known as the first regular session, and the
session convening in the second year is known
as the second regular session. Each regular
session begins on the second Monday in January
and adjourns sine die (i.e., terminates for the year)
no later than Saturday of the week in which the
100th day from the beginning of the regular
session falls. The President of the Senate and
Speaker of the House, by rule, may extend the
session up to seven additional days. Thereafter
the session can only be extended by a majority
vote of members present of each house.
It is not uncommon for the Legislature to
convene in between regular sessions. This is done
when the Governor calls a special session of the
Legislature. The Governor may call an unlimited
number of special sessions at any time, even while
regular sessions are in progress. In special
sessions initiated by the Governor, the Legislature
may consider only subjects and issues that the
Governor specifies. The Governor usually
discusses the potential subjects and issues of a
special session with legislative leadership in
advance of the call so that all parties may plan
accordingly. In addition to special sessions
initiated by the Governor, the Governor must
call a special session on receiving a petition
signed by at least two-thirds of the members of
each house of the Legislature, in which case the
subjects that the Legislature can consider are
unlimited. Special sessions are typically short,
sometimes lasting only one day, but there is no
official limit to their duration.
The Constitution of Arizona authorizes each
house of the Legislature to choose its own
officers, and one of the first orders of business
after a general election of legislators is to
organize the Legislature and elect the legislative
officers. Legislative caucuses begin meeting soon
after the election so new legislators can get
acquainted with other legislators and to choose
the new officers. The political party having a
majority of the members of a house usually
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chooses the next presiding officer of that house
and will nominate one of its members to be the
President of the Senate or Speaker of the House.
All caucuses will also elect their own leaders:
Majority or Minority Leaders, Majority or
Minority Whips and other officers of their caucus.
When the Legislature formally convenes in the
first regular session, the full Senate will officially
elect its President and the full House will elect
its Speaker, typically those members previously
nominated by the majority caucus of the
respective house prior to session. At this time
the chambers also formalize other staffing
elections and appointments described elsewhere
in this manual.
The President and Speaker are the presiding
officers of their respective houses and are elected
to two-year terms in those offices coinciding with
the biennial legislature. They call their chamber
to order, preside over the business of the
chamber and are responsible for maintaining
decorum in the chamber. In addition, they are
responsible for the administration and
management of the affairs of their respective
houses. The President and Speaker may choose
a President Pro Tempore and Speaker Pro
Tempore, respectively, to preside in the
temporary absence of the President or Speaker.
Shortly after both houses have organized, they
meet in joint session in the House chambers to
hear the Governor’s “State of the State” address.
In the message, the Governor outlines the major
issues facing the state and proposes solutions for
the Legislature’s consideration during that
session.
Drafting
Only current members of the Legislature may
actually sponsor and introduce legislation, but
legislative proposals may be initiated from many
sources, including state agencies, local
governments, individual constituents and special
interest groups. Advocates of proposed legislation
must secure a legislative sponsor if they hope to
see their ideas enacted. Once a legislator agrees
to sponsor the measure, Legislative Council staff
will draft it in the form of a bill, resolution or
memorial, whichever is appropriate.
Legislative Council staff is legally responsible
for drafting all proposed legislation in suitable
form and terminology, regardless of the form in
which it is presented. The Legislative Council
employs permanent legal, editorial and technical
staff to provide this service for all legislators,
regardless of house or political party. The service
is confidential, and the contents of proposed
legislation, including supporting documentation,
will not be divulged without the express consent
of the sponsor.
To expedite the drafting and bill introduction
processes, House and Senate Rules establish
deadlines for requesting and producing drafts.
State agencies that propose legislation must have
a legislative sponsor and submit the drafting
request to Legislative Council on or before
November 15 preceding the regular legislative
session. Senate bills must be submitted to
Legislative Council for drafting on or before the
eighth day of the regular session and delivered
to their sponsors on or before the 15th day of
the session. House bills must be requested on or
before the 15th day of the regular session and
delivered to their sponsors on or before the 22nd
day of the session. In addition, House Rules limit
the number of bills, resolutions and memorials
that can be introduced after the first day of the
regular session to five per legislator, which
effectively forces most drafting for House
members to take place before the session begins.
The drafting process begins with the
Legislative Council drafter obtaining the facts,
policy and objectives for a legislative proposal
from either the legislator who is sponsoring the
bill or from the legislator’s authorized agent. The
drafter then converts the sponsor’s request into
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The Legislature in Operation
proper form, style and legal terminology, and fits
the proposal into the framework of existing
statutory law. The drafter strives to produce a
draft that is coherent, concise, understandable
and free from ambiguity. The drafter considers
pertinent provisions of the Arizona Constitution,
court decisions, the Arizona Revised Statutes, the
Internal Reference Manual, the Annual Report on
Defects in the Arizona Revised Statutes and State
Constitution and other relevant sources. The
drafter makes adjustments for any minor
problems or conflicts, and discusses more
significant problems with the sponsor, including
suggesting possible alternative approaches. There
are three types of legislation: bills, resolutions
and memorials.
Bills
A bill is the appropriate method for proposing
the enactment of a law and is the most numerous
of legislative measures. Its proper use
encompasses every conceivable subject within
the legislative jurisdiction and is limited only by
state and federal constitutional standards. Typical
bills are those that:
! Establish governmental agencies and
programs.
! Prescribe the powers and duties of state
agencies and of individual officers and
employees.
! Define crimes and classify punishments for
actions that are prohibited as public
offenses.
! Appropriate monies for state government
expenditures.
! Determine licensing and regulatory
standards for professions and occupations.
! Prescribe qualifications, terms of office
and compensation of public officers.
! Provide for the imposition, collection and
distribution of tax monies.
A bill that is introduced in the Senate is
designated “S.B. 1xxx”. A bill that is introduced
in the House is designated “H.B. 2xxx”. Bills are
numbered consecutively within each body and
retain the same number throughout the session,
even when they are sent to the opposite house
for consideration.
To become law, both houses of the Legislature
must pass a bill, which will then either be signed
into law by the Governor, take effect without the
Governor’s signature or pass the Legislature by
a supermajority vote overriding the Governor’s
veto.
Resolutions
A resolution is a declaration or expression of
legislative opinion, will, intent or “resolve” in
matters within the Legislature’s legal purview.
Three types of resolutions are used in Arizona.
A simple resolution is processed only through
the house in which it is introduced and may
express an opinion, appoint a committee,
express regret on the death of a former legislator
or other prominent person, request the return
of a bill from the other house of the Legislature
for a stated purpose, recognize meritorious
service or commemorate a special event. A
simple resolution is not signed by the Governor.
Simple resolutions are designated “S.R. 1xxx” or
“H.R. 2xxx”, depending on the house of
introduction.
A concurrent resolution is processed through
both houses but is not signed by the Governor.
It may provide for the submittal of a referendum
to the voters or legislative action to amend the
United States or the Arizona Constitution.
Concurrent resolutions are designated “S.C.R.
1xxx” or “H.C.R. 2xxx”.
A joint resolution is processed through both
houses and is signed by the Governor. It is used
to provide for temporary measures having the
effect of law (e.g., a contract or any other official
action) but is not used for any purpose in
amending either the Arizona or United States
Constitutions. Joint resolutions are designated
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“S.J.R. 1xxx” or “H.J.R. 2xxx”.
Memorials
A memorial is a message sent to an officer or
entity outside state government and allows the
Legislature to petition, plea, beseech or pray that
the recipient acknowledge stated facts and act
in a manner consistent with the request. It
implies that the “memorialist” (the Legislature)
lacks authority to act directly on the subject.
Memorials are requests or proposals asking
Congress, the President of the United States,
federal agencies and officers or other states to
do things the Arizona Legislature has no
jurisdiction to do itself. Memorials are not signed
by the Governor.
Fiscal Notes
Fiscal notes are estimates of the fiscal impact
of a bill that are prepared by the Joint Legislative
Budget Committee staff. They are prepared on
request for a legislator while the bill is before
that legislator’s house, and copies are distributed
to all members. Most fiscal notes are prepared
for bills involving changes in revenues while some
are used for bills involving administrative changes.
Fiscal notes can only be requested on bills and
amendments that have been introduced. Each
fiscal note contains basic information about the
bill, a dollar amount representing the fiscal
impact, an analysis complementing the figures
and underlying assumptions used in the analysis.
Introductions
A legislator, or in the Senate a standing
committee, may introduce a bill, resolution or
memorial. A Senator cannot introduce a bill in
the House, nor can a member of the House
introduce a bill in the Senate, but any legislator
may cosponsor a measure introduced in the other
house. Any measure may originate in either
house, and all measures passed by one house may
be amended in the other. The sponsor or
sponsors sign a signature page attached to the
bill when it is introduced, and when the bill is
printed their names appear on the first page of
the bill. Legislators may introduce bills “by
request,” meaning the sponsor has agreed to
introduce the measure as a courtesy to its backers
while not necessarily endorsing it.
Legislators introduce measures by requesting
an “intro set” (the official package of materials
used for introduction of measures including
copies of the legislation and a signature page)
from Legislative Council, getting the signatures
of all cosponsors and filing the set in “the hopper”
located in the office of the Senate Secretary or
House Chief Clerk. When a measure is filed in
the hopper, it is formally designated as a bill,
resolution or memorial. The first bill introduced
each session is S.B. 1001 in the Senate and H.B.
2001 in the House.
Members may introduce measures in the
Senate during the first 22 days of a regular session
and during the first ten days of a special session.
A measure may be introduced in the House of
Representatives during the first 29 days of a
regular session and during the first ten days of a
special session. After these deadlines, bills,
resolutions and memorials can be introduced
only with the permission of the respective Rules
Committee, except that in the House the
introduction of death resolutions may continue
without the permission of the Rules Committee.
To expedite processing, bills, resolutions and
memorials may be “prefiled” before the session
begins. Prefiled measures are considered to be
introduced on the first day of the session. After
the certification of the election of members-elect,
they may prefile measures for introduction in the
first regular session. Members may prefile
measures for introduction in the second regular
session beginning November 15 preceding the
session. Members may prefile special session
measures after the Governor issues the call for
the session, if the measures are germane to the
call.
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The Legislature in Operation
First and Second Reading
The Arizona Constitution requires that to be
enacted a bill must be “read by sections” on the
floor of both the House and Senate on three
different days. This requirement is intended to
provide time for legislators to become informed
about the details of the bills and to allow for
public reaction and response to legislative
proposals before they are enacted. To expedite
moving the bills, on the opening day of each
session the Majority Leader may move to declare
an emergency and suspend the rules so that all
bills, resolutions and memorials may be read by
number and short title only. These formal
“readings” are called first, second and third
reading, and each reading triggers a separate
action in the progression of a measure through
each house. For example, on first reading in the
House, the measure is “referred” to the Chief
Clerk for printing and assigned to appropriate
committees. The Speaker may thereafter have the
bill second read at any time before its
consideration by the Committee of the Whole.
In the Senate, first reading is essentially
ceremonial, and the bill is not referred to
committee until second reading. In both the
House and Senate, third reading is a formal voting
process and is discussed more fully below.
The Arizona Constitution allows either house
to suspend the requirement of readings on three
days in the event of an emergency and on the
vote of at least two-thirds of the members. This
is typically done for special sessions considering
only a few bills that have been discussed and
publicized before the session is held.
Committee Action
As discussed earlier, the Legislature is
involved with such a large volume of matters
involving complex and technical subjects that it
would be simply overwhelmed if it tried to
conduct all of its business as a full body.
Consequently, each house assigns its members
to various standing committees to consider the
details of the various measures. The standing
committees are established by House and Senate
Rules.
The presiding officer assigns bills, resolutions
and memorials to standing committees to
consider the merits of the proposals and for
hearings, testimony and debate. Under House
Rules, assignment to a committee is mandatory
on first reading. In the Senate committee
assignment is not automatic, but the President,
in practice, rarely, if ever, withholds a bill from
referral to a committee. A measure is usually
referred to at least one committee in its house of
origin, and all legislation is assigned to the Rules
Committee. In the second house a measure is
usually referred to only one committee and that
chamber’s Rules Committee. If a bill includes an
appropriation of money, it will normally go to
the Appropriations Committee in each house in
addition to any other committees to which it is
assigned.
Once a measure has been referred to a
committee, the committee chairperson has broad
discretion over the measure’s fate. If a measure
is not heard in committee, it usually means that
the legislation will not progress further in the
process, although the sponsor may have other
options to pursue, such as a motion to “discharge”
the committees or amend the measure onto an
active bill somewhere else in the process.
Notice and Agendas
Standing committees usually meet on the
same day each week during all but the last few
weeks of the regular session. Depending on the
calendar and scheduling conflicts, legislative
deadlines allow up to eight meetings during the
first half of the regular session for committees in
each house to hear legislation originating in that
house. Sometimes committees are allowed to
hold additional meetings to accommodate an
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extraordinary number of bill assignments or to
hear bills of special importance.
A written public notice for each regular or
special committee meeting and an agenda listing
all bills, memorials, resolutions and other matters
to be considered is required to be distributed to
each member of the committee and the Secretary
of the Senate or Chief Clerk of the House at least
five days prior to the committee meeting. The
notices and agenda are also available in several
public locations, as well as the Internet, and are
available to the public on request. No other
measure may be discussed at the meeting
without the unanimous consent of all committee
members. Listing a measure on the agenda
indicates only that it is eligible for hearing at the
meeting but does not guarantee that it will
actually be heard.
Hearing
The committee convenes at the scheduled
meeting time and place for a hearing on the
matters listed on the agenda. At the beginning of
the meeting the chairperson usually announces
any changes to the printed agenda, as allowed
by the adopted rules, including:
! Whether any legislation is to be “held.” A
measure may be held for a number of
reasons, including technical problems,
apparent lack of support, not enough
meeting time to hear the bill or ongoing
negotiations among interested parties that
will affect the bill’s contents.
! Whether any bills are to be assigned to a
subcommittee, as discussed below.
! The order of hearing the bills, resolutions
and memorials that are up for
consideration. It is not always possible to
hear every bill on the agenda, so the
chairperson may give priority to some
bills over others.
The normal procedure for considering each
measure begins with an objective explanation by
the committee’s research analyst or intern,
including features of the bill and other
background information. The committee staff
usually prepares and distributes a fact sheet or
bill summary and may announce whether
amendments have been proposed. If the sponsor
of the bill is present, the chairperson may invite
the sponsor to begin the testimony on the bill.
Committee chairmen are not required to
allow public testimony on any measure, but if
there is time and a need to hear explanations of
support or opposition, the chairperson almost
always allows persons who wish to testify to come
forward and present their reasons for opposing
or supporting the measure. Persons wishing to
testify must complete a request form and deliver
it to the chairperson. All persons are eligible to
testify to inform, advocate, oppose or state any
concern related to legislation be