By AZ Mirror
During a 19-hour day that started early Wednesday afternoon and ended in the early morning hours of Thursday, Arizona lawmakers debated or voted on more than 250 bills and clashed with each other over the process.
This week marked the start of crossover week, where bills have to be voted out of their chamber of origin and sent over to the other chamber in order to be considered to become law. Wednesday’s marathon voting session closed out the week and left some lawmakers fit to be tied.
“We are not getting adequate time for these votes,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said at around 4:40 a.m. after the House of Representatives’ sergeant at arms was sent to fetch him and return him to the floor so he could participate in a roll-call vote.
Throughout the early morning hours, Kolodin had been vocal about his displeasure with the process that House Speaker Steve Montenegro had foisted upon the chamber he leads.
“Since I think this issue deserves a little more thoughtfulness than what we can provide at 3:43 in the morning and only 30 seconds of discussion on the bill, I vote no,” Kolodin said at one point while voting against a bill that aims to add further regulations to synthetic kratom products.
Multiple times throughout the early morning hours, sergeant at arms had to find Kolodin and bring him back to the chamber to vote on bills. Eventually, it led to a testy exchange between Kolodin and Speaker Pro Tem Neal Carter, R-Queen Creek, before the Scottsdale lawmaker threw in the towel and headed home.
“I’m not playing this game anymore. I vote aye and good night,” Kolodin said shortly before 5 a.m. When he was done speaking, he exited the floor and departing the Capitol complex.
