Water legislation left on the cutting room floor
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media via Arizona Daily Star
If the just-completed legislative session were a school year, the Class of 2018 would not be making the Honor Roll.
Oh, sure, there were a few outstanding successes, like coming up with a comprehensive plan to deal with opioid abuse from all angles. And even the vote to give teachers a 19 percent pay hike probably rates an “A,” even though educators wanted far more, like restoring state aid to at least 2008 levels.
There also were some “B”s for dealing with problems, like having the state license sober-living homes for the first time ever and removing Arizona from the list of states where there was no minimum age to get married.
But much of the 116-day session resulted in what could be described as just average, run-of-the-mill alterations to existing state law, much of it to satisfy one or another business interest.
And there were more than a fair share of “F”s — and incompletes in particular — for things left undone, particularly anything dealing with gun violence and school safety.
Still, there were examples of being able to work and play well together, notably the package of changes designed to deal with the spike of opioid-related deaths.
