Arizona Legislative Update
On Wednesday, April 24th, members of the House of Representatives took action on the outstanding issue of abortion despite a series of increasingly contentious votes. Motioned by Republican Matt Gress, the House suspended all rules to vote on HB2677 – Abortion ban; repeal. This was the third attempt at making this bill reach the floor but was able to suspend all necessary rules to move the bill forward thanks to Rep. Tim Dunn who joined Matt Gress in breaking rank with his caucus. They were joined by Representative Justin Wilmeth on the vote for the bill itself, though Wilmeth would not join them in crossing the line on the procedural motion. The bill would strike entirely the section of ARS which criminalizes abortion, and it now has a mirror bill SB1734 – Abortion ban; repeal which is being aided by Republicans by Sen. TJ Shope and Shawna Bolick. Senator Ken Bennett joined his colleagues in voting to support the bill being introduced and heard but stopped short of supporting the measure. As a consequence of his multiple attempts to move the bills, Matt Gress earned the consternation of his caucus leadership and was removed from the Appropriations and Rules committees. Despite his previous tenure as budget director for Doug Ducey, Representative Gress will now be left out of the already tense budget negotiations.
Arizona Legislative Update
On Wednesday, April 24th, members of the House of Representatives took action on the outstanding issue of abortion despite a series of increasingly contentious votes. Motioned by Republican Matt Gress, the House suspended all rules to vote on HB2677 – Abortion ban; repeal. This was the third attempt at making this bill reach the floor but was able to suspend all necessary rules to move the bill forward thanks to Rep. Tim Dunn who joined Matt Gress in breaking rank with his caucus. They were joined by Representative Justin Wilmeth on the vote for the bill itself, though Wilmeth would not join them in crossing the line on the procedural motion. The bill would strike entirely the section of ARS which criminalizes abortion, and it now has a mirror bill SB1734 – Abortion ban; repeal which is being aided by Republicans by Sen. TJ Shope and Shawna Bolick. Senator Ken Bennett joined his colleagues in voting to support the bill being introduced and heard but stopped short of supporting the measure. As a consequence of his multiple attempts to move the bills, Matt Gress earned the consternation of his caucus leadership and was removed from the Appropriations and Rules committees. Despite his previous tenure as budget director for Doug Ducey, Representative Gress will now be left out of the already tense budget negotiations.