Get ready for Super Tuesday

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Who needs the presidential primaries? Today is shaping up to be one heck of a political display in the state Senate.

On tap before the Senate Appropriations Committee is a bevy of bills that touch on most of the controversial topics of the 50th Legislature. Some of the bills even deal with....appropriations and the state budget, although they pale in comparison to the immigration-themed bills.

A late addition to the list is Senate President Russell Pearce's immigration omnibus bill, which he has called a simple effort to "clean up" existing laws. This tidying-up measure, Senate Bill 1611, includes restrictions on driving and demonstration of citizenship for enrolling in school, and protesters are already lining up.

Then there are bills to do away with the Board of Regents, do away with the state's Medicaid system, deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona if one of their parents is not a U.S. citizen, require drug testing of welfare recipients and require hospitals to check the immigration status of patients who show up for non-emergency care.

Even with such a busy agenda, there's room for SB 1610, which would make the Colt Single Action Army Revolver the official state firearm. Efforts to adopt an official firearm were sidelined two weeks ago when the Legislature was working on the official state nickname.

The fun is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109. The public can also watch online by clicking on the "live hearing" link and going to the proper hearing room.

- Mary Jo Pitzl

http://www.azcentral.com/members/blog/p ... der/118669