From snake and rat shot to legal tender — lawmakers offer flurry of bills

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In the first week of the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers have already introduced hundreds of bills on topics ranging from the mundane to the life-or-death.

AZ Capitol Times reported a sampling of some of the noteworthy bills filed so far this session.

They include bills on panhandling at intersections, Mandatory recess for school children, Lowering the age to 18 for teenagers to serve alcohol, and a bill to make to gold and silver coins legal tender.

There is also another attempt to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the state. 

Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff is preparing a barrage of smaller bills to reform civil asset forfeiture practices. 

Republican Rep. Jay Lawrence of Scottsdale introduced two bills that would increase criminal penalties from misdemeanors to felonies.

His HB2023 would make it a class 6 felony to harass, shoot, injure, kill or slaughter a horse that’s a part of the Salt River horse herd. The bill increases the penalty from a class 1 misdemeanor.

Read the full article at AZ Capitol Times

Corrie O'Connor