JOURNALIST PANEL MAKES PERTINENT POINTS ABOUT AZ JOBS BILL

posted by Michael Chihak

The three journalists whose commentary will be on tonight's Arizona Week raised a raft of significant and interesting issues around this week's swift introduction, debate and passage of the Arizona Competitiveness Package.

From Luige del Puerto of the Arizona Capitol Times: The debate was furious for a day or so, but the bill ended up being handled the way the AZ Legislature handles the budget -- crafted it behind closed doors, then jammed through quickly.

From Mark Evans of tucsoncitizen.com: The problem with the quick movement of the bill was that legislators didn't get time to read it, let alone understand it. "The legislative sausage making that we're so derisive about" is a necessary component of the process, Evans said.

From Jahna Berry of the Arizona Republic: The business community hasn't fully weighed in, especially on the idea of the transparency that everyone is promising with the Commerce Authority. Can businesspeople accustomed to operating privately make the adjustment? We'll watch closely.

All that and more commentary on tonight's broadcast, 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV Channel 6 in Tucson and online at azweek.com.