2010 Legislative Report

The Second Regular Session of the 49th Arizona Legislature adjourned sine die on April 29, 2010 at 11:07 p.m. The Regular Session lasted 109 days. However, the Legislature did double duty during the Second Regular Session and also completed the Sixth, Seventh and Eight Special Sessions of the 49th Legislature. While at first glance this appears to have been a short session for this Legislature, it was actually closer to a year and a half of continuous legislative sessions due to the fact that the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Special Sessions were held during 2009 after the completion of the last regular session. In the 2010 session 1,233 bills were introduced, 352 bills passed both houses and were sent to the Governor, 338 bills have been signed into law, and 14 bills have been vetoed. In addition, there were 169 Memorials and Resolutions introduced and 33 passed this session. The general effective date of all enactments without an emergency clause is July 28, 2010 unless specified in the legislation to take effect at a different date.

Due to the resignations of several legislative members to run for United States Congressional seats, five new members were appointed which includes 3 Senators and 2 Representatives. The following members resigned their legislative seats to run for United States House Congressional Seat 3 (currently held by John Shadegg who is not seeking reelection):

• Senator Pamela Gorman, replaced by David Braswell
• Senator Jim Waring, replaced by Ed Bunch
• Representative Sam Crump, replaced by Amanda Reeve

Senator Jonathon Paton resigned to run for United States House Congressional Seat 5 (currently held by Gabrielle Giffords who is seeking reelection):

• Senator Jonathon Paton, Replaced by Rep. Frank Antenori
• Rep. Frank Antenori, replaced by Ted Vogt

All of the newly appointed members will serve out the remainder of the term which ends January of 2011. Several of the newly appointed members have indicated they will seek reelection to the legislative seats they have been appointed to this session.

COOL Final Rule Looms

The USDA is expected to publish the COOL Final Rule within the next few days and will become effective 60 days from the date published in the Federal Register.

There are few changes from the Interim Final Rule. Some of the key highlights include the use of abbreviations which may be used for state, regional, or locality label designations whether domestically harvested or imported using official U.S. Postal Service abbreviations or those approved by Custom Border Patrol.

Additionally, there are no restrictions on suppliers or retailers using abbreviations on records or documents to convey origin information, as long as the information can be understood by the recipient.

Suppliers must make information available to the purchaser about the origin. The information may be provided either on the product itself, on the master shipping container, or in a document that accompanies the product through retail sale — provided it identifies the product and its country of origin.

A supplier responsible for identifying a country of origin must possess records to substantiate the claim for a period of one year from the date of the transaction. Records and other documentary evidence relied upon at the point of sale to establish a covered commodity’s country of origin must be either maintained at the retail facility or other location as long as the