Beginning Thursday, cities won’t be able to regulate guns or knives.
Foreclosure consultants will have their practices restricted.
Yellow lights will be at least three seconds long.
And it will become a crime to try to create a human-animal hybrid.
Much has been made of the high-profile laws which take effect Thursday, ranging from immigration and concealed weapons to being able to buy a drink early Sunday morning rather than waiting until 10 a.m. as has been the case.
But a couple hundred other measures signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer also kick in. And they will impose new regulations on everything from health care to home sales.
The measures on knives and guns did not get the same attention that did a higher profile measure which says, come Thursday, Arizonans won’t need a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
In essence, these separate laws are designed to preempt cities from enacting their own rules about possession, sale, licensing or registration of guns or knives. While neither affects things like sales taxes, they overrule any local law which is more restrictive, even if it is already on the books.
That specifically includes restrictions that now exist in some cities limiting when a gun can be carried into a park.
Another measure is aimed at protecting homeowners in financial trouble. It sets out rules for what foreclosure consultants are permitted to do.
Potentially more significant, it precludes them from collecting any money until their services are complete. This is designed to address complaints that homeowners paid money up front to self-professed consultants who then disappeared with the cash and provided no help.
And homeowners get three days to cancel a contract.
A related measure is specifically designed to help the elderly stay in their homes. It sets up state regulation of “reverse mortgages.” These financial arrangements let those 62 and older with equity in their homes get some money up front for living expenses.
Much of what the new law requires simply is in the form of disclosure. Borrowers would need to be provided information, in detail and up front, about the costs and conditions of the loan, including special fees and what actions will make it payable before the homeowner dies.
It also imposes limits on what other kinds of other products lenders can try to induce borrowers to buy, like insurance. And it mandates that borrowers get independent financial counseling before they obtain a reverse mortgage.
Lawmakers also agreed to further trim the power of homeowner associations. This latest law restricts the ability of homeowner associations to prohibit “open house” and “for sale” signs, as well as signs which say a property is for rent. Prior legislation has curbed the power of HOAs to limit everything from solar panels to flagpoles.
Another form of real estate is behind legislation which will let landlords pay greater “finder fees” to tenants who help them rent more apartments.
Current law limits those fees to $100. Lobbyists for the industry pushed to have that doubled in hopes that it would help many of the apartment complexes fill the vacancies they now have.
Legislators also adopted a variety of new health laws. Some are aimed strictly at research like the legislation banning human-animal hybrids. That law also makes it illegal to put a human embryo into a non-human womb, or vice versa, and bans the sale or purchase of any human embryo fertilized in a laboratory, though patients can still buy fertilized eggs for treatment of infertility.
But a closely related measure imposes new requirements on what has to be disclosed to women before they become egg donors. Supporters of the legislation said women are not now informed of both the known and unknown risks.
It also will become illegal to use any public funds to pay for insurance for public employees that includes elective abortions. That is aimed at health care coverage offered by some communities which does not include prohibitions against paying for such care.
Legislators also agreed to create a new crime of “sexting.”
Current law already makes it a felony to send sexually explicit photos of a minor. But prosecutors said they needed some lesser punishment for teens who see nothing wrong with sending naked pictures of themselves or friends to each other.
One new law creates a Parents’ Bill of Rights, spelling out that certain rights are reserved to a parent or legal guardian without obstruction or interference from any government entity or employee. These include the child’s moral or religious training, health care decisions, access to all education and health care records and, with only limited exceptions, the right to consent in writing before any video or voice recordings are made.
It also spells out that parents must “opt in” to sex education programs for their teens.
The yellow light provision stems from complaints by some legislators that cities, hoping to generate revenues from cameras that catch red-light runners, have been tinkering with the warning time that approaching motorists get.
As approved, the law does more than spell out that three-second minimum time. It also bars cities from issuing citations unless the traffic light timing system conforms to specifications approved by the state Department of Transportation.
Other bills taking effect Thursday include:
• Allowing charities to have instant ticket raffles;
• Eliminating the $10 cap on late fees for auto loans;
• Providing reduced-fee hunting and fishing licenses to Arizona Eagle Scouts and Girl Scouts who have received the Gold Award;
• Barring the Department of Environmental Quality from enacting greenhouse gas regulations without legislative approval;
• Exempting dairy farming from certain local zoning regulations;
• Limiting the ability of cities to use zoning rules to keep out churches so as not to interfere with liquor licenses;
• Requiring school boards to publicly consider whether to have a “recess” period for youngsters in kindergarten through fifth grade, though there is no mandate to actually approve one;
• Spelling out that businesses are not required to have bilingual staffers to handle customer requests;
• Expanding the kinds of medications that optometrists can administer;
• Increasing the penalty for assaulting someone who the assailant knows is a code enforcement officer or a park ranger;
• Requiring health professionals to list the type of license they hold on all advertising materials;
• Boosting the deposit a retailer can charge on automotive batteries from $5 to $15 but gives the buyer 45 days to return the old one for a full refund, up from 30;
• Providing tuition waivers at state universities and community colleges for military who were awarded the Purple Heart for an injury sustained while stationed in Arizona.
Brittanicus posted at 5:51 pm on Tue, Jul 27, 2010.
Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader in the close knit pack of Democrats, Such as considers he is getting bad polling numbers, owing to the ingress of new residents that don't know him or his reputation? Fortunately he's right, but there is more to it? A great bulk of the new arrivals over the last five years are illegal aliens, taking construction jobs in the once thriving building boom. Now with the economic downturn, the building industry has faded out, after the greedy grasping of cheap labor by construction owners. Now out of a job illegal immigrants unable to find work, are stifling the welfare offices and that is one of the causes the state of Nevada is hurting economically. The illegal alien invasion has not gone away and now has infiltrated more than ever, in the casinos and entertainment-service industry as a whole. While Americans and legal residents remain jobless, illegal immigrants have transferred to those positions at lower wages.
American communities-small towns and big cities cannot afford to carry illegal aliens monetary any more. Fremont, Nebraska is a small town who is fighting the bureaucracy of big government corrupted by the corporate world who demand cheap labor. Just like Arizona--all patriotic Americans and its propagation of activists should stand by this small town in the mid West. Its an outrage that small towns like Fremont that is likely to succumb to intimidation, by ACLU. That they are betrayed by the Obama people, who are in collusion with the open border crazies and foreign caucuses that must be appeased.
In any midterm elections or November, we must be careful to watch for abnormalities in Nevada, but across the wide spectrum of polling places in this country. Only a few states have strict regulations on federal voting rules and absentee ballots little or none. Absentee voting is especially opened to fraud, and incumbent politicians with their careers on the line have much to lose. If a person (s) has criminally penetrated America, without being processed, it is my belief that many illegal entrants will break the law further by voting for pro-amnesty spearhead like Sen. Reid? Citizenship is and should be a basic constraint for voting. Citizenship is a legal requirement to vote in federal and state elections, except for a small number of local elections in a few jurisdictions. Non-citizen voting is likely growing at the same rate as our illegal alien population in this nation; but as for the deficiencies in state law and the miscarriage of federal agencies to obey with federal law, there are almost no measures in place that allow election officials to detect, dissuade, and avert non-citizens from registering and voting.
Instead, polling officials are chiefly dependent on an “honor system” that presumes aliens to follow the law. There are plentiful cases showing the failure of this honor system.
Here are some excerpts from eyewitness accounts and summaries of foreign nationals voting in federal elections
In California, as an example former Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan was defeated by Democrat Loretta Sanchez by 984 votes in the 1996 election. State officials found that at least 300 votes were cast illegally by non-citizens. Honolulu Advertiser, September 9, 2000. Election officials found 543 Oahu residents who were not U.S. citizens had registered to vote.
In 1996, Congress sanctioned the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, creating it as a federal crime for non-citizens who vote in any federal election (or state election, unless authorized by state law). As a penalty, ineligible non-citizens who knowingly vote may be deported. In addition, a non-citizen who falsely claims to be a United States citizen is in violation of this law. In 1997, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Dallas were investigating voting by illegal nationals. They forwarded a computerized tape of the names of individuals who had voted to the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service became ICE) requesting a check against INS records, but the INS refused to cooperate with the criminal investigation. An INS official was quoted as saying that the INS agency did not “want to open a Pandora’s Box…. If word got out that this is an extensive problem, it could tie up all sorts of manpower. There might be a few thousand [illegal voters] in Dallas, for example, but there could be tens of thousands in places like New York, Chicago or Miami.”
Eight of the World trade Center 11 murderers were registered to vote in either Virginia or Florida—registrations that were probably attained when they applied for driver’s licenses.
We cannot afford to let our guard down and those who are doubtful of these statistic as a fallacy, should type into Goggle, Yahoo "Voter Fraud?" We have already heard of intimidation by the Black Panthers, should be aware that in most states the so called "HONOR SYSTEM" prevails in voting. We must eye incumbent elections, that a few hundred votes could put a bad politician back in office, such as Sen. Harry Reid. A few hundred illegal votes could make a world of difference in a close race. Your vote is important to Washington’s Senate and Congressman, so bombard them that you are adamantly against any type of Amnesty. You want them to secure the border and do it now, because Mexico’s carnage could easily erupt here. The DOJ with its Arizona immigration court battle over SB1070, is arguing we have already have damaged this country's relationship with Mexico. Strange that the DOJ never thought of the damage done to America, by the Mexican government giving road maps to slip past the US Border Patrol and how to get welfare benefits in our country? Even Sanctuary Cities are being ignored by ICE, instead of arresting the Governors, Mayors, Judges, Police Chiefs and city managers who support this draining of taxpayers money, in there time of urgent need. California's Dianne Feinstein introduced the first Sanctuary refuge law and her, in a collective with Mayors Gavin Newson, Antonio Villaraigosa should be taken into custody.
Call the Washington switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Learn more at NumbersUSA No copyright, Copy, paste and distribute freely.
Masterrogue666 posted at 6:32 pm on Tue, Jul 27, 2010.
"That law also makes it illegal to put a human embryo into a non-human womb, or vice versa" -- It's sad when you have to make a law to prevent someone from doing something sick, and twisted....
Will76 posted at 3:26 pm on Wed, Jul 28, 2010.
That human-animal hybrid law totally ruins my summer project. And they enact it at the end of the summer, too. You just know they did that intentionally. Luckily they didn't specify anything about human-plant hybrids. There's always an out.