Arizona steps into it again

[Kara_CS]

And on the other end of the spectrum, you have zealots screaming about how their "religious freedom" isn't being preserved and how Christians in Arizona are effectively second class citizens. They have no idea what religious freedom or second class citizenship mean.

[HYHYBT]

The public is usually made aware of it while it's in the process of it being passed. That's when the uproar and the backlash starts. We see it all the time with movements like the Republicans trying to remove the 17th amendment, proposed laws that make masturbation a manslaughter charge

Thanks, that (mostly) makes sense. State laws often come nearly out of the blue, though, and that's just what these did. They were worked up by, if I understand rightly, Focus on the Family and fed to willing legislators in multiple states. The general public didn't know about them, and would have had no reason to know about them, until they were proposed in the various legislatures, and Arizona's passed it quickly rather than having a protracted argument over it or letting it sit in a committee a while first. Which comes back to why anyone would have expected backlash sooner, and especially why they'd ask where it was in what certainly seems an accusatory sort of way, as if not reacting to proposed laws we haven't even had a chance to hear of yet were some sort of fault.

[ebonyknight]

Maybe it's different in Arizona, but in VA bill proposals are public record and anyone can see what will be voted on in the next State Legislative session.

http://leg1.state.va.us/

I would have thought some watchdog group or individuals would have seen such a bill on the table for a vote.

Why wouldn't anyone expect a backlash before a Bill passes the legislature, instead of waiting for the Governor to veto it????? It obviously wasn't a popular idea in the light of day, yet the state legislature passed it.

Who's responsibility should it be to make sure the legislative branch represents the interests of it's constituents?