The Arizona State Legislature has returned to the capitol this week to begin its new session for the year.

Among the returning legislators is Senator John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills, who begins his second term in the State Senate. Kavanagh says he has a lot on his plate for this year.

The main bill that Kavanagh will be working on is legislation to prevent what he calls the abuse of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

“There is a small group of lawyers who are filing a large number of lawsuits over minor infractions of the law,” Kavanagh said. “They are asking for settlements and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from small businesses.”

Kavanagh said the situation came to his attention when he learned that small hotel operators were being sued because they did not have a handicap lift on their swimming pools. He said they would pay the settlement rather than enter an expensive legal fight.

“In many cases these violations are extremely minor – measurements off by fractions of inches,” Kavanagh said.

After working with the governor’s office, Kavanagh said he is proposing a solution that allows the business a time frame, 30 to 60 days, to correct any violations in a complaint before a lawsuit can be filed.

Kavanagh said he is also introducing a bill that will increase the penalty for stealing an American Flag on display. He said now such a theft is a misdemeanor, and his bill would change it to a Class 6 felony.

“You are not just stealing someone’s property, you are also stealing their right to expression,” Kavanagh said. “That is a good reason to increase the penalty.”

Another bill being sponsored by Kavanagh is one that increases the penalty for certain assaults.

If a suspect assaults a person because they disagree with the victim’s political ideology, the charge would be increased by one degree.

Kavanagh said he was inspired to bring this up after seeing a video of two people beating a Donald Trump supporter.

Kavanagh said this is again an attack on an individual’s right of expression.

Another bill that Kavanagh says will assist cities and towns would make it illegal to harass and abuse the right to access public records of municipalities and school districts.

“It costs a lot of money to have staff copy and redact some of these requests,” Kavanagh said. “Many are overly vague and there are people who have a history of making huge requests and then not picking them up.”

Communities already have the right to charge for such requests and Kavanagh said this would not impact what he describes as routine requests by the media.

Kavanagh said he also has a bill this session that would finally make it a moving traffic violation to text or tweet while driving a vehicle.

Kavanagh said past efforts have proposed banning all phone use while driving.

“This will allow people to make calls or use the GPS,” he said. “It would apply only to texting or tweets.”

Kavanagh is also moving a bill this session that would allow those with a concealed carry permit to carry weapons in some public buildings.

The exceptions would be courthouses, police stations, education facilities and jails and prisons.

Owners or operators of private establishments would still have the right to bar weapons from their property.

The other big job that faces the legislature each year is the budget.

“The budget picture looks extremely dismal,” Kavanagh said.

He said there is money to cover baseline increases to programs such as inflationary markers and student increases, but that is all.

“There is no extra money to go beyond those automatic increases,” he said. “The economy has not gotten to where revenue can offset those hikes.

“Education funding is a high priority, but there simply are no additional funds beyond those baseline increases.”

Kavanagh will chair the Senate Government Committee this session and is vice-chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

“I have served as [appropriations] chair in the House and last term in the senate, but I turned it down this session.

“Being chairman of appropriations with no money is like being a butcher in a community of vegetarians.”