Will California gay marriage ruling lead to "marriage amendment" in Arizona?

With the court ruling this week in our neighboring state of California that same sex couples shall be allowed to wed, you might think that would speed up plans to put on the Arizona ballot this fall (again) a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. A bill to put such a constitutional amendment on this fall's ballot has been moving through the legislature, but so far Senate President Tim Bee, who is running for Congress in a very competitive district in southern Arizona once represented by openly gay Republican Jim Kolbe, has not brought the bill up for a final Senate vote. He has said he will not deal with anything referring proposals to this fall's ballot until after the Legislature and the Governor have agreed to a budget, which apparently won't be anytime soon. Bee publicly has his priorities right, but Representative Jonathan Paton, a Republican who is seeking to replace Bee in the Senate when he leaves, has said that Bee may not bring the "marriage amendment" up for a vote at all. If a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man-one woman is on this fall's ballot, look for Representative Kyrsten Sinema, a central Phoenix Democrat, to put an initiative on the ballot banning discrimination in hiring and public accommodations against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons.