Archive for the 'State budget countdown' Tag
July 13th, 2009, 1:46 pm by Le Templar
 Sen. Ron Gould/Capitol Media Services At least another week will pass before state lawmakers address the remaining details of the budget, including a projected $2 billion to $2.7 billion deficit this year. The Senate and House met long enough this afternoon to offer prayers, say the Pledge of Allegiance and schedule to meet again next Monday. Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, did try to slip in a motion to immediately end the session without further action, but not a single colleague joined him.
“The only reason the special session is still open is to shove through a (sales) tax increase to the ballot,” Gould said after his lone vote to adjourn sine die. “I’m never going to vote to send any tax increase to the ballot and I’m disappointed no other Republicans supported my motion.”
Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, who normally stands right next to Gould on budget issues, said he wants the Republican-sponsored changes in the budget reconciliation bills vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer. Many of those changes sought to reduce government fraud or waste, and would make policy changes intended to shrink state spending.
A reminder, the Legislature decided last week to suspend the pay of lawmakers on days it doesn’t actually meet during this special session on the budget.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Jack Harper • Jan Brewer • Ron Gould • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
July 6th, 2009, 6:41 pm by Le Templar
 Sen. John Huppenthal “I view the budget as a promise. But this budget is an empty promise. The cash isn’t there to back it up.” — Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler
Sen. Huppenthal made this comment tonight as the Legislature moved to restore a year’s worth of funding to K-12 education, and make sure that Arizona didn’t lose out on $2 billion in federal stimulus funding because of vetoes to the new budget from Gov. Jan Brewer. The four bills passed unanimously after Republicans agreed to raise the total amount for education from $3.2 billion to $3.7 billion, which Democrats demanded to comply with their interpretation of a statute that requires automatic increases every year.
After the acrimony of the last few days, lawmakers from both parties sought to appear concillatory and upbeat, pointing to how swiftly legislative leaders brought the Legislature together today to prevent a crisis for school districts and charter schools. But Huppenthal was among a few realists who pointed out there’s plenty of hard work ahead for the Legislature and the governor. The standoff over the governor’s proposed sales tax election vs. demands of Republican lawmakers for deeper cuts and mortgaging buildings means the state is headed toward deficit spending by Oct. 1, if not sooner.
The Legislature will formally come together again on Monday, June 13, but negotiations are likely to get underway behind closed doors this week.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • John Huppenthal • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
July 6th, 2009, 4:09 pm by Le Templar
After opening the special session this afternoon, the Legislature heard a summary of last week’s budget vetoes by Gov. Jan Brewer. Richard Stavneak also covered the likely impact if the vetoes aren’t addressed. In a nutshell, the governor added about $1.8 billion in spending and lost transfers to the $8.4 billion plan approved by lawmakers early Wednesday morning. That’s on top of her veto of $3.2 billion in appropriations for school districts and charter schools (she left intact the spending authority, but took away the actual money). Make that $1.8 billion in deficit spending and lost transfers, unless the Legislature acts.
However, the Legislature apparently is going to move today on only two immediate concerns — that $3.2 billion in education funds and a technical change related to the operation of the state Medicaid insurance program. Without an immediate fix, Arizona could lose up to $2 billion in federal stimulus funds to help pay for those two areas. (The actual funding bill adds another $500 million to the education appropriation, possibly required to get votes from Democratic lawmakers).
It’s interesting how the Legislature worked for six months on the budget, but still didn’t finish until hours after the fiscal year had elapsed last week. However, lawmakers apparently can blast right through paperwork barriers and partisan bickering in a single day to protect the state’s share of federal largese.
UPDATE: Another bill that’s likely to be adopted today would suspend the daily salary of lawmakers when they aren’t reporting to the Capitol to conduct business. In theory, this would allow lawmakers to keep the special session open for days or weeks while they are at home, and avoid the appearence of getting paid to do nothing. The bill passed unanimously inthe House and Senate appropriations committees, although there was some grumbling about it from lawmakers from outside of Maricopa County. This might be in response to a bill from Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Phoenix, that proposed to deny lawmakers up to $175 in pay and accumulated expenses for every day that they missed a single roll call vote without permission from their chamber’s presiding officer. This bill came close to passing but was defeated in the House on the final day of the regular session.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Jan Brewer • Joint Legislative Budget Committee • Richard Stavneak • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
July 6th, 2009, 10:46 am by Le Templar
 Senate President Bob Burns (left, sitting down) and Gov. Jan Brewer might need some mediation after his harsh words last week about Brewer's budget vetoes and a special session today (Photos by Capitol Media Services). When state lawmakers gather at 1 p.m. today to again deal with budget woes, a new set of clouds will darken the proceedings after the top two legislative leaders lashed out at Gov. Jan Brewer for her vetoes last week, which included striking down all funding for public education just to make sure Brewer has the Legislature’s attention.
Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, was particularly caustic. As Capitol Media Services reported, Burns essentially called Brewer incompetent and accused her of a “strong-arm tactic to take control of the legislative process.”
Several Capitol insiders noted Burns was angry, in part, because he had to cancel a long-anticipated trip to Europe that was supposed to start over the July 4th holiday. His language was so strong that it prompted a direct, public response from Brewer, in which she said she won’t take his comments personally. Nice words, but it’s going to be a while before these two become political friends once more.
House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, didn’t go quite as far as Burns. But he did call the vetoes “irresponsible and reckless.” That’s not something a leader says in public and then expects to quickly resolve the source of the conflict.
What has to be galling for Burns and Adams is they find themselves trapped in the same position as their predecessors while Janet Napolitano was governor. Not that Brewer is much closer to Napolitano’s political ideology than previously suspected. But Brewer is demonstrating that many of the budget conflicts between Napolitano and lawmakers arose from the tension between the executive and legislative branches instead of naked partisanship.
In the end, Burns and Adams counted on Brewer’s loyalty to her fellow Republicans to accept she had received all they were willing to approve. But Adams and Burns ignored the long independence streak of Arizona governors who consistently have been willing to stand up to their own party, when they believed it would in the best interest of the state (and their own political careers).
Now, unless some Republican lawmakers changed their minds over the weekend about a temporary sales tax increase, Brewer is going to look for help from Democrats to get a final budget done. The governor’s challenge is putting together a strong enough coalition that can move a new budget package through the legislative process that Burns and Adams still firmly control.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Bob Burns • Jan Brewer • Janet Napolitano • Kirk Adams • State budget countdown | 1 Comment »
July 1st, 2009, 1:31 pm by Le Templar
 This quote from House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, is just plain funny, but it also illustrates a fundamental problem for Gov. Jan Brewer in getting a statewide sales tax election:
“I’m telling you, unless we would have hypnotized people, we did everything that we could to convince people to support the governor’s proposal for the tax referral,” Adams said, according to Capitol Media Services. “And short of the body snatchers returning, the votes were simply not there.”
I don’t see where Brewer finds those votes when the Legislature returns in special session Monday to reconsider the $8.4 billion budget that she has whacked with line-item vetoes. Democrats have unified against the sales tax proposal, believing voting for it would validate a budget written entirely by Republicans, even though the additional revenues would mitigate the worst of the budget cuts.
Meanwhile, most Republicans have signed the “no tax pledge,” and the group behind that pledge has informed lawmakers in writing that it considers referring a proposed sales tax increase to the voters (instead of the Legislature just adopting it) to be a violation of that pledge. In many Republican-dominated legislative districts, that pledge figures prominently in primaries.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Jan Brewer • State budget countdown | 2 Comments »
July 1st, 2009, 12:26 pm by Le Templar
 Gov. Jan Brewer Gov. Jan Brewer just made it official. She has line-item vetoed most the state budget adopted by Republican lawmakers early this morning, leaving just enough funding in place to keep government functions operating. And she has summoned the Legislature back into special session on Monday. She included in her call a special request for a temporary tax increase to fund education, public safety and health care programs.
“… I received this morning a fatally flawed legislative budget,” Brewer said in a news release. “The legislative budget ignores my consistently expressed goals and instead incorporates devastating cuts education, public safety, and our state’s most vital health services for the frail. In particular, this package of bills is shortsighted in that it sets up an enormous revenue shortfall that will severely harm our state’s future.”
UPDATE: In reading through the governor’s official veto messages, it appears what Brewer really did was line-item veto much of the $630 million in budget cuts approved by Republicans in the Legislature. That’s puts the budget further out of balance, at least until she reaches some kind of deal with the Legislature.
This move is intended to pressure on conservatives who refused to vote for the proposed statewide sales tax election. The budget deficit will keep growing every day until those cuts are restored or new sources of revenue are found.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Jan Brewer • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
July 1st, 2009, 9:18 am by Le Templar
The Legislature has ended the regular session, adopting a final version of the new state budget in the middle of the night and then passing a final bushel of bills in the wee hours before voting to adjourn sine die.
But many lawmakers predicted Gov. Jan Brewer would veto most, if not all, of the budget package and call lawmakers back in a special session as soon as Monday. KJZZ radio reported this morning that the doors to the Senate building where briefly locked while lawmakers were still debating bills, apparently in an attempt to prevent Brewer from sending back a vetoed budget before the Legislature could adjourn at about 7:30 a.m.
Now, the Arizona Guardian speculates that Brewer could sign portions of the spending bills to keep “essential” government services operating while using her line-item veto powers to reject the rest.
A note placed at the top of the Arizona Department of Administration’s home page at 5:30 a.m. urged all state employees to report to work today. The Arizona State Parks agency had claimed it was closing all but two of its parks at midnight, but its Web site this morning implies the agency has reversed that decision.
Meanwhile, we await word from the governor’s office on what happens next…
UPDATE: Arizona State Parks has announced the agency is reopening all state parks this morning.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Jan Brewer • State budget countdown | 2 Comments »
June 30th, 2009, 9:41 pm by Le Templar
 Gov. Janet Brewer At this hour, the state of House of Representatives is moving to approve a $8.4 billion budget that would include most of the items requested by Brewer. But the package doesn’t include a statewide election for a temporary 1-cent sales tax increase that Brewer has insisted is necessary to avoid decimating education and health care programs. I suggested earlier today this could happen. The Senate Rules Committee reversed itself and signed off on the sales tax election at 8 p.m., according the Arizona Capitol Times. But I still don’t think there’s the necessary 16 votes in the full Senate for final approval.
According to Capitol Media Services, Brewer has been careful not to repeat her veto threat in public today. Instead, she has tried to sound optimistic that she would reach some compromise with the Legislature. But the Democrats won’t have anything to do with the Republican-drafted budget plan at this point. Neither Brewer nor legislative leaders have been able to swing enough GOP legislative votes for a sales tax election.
The fiscal year ends at midnight, and if Brewer hasn’t signed a budget, presumably a wide swath of state agencies will lack the authority to keep operating. State parks already were closing this afternoon and Motor Vehicle Disivion offices could be locked up tight tomorrow. However, school districts should expect to receive their share of a $600 million payment that’s due, and public higher education campuses plan to stay open because they are funded from a variety of sources besides those monies appropriated by the Legislature. Brewer’s office has yet to disclose how other state agencies will be handled if a budget doesn’t exist on Wednesday.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Jan Brewer • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
June 30th, 2009, 5:57 pm by Le Templar
 Senate President Bob Burns (left) confers Tuesday with Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, on the final day of the state fiscal year. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer). There’s just six hours left in Arizona’s fiscal year, and there’s plenty of rumors flying around the Valley and across the state about what the Legislature and the governor are doing behind closed doors to finish a budget before a government shutdown (although that already has started). But the calculus comes down to Gov. Jan Brewer wants a sales tax election to offset the deepest budget cuts to education and health care. Democrats and Republicans alike won’t give that election to her (for different political reasons). That leaves lawmakers with two choices:
1. Adopt a short-term budget that covers a few days or weeks, giving all sides more time to negotiate over spending details or,
2. Send Brewer the budget already adopted June 4, with or without the revisions that have moved somewhat through the legislative process in the past few days. Then, start pointing fingers if Brewer vetoes that budget and prompts a partial government shutdown.
I know Republican leadership has draft legislation for a short-term budget. But Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams have spent so much time today trying to salvage the budget deal struck with Brewer that they are physically running out of time to get these new bills introduced and approved by midnight. It’s doable now. In three or four hours, it’s far less likely.
By the way, the House and Senate have been doing the special committee dances and bill exchanges that typically signal the last day of the regular session is here. But my guess is if Brewer does drop the veto stamp on the budget, she also calls a special session immediately so lawmakers can’t disappear into the night and leave the governor facing angry Arizonans by herself.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Bob Burns • Jan Brewer • Kirk Adams • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
June 30th, 2009, 5:13 pm by Le Templar
 Lake Havasu State Park We’re about seven hours away from a real government shutdown, but Arizona state parks already are closing in expectation that the Legislature and the governor won’t finish a budget by midnight.
A news release says park rangers started telling people in state campgrounds at 4 p.m. today to leave. All but two of the state parks will shut down indefinitely. Parks near Show Low and Lake Havasu City will stay open as part of an agreement to have the local municipalities operate them until the state is back in business.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Arizona state parks • State budget countdown | Post a Comment »
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