Weekly Legislative Reports

State budget negotiations have not yet begun, but this week demonstrated the divides policymakers will face when they do attempt to craft a bipartisan budget plan. House and Senate Appropriations Committees convened for briefings on the Governor’s budget plan and the legislature’s baseline forecast, which outlines the state’s mandatory spending for the next few years. The two budget documents differ in predictions for future growth in education and healthcare programs, and Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee criticized what they perceive as incomplete details in the Governor’s proposal.

Bipartisanship was not the obvious theme of the first week of the Arizona legislative session. Legislative Republicans were skeptical of the priorities Governor Hobbs (D) outlined in her State of the State speech, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R) gave the Governor a failing grade for her sharp critique of the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, and the Freedom Caucus announced that its top priority for the year is defeating top Democratic state officials.