Weekly Legislative Reports

Partisan debates and policy disagreements took center stage at the Arizona Capitol this week. Lawmakers spent long days in floor sessions, advancing proposals that still require committee hearings in the second chamber of the legislature. Legislators sent three more bills to the Governor’s desk for consideration: changes to local governments’ review of some planning proposals, limits on the legislature’s process for considering changes to medical professionals’ scope of practice, and a routine bill that aligns state tax laws with federal standards.

Republicans succeeded in their efforts to send a “baseline budget” to the Governor this week, after Representative Liz Harris (R-Chandler) overcame her concerns and joined her colleagues to approve the plan. Representative David Livingston (R-Peoria), the House Appropriations Chairman, praised the budget package as a responsible way to ensure the government is funded even if negotiations on new spending extend into the summer. Representative Andrés Cano (D-Tucson), the House Minority Leader, blasted the bills as a politically motivated way to ignore the Governor’s role in the budgeting process.

The House and Senate voted to lift the cap on school spending this year, averting the need for schools to cut a total of $1.4 billion from budgets before the end of the school year. Both chambers showed strong bipartisan support for the measure, easily obtaining the supermajority required to pass it despite opposition from some Republicans who wanted to enact controversial policy changes before lifting the spending cap. With the threat of spending cuts averted this year, many education advocacy groups will turn their attention to crafting a ballot measure that would ask voters to permanently lift the aggregate expenditure limit next year.

The legislature advanced a state budget this week, months ahead of the usual schedule, but it’s evidence of partisan divides and not a reason to hope for a short legislative session. The budget passed the Senate and a House committee along party lines, and the Governor is likely to veto the bills when they reach her desk next week. Republicans say their baseline budget is a fiscally responsible way to protect state resources – it continues funding the government into the next fiscal year without new spending except for formulaic increases to AHCCCS and education programs. They describe it as a backstop for failed budget negotiations, a way to ensure there’s no government shutdown if they can’t agree with Governor Hobbs on a spending plan before June 30.

It was a quiet week at the Capitol, but behind the scenes, Republican leaders are busy with plans to fast-track their baseline budget to the Governor. The package would continue the current state budget into the next fiscal year, eliminating any new spending except for formulaic growth in schools and AHCCCS. House and Senate Republican leaders believe the baseline budget is a necessary line to draw on spending. It’s a plan unlikely to be enacted, however, even if it passes with the support of every Republican lawmaker. Governor Hobbs has signaled her intention to veto the baseline budget if it reaches her desk.

The budget battles have already begun at the Arizona legislature, though the actual negotiations are still around the corner. Republican leaders have announced their intention to enact a simple continuation of last year’s budget, with new spending to be decided later; Governor Katie Hobbs has outlined her plan for a $17.1 billion budget that repeals some top Republican priorities. Both sides say the other’s idea is unpalatable.