On Monday, the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee approved reusing last year’s budget for the coming year, citing concerns over the current poor state of the economy.
The budget bill, SB1523, passed along partisan lines, 6-4. The Republican majority of the committee insisted that this budget structure was a fiscally wise move, while the Democratic minority claimed that Republicans were merely unwilling to negotiate with them.
Economic security during uncertain times… that's what Senate Republicans are accomplishing with our budget proposal that passed out of Appropriations Committee today. Senator @anthonykernAZ explains why this budget is a sensible approach. pic.twitter.com/QKMJAbQ2J9
Gov. Katie Hobbs criticized the budget as a “do-nothing” plan.
My door is open to any legislator who wants to take seriously the very real issues Arizona is facing. But this do-nothing budget does nothing but kick the can down the road. https://t.co/og3a82oM80
Republican legislators wondered whether Hobbs would close government-funded entities to obtain her ideal budget.
“[W]ill she veto the budget and threaten the possibility of closing our schools, law enforcement agencies, and health care services?” asked House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci (R-LD30).
The Arizona House and Senate have now officially dropped budget bills. Will Gov. Hobbs sign the budget to make sure Arizona stays open? Or will she veto the budget and threaten the possibility of closing our schools, law enforcement agencies, and heathcare services?
During Monday’s Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, Democrats alleged that Republicans weren’t concerned about the economy. Rather, they said that their budget reflected a refusal to work with either them or Hobbs.
Senate Minority Caucus Chair Lela Alston (D-LD05) called the budget a “phony bill,” a “power grab,” and a “Ducey budget” that avoided negotiations with Hobbs and Democrats. State Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D-LD18) claimed it was disrespectful to not give them more notice. The legislators received the bill on Monday evening. Sundareshan implied that last year’s Democratic legislators were only satisfied with the budget because they had several different Democrats in the legislature and didn’t have a Democratic governor in power.
“I understand that this budget may have been modeled after a bipartisan one last year, but that does not reflect the reality on the ground today. We have different legislators in the legislature today, we have a different governor, we have different circumstances on the ground,” said Sundareshan.
State Sen. John Kavanagh (R-LD03), the committee chairman, countered Democrats’ claims that the budget was sprung upon them suddenly Monday evening. Kavanagh said that they had plenty of notice of budget proceedings over the past month.
“It wouldn’t be a phony budget to the state employees, to those who rely on state monies come July when government shuts down. To them, this wouldn’t have been a phony budget, this would’ve been a lifesaver budget, including schools and teachers,” said Kavanagh.
State Sen. Anthony Kern (R-LD27) said that the budget was “skinny” and “responsible” since the state and nation are living in times of economic uncertainty. State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-LD15) concurred. He questioned why Hobbs would veto the budget when she knew how a Republican-led legislature would structure the budgets in response to their constituents.
“We are going into times of economic uncertainty, and this budget is going to keep the lights on,” said Hoffman.
Senate Democrats criticized the budget for being too similar to last year’s version. However, last year the caucus praised the budget as a “historic and rare opportunity” for schools.
In a press release following the Senate Appropriations Committee advancing their version of the budget, House Minority Leader Andrés Cano (D-LD20) claimed that Republicans were “afraid” of Hobbs, and needed to “grow up.” Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Raquel Terán (D-LD26) said that Republicans needed to “act their age” to improve the budget.
LOL
Last June, @AZSenateDems called the 2022 budget a "historic and rare opportunity" for schools.
Today, 7 months later, @AZSenateDems is criticizing the new budget for being "a near carbon copy of the 2022 budget."
Following the Senate advancing its version of the budget, House Republicans introduced their version on Tuesday. State Rep. David Livingston (R-LD28) expressed confidence that all 13 of his introduced budget bills would pass during Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee meeting, which he chairs.
In a press release, Livingston called Hobbs’ budget plan an “irresponsible,” “left-wing” wish list.
“In this time of political division and economic uncertainty, that won’t work for Arizonans, and it won’t pass at the legislature,” said Livingston.
Today I dropped the 13 House budget bills. Tomorrow as Chairman of Appropriations committee we are planning on passing these bills. https://t.co/Eb3AtseBA8
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) report of the budget forecasted $17.6 billion in ongoing revenue for the upcoming fiscal year, nearly $15 billion in ongoing expenditures, and nearly $858,000 in one-time expenditures.
The budget includes $183 million in one-time funding for building renewal grants, $78 million from the state general fund for a one-time deposit in the new schools facility fund, and $200 million from the state general fund for the superintendent.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) has the attention of national and local Republicans – especially as a group may be forming to push this voting reform measure onto the 2024 Arizona ballot to affect future elections.
After the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted last week to oppose RCV, Arizona Representative Austin Smith, who is a freshman member of the legislature and the Arizona Freedom Caucus, introduced HB2552 to prohibit RCV in the Grand Canyon State.
Ranked Choice Voting is most prominently featured in Alaska, where voters rank their preferences in each election until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If RCV were to be successfully pushed by special interest groups in the 2024 election, Arizona’s primary and general elections would be effectively eliminated in favor of this new progressive system.
According to the Pew Research Center, “62 jurisdictions nationwide have adopted the voting method” – and more are on the way in the near future, including the attempt to airdrop it into Arizona.
Representative Smith posted on his Twitter account this week that his legislation had “support from a majority of the Republican caucus in both the Arizona House and Senate.”
Today I introduced HB2552 that prohibits Rank Choice Voting in the state of AZ. RCV is a disaster.
This has support from a majority of the Republican caucus in both the @AZHouseGOP & @AZSenateGOP. We stand united in not bringing Rank Choice Voting to Arizona. Let’s get it done! pic.twitter.com/Ttp3ivqKU7
Smith does not appear to be wrong about that. The bill has garnered 38 cosponsors from both legislative chambers.
The bill also appears to be destined for a quick vote as it has already received a first and second read in the Arizona House in its first week of existence.
RCV has long been a target of Representative Smith. Soon after Smith won his general election contest in November 2022, he tweeted that “We can never allow rank choice voting to happen in Arizona.”
In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News, Representative Smith explained why he introduced this legislation:
“I introduced HB 2552 with a majority of Republican lawmakers of all stripes because we’ve seen in the test run with RCV that it doesn’t work. It actually deepens problems with elections. It hurts voters and makes the process of tallying even harder. We shouldn’t make the process of vote tallying even harder for election workers and sow distrust in the process even more.”
Representative Smith’s bill has been met with tremendous applause from many people around Arizona and nationally, including two former elections officials in the state, David Romney (Election Services Division of the Arizona Secretary of State’s office) and Jen Wright (Assistant Attorney General and head of the Election Integrity Unit).
Should this legislation pass the Arizona Senate and House, it remains to be seen whether it would be signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, who has promised to use her veto stamp on bills she believes are partisan in nature.
This potential uncertainty if and when the legislation reaches the Ninth Floor won’t stop Representative Smith, however, from seeing his bill across the legislative finish line. Smith told AZ Free News, “It’s important for the legislature to show Arizona citizens that Republicans are going on the offensive to prevent bad policies from hurting Arizona’s elections. The best defense is a good offense, and my bill does just that.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona’s Democratic legislature plans to introduce legislation this upcoming session to legalize assisted suicide again.
State Sen. Christine Marsh (D-LD04) announced this plan during a virtual meeting on Wednesday with the Arizona Education Association (AEA). A final draft is not yet publicly available.
Marsh said that fellow Democrats plan to market it as a “Death With Dignity” bill. This will be the eighth year that Democrats introduce a “death with dignity” bill, and their 14th year of proposing assisted suicide legislation overall.
The “Death With Dignity” movement has gained traction over the past 30 years. Arizona’s Democratic legislators have attempted to legalize assisted suicide almost every year since 2003, most recently in this most recent legislative session.
The first assisted suicide bill was introduced in 1996 by former State Sen. Peter Goudinoff (D-LD11). That year, the southern chapter of the ACLU held a Sunday panel featuring Goudinoff titled “Do We Have a Right to Determine When and How We Die?” Also present were lawyer Robert Fleming, University of Arizona political science professor Deborah Mathieu, and VP Hemlock Society of America representative John Westover.
Past legislation referred to assisted suicide as “aid in dying.” The term “death with dignity” first appeared on the bills in 2016.
Among those professionals in support of assisted suicide legalization is the Arizona Psychological Association. The League of Women Voters of Arizona has also signaled their support.
Below is the legislature’s history with assisted suicide bills, all of which except the initial few were held in committee:
1996: SB1007 – failed in the Senate Health Committee
Arizona’s first introduction of assisted suicide legislation followed shortly after the establishment of a nonprofit dedicating to national legalization. On December 30, 1994, the Death With Dignity National Center (Death With Dignity) formed in Portland, Oregon.
The nonprofit arose from the 1993 Oregon Right to Die political action committee (PAC) that formed and ensured the legalization of assisted suicide in Oregon.
Currently, Death With Dignity partners with an Arizona group petitioning to legalize assisted suicide, Arizona End of Life Options (AZELO).
Our partners in #Arizona are asking all residents who support a death with dignity law to sign a petition to be shared with Gov. Ducey and the Arizona legislature. @MAIDinAZ
From 1994 to 1997, Democratic dark money kingpin George Soros began his “Project on Death in America.” He has maintained interest in legalizing assisted suicide since then, and continues to bankroll efforts to accomplish that end.
At present, only 10 states and Washington, D.C. allow assisted suicide: Oregon, Hawaii, Washington, Maine, Montana, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, California, and Vermont.
Normalization of assisted suicide has resulted in controversial uses of the practice.
In recent years, the Canadian government has turned to assisted suicide as a means of convenience: boosting health care costs savings, or “alleviating” the physically disabled and mental ill.
With one week to go before the end of the fiscal year, the Arizona legislature managed to reconcile enough differences to pass a finalized version of the budget. However, Republican legislators opposed to the historic $18 billion budget have reported that the controlling party made the budget more palatable for members across the aisle rather than those of their own party.
Although Democratic legislators initially expressed great frustration about the budget, it appears that they may have feigned their opposition — the overwhelming majority of Democrats voted for the budget.
— Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) June 23, 2022
State Representative Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa) was one of the legislators that voted against the budget. In a Thursday interview with “Conservative Circus,” Parker talked openly about the backdoor proceedings that went on over the last week, claiming that GOP leadership and Governor Doug Ducey gave Democrats what they wanted at the cost of Arizonans’ best interests.
All throughout Thursday’s voting, Parker offered updates on floor proceedings. She noted the shared levity between the Republicans and Democrats as the total expenditures added up with each bill passed.
Democrat budget bill #10 (now Republicans & Democrats are making jokes on the floor about the record $16 Billion they’re spending): pic.twitter.com/wuRWl2bNs6
— Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) June 23, 2022
Parker also noted that the budget received near-unanimous support from Democrats — unique, since Democrats normally have opposed past Republican-majority budgets.
Contrary to assurances from House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Regina Cobb (R-Kingman) that the budget would enable the state to “weather the storm” of a future recession, Parker said that the budget provisions would bankrupt the state in a recession.
“Spending is colossal, there are no massive tax cuts, and it’s exceeding our actual fiscal revenues. We’re looking at, probably, future bankruptcy as a recession comes forward,” said Parker.
Parker said that several others brought these concerns to Republican leadership prior to floor votes, but that they were ignored. The representative reported that the leaders were more interested in pleasing Democrats than with working out a conservative budget.
“Leadership essentially just said, ‘It’s easier to just go buy Democrats,’” recounted Parker. “They bought them to the tune of six billion more dollars.”
Democrat budget bill #12 -apparently it’s $18 billion now. So AZ enjoy your pending bankruptcy since that now exceeds our revenue, even with the most generous accounting. pic.twitter.com/6JtMXbdmnT
— Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) June 23, 2022
Although school choice advocates touted the universal expansion of the state’s Empowerment Account Scholarship (ESA) Program, Parker reported that Governor Doug Ducey subverted those efforts. Parker said that she and other unnamed legislators received a 2 am call warning that the ESA expansion came with a “poison pill” from the Ninth Floor.
“Ducey has made an agreement with the Democrats that if they don’t refer the ESA bill to the ballot or challenge it in court within the 90 day period, they’re going to extend the aggregate expenditure limit forever, indefinitely,” said Parker.
Parker warned that this secret deal would lead to education expenditures that would break past the 50 percent limit and possibly take over the entire budget.
LITERALLY nothing that’s a priority for Arizonans was included in that budget. Priorities for lobbyists-yes. Priorities for democrats-yes-they were bouncing off the walls with glee. All other Arizonans can look forward to looming bankruptcy &financial hardship in the near future. https://t.co/I6Tjvx9WwM
— Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) June 23, 2022
One of the contentious aspects of the budget was the expansion of homeless shelters throughout Arizona suburbs. State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale), another one of the lone Republicans who opposed the budget alongside Parker, lamented that the budget policies would turn the state into another California.
It is 3:45am and the democrat budget is passing. Hb2862 will bring a homeless shelter and many more homeless to every suburb in Arizona making us like SF, SEA, PDX, and L.A. Of course I was a No vote!
Another was the tax credits to entice the film industry to come to the state. The last similar tax credit program bled the state of millions of dollars leading up to the 2008 recession.
Now you know who’s responsible for the bills you can’t pay & the inflation you can’t stop… but hey, AZ may get a shout out in the next woke Hollywood movie filmed in the desert… Remember that when walking across said desert because you can’t afford gas! 🤣😩 https://t.co/7b2AXGzOm3
— Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) June 23, 2022
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee passed budget legislation to offer tax credits to movie studios, after a previous effort on the matter failed. Legislators resurrected this effort by introducing it through a strike-everything amendment on HB2156 — its similar predecessor, SB1708, passed through the Senate but failed to make it to the House floor earlier this year. Analysis of the predecessor bill estimated that it would incur losses to the state averaging $150 million.
The legislation would establish a program to promote workforce development and expansion of the movie industry. Further, movie companies would receive credits up to 15 percent if they spend up to $10 million in production costs, 17.5 percent if they spend over $10 million up to $35 million, and 20 percent if they spend over $35 million.
According to the Nashville Film Institute (NFI), the average cost of making a feature film ranges between $100 and $150 million, though it noted that some comedy and animated feature films like those from DreamWorks average between $70 and $90 million.
AZ Free News reviewed the production costs for mainstream feature films in theaters currently; all are well over $35 million. The blockbuster hit “Top Gun: Maverick” had a production budget of $170 million (as of this report, the film has grossed over $900 million worldwide in under a month). Pixar’s latest animated film, “Lightyear,” cost about $200 million to produce. The biopic, “Elvis,” had a significantly lower cost at $85 million.
The legislation would also limit tax credits exceeding $150 million in any calendar year from being preapproved.
Nick Simonetta, a lobbyist, testified to the committee that leadership in both chambers wanted to move this bill at this time. Simonetta said that this version of the bill, HB2156, was an improvement on a predecessor tax credit bill passed by the committee in February, calling the updated bill the “Cadillac” of accountability.
“You cannot claim a credit in this state for the benefit of the program without paying taxes on the expenditures that you’re making,” said Simonetta.
Simonetta testified that HB2156 was ultimately an infrastructure bill that would create a nonexistent industry in Arizona. He referenced two different movie filming complexes being built in the Scottsdale and Buckeye areas.
“The folks investing in these facilities to build movie sound stage complexes and all the things that go with them — the buildings, the office space, the commissary, the mill space, the back lots, everything — this will be investments of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, even just for the first phases of these complexes,” said Simonetta.
State Senator Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu City) joked that he was only voting for the bill with the contingency that State Senator David Livingston (R-Peoria) didn’t get a movie role.
State Senator Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) flipped her vote this time around, having voted against the legislation’s predecessor previously. Townsend didn’t offer an in-depth explanation on her change of heart. She joked that Simonetta’s “little extra explanation” past the cut-off time for his testimony was enough to change her mind.
In the name of the #AZLEG budget & fiscal conservatism, tonight’s dinner will be provided by Dollar Tree. #StartYourOwnRumor
— Senator Kelly Townsend 🇺🇸 (@AZKellyT) June 23, 2022
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club criticized the tax credit bill, arguing that it would cost Arizonans hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to subsidize Hollywood liberals.
— Arizona Free Enterprise Club (@azfec) June 22, 2022
Arizona Republican Party Political Director Jeremiah Cota commented that the tax credits only sweetened the deal for Democrats, and played into “woke” agendas contrary to Arizonan interests.
If you support the refundable movie tax credits so you can "get a deal done" in Arizona's budget.
It's also fair to say you support the groomers at @Disney because you know it's woke companies like Disney who stand to gain the most from such a sweetheart deal.#AZLeg
— Jeremiah Cota #InflationStrong✊️ (@jeremiahcota) June 22, 2022
The state’s previous tax credit program for movie companies that began in 2005 bled the state of millions of dollars. At the time, Canada introduced tax incentives that pulled movie companies away from Arizona and all other states. Incentives like Arizona’s tax credit program were launched in response to Canada as a means of enticing movie companies to return to the states.
Arizona’s tax credit program lapsed officially in 2010, though it was shut down by the 2008 recession.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
