Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are shopping a $15.1-billion budget, but lawmakers worry the plan, which includes $1.3 billion in tax cuts and $1 billion for water over the next three years, won’t pass as is.
After weeks of negotiation, lawmakers have three weeks to pass a plan before the June 30 deadline or risk a state government shutdown.
“My impression is that this is the typical step, where the House, Senate leadership and governor's office have reached an agreement, to go back and shop to the members,” Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) said in a story by KJZZ.
Republicans want to pass a budget with a party-line vote, but with single-seat majorities in each chamber, that means every GOP lawmaker must agree. At least one, Sen. Paul Boyer of Glendale, has expressed opposition to the plan. Some far-right Republicans want to spend less, while others, including Boyer, would like to spend more.
Boyer wants a new $1 billion investment in public schools, but that amount isn’t found in the proposal and Boyer calls some of the uses for the funding a “shell game.” In one proposal, a 2.5% increase in base pay is included, but that competes with another school funding plan.
The planned 2.5% increase “calls for $49.3 million more to K-12, BUT it eliminates the money for teachers with years of experience and for teacher compensation,” Mary Jo Pitzl of the Arizona Republic reported June 7 in a Tweet, adding that Sen. Ben Toma “said they will move on separate tracks but at some point, if they stay alive, it will merge in the budget."
“They're saying that they're putting in $49 million for the base,” Boyer said. “But what they're doing is they're getting rid of those two amazing programs” for other compensation, he said. He also noted his dissatisfaction with other, one-time expenses in the budget that couldn’t be used for ongoing expenses such as maintenance, supplies or new faculty members. Boyer has said he’ll vote against the budget if those issues aren’t addressed.
Boyer said the budget draft has been pitched as a Republican budget and noted that without his vote, Democrats would have to be swayed for it to pass, but nothing has been done to court the other party’s support.
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