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HOENIX — The key issue How did the state get into its current mess? It’s simple: It is spending more than it takes in.
for lawmakers as they Some of that is being “managed” through accounting maneuvers, like paying — and booking —
some current expenses in future fiscal years. Legislators also have approved long-term borrowing,
gather at the Capitol today
providing the state immediate cash but having to be repaid, with interest, over a long period of time.
is whether the state can The infusion of more than $2 billion in federal stimulus dollars has supplemented the tax
afford the government it has. collections. But when all that is factored out, Arizona has a “structural deficit,” where ongoing
It’s a simple question of math. revenues don’t keep pace with ongoing expenses.
There is an $825 million gap between antici-
pated revenues and expenses for the balance of
this fiscal year. More than half of that is due to REVENUES AND EXPENSES IN THE STATE BUDGET OVER TIME
the refusal of Arizonans to let lawmakers raid
some voter-approved programs to divert the
cash to fund other priorities. 12
But with half the fiscal year already gone,
House Speaker Kirk Adams said it’s impossible 10 Ongoing expenses
to cut enough to bring the books into balance.
8
Billions of dollars
This year:
MORE INSIDE
• Other issues that might be • Legislature by the numbers, • Preview of Gov. Jan Brewer’s
considered this session/A5 past and present/A5 address to the Legislature/A5
April 23
1994
Health and safety
• Banning texting while driving and restricting use of hand-held cell phones.
Deadline for adjourning this year • Requiring booster seats for children too big for child restraints but too short to safely use lap belts.
• Barring or restricting ability of cities and counties to use photo enforcement of traffic laws.
109 days
• Making it illegal for motorists to cover license plates with special plastics making it harder to be photographed.
Last time Legislature met the deadline • Prohibiting children from riding in the back of open pickup trucks.
• Imposing new requirements on those who operate assisted living facilities.
Length of last year’s session
173 days
1,233
Longest session, set in 1988 Marriage and family Business
• Giving preference to married couples for adoption. • Establishing Arizona
362
• Requiring certain counseling for couples before separation or divorce. Commerce Authority and dividing
Law and order some Department of Commerce
• Permitting faculty with concealed weapon permits to be armed on university duties among other agencies.
and community college campuses. • Capping what juries can award
Number of bills introduced last • Giving similar permission for students. in medical malpractice and some
regular session (not including • Revamping the criminal code and mandatory sentencing. other civil lawsuits.
miscellaneous resolutions and • Altering how judges are selected for the Arizona Supreme Court, Court of • Deciding whether to extend
338
memorials) Appeals and superior courts in Pima and Maricopa counties. special tax breaks for the film
• Regulating “K2” and other forms of synthetic marijuana. industry.
58
Bills sent to the governor • Determining whether to expand the use of private prisons. • Debating a special assessment
• Adjusting drunk driving laws to deal with medical marijuana. on unemployment premiums to repay
• Expanding stalking laws to cover use of electronic devices. the federal government.
14
Bills signed by the governor Education
• Revamping the university system in a bid to ensure that more students graduate.
• Pushing four-year degrees at community colleges.
• Adopting additional accountability measures for public schools.
• Giving public schools more flexibility in spending to be able to make up for reduced state aid.
General government
• Revamping state pension systems.
Veto record, set in 2006 by Janet Napolitano • Altering or eliminating merit protections for state employees.
• Recrafting voter-rejected measure to create post of lieutenant governor.
0
• Limiting the ability of the Arizona School Boards Association to lobby legislation or ballot measures.
• Barring local governments and school districts from using public money to sue the state.
Bills enacted without signature • Deciding whether to privatize the state parks system.
MATH
winners in tax cuts are the rich. 250,000 from the program. eowners then borrowing against sure, too, with Arizona paying,
“It’s their money,” he said. There’s another legal hurdle, their higher values. as Pearce suggests, to “medicate,
FROM PAGE A1 Gov. Jan Brewer has expressed however. Then the real estate bubble educate and incarcerate” illegal
a similar sentiment. “Gone are It was voters who expanded burst. immigrants.
empt from state sales taxes. the days of the open checkbook AHCCCS eligibility in 2000 to “I would argue that part of the Even if the current fiscal prob-
One of the biggest class of sales when every feel-good program cover everyone below the fed- reason the recession was so deep lems are solved, there’s another
not taxed are for services. and project were funded.” eral poverty level, about $18,300 is because we didn’t have proper ticking financial time bomb for
Campbell and other Democrats But the current budget mess a year for a family of three. And tax policy in place,” he said, one the state: its four retirement sys-
have singled out what they say are means there isn’t even enough to the Arizona Constitution makes that promotes a diversified econ- tems.
the more outrageous examples of sustain the services the state now initiatives off-limits to legislative omy. Adams said the current tax Arizona operates a “defined
untaxed items, like beauty salons, provides. tinkering. system hits manufacturers, who benefit” plan, where each work-
spa treatment and even “doggie Most visible have been cuts al- But Rep. John Kavanagh, R- have some of the highest wages, er’s pension is a set percentage
day care. They say users of these ready made to the Arizona Health Fountain Hills, said it was un- particularly hard, providing a of salary depending on length
services benefit while the state is Care Cost Containment System derstood that expansion would disincentive for them to locate of service and age. But the re-
(AHCCCS), the state’s Medicaid be funded with Arizona’s share and expand here. tirement plans have made their
slicing education funds.
program. That includes changes of a nationwide settlement with Campbell agreed that busi- money in the past through huge
And Campbell said the system
in what transplants that will be tobacco companies, “supplement- ness taxes are too high. But he
is inherently unfair. investment returns. When the
funded, a change that may al- ed, as necessary, by any other wants any cut in business taxes
“Some businesses have to pay stock market fell back and when
ready have resulted in the deaths available sources.” to be balanced with tax hikes
and others don’t,” he said. “The interest rates plummeted, the
of two people knocked off the “As of now, there are no other elsewhere to save education and
government is picking which earnings collapsed.
waiting list. available sources,” Kavanagh health care from further spend-
businesses get to pay a sales tax Lawmakers tinkered a bit with
Brewer wants even deeper cuts. said, saying that takes the state ing cuts to pay for those business
and which businesses don’t make At the governor’s behest, law- off the hook. tax reductions. the systems last year. But a major
a sales tax.” makers voted last year to elimi- That struggle between lower A fight could be looming with overhaul of benefits may be nec-
Pearce, however, said that’s nate than 300,000 people from the taxes and funding state programs Brewer. She wants no tax cuts for essary to prevent the plans from
not the answer. “I believe govern- AHCCCS rolls of about 1.1 mil- is also at the heart of a bid by Re- business until the voter-approved going broke.
ment has more money than it lion in a bid to save about $1 bil- publicans to slash business taxes. one-cent hike in state sales taxes One option is to go to a “de-
should have. That money comes lion a year. Adams has a plan to cut corpo- expires in 2013. And Brewer said fined contribution” plan like
from people who earn it.” But the new federal health care rate income taxes from nearly 7 she will reject any plan that shifts many companies have: Workers
He argued government has law bars states from reducing percent to 4.5 percent and make the tax burden from businesses to and employers contribute a fixed
grown too big. Pearce said the eligibility from current levels or sharp reductions in business homeowners. amount into 401(k) plans that the
state started and expanded pro- lose all federal Medicaid funds. property taxes. But Adams said Immigration remains a front- employees invest.
grams simply because the money Facing that $7 billion threat, the that won’t reduce state revenues. burner issue, with the main pro- One problem, though, is that a
was there. Legislature backed down. He said the recession hit Ari- posal being to set up a challenge 1998 constitutional amendment
“It is legal plunder of the fruits Brewer now is seeking a waiv- zona hard because of the state’s with the federal government over forbids lawmakers from taking
of the labor of those who earn it,” er from that “maintenance of dependence on growth. Cheap whether children of illegal immi- away benefits already earned. So
he said. And Pearce doesn’t flinch effort” provision, one her aides credit led to overbuilding, a grants are entitled to citizenship. any changes would be prospec-
from criticism that often the big said would let Arizona cut about sharp hike in prices and hom- Pearce said this is a budget mea- tive only.
HERE Funeral
tax voters approved in May. state bringing in more money In 1998, for example, lawmak-
Expenses, however, are $9.5 bil- than it needed, Republican Gov. ers agreed to assume the respon-
lion. Fife Symington sought — and sibility for building new schools.
FROM PAGE A1