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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.02.2009
PHOENIX — The fight over how to balance the state budget isn't over.
In fact, it may just be beginning.
Hours after they adjourned one of the longest legislative sessions in state history Wednesday, Gov. Jan Brewer called on lawmakers to get back to work on a new budget — one that includes a tax increase.
Calling their approved plan "fatally flawed," Brewer vetoed much of the $8.4 billion spending package approved by fellow Republicans. Now, legislators will meet again in special session Monday.
Brewer says she still wants a temporary increase in the state sales tax to alleviate cuts to K-12 education, health and human services and public safety in the face of an at least $3 billion budget deficit.
"As governor, I intend to see this through until we have achieved together what I have long advocated — a prudent budget that neither overspends nor underfunds," Brewer said in a prepared statement. "The legislative budget ignores my consistently expressed goals and instead incorporates devastating cuts to education, public safety, and our state's most vital health services for the frail."
Reaction to the governor's move was muted, largely because lawmakers were recovering — and literally, sleeping most of the day away — after enduring a 24-hour budget blitz.
None of the governor's vetoes is expected to affect state services in the short term. But Brewer's rejection of various parts of the GOP budget does require lawmakers to take action — and soon.
Brewer said the Legislature's "failure to provide a comprehensive solution" had forced her to "cobble together a resolution that contains flaws, but is superior" to their package.
That meant vetoing wholesale parts of the budget, like the entire $3.2 billion allocation to K-12 education. But Brewer did that, she said, because she wants lawmakers to lessen the cut — about $220 million in their approved package. Her line-item veto power did not allow her to change the figure.
That leaves public schools funded only through the end of July, said state school Superintendent Tom Horne. And charter schools are funded only through July 15, he said. Most schools aren't currently in session, but they do have expenses.
"Obviously, they have to have an agreement by the time school starts," Horne said.
Brewer also criticized other reductions lawmakers made to agencies and vetoed those cuts, including $40 million to universities, a $50 million cut to the Department of Economic Security and a $30 million hit to the Department of Health Services.
This latest development in Arizona's struggle to pass a balanced budget comes after lawmakers worked late into the night and into the early hours of Wednesday to pass a budget.
Staring them down was the July 1 start of the 2010 fiscal year and the potential for a government shutdown.
Though lawmakers went past the Tuesday midnight deadline, adjourning about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, state government appeared unaffected.
That's because state statutes include a good-faith clause, according to state Treasurer Dean Martin. Since the governor had told state agencies to plan for business as usual, a budget was passed by daybreak, and Brewer was expected to sign at least part of it, there was no impact on operations.
"From an operational standpoint, you were operating in good faith," Martin said. "As long as it was signed by the end of business, you're OK."
Many predicted that the road is not going to get any smoother in the days ahead.
Tensions were sky high when lawmakers adjourned the session Wednesday morning after 170 days — the fourth-longest in modern times.
Some lawmakers have vacations planned. Some are getting back to their jobs. And Republican leaders say they couldn't find the votes for a tax referral, even as they reached out to Democrats at the last minute.
"I'm telling you, unless we would have hypnotized people, we did everything that we could to convince people to support the governor's proposal for the tax referral," House Speaker Kirk Adams said Wednesday morning. "And short of the body snatchers returning, the votes were simply not there."
Underlining the frustration conservatives have with Brewer's tax call, one Tucson Republican, Sen. Al Melvin, said Wednesday morning that Brewer would veto the budget only if "she's in a huff because she didn't get her sales-tax increase."
House Minority Leader David Lujan, D-Phoenix, said it made no sense for Brewer to call lawmakers back without a negotiated agreement.
"It sounds like everybody's going to come back and it's going to be pledge and pray and we're going to do a lot of the same thing we've been doing," Lujan said. "I think if she really wants to change course, she should get leadership together first before bringing back the rank-and-file members."
Martin, a former legislator, said there may now be even less support for what Brewer wants.
"I don't think there's enough time for people to calm down, cool off before Monday," he said. "There's a chance it will actually make things worse.
On StarNet: Stay on top of local, state and national political news at www.azstarnet.com/politics
Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or dscarpinato@azstarnet.com.
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