Arizona Legislature takes 3rd spring break of the year — so far

Lawmakers voted to give themselves a third “spring break” Wednesday, halting their work until May 8 after a brief, one-day work week.

“Now that we’ve adjourned after today, we’ve met three days in three weeks,” said Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott. “That’s a little unusual.”

With this latest break, lawmakers will have taken nine days off thus far this year, and more could come. Lawmakers took off one full week and most of another at the end of April, plus they’ll take three out of four days off in the first week of May. 

The pauses are due to several factors, including a dwindling list of bills that need work and a vacancy in the House of Representatives caused by the expulsion of Rep. Liz Harris, R-Chandler.

Losing a Republican lawmaker meant the one-vote Republican majority in each chamber could not pass bills without the help of Democrats, something that was unlikely to happen in the current hyper-partisan environment at the Capitol.

The Legislature typically works Monday through Thursday when in session, and the session typically runs from mid-January until lawmakers reach agreement on a budget. In recent years, that was anywhere from late May to the deadline to get a budget hammered out, June 30.

Lawmakers already have addressed much of their work this year, anyway, and are preparing for budget negotiations and have only a handful of bills left to address this session.

Despite the unique circumstances of this legislative session, taking chunks of time off during a legislative session is fairly common, recent history shows. Last year, the House and Senate took off 13 days, records show, giving themselves multiple long weekends. The year before, 2021, they took off eight days.

Lawmakers’ time off in the 2023 session has stood out from recent years because it’s all occurred in a three week period.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.

Reach the reporter atrstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter@raystern.