Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and GOP leaders strike deal on state budget
Arizona families with children would get a tax rebate and dozens of local road projects would receive funding under a $17.8 billion state budget crafted by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Republican legislative leaders.
The plan, which rank-and-file lawmakers are getting a first look at, includes a $250 rebate for parents with dependents younger than age 17, and $100 for those with dependents 17 and over. The rebate would only apply to people who have at least $1 of tax liability, which would exclude many of Arizona’s lowest-income families.
Myriad local projects also in the spending plan reflect a novel budget strategy, where lawmakers were allotted a slice of the state’s $2.5 billion budget surplus as a way to create bipartisan buy-in for passage of the overall budget.
That strategy also reduced the amount of money for larger projects, such as boosting funding for state agencies.
But missing from the new plan was any attempt to roll back funding for the state’s universal voucher program, which was central to Hobbs’ budget proposal in January. On Monday, however, she said that was a longer-term goal and suggested it was a negotiation tool.
“I think that we can agree that the voucher program is a drain on resources that should be directed at public education. I didn’t say we’re going to end it, it is a goal, certainly. We put that in our executive budget as the goal knowing that we would be in a place where we were going to have to negotiate. That’s what we’re doing,” Hobbs said at a Monday news conference.
The program has grown rapidly, nearing 54,000 students since the empowerment scholarship accounts were made available to all students last summer. Before, the program had about 12,000 students. The average scholarship award is about $10,000, up from earlier levels of $7,000.
The lack of any attempt to rein in the program drew immediate condemnation from Save Our Schools, a teacher-led movement that supports the public school system. The organization has scheduled a Tuesday news conference to protest.
Some Democrats also were critical, arguing the voucher program will bankrupt the state unless some kind of cap is imposed on the fast-growing program.
Some Democrats raise concerns about budget proposal
Senate Minority Leader Mitzi Epstein, D-Tucson, said the Democrats “are fighting like crazy” for a cap on the voucher program.
“We are going to go for the mat for the people of Arizona and not let this fiscally imprudent, downright irresponsible idea go forward,” she said.
However, House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Peoria, who negotiated this plan with Hobbs and Senate President Warren Petersen, is the sponsor of the universal program and many viewed it impossible to get him to agree to cut back a program that had just become law after years of trying.
Concerns with the budget extend to Democrats outside of the Legislature, too.
Attorney General Kris Mayes on Saturday wrote to Hobbs, objecting to flat funding for her agency and others that she said amounted to a budget cut given high inflation. Mayes blamed the stagnant funding on the “catastrophic drain” on state resources from the growing universal private school voucher program.
The budget agreement “will push the Attorney General’s Office to the edge of a steep cliff,” the Democrat wrote.
The budget bills were approved for a later introduction Monday but by mid-afternoon had yet to materialize. Hearings before the House and Senate appropriations committees are expected for Tuesday, but are not yet scheduled.
The committee hearings are the best chance for the public to weigh in on the spending proposal that will fund state government for the year beginning July 1.
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