By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX - With bipartisan support - and bipartisan opposition - state senators gave final approval early Friday to a $17.6 billion spending plan for the coming year.

And then they went home, declaring the session that began Jan. 13 to be over and done.

Only thing is, they did not bother to tell the House, which has never even taken up what the Senate approved. And, absent both chambers approving a spending plan, the authorization for state agencies to operate self-destructs at midnight on June 30.

The Senate move came as a surprise to House Republicans who less than a week ago had enacted their own budget, one with a price tag of $300 million less. They spent much of Friday behind closed doors, with what several members, who asked not to be identified, described as airing anger at their Senate counterpart.

Now House Speaker Steve Montenegro has pronounced the Senate plan as dead.

"The House is not going to be forced into a take-it-or-leave-it deal that doesn't reflect the will of our members or the people we represent,'' the Goodyear Republican said late Friday.

But recognizing the upcoming deadline - and the fact that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is supportive of the Senate-approved budget - Montenegro said his staff is drafting a "continuation budget,'' on that will keep state operations going past June 30. That, he said, will provide "the time we need to continue negotiations on other balanced spending proposals.''

Less clear, though, is whether the Senate which adopted its plan on a 17-12 margin, is willing to go along. The only thing that is clear is that the House is set to reconvene Monday morning.

That vote to adjourn for the year came over the objections of several senators.

Sen. J.D. Mesnard called it "entirely inappropriate for one chamber to do that to another.''

The Chandler Republican has some experience in this area: He was a member of the House in 2015 when Andy Biggs - now a congressman but then the Senate president - shut his chamber down even as the House was voting on bills.

What it also may be, Mesnard said, is unconstitutional.

"We don't have the authority to adjourn for more than three days'' without the consent of the other chamber,'' he told Capitol Media Services on Friday.

Even Senate President Warren Petersen, while earlier Friday declaring the motion to adjourn had passed, appeared to recognize that: He instead declared the chamber in recess.

Still, that leaves the question of what the House will do, what with time running out to enact a new spending plan.

Earlier this week there had been indications that the House, despite its Republican-only $17.3 billion budget, eventually would go along. Even Rep. David Livingston who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, told Capitol Media Services he was convinced that there are sufficient votes in that chamber from both Republicans and Democrats to approve the Senate plan.

What it came down to, said the Peoria Republican, is the recognition that no budget gets signed without the consent of Hobbs. And that, said Livingston, requires cooperation and compromise.

But that sentiment fell apart quickly Thursday night.

"The governor, with the help of RINO Senate President (Petersen), is pushing a Democrat budget,'' Livingston wrote on social media, a reference to the derogative term of someone being a "Republican in Name Only.''

Petersen, for his part, rejected the criticism. He said the plan approved Friday recognizes the political realities that a Republican-controlled legislature has to deal with a Democratic governor who has the last word.

"We have one job to do down here at the Capitol,'' he wrote in a social media post.

"Pass a real budget,'' Petersen said. "Not a fake budget for optics and talking points that will be gutted by a line-item veto pen, but a real budget that has a consensus of conservative Republicans and gets a signature.''

And in a prepared statement, he pointed out the spending plan includes a 5% pay raise for Department of Public Safety officers, a 4% one-time bonus for correctional officers, $30 million for fire suppression and a 15% pay hike for state firefighters.

Also in the package is $113 million for transportation projects, with nearly half of that dedicated to finishing improvement on SR 347 that runs from the edge of Phoenix to Maricopa, considered by some to be the most dangerous stretch of road in the state. And there is money for local projects like wells in Gilbert and Kingman.

There also is is a tax break for business owners, exempting more of their equipment and office furniture from property taxes. The plan includes an exemption from property taxes for veterans who are 100% disabled. And it doubles, to $10,000, the deduction that parents can take for adoption expenses.

Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan also claimed some victories in the budget for Democrats, like an extra $200 million needed to supplement aid to K-12 schools as well as waiving the constitutional limit on what schools can spend, a move necessary to allow them to use the dollars being provided to them in the budget.

Yet the Tucson Democrat was one of seven members of her party who did not vote for the package, saying it failed to deal with things that have slashed revenues, making it difficult to fund needed services.

That includes the decision by GOP lawmakers in 2021 to create a flat 2.5% income tax. Prior to that, Arizonans earning the most were paying a 4.5% rate.

Various groups have estimated the change reduced collections from what they would have been by anywhere from $700 million to $2 billion a year. But supporters note that overall revenues have continued to rise, saying the tax cut has stimulated economic growth.

And then there was the 2022 vote to allow any parent to get a voucher of state funds to send a child to private or parochial schools or pay for expenses of home schooling. The price tag for that program is now close to $1 million a year.

Friday's Senate vote came over the objections of members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, Republican lawmakers headed by Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, who have fought for lower taxes and smaller government. Having lost that fight, they now are trying to get the House to reject it outright, calling it in a prepared statement "stuffed full of pork and Democrat policy victories.''

"The Republican-controlled Legislature is supposed to hold the power of the purse, but unfortunately that power was handed over to Katie Hobbs,'' the statement reads.