By Howard Fischer
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PHOENIX - Calling his proposal a "farce'' and "grandstanding,'' Gov. Katie Hobbs is nixing the request by House Speaker Steven Montenegro for an unprecedented "continuation budget'' to give him a chance to negotiate a new spending plan different than the one that already has been agreed to by her and the Senate.

And the stalemate threatens to bring much of state government to a halt in just eight days.

The governor said in a statement there have been negotiations for months with the leaders of both parties in both the House and Senate. The result, she said, was a $17.6 billion spending plan for the new fiscal year the Senate approved on a 17-12 bipartisan margin this past Thursday.

On Friday, however, Montenegro insisted that there aren't the necessary 31 votes in the House for approval. So now the Goodyear Republican said he wants more time to come up with a different plan.

The only thing is, time is running out.

The current state budget self-destructs on July 1. And, except for certain core functions like prisons, without a new budget there is no authorization to keep other state operations running or pay other state expenses like aid to public schools.

Montenegro's solution is something that apparently has never been done in Arizona: adopt an interim budget that continues the current level of state spending - and that authorization to pay bills - beyond June 30, providing more time for talks.

No way, said Hobbs.

"I remain committed to having conversations about improving our bipartisan budget,'' the governor said in a prepared statement this weekend, meaning tweaks in that $17.6 billion plan. "But let me be clear: Any kind of partisan 'continuation budget' will immediately meet my veto pen, even if it has the votes to reach my desk.''

And Hobbs made it clear she believes that Montenegro and other House GOP leaders have no one but themselves to blame about the impasse.

The governor said there have been talks for months with leaders of both parties in the House and Senate to craft a  budget that gives the Republicans who control the Legislature some of what they want but also funds some priorities of fellow Democrats.

"Sadly, House Republican leadership abdicated their responsibility and refused to meaningfully participate in those bipartisan conversations,'' Hobbs said. Instead, the House GOP instead adopted its own plan that not only spends $300 million less but seeks to change a variety of state laws not in the compromise plan.

"Now, to cover for their failures, they are attempting to jam through an irresponsible and partisan 'budget,''' the governor said.

Montenegro said House Republicans are not to blame. He said their spending plan was balanced and "prioritized public safety, infrastructure, and government accountability,'' even if it did not have the vote of a single House Democrat.

"That budget was ignored by the Senate,'' Montenegro said. Instead, he said, Hobbs and the senators are trying to force the House "into a take-it-or-leave-it deal that doesn't reflect the will of our members or the people we represent.''

Montenegro said this isn't strictly partisan. He said even some Democrats are opposed.

That is true. In fact, six of the 13 Democratic senators - including Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan of Tucson - voted against the compromise which they said short-changed Democratic priorities like education. And Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, her House counterpart, said as many as seven of the 27 House Democrats also would vote against it.

But De Los Santos said that he's convinced that, just like the Senate, there are sufficient votes from both parties who are convinced that, with politically divided government, this is the best deal to be had. And he said there's an easy way to check that out when the House convenes on Monday.

"Put it up on the board and have a vote,'' he said, something Montenegro has so far refused to do.

He's not the only one who believes there likely is sufficient support for what the Senate negotiated with the governor. Even Rep. David Livingston, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said last week he believes that there may be as many as 40 votes in the 60-member chamber for the package.

Some Senate Republicans who voted for the compromise are questioning Montenegro raising the specter of a government shutdown if they and the governor don't accede to his demand for new talks. Sen. John Kavanagh, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the speaker needs to acknowledge the political reality of the situation.

"It takes three to tango,'' the Fountain Hills Republican said of crafting a new budget. And Kavanagh said that what he and other Senate Republicans recognized is "one of the dancers has a big veto stamp hanging from her belt.''

And Sen. T.J. Shope is questioning how realistic it is for Montenegro to push for a temporary spending package on the belief that more time would produce anything new.

"I truly don't know what he think can be negotiated after June 30th that couldn't have been negotiated in January, February, March, April, May, and last week,'' said the Coolidge Republican.

He, like Hobbs, also disputed Montenegro's contention that House Republicans never had a chance to be part of what resulted in the $17.6 billion package.

"That's quite a take that's not based on reality,'' he said.

Shope also said he takes offense at Montenegro's idea of a continuation budget because it would wipe out agreements in the compromise package to spend money for priority projects that Republicans got inserted into the package. That includes making improvements to State Route 347 that connects the edge of the Phoenix area with the rapidly growing community of Maricopa.

"This tactic is a direct assault on the people of Pinal County and the city of Maricopa specifically who have to deal with the most dangerous highway in the western U.S.'' he said.

De Los Santos said what also would be delayed, if not eliminated, with a continuation budget would be other priorities, like pay raises for state troopers and fire fighters as well as additional dollars for K-12 schools.

More than money is involved in the dispute.

The package approved by House Republicans includes a series of changes in state law that are not in the compromise, including:

- a 2.5% cut in university tuition with the state not picking up the dollars lost.

- saying that students not in this country legally must pay full out-of-state tuition regardless of their Arizona residency.

- new restrictions on the ability of the attorney general to pursue criminal charges in certain election cases.

- financially compensating people who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.

- freezing the salary of Family Court judges and employees for the next two years.

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