Capitol Media Services recently reported dozens of agencies throughout Arizona received shares of earmarked funding included in the state budget bill, signed into law by Gov. Katie Hobbs in mid-May. …
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Capitol Media Services recently reported dozens of agencies throughout Arizona received shares of earmarked funding included in the state budget bill, signed into law by Gov. Katie Hobbs in mid-May. The budget earmarked about $50 million for special uses.
The earmarks include $750,000 for the Chandler, Tucson and Mesa police departments for a pepper ball pilot program. There is also $2 million in the bill for “Chandler Police Department support.”
City of Chandler spokesperson Matt Burdick said Rep. Julie Willoughby requested the $2 million for Chandler Police support in the budget bill. He said he didn’t know which legislator(s) requested the pepper-ball pilot program funding.
The Chandler Police Department didn’t respond to questions for this story.
We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Jason W. Brooks is an associate editor for the Daily independent.
He covers the Buckeye area and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all its time zones. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska.
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