Hobbs signs Arizona budget averting shutdown after House GOP holdout ends

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Photo by Jim Small | Arizona Mirror

Arizona’s budget drama is finally over. 

After weeks of feuding between the Republicans who control the state House of Representatives and Senate, long nights and hours of at times furious debate, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed the $17.6 billion state budget that was passed with bipartisan majorities in both chambers. 

That final move came just three days before the June 30 deadline to prevent a government shutdown. 

The package of 16 budget bills that originated in negotiations between the Senate and governor was approved by the House, mostly by votes of 41-15 late Thursday evening, following minor amendments in that chamber. The Senate gave its final approval by votes of 21-8 around midday Friday, and Hobbs signed the bills early Friday evening. 

Both chambers of the legislature agreed Friday afternoon to end the annual legislative session, which began Jan. 13, marking the end of a particularly grueling budgeting process. 

Republicans in the House held up progress on the budget, the only task constitutionally required of the legislature, for weeks after they left negotiations with the Senate and Hobbs and unilaterally created their own $17.3 billion budget. 

That budget was stacked with conservative priorities and eventually got a veto from Hobbs, along with another continuation budget that the House passed after it refused to vote on the bipartisan budget negotiated by Hobbs and Republicans in the Senate. 

Republicans in the House made a big show of the changes they made to the Senate budget after finally agreeing to consider it earlier this week, but those changes were minor. 

Republican and Democratic senators alike on Friday pointed out that the budget approved by a healthy majority in the House on Thursday was nearly identical to the one that chamber refused to consider just a week prior, when they called it a “Hobbs budget.” 

House Republicans in a Friday statement claimed that they achieved “major concessions” — including around $100 million in savings — before passing the Senate’s negotiated budget. 

That $100 million would equal about 0.6% of the total budget, but according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, total expenditures in the final budget are only $28 less than in the one the Senate originally approved. 

The Senate’s chief budget negotiator, John Kavanagh, said on Friday that the only major change from a week prior when the Senate first approved its budget proposal was that House Republicans were finally on board. 

“This is essentially the same budget that we previously passed out,” he said. 

Senate President Warren Petersen agreed with Kavanagh and had some choice words for the Republicans who held up the process, calling it a “sleight of hand” and adding that the session should have ended months ago. 

“For those who allowed this to happen, I would just say, get your house in order, because I am certain this body and the public won’t be fooled a second time,” Petersen said. 

Most of the opposition in both chambers came from members of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, who did their best to drag out the budgeting process with fruitless amendments and procedural holdups, angry that the rest of the legislature didn’t acquiesce to their budget demands. 

Other Republicans, clearly fed up with their tactics, continually told the holdouts that they needed to come to terms with the reality of a divided government, and stop demanding changes that would guarantee a veto from the governor. 

In their statement, House Republicans listed several of their contributions to the Senate budget — but many of those were in the original version, prior to the amendments that got House Republicans on board. 

Those included 5% pay raises for state troopers, full funding for the universal school voucher program and full funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities Parents as Paid caregivers program. 

Some of the amendments made in the House on Thursday that weren’t in the original Senate budget were around $2.3 million in grants to Arizona fire departments, new reporting requirements for the Department of Economic Security and the moving up the timeline for the expansion of I-10 between State Route 85 and Citrus Road. 

Several Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, also voted against the budget bills because of $24 in funding for border enforcement and the lack of guardrails on the universal school voucher program. Many of those Democrats had voted for budgets in previous years that contained the same funding, but said that the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation tactics made this year different. 

Even though she voted against the budget, Sundareshan said it was a good day for Arizona because the chamber refused to give in to the far-right fringe’s demands. 

“The political theater over this past month has shown how disastrous it can be when those in power refuse to accept reality,” she said. 

Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, a Coal Mine Mesa Democrat and member of the Navajo Nation, said she voted against the budget because none of the Native lawmakers were consulted about it and it doesn’t include funding for tribes. 

She criticized those who held up the budgeting process, causing anxiety for Arizonans who were worried about an unprecedented state government shutdown. 

“I think that’s a disservice to the state of Arizona and to our constituents,” Hatathlie said. “So, I would say, get your act together. Stop calling names, come to the table, and let’s have these discussions without going out there and acting like a bunch of drama children. It’s upsetting for me. It’s an embarrassment.”

This post was originally authored and published by Caitlin Sievers from AZ Mirror via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.