Strike Everything

The national spotlight that lit up Arizona when lawmakers passed SB1070 will be back sooner than some anticipated.

Sen. Russell Pearce and numerous out-of-state allies plan to unveil his birthright-citizenship bill during the first week of January in Washington, D.C. The model legislation will serve as a template for lawmakers in 14 states, including Arizona, which hope to force a U.S. Supreme Court case that would challenge the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment and end the practice of granting automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrant parents.

Daryl Metcalfe, a Pennsylvania state representative who is pushing the birthright-citizenship proposal in that state’s Legislature, said the model legislation will give anti-illegal immigration lawmakers a rallying point for the war against birthright citizenship and show unity among members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration, which is what the group of lawmakers is calling itself.

“First we have to have the language formulated,” said Metcalfe, a Republican from Cranberry Township, Penn. “Then you have the process of rolling that out to various legislators across the country that are interested in working on the rollout project and then bringing a number of us together to actually announce the final working product, the final language that’s come out of our efforts.”

The high-profile rollout likely will rile Arizona lawmakers and members of the state’s business community who wanted birthright citizenship to take a back seat during the 2011 session, at least until the Legislature passes a budget and a jobs bill. Some lawmakers claimed Pearce pledged to put birthright citizenship on hiatus until those priorities were out of the way, though Pearce disputes the claims.

“I hope it doesn’t distract Senator Pearce from what our primary objectives are this session, in terms of budget and economic,” said incoming Sen. John McComish. “The first week of January (is) a very busy time for us.”

Senate Democratic leader David Schapira said the press conference will be a distraction for lawmakers who should have higher priorities.

“It appears that the focus of the leadership of the Legislature is going to be on this issue instead of on economic develoment and job creation,” he said. “I’m waiting to hear about Pearce’s announcement of a press conference on economic development and job creation. That’s a priority right now.”

Pearce did not return messages seeking comment. But his stalwart ally in the House, Rep. John Kavanagh, said the unveiling wouldn’t distract from the more immediate tasks of balancing the budget and putting the economy back on track.

“We’ll file the bill early,” Kavanagh said. “My understanding is we want to put the budget and the jobs bill to bed before we move on to this. But it will be this session.”

Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican, said the rollout will get some attention, but he doesn’t expect it to last long.

“I guess you can get a day (of coverage), but that’s hardly the 1070 tsunami,” he said.

Gov. Jan Brewer has insisted repeatedly during the past year that the Legislature has the authority to cut spending for Arizona’s Medicaid program below the level that voters thought they had locked 10 years ago. But she appears to have shifted strategy and instead may ask voters to approve the cuts in a special election.

While speaking to reporters on Nov. 29, Brewer said she may seek a special election to get voter approval for cuts to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Many legal experts say the proposed cuts would violate Proposition 204, which voters passed in 2000 to expand Arizona’s Medicaid program.

“There’s a possibility we’ll have a special election,” Brewer said following the official statewide canvass of the Nov. 2 election at the Secretary of State’s Office. “That’s one of the options that we’re looking into.”

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said he believes the state could still make the cuts without getting voter approval. Senseman said Brewer may seek voter approval, “Just so it’s abundantly clear, legally.”

But Senseman did not say what led the governor to deviate from her longstanding message on Prop. 204, or why she would risk rejection at the polls if a special election wasn’t needed. He acknowledged that voter rejection of any AHCCCS cuts would likely nix the entire plan.

“I think what she’s saying is the option’s on the table. We really haven’t speculated beyond whether it may or may not succeed,” Senseman said.

Many legal scholars and attorneys said cuts to AHCCCS would likely be overturned by the courts. Not only that, but cuts to AHCCCS may put the state at odds, again, with the federal government.

Before Brewer can contemplate a special election, the state must get permission from the federal government to make the cuts, which would violate the health care law passed by Congress in March. The law includes a maintenance-of-effort provision that prohibits states from scaling back their Medicaid programs.

Brewer said she will seek a waiver from the federal government, which would allow the state to cut about $1 billion from the AHCCCS budget. Some Republican lawmakers said they will enact the cuts, regardless of whether the feds lift the maintenance-of-effort provision, but Brewer would not say whether she would veto such legislation.

“That’s hypothetical. I don’t know if I can move forward and give you an answer on that today,” Brewer said.

If Arizona made the cuts without permission, the federal government could retaliate by stripping the state of about $7.5 billion per year in Medicaid funding.

-Jeremy Duda