The Senate has confirmed four nominees to a state board on childcare but three others still await further action.
A key figure in that decision assured colleagues that the remaining nominations would be taken up soon, presumably in this legislative session. No date has been set.
The Senate confirmed the nominations of Rhian Gwynne Evans Allvin, Nadine Basha, Jack Jewett and Cecil Paterson to the Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board on May 22.
The confirmations of Vivian Juan-Saunders, Pamela Powell and Eugene Thompson were still in limbo.
Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Huppenthal said during a May 23 caucus that the nominations would be calendared “soon.” Huppenthal made the remark after Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-8, one of those who had strongly objected to the decision to hold them up, pressed him on the subject.
Shortly after the Senate voted to confirm the four officials, Huppenthal told the Arizona Capitol Times they would get back to the pending nominations as soon as they were done with the budget, in effect tying the nominations to the outcome of the budget process.
The Senate and the House have each passed a budget and negotiations between the leaderships of the two chambers are expected soon.
Allen was upset about delaying the vote on the three nominees.
“I resent the fact that our majority whip feels empowered to make a decision all by himself,” Allen said.
Proposition 203 was approved by voters in November. The initiative created the Early Childhood Development and Health Fund, to be administered by the board. The board receives funding from an 80-cent increase in the cigarette tax for programs aimed at increasing the quality and access to development and health services for children up to five years of age.
Estimates vary, but the tax increase is expected to generate $150 million in new revenues.
Huppenthal: Childcare views need to be more diverse
In April, Huppenthal held up the nominations over concerns that the board lacked diversity.
“We have a large group of nominees who believe that expanding childcare and having children outside the homes is the best thing that ever happened. I think that’s not what the research shows. I think research shows the exact opposite,” he said.
During the voting on May 22, Allen, along with some other senators, registered a “no” voice vote as an act of protest.
Later, she privately told Senate President Tim Bee that Huppenthal “has no right” to decide all by himself which nominations to bring to the floor and which to exclude.
Huppenthal countered that it should not be a problem at this time since under the law, the nominees can serve up to a year even without a confirmation.
A few senators have protested Huppenthal’s earlier decision. Some argued that if the lack of diversity was the issue, then the Senate should either bring the nominees to the vote or hold them all. Letting some go was arbitrary; even “dictatorial,” according to Allen.