Legislative leaders and the governor have agreed on a plan to accelerate work to resolve a budget deficit for the current fiscal year that could reach nearly $1 billion.
Although the legislative session doesn’t begin until Jan. 14, the House and Senate appropriations committees will begin meeting jointly Jan. 7. The committees will meet every day of the week before session.
Regular committee hearings also will be cancelled for the second week of session, House Republican spokesman Barrett Marson said, so the budget committees can again meet every day.
Once legislators and Gov. Janet Napolitano come to an agreement on how to best address the budget crunch, she will call a special session so lawmakers can approve the changes.
“I look forward to working with (legislative) leadership, and with the members of the Arizona Legislature, to quickly finish the 2008 budget, then quickly move on to tackle the FY 2009 budget,” she said.
House Majority Leader Tom Boone, R-4, said it’s  important to get a jump on the budgeting process as quickly as possible, because the state is facing a $970 million deficit for the current fiscal year, which began in July, and a $1.8 billion deficit for the next year.
“With the budget issues we’re facing, we’ve got to focus on solving the problem quickly,” he said.
And House Minority Whip Steve Gallardo, D-13, said he and other Democrats are in full support. “That’s an excellent idea,” he said.
Senior Republican lawmakers are also hoping to address the FY09 budget immediately after working on the current year.
“You’re going to save a lot of time doing them at the same time because they’re so interrelated,” Boone said.
In order to do so, Senate President Tim Bee said, Republicans and Democrats will have to work together.
“During difficult economic times, it is critical we change the way we do business,” he said. “By working together to expedite the budget process we can solve the state’s shortfall in the most responsible way possible.”
Boone said Democrat leaders have been “very cooperative” in meetings so far and stressed the importance of continued bipartisanship. “We are going to have to solve this problem in a very bipartisan manner. There’s no question about it,” he said. “It can’t be done in any other manner because the scope of the problem is so large.”