Shut out of the budget talks, Democratic senators have stepped up efforts to counter a proposal emerging from the Republican side.

And if speeches on Jan. 28 were any indication, the two parties are heading for a major showdown once a budget is brought to the floor for debate.  

During a Senate Appropriations committee hearing on Jan 29, Democrats complained they were shut out of the process while Republicans blamed their colleagues and former Gov. Janet Napolitano for the deficit Arizona now finds itself grappling with.

Democrats offered amendments to restore some spending and to reduce cuts proposed in the GOP-backed budget package. The amendments failed.

In addition to committee amendments, Democrats were also set to offer floor amendments that would reflect their priorities, minority leaders said.

Democrats are also drumming up support for alternatives to the proposed cuts by holding public hearings across the state.   

"We are preparing amendments to the chairmen's options, taking some of the vehicles that the governor laid in out in her initial plan and in her revised plan," said Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia.

Garcia was referring to former Gov. Janet Napolitano's budget proposal to fix the fiscal year 2009 deficit.

Napolitano's plan included payment deferrals, agency fund transfers and taking money out of the rainy day fund. That plan also anticipated receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the federal government. Garcia emphasized Democrats are considering only some of Napolitano's proposed alternatives.

Garcia said he wouldn't expect the Democrats' amendments to pass. But his caucus wanted to make sure Gov. Jan Brewer saw the amendments and understood what they were doing.

 

"And maybe she can at that point exert some influence as we move from (the committee to the floor)," Garcia said.

 

"We (also) want to make sure that the public knows that there is $300 million that is available to lessen the cuts," he said.

On Jan. 28, Sen. Linda Lopez, the minority whip, sharply criticized the Republicans for "rushing" to get a budget out.

"Why are we putting political ideology first, ahead of desperately needed services to children, families and the elderly?" she said. "All of us agree that the budget is a real problem and that real cuts will have to be made. However, why the sudden rush to get a budget out by February 1?"

Lopez asked where the "sense of urgency" was in December when the Legislature had the opportunity to hold a special session to fix the current year's budget.

The Republicans did not let the minority whip's statement pass without a challenge.

Sen. Ron Gould, a Republican from Lake Havasu, said the fiscal 2009 budget was the Democratic caucus' and governor's budget. It was passed, he said, with "some help from a couple of Republicans." 

"They threw a party. We are expected to pay the bill. I don't want to let anybody forget that," said Gould, one of the most conservative members of the Legislature.

Sen. Russell Pearce, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, also blamed Napolitano for "reckless spending."

"We are now fixing her problems," Pearce said.

The Democratic caucus has shrunk to 12 members after last year's election. But it is Napolitano's decision – more than anything – to leave Arizona to become the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary that clipped the Democrats' clout in the Legislature.  

Any amendment the Democrats will offer in committee or on the floor is likely to fail. With only four members, Democrats are greatly outnumbered in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where the budget would be heard.

But the minority leadership hopes it can sway the public to pressure the Legislature to consider the alternatives the Democrats are proposing.

Public hearings have been scheduled in Casa Grande, Phoenix, Yuma, Tucson, and Flagstaff.

 "We just want folks to understand what is happening here in the Legislature," said Garcia, adding Democrats are urging people to contact Senate President Bob Burns, House Speaker Kirk Adams and especially Brewer. 

"The reality is that no matter (how) the majority wants to paint it that business in times of difficulties retracts, the reality is that government cannot retract," Garcia said. "Government provides services to people in need."

During the last two years, Democrats negotiated with Republicans over the budget. Political realities led them to the negotiating table.

In 2007, the Democrats had gained a seat in the Senate, splitting the chamber 17-13. The budget, or any bill for that matter, needs 16 votes to pass. The Senate in the past two sessions also had more moderate Republican members. In any case, the GOP would have to eventually negotiate with the Democrats since the occupant on the Ninth floor was one, and Napolitano did not hesitate to exercise her veto power.

The Democrats have not been invited to the table this year.

"I wouldn't expect to be invited," said Garcia.  

Asked about reaching across the political aisle to get 16 votes to pass a budget, Burns said he owes his caucus the opportunity to try to get a budget out first.

"I'm guessing I'm not locked into our caucus only, but I think having been elected by our caucus, I owe them the opportunity to do that," Burns said in a press briefing,

If Senate leadership can't get the votes first within his caucus, then they would shift gears and see where they could go, he said.

What if a Democrat offered his support in exchange for a specific item? Burns said he would have to ask members to see if the item would cost him their votes.

"If I don't lose members because of it, then I don't have a problem with having them (Democrats) on board," the Senate president said.

Since Janet Napolitano announced that she would be trading the Salt River for the Potomac, Jan Brewer's transition team has been pulled in countless different directions. But with only a matter of weeks separating Napolitano's announcement and Brewer's gubernatorial oath of office, the new governor's transition team has focused its energies on two areas – the budget crisis and personnel.

Chuck Coughlin and Doug Cole, two top members of Brewer's transition team as she prepared to replace Napolitano as governor, talked of the difficulties facing their team and the state at a Valley Citizens League luncheon on Jan. 27. They said fixing Arizona's broken budget and finding the people who will fill out Brewer's administration have been their top two priorities since Napolitano announced she would leave her post to head up the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Because Brewer is taking over midway through Napolitano's term instead of running for the office in a normal campaign, Cole said, she did not have the same opportunities as other candidates to spend 12-18 months laying out policy platforms and agendas. And she did not have a team of campaign officials waiting in the wings for official appointments.

"When you go through a transition like we are now, you get none of that," Cole said of the normal processes that winning gubernatorial candidates go through on their way to the Ninth Floor.

In a nod to the press, which has sought answers about Brewer's policies since it was announced that she would take over as governor, Cole and Coughlin explained why the budget and personnel matters must be dealt with first.

That the budget is priority No. 1 is likely not a surprise to anyone. The fiscal year 2009 budget is short about $1.6 billion, and state revenue projections for 2010 are expected to be down by about $3 billion. Coughlin said Brewer and legislative leadership are "working hand-in-hand" on a fix for the 2009 budget, which he said may be worked out by the end of the week, just three days away. After that, he said, they can start working on 2010.

But personnel is a less obvious matter, at least to those who are used to hearing and reading daily about the budget crisis. Much like the issue of policies and agenda, Brewer's lack of a gubernatorial campaign left her at a disadvantage in filling out her staff, the duo said.

Many governors, such as Napolitano, bring people from their campaign staffs to the Ninth Floor. In a conventional transition, Coughlin said, lines of communication evolve more naturally. Brewer and her team, on the other hand, have been inundated by hundreds of job seekers.

"I think my pool guy is getting e-mails," Cole joked.

Brewer, who was sworn in on Jan. 21, already has selected much of her staff, including several top staff from her six years at the Secretary of State's Office. Former top deputy Kevin Tyne is now her chief of staff, and former elections director Joe Kanefield became general counsel. But many policy advisor positions are still unfilled, though Brewer announced her K-12 education and health and human services advisors shortly after the luncheon.

The governor is also still determining which state agency heads will stay on the job in her administration, and which will be replaced. Seven Napolitano-appointed department heads have resigned since the former governor announced that she would leave her post, and others may be replaced as well. Cole said they are deciding on a case-by-case basis instead of cleaning house across the board.

"Just because it's a party change doesn't mean everybody goes," he said.

Coughlin and Cole spoke about the state's grim budget situation, with Coughlin saying "everything is on the table." Too many people, Coughlin said, didn't recognize the severity of the budget crisis, which led some state agencies and departments to ignore contingency plans. He added that this will lead to layoffs.

The Governor's Office needs unprecedented cooperation with agencies, universities and others to help determine what can be done more cheaply and what doesn't need to be done at all, Coughlin said. Going forward without solving the budget shortfall would be like trying to buy $10 worth of groceries with $7, he said.

The Congress is debating passing an economic relief package for the states, most of which are facing severe budget crises, though it's not clear how that money would be split up. Cole said Brewer met with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat representing the 8th Congressional District, on Jan. 23 to talk about a possible federal stimulus package.

"They don't know" how much money Arizona could get or how it would be distributed, said Cole, who speculated that the federal government would probably approve money to the states first for Medicaid relief and transportation infrastructure.

Cole also addressed Arizona's lack of a lieutenant governor position and the current system that puts the secretary of state first in the line of succession if a governor cannot complete his or her term. Cole noted that this is the fourth straight decade in which an Arizona governor has left office prematurely, leaving the secretary of state as his or her replacement.

"Do the voters of Arizona really know who they're voting for for secretary of state?" Cole asked.

Ironically, Brewer spent about eight years in the state Senate trying to pass a bill that would create a lieutenant governor position. Cole echoed some of Brewer's arguments, such as the possibility that an elected governor of one political party could be replaced by an unelected one of the other party. He also said that secretary of state is essentially an administrative job, similar to Brewer's argument that holding the position doesn't necessarily mean one is qualified to become governor.

Prior to her six-year stint as secretary of state, Brewer spent six years on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, 10 in the Arizona Senate and four in the state House of Representatives.

At the luncheon, David Jones, president of the Arizona Contractors Association, said many in the business community would like to have a lieutenant governor who could help champion commerce and tourism for the state. Secretary of State Ken Bennett, whom Brewer selected to replace her, has said he would like his position to be more like that of a lieutenant governor.

Lawmakers are hoping Jan Brewer will call a special session later today to deal with a $1.6 billion shortfall in the 2009 fiscal year budget.

House Speaker Kirk Adams made the announcement on the House floor this afternoon.

"That should be happening, hopefully within the next few hours," he said.

It is unclear if a special session will be called prior to the House and Senate agreeing on a budget deal that Gov. Jan Brewer will sign. Currently, the House and Senate have not reached a consensus.

House Majority Leader John McComish said the primary differences between the two plans center on how much Arizona expects to receive from the federal government as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan. While the House is budgeting for $500 million in assistance, the Senate's budget plan only includes $400 million.

That difference also means the Senate budget proposal includes more cuts, primarily to higher education, McComish said. The bulk of the $100 million difference is made up of higher cuts to the universities, both in the money they receive from the state's general fund and in money the state would sweep from dedicated university funds.

McComish said Brewer has been trying to broker a deal between the two legislative chambers.

"The governor has some suggestions on how we can reach a compromise," he said.

 

Fresh off winning a second term as chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, Randy Pullen will quickly transition to running for another office as he seeks election as treasurer of...

The expectation of a windfall of federal money to subsidize Arizona's state-run health care program for children has convinced key Republican lawmakers to remove KidsCare from a list of budget cuts designed help the state out of the red.

Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican from Fountain Hills and chairman of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, told the Arizona Capitol Times Jan. 27 that he decided to withdraw his proposal to eliminate KidsCare – also known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program – so that the state would be eligible to receive more money from the federal government to fund health services for the state's low-income children.  

KidsCare receives $3 from the federal government for every $1 provided by the state, but some states expect Congress to increase the formula as part of a stimulus package for economically struggling states.

Under a revised formula, the federal government is expected to increase its contribution to the state's health care programs by as much as 12 percentage points, making the federal contribution more than $7 for every $1 the state invests.

Arizona children from households earning less than twice the federal poverty limit, or approximately $46,000 annually for a family of four, qualify to receive coverage for wellness care, vaccination and vision under KidsCare.   

The termination of the program was expected to save the state more than $53 million in service and administrative costs over the next 18 months.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is slated Jan. 28 to vote on the SCHIP reauthorization bill passed by the House last week.

The measure – HR2 – would expand SCHIP through 2013 and provide coverage for an additional 4.1 million children by allowing children from families earning three times the federal poverty limit annually to qualify for coverage.

The estimated $33 billion cost would be funded with a 61-cents-per-pack increase in the federal tobacco tax.

Several key Senate Republicans, including Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, have come out in opposition to attempts to reauthorize SCHIP because of concerns that the eligibility expansions included in the bill is inconsistent with the program's intended goal to provide health care coverage for children from low-income families. 

Members of the Senate Republican Policy Committee also expressed concern over a provision in the bill allowing states to waive the federally mandated five-year waiting period for documented immigrant children to qualify for state-funded health care coverage.  

A Republican-backed amendment intended to limit the state's ability to approve immigrant children for coverage was defeated Jan. 27 by a voice vote.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, proposed the amendment, which would have required states to prove they had enrolled 95 percent of the eligible citizen children for health coverage before opening the doors for children from immigrant families.

A second amendment proposed by Republican Jim DeMint from South Carolina would have required families with annual incomes greater than 200 percent the federal poverty level to pay a portion of their coverage not exceeding 5 percent of their income.  

DeMint told the Senate the amendment would dissuade families newly qualified for coverage under the state from moving from private plans to the state-funded plan. The amendment was defeated by a 60-37 vote.  

Officials at Arizona State University announced Jan. 28 that all university employees will be placed on a rotating, unpaid leave of absence between now and the end of the fiscal year to help the university meet required cuts of as much as $130 million from the fiscal 2009 budget.

"This decision was made after consultation with faculty, staff, students, administration and the Arizona Board of Regents," ASU President Michael M. Crow stated in a press release. "With so little time left in the current fiscal year, the university's leadership is confident that this is the most prudent way to address the (fiscal 2009) reductions while preparing for the additional reductions proposed for (fiscal 2010) because the furlough allows the (fiscal 2009) reductions to be shared and balanced among all the faculty and staff of the institution." 

Faculty members required to take the mandatory furloughs include Crow, all vice presidents, deans, faculty, varsity coaches and academic professionals.

University administrators will take the longest leave of absence – 15 days. The majority of employees will be required to take a 12-day unpaid furlough.

The university will stay open despite cuts in staff by staggering the days administrators are absent and ensuring professors take their leave of absence on days they do not teach class.

University officials said the measure is expected to save $24 million. Employees can expect an 8-12 percent reduction in yearly salary, depending on the assigned length of absence.

 

Gov. Jan Brewer has called lawmakers into a special legislative session to solve an estimated $1.6 billion deficit in the fiscal 2009 state budget.

She issued the proclamation ordering the session at 9:26 p.m. on Jan. 28. The special session will run concurrently with the regular session that began earlier this month.

House and Senate leaders met for much of the day in an attempt to reconcile differences between the budget packages each chamber had proposed.

Passing a budget fix in a special session allows the spending changes to take effect sooner than if it were approved in the regular session. Lawmakers have set a Jan. 31 deadline to pass a budget fix to prevent the deficit from growing larger.

After days of discussion, Brewer felt confident that she and legislative leadership had reached common ground, and she also expects the Legislature to have a fix for the 2009 budget by the end of the week, according to spokesman Paul Senseman.

"They're certainly on the same page as to how important it is to get something done," Senseman said.

Brewer had been speaking with legislative leadership about a fix for the 2009 budget since before her Jan. 21 inauguration, and had been "getting down to some of the details" since Jan. 23, Senseman said. She did not submit a proposal to the Legislature, he said, but has provided substantial input and has "put her fingerprints" on the proposed fix.

"This problem is substantially worse with each day passing," Senseman said.

A state representative wants to dock lawmakers a day's pay if an unexcused absence causes them to miss a vote on legislation that reaches the floor of the House or Senate.

"I think it's just a matter of right and wrong," Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Glendale, said Tuesday before the House Government Committee. "If you're working, you should get paid, and if you're not working, you shouldn't get paid."

Saying he's tired of seeing colleagues miss votes they consider unimportant, Weiers calls in HB 2127 for lawmakers to lose an amount not less than $175 for each day they miss a floor vote without being excused. Those lawmakers also would be listed on the Legislature's Web site.

"Unless someone can show me another way that can get people's attention, money is the only way to get people's attention," Weiers said.

The committee endorsed the bill on a 4-3 vote, sending it to the House floor by way of the Rules Committee, but only Weiers heard sharp comments from opponents.

"I think we have a built-in performance review of every member down here: It's called the election," said Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix.

"I don't necessarily agree with this insinuation that I vote for a paycheck," said Rep. Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix. "I'm here because I want to be in involved in public service, help my constituents and help my state."

Rep. Warde V. Nichols, R-Gilbert, joined Campbell and Driggs in voting against the bill. However, opponents said their objections were to the financial penalty and not to the idea of publicizing the names of those who miss votes.

Voting in favor were Rep. Sam Crump, R-Anthem, the committee's chairman and a co-sponsor, Rep. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, Rep. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, and Rep. Steve B. Montengro, R-Litchfield Park. Rep. Tom Chabin, D-Flagstaff, was absent.

Asked by Driggs if it's common for lawmakers to miss votes due to unexcused absences, Weiers said emphatically that it is.

"Anybody that's been down here four years or longer has seen that," Weiers said. "I think every bill down here is critically important. Whether I hate the bill or like the bill, fact is they're members' bills, they're constituents' bills whether I agree with them or not."

HB 2127 deals with a bill's third reading, which sends legislation to the other chamber, and final reading, which sends it to the governor.

It defines one day's pay as the higher of $175 or a formula that averages the length of legislative sessions and lawmaker pay over five years, and it would draw that amount from the $35 daily subsistence pay lawmakers receive during the session.

Weiers said the bill doesn't apply to committee votes because legislation that dies in committee often resurfaces later in other committees.

Arizona Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro became the seventh state agency head to step down following the Jan. 20 resignation of former Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Schriro, who was the first woman to run the state DOC, announced her resignation on Jan. 27 in a letter to staff. She has accepted a position as senior policy advisor under Napolitano in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to the letter, which was obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times. Napolitano was installed as secretary of Homeland Security on Jan. 20.

"It has been five years since we came together to successfully resolve the standoff at ASPC-Lewis and begin the remaking of ADC. I am so proud to have been your co-worker and colleague and to have had this exceptional opportunity to travel with you towards flagship status," Schriro wrote. "These accomplishments for which we are now receiving national attention, are your doing. You are extraordinary men and women, corrections professionals keeping our communities safe now and later.

"Through your efforts to correct Corrections, Arizonans have been spared untold heartache and expense. I am fortunate to have been a part of this remarkable organization and to have come to know firsthand so many of you," the letter continued.

A department spokesman confirmed Schriro's resignation will take effect Feb. 1.

In the letter, Schriro did not indicate when the resignation would become effective. When she leaves, though, she will take with her 25 years of experience in corrections. She was appointed head of Arizona DOC in July 2003, only a few months after Napolitano took office. Prior to that, she ran the prison system in Missouri for eight years.

Her peers named her top Corrections Director in 1999, and the National Governors Association honored Director Schriro with its Distinguished Service to State Government Award in 2006, according to the DOC Web site.

In the closing of her letter, Schriro told staff that they "are the best. Be good. Do good."

"I know that I can count on you to extend to Governor (Jan) Brewer and her administration the many courtesies that you have always given me," she wrote.