The Senate unilaterally passed a $13 billion budget, complete with last-minute amendments tied to unfounded election fraud claims, following a marathon session that began yesterday and lasted until early Wednesday morning. 

Budget action – and all other business in the Legislature – is now on hold until Thursday, when House leaders expect all 31 Republicans back at the Capitol to ensure Democrats can’t prevent their vote by denying the chamber a quorum. House Democrats blocked the chamber from tackling the budget yesterday by not showing up. 

Senate Republicans spent the day adopting amendments crafted to bring Republicans on board, including a 195-page juggernaut that contained language from multiple controversial bills killed earlier in the session. 

Those votes were delayed by a Suns playoff game, which drew senators to their lounge where many of them were glued to the TV as the team fended off the Clippers.  

“I hope the Suns appreciate that we’re holding up the entire floor just for them,” Senate President Karen Fann said. 

The budget, which passed the Senate with just over a week to spare before the government shuts down without a new spending plan in place, reflects a compromise on Gov. Doug Ducey’s ambitious tax cut proposal that will result in all but the wealthiest Arizonans paying a flat 2.5% income tax rate as early as 2024, provided the state receives at least $12.9 billion in revenue the preceding year.  

Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler and one of the architects of the tax plan, said Arizona is now at a crossroads – it can continue to follow Republican policies and grow, or permit higher taxes and see people move away. He predicted higher future revenues and continued political success for the Republican party if the tax cuts passed.  

“When we have future surpluses as a result of this decision, let’s remember this moment when we were demonized for what we were doing,” Mesnard said.  

Beginning on their 2022 tax returns, Arizonans who make more than $250,000 (or $500,000 for a married couple) would pay just 1% of their taxable income to the state’s General Fund, and another 3.5% toward education as required by a voter-approved surcharge on the rich. Without these changes, those wealthy Arizonans would pay the 3.5% surcharge on top of their existing 4.5% tax rate. 

To court skeptical Republican Rep. David Cook of Globe and Sen. Paul Boyer of Glendale, amendments to the budget phased in the tax cuts over at least one additional year. If the House and Ducey approve the budget as advanced by the Senate, the state will have two tax brackets for the next two years. 

Democrats, including Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, criticized the tax plan for disproportionately benefiting wealthier Arizonans.  

“It is highly skewed to the wealthy,” she said. “I, for example, will get a $15 tax break. Our assistants will get a $3 break.” 

Late Tuesday evening, after Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli triumphantly announced a Suns victory, Borrelli and fellow Senate Republicans dropped election-related amendments that Democrats said would keep the state in the crosshairs of late-night television hosts. 

Borrelli’s amendment creates provisions for watermarked ballots, requires the Secretary of State and county recorders to document voter registration outreach to make sure voter registration drives aren’t aimed at voters likely to support Democrats, and sets up a task force to investigate whether social media networks are providing in-kind contributions to Democrats by stifling Republicans.  

“Algorithms are already in the computer to make sure a certain candidate goes to the top,” Borrelli said.  

Senate Republicans also adopted an amendment from Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, that allows someone selected by the Legislature to inspect voter rolls and prepare a report on “federal-only” voters. Arizona has stricter requirements to prove citizenship to vote than the federal government, so voters who meet the federal standards but not Arizona’s can vote only in federal elections.  

And another amendment introduced by Fann creates a new committee to review the Senate’s ongoing audit and to recommend legislative action, including calling the Legislature back in special session. While Senate Republicans insist they want only to pass bills to fix any problems for future elections, the audit’s most vocal supporters ultimately want to see results that would retroactively decertify the 2020 election.  

Earlier in the day, Senate Democrats directed most of their ire at the bill detailing appropriations and policy for K-12 education. They received a 195-page amendment just two hours before debate began. 

“The K-12 education (budget reconciliation bill) is festooned with zombie bills, bills that never made it through the process and that will bring teachers back down here in hordes,” said Sen. Lisa Otondo, D-Yuma. 

Among those revived bills was one that would vastly expand access to school vouchers. That measure, pushed by Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Glendale, never received a vote in the House because two House Republicans and all House Democrats oppose voucher expansion. 

Otondo said she wondered what will happen in the House as she trusts that Reps. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa, and Joel John, R-Buckeye, both teachers, will refuse to accept the voucher expansion.  

Boyer and Senate Democrats previously worked together to kill another bill revived in the K-12 budget, which would prohibit educators from teaching subjects associated with “critical race theory,” which has become a galvanizing issue for the right. Similar language has been introduced in more than a dozen states. 

Senate Republicans also spent the day voting down more than two dozen amendments proposed by Democrats, ranging from increases in stipends for grandparents who keep their grandchildren out of foster care to dental care for pregnant women in the state’s Medicaid program to a lottery pool to incentivize Covid vaccinations.  

“Hear me out. Don’t roll your eyes,” Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe began his pitch on an amendment in the 10th hour of debate. “We need a lottery for anti-vaxxers.”  

The House, however, adjourned until 10 a.m. Thursday after it was unable to reach a quorum. Revised House rules allow representatives to vote remotely but require 31 lawmakers to be physically present in the building, and with four Republicans calling in, Democrats seized an opportunity to stop the budget debate from proceeding by leaving en masse, with only Minority Leader Reginald Bolding showing up to the floor. 

“You can’t simultaneously ignore the wishes of half the state and then take us for granted to pass a partisan budget,” Bolding said. 

Instead, the House will try on Thursday – when Reps. Bret Roberts, R-Maricopa; Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert; John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction; and Frank Pratt, R-Casa Grande, are expected back at the Capitol.  

“This is not normal,” said Majority Leader Ben Toma, R-Peoria. “This is not OK. What is happening is a complete disdain for the only constitutional duty that we have.” 

After Democrats used the same tactics to delay a vote on an elections bill two months ago, they promised him they wouldn’t do it again, Toma said.  

“This is just a step too far,” Toma said. “I really hope voters start paying attention because this is an epic joke, and not in a good way.” 

Before adjourning, Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, warned of potentially dire consequences if there isn’t a budget in place before the new fiscal year starts on July 1, including employees not getting paid, schools and local governments losing revenue and people not being able to visit relatives in prison. 

“I would ask us all, it may really be tough, but could we contemplate growing up and shouldering the responsibility together and think of together more than individual and pass a budget?” Bowers asked.