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Tax increases. Prison privatization. Lottery securitization. Fund sweeps. Deep spending cuts. Numerous points of contention exist between Gov. Jan Brewer and the Legislature regarding the budget. But before the two sides can sort out those disagreements, they will have to determine exactly how big the fiscal 2010 deficit is.

Senators honored the late Jake Flake and unveiled a clay bust of him on June 8. Franklin Lars Flake was serving as a Republican senator last year when he fell off of his horse and died several days later from related injuries. He died on June 8, 2008 at age 72.

In her 27 years in elected office, Gov. Jan Brewer said she has never seen a budget process run the way the Legislature is doing things this year.

There were a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvers and drama leading to the Senate’s budget vote on June 4. Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams met with Sen. John Nelson, a Republican from Glendale, in Burns’ office to try to get his buy-in.

Senate President Bob Burns changed strategy on June 4 by referring 250 bills to committees in one swoop and saying he plans to refer more in the coming days.

The Senate’s top Republican is pushing to pass a budget proposal for fiscal 2010 in the next few days — even without the buy-in of the House or the Governor’s Office. Senate President Bob Burns told members of his caucus that now is the time to vote on the budget.

While the Citizens Clean Elections Commission was voting on May 15 to remove Rep. Doug Quelland from office, the north Phoenix lawmaker was hitting the links in a legislative golf tournament. He didn’t bother to provide a reason for his absence from the May 15 hearing.

Top Republican leaders in the House and Senate have created independent campaign committees aimed at electing Republican lawmakers and raising money outside the state Republican Party structure.

Democrats have tried nearly every conceivable strategy in the past four months and have, at times, sounded like a broken record as they seek an invitation from Republicans to negotiate the fiscal 2010 budget.

Now that the fiscal 2009 budget gap has been readjusted — hopefully for the last time — leaders will hunker down and try once more to hammer out a deal on the fiscal 2010 budget. “We got a lot to do on (fiscal 2010) yet,” Senate President Bob Burns said May 13, the day the Legislature fixed a $650-million hole in the fiscal 2009 budget.