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Balancing the budget on a loan and a prayer
Brewer's budget proposal, which was released this afternoon, essentially hinges on the feds giving the state a waiver to make a $541 million cut to AHCCCS and a novel new budget gimmick that would see a one-day loan from First Things First every year for the foreseeable future.
Brewer budget hits AHCCCS, universities
The budget proposal released today by Gov. Jan Brewer hinges on empathy from the federal government, surviving potential lawsuits and a $330 million accounting gimmick that may not be legal.
Republicans say Arizona needs to reduce government
Republican legislative leaders on Friday called for budget-troubled Arizona to shrink its state government and the services it provides, with one bemoaning an "entitlement mentality."
Transparency website casts dim light on government spending
Amid all the dark budget news in Arizona, the recently launched state budget transparency website provides taxpayers with a ray of light. This new website — Arizona OpenBooks (http://openbooks.az.gov) — while far from perfect, should bring transparency and greater accountability to future state budgets.
Former Arizona Senate President Bob Usdane dies
A family member has confirmed former state Senate President Bob Usdane has died.
2nd person denied Ariz. transplant coverage dies
A second person denied transplant coverage by Arizona under a state budget cut has died, with this death "most likely" resulting from the coverage reduction, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Lawmaker: Budget hearing to air transplant cuts
State House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh says a promised review of a controversial cut of medical transplant funding will be part of a budget hearing for the state's Medicaid program.
Kavanagh bill targets ASBA’s district fees, politicking
Rep. John Kavanagh, who backed this year's ballot measure to sweep hundreds of millions of dollars from a childhood development agency, has a message for an education group that opposed the effort: You don’t kick a hornet’s nest without risking a sting.
Brewer asks federal lawmakers for AHCCCS help
Gov. Jan Brewer is asking congressional leaders and members of Arizona's own delegation to Washington to eliminate budget busting requirements for state Medicaid programs.
Brewer calls transplants “potentially life-saving” in letter to Congress
The organ transplants that Gov. Jan Brewer has repeatedly described as “optional” sounded a lot more serious when she asked Congress for relief from federal health care mandates.
Playing semantics with transplant funding
Although her office has consistently characterized the transplants no longer provided by AHCCCCS as "optional," in a recent letter to the incoming speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brewer said the state has been forced to stop providing "potentially life-saving procedures" because of the federal health care mandate.
Lots of ideas in the mix for balancing state budget
To balance the budget, lawmakers must cut spending, find more money or do some combination of the two.
