Governor Jan Brewer has racked up yet another loss in court on her way out the door.
The Arizona Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that the Tea-Publican legislators who filed suit to challenge Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion plan have standing to sue, because Proposition 108 (1992) requires a two-thirds super-majority vote of both chambers of the legislature to impose new taxes, and they assert that the “hospital assessment” is really a new tax. The case will now proceed in the trial court.
Note: This case would not even be in court if Arizonan’s would put the repeal of Prop. 108 (1992) on the ballot, for which I have advocated for over a decade. This undemocratic provision empowers a tyranny of a minority of anti-tax zealots (11 in the Senate, 21 in the House) by effectively giving them veto power to obstruct sound tax policies and tax reforms supported by a bipartisan majority of legislators and a majority of Arizonans.
The Arizona Republic reports, Arizona high court OKs Medicaid challenge:
In a unanimous ruling, the Arizona Supreme Court determined Republican state lawmakers opposed to how the program was created in 2013 have a right to make their case that the funding mechanism created to pay for the program violated the Arizona Constitution.
The ruling returns the case to Maricopa County Superior Court, which earlier rejected arguments that the 36 GOP lawmakers had legal standing to sue. Meanwhile, the year-old expansion will remain in place. It was designed to restore medical coverage to nearly 240,000 low-income Arizonans and extend coverage to an additional 57,000.
In the lower court, lawmakers will argue that the program was passed illegally since the “assessment” Arizona hospitals are paying to cover the cost is a tax. Tax increases require a super-majority of the Legislature, or two thirds of both the House and Senate, to pass. Medicaid expansion passed in 2013 with a simple majority.
With today’s unanimous ruling, the real debate can happen: whether the hospital assessment is a tax, said Christina Sandefur, a senior attorney at the Goldwater Institute. The Goldwater Institute is representing lawmakers in the case.
“Basically, we have been arguing for over a year over whether the case can go forward,” she said of the court battle thus far.
Brewer expressed disappointment that the high court didn’t end the fight once and for all. But she said she is optimistic the program, which was designed to serve up to 300,000 low-income Arizonans, will continue.
“I am abundantly confident that Arizona will ultimately prevail, and that the state will be able to focus on implementing one of the most meaningful and critical health-care policies in years,” she said in a written statement issued minutes after the ruling.
The ruling comes five days before Brewer leaves office and puts a question mark on one of her major policy initiatives. The Republican governor fought against legislative leaders to get Medicaid expansion passed in 2013, relying on a coalition of Democrats and a handful of Republicans to push the measure through. The vote capped months of contentious debate, culminating in a near-overthrow of the Republican legislative leaders.
The question now is what governor-elect Dicey Doug Ducey will do after he takes office on January 5.
On the campaign trail, the Republican candidate said he supported the lawmakers’ litigation because they deserved the chance to make their case in court. He was less clear on how he felt about Medicaid expansion itself, declining to answer if he would sign a bill to repeal the program. He has said the state is locked into a three-year agreement with the federal government on funding the program, and said he would look for efficiencies in the meantime.
His spokesman issued a one-line statement saying the governor-elect is still reviewing the decision. “We will continue to consult with counsel on the best course of action,” the statement read.
The federal government covers 90 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion; the state is picking up the remaining 10 percent through an assessment levied on Arizona hospitals. Expansion actually is a plus for the state budget, since the hospital assessment raises more money than is needed to match federal dollars.
The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association lamented the court’s ruling, saying it puts a program that serves nearly 300,000 vulnerable Arizonans at risk.
In a statement,the group’s president and chief executive officer, Greg Vigdor, urged Ducey to continue a “strong defense” of the law, as Brewer has done.
This case is illustrative of how the undemocratic Prop. 108 (1992) is such a destructive force. It is the reason why the legislature is unable to reduce or to eliminate special interest tax credits and exemptions, or to increase taxes as necessary to fill the looming $1.5 billion dollar budget deficit — the result of misguided GOP corporate welfare tax cuts, and tax credits to benefit private and parochial education.
A handful of anti-tax zealots financed by the “Kochtopus” Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, and other tentacles of the “Kochtpus” like Americans for Prosperity and its network of “dark money” entities in Arizona, are able to block sound tax policy and tax reforms supported by a bipartisan majority of legislators and Arizonans.
Repeal Prop. 108 (1992). It’s time to restore simple majority rule and democracy to Arizona. Just do it!
More people will die if they are successful and the arizona democratic party will sit back and whine as usual instead of doing something about.