In the latest turn in the Fiscal Year 23/24 budget chess game at the Arizona State Capitol, Governor Katie Hobbs predictably vetoed the Republican only skinny budget passed along party lines over the last two weeks.
In a press release explaining her justified veto, Governor Hobbs offered:
“Arizonans deserve a budget that takes the real issues they are facing seriously. This do-nothing budget kicks the can down the road and it’s an insult to Arizonans who need their leaders to address affordable housing, invest in public education, and put money back into their pockets.
“Five weeks ago, I stood before the legislature and, invoking the words of the late Governor Rose Mofford, asked the members to work with me in making ‘difficult choices’ about the future of our state.”
“Unfortunately, despite my call to take on these difficult choices and protect our state’s future, the budget approved by a slim, partisan majority in the legislature takes another path. An easy path. Rather than tackling difficult choices, this budget presents Arizonans with false choices. The purely-partisan budget says that we can’t invest in our state now and invest in our future. It says that we can’t address the challenges of today and save for the challenges of tomorrow. It says we can’t disagree with each other and work together in the best interest of the state.”
“Now that this partisan exercise is over, I am asking the Legislature to genuinely and seriously work with me on a budget that puts people, not politics first. To that end, I’m inviting all elected officials–regardless of party affiliation–to sit down at the table to work toward bipartisan solutions and compromise. The people of Arizona demand it. So let’s get to work.”
Reacting to the Governor’s veto, House Democratic Leader Andres Cano added:
“Let us be clear: Republican lawmakers unilaterally introduced a sham budget that they knew would be vetoed. This was a colossal waste of time by the GOP that involved no opportunity for compromise or negotiation. Our doors remain open to Republican lawmakers who are serious about tackling the pressing needs of our state. We look forward to working on a bipartisan budget that will invest in our schools, tackle inflation, create jobs, and combat rising housing costs.”
Now that the Republicans have done their obligatory “sham” budget for the sake of their extremist-reactionary-MAGA base, maybe their leadership and sane members will finally get serious and come to the table to conduct good faith negotiations with Governor Hobbs and the Democrats that will lift Arizonans up and move the state forward.
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Strange that last year’s historic bipartisan budget is this year’s Republican only budget. But I guess that’s just politics.
Democrats only agreed to the budget on the false promises from Gov. Ducey and Republican leadership that they would call a special session before the end of the year to deal with the public education aggregate spending limit. They lied, and reneged on that promise. It took an eleventh hour deal in February 2023 to deal with the public education aggregate spending limit, once again for one year, because Republicans want to retain public education funding as a hostage for budget negotiations, just like Republicans in Congress want to retain the federal debt limit as a hostage for budget negotiations.
Not strange at all. Things change from year to year. There is a new Governor and legislature in town. Therefore, there are new priorities to be considered and addressed. This is common sense.