Special Session Update: Come back next week

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tuesday kicks off the fifth week of the Special Session with a pledge and pray session, followed by Senate President Bob "Bluto" Burns trying to find two more Republican senators to get to 16 votes for the GOP budget in the Senate. Burns has stated that he will continue to try to pass the GOP budget with only Republicans, shutting out Democrats from any budget negotiations. What a swell guy.

Burns will not get his votes this week. As previously reported:

Two of his expected "yes" votes for the budget are on vacation this week: Sen. Jim Waring, R-Phoenix, and Majority Leader Chuck Gray, R-Mesa.

Sen. Ron Gould and Sen. Pamela Gorman are adament that they will not suport the sales tax referral, a necessary ingredient to the budget negotiated with the Accidental Governor, who insists upon the sales tax referral. There is no deal for her without the tax referral.

Sen. Jack Harper has conditioned his support for a sales tax referral to the acceptance of his series of four budget amendments. Harper wants to gut Tucson's Rio Nuevo TIF tax district, which should cause defections from Sen. Al Melvin and Sen. Jonathan Paton from Tucson who have publicly stated they want to preserve the Rio Nuevo funding. Or will they betray Tucson to achieve a budget deal? If Harper does not get his way, he walks.

Legislative leaders also had a problem getting Sen. Jay Tibshraeny to vote for two of the budget measures, including the reconciliation bill for education. This budget proposes to take back much of the education funding that was restored on the first day of the Special Session. (Update: "Sen. Jay Tibshraeny refused to support another bill in the package because one provision would reduce the tax burden on businesses for future voter-approved school and local bond issues and overrides. Tribshraeny, a former Chandler mayor, said he tried to convince colleagues giving that break to companies is a bad idea, not just from a public policy perspective but politically. "If they're going to end up paying less, their constituents are going end up paying more." Verde News | Still no state budget: 16 votes needed to meet Brewer demands)

Finally, Sen. Carolyn Allen is incapacitated because of a knee injury, and she has been recuperating at home. (Update: “If I were to come – and that is the big if – I would only vote to put the tax on the ballot,” Allen said. “I refuse to vote for the bad deal that this governor has bought into.” Allen is referring to the $400 million in individual and corporate income tax cuts that were included in the budget awaiting action in the Senate. She said that lowering taxes only adds to the deficit. “How they justify that in their pee wee brains I do not know.” h/t Arizona Capitol Times)

Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia (D-Tucson) and Rep. Phil Lopes (D-Tucson) provided a legislative update to the Democrats of Greater Tucson on Monday. My sources tell me that Sen. Garcia stated that the Republicans do not have more than 14 votes in the Senate based upon his conversations with senators. He said that when Sen. Burns tries to pick up votes from one wing of the GOP, he loses votes from the other wing – he can't get to 16 votes. Sen. Garcia believes that the GOP insane clown posse leadership will have to return to bipartisan negotiations with the Democrats next week to try to find a budget compromise.

What would motivate Sen. Burns to do this? Time is running out for Republicans to repeal the "suspended" state equalization property tax which will go back into effect in mid-August when property tax assessments go out. Tax cuts are the only thing that motivates these Republicans. I am curious to know what Democrats hope to gain in return for allowing the repeal of the state equalization property tax, which Democrats have opposed up to now. I suppose we may learn next week.

Sen. Garcia was asked about the deadline for referral of the sales tax for a Special Election in November. Media reports have given conflicting dates from Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who said he can extend the July 31 deadline into this week. My sources say that Sen. Garcia responded that Secretary Bennett told him the deadline can be extended to this Friday. But he went on to say that the deadline really doesn't matter, "they can do whatever they want because they have the votes" (paraphrasing).

Sorry, Senator. There are both federal and state statutory rules for elections, and the Department of Justice conducts preclearance review of any election in Arizona. Think about your statement: "they can do whatever they want because they have the votes." You are saying that the Governor, Secretary of State and GOP legislators can engage in lawless behavior with impugnity, disregarding the constitution and federal and state laws, "because they have the votes." That is not a democracy which lives by the rule of law. It is an authoritarian tyranny. I do not so readily accept tyranny. This is what the courts are for. The state of Arizona cannot arbitrarily and capriciously disregard federal and state laws in scheduling a Special Election. There should be a legal challenge to the November 3 date because the state has blown the statutory deadline. Any Special Election must be scheduled for a later date in compliance with federal and state laws.

UPDATE: Howard Fischer reports on Tuesday's session Burns scrambles for tax hike measure votes:

Burns said Tuesday he still does not have the firm commitment from 16 of his 18 Republican senators to support the legislation.

About the only good news Burns said he got Tuesday was that the Secretary of State's Office gave him a few more days to line up his votes — he now has been told he has until Monday.

Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, who had been serving as majority whip, resigned from that position. "I believe our ideological and philosophical differences on important issues like taxes and spending make it necessary for me to resign my position,'' she wrote in her e-mail to Burns. "I simply cannot support Senate leadership s position on the sales tax and the budget when I continue to believe that raising taxes in a recession is the wrong thing to do.''

A different version of this report which ran in the Arizona Daily Star Senators sent home without budget accord adds:

After a closed-door caucus and some behind-the-scenes meetings, Burns sent senators home until Friday. It remains unclear whether he can get the necessary 16 votes by then, as two of the 18 Republican senators already are against it, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray, R-Mesa, is on a cruise in the Caribbean through the end of the week.

Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson, said he is confident that Burns cannot round up the votes. What that means, Garcia said, is Burns will have to start dealing with Democrats and changing the package more to their liking. That means no tax cuts, at least not now, and smaller spending cuts.

Burns said Tuesday that a deal with Democrats remains a possibility. But he said renegotiating the deal would take time, which is running out.

Take Away: Monday will be a critical day.