UPDATE: More navel-gazing at the Legislature

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Monday the Legislature convened for the third week of the Special Session, but could not muster a quorum. Only 26 members of the House and 12 members of the Senate showed up. No quorum? No big deal, lawmakers say They held some discussions on the budget impasse, and agreed to reconvene again next Monday.

It is clear that Republicans are trying to run out the clock on the Accidental Governor. No deal in sight on state budget, tax hike House Speaker Kirk Adams said Monday there may not be enough time remaining to put a proposed tax hike on the November ballot. Yeah, we know, that's your plan.

Adams said Arizona is bound by various state and federal laws that govern how a special election can be called. And the deadline for that November vote would be the end of next week [July 31].

At this point, though, Adams said any deal remains a way off.

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Any deal would also have to address how much deeper the state will cut its budget.

There also is the question of whether the state property tax, suspended for three years in 2006 when the state had a surplus, will come back or be permanently repealed.

In the meantime, the clock is ticking on setting a date for that special election.

Adams said lawmakers remain free to set any date they want for a vote — even into next year — as long as it is at least 96 days in the future. True enough, but the later it gets into the fiscal year which began on July 1, the less money that could be raised to balance the 2010 budget. A special election is not going to be scheduled during the holiday season or during the opening of the legislative session in January, so that puts us into late January or February — and three quarters into fiscal year 2010 by the time any sales tax increase approved by voters would go into effect. It simply comes too late, if at all.

While Republicans and Democrats are at least talking to one another, with little progress to show for it, the Accidental Governor has been AWOL from budget negotiations. Someone should remind her that she is not the queen, she cannot rule by decree or dictate. If she wants to resolve this budget impasse, she has to be at the negotiating table. What is she waiting for?

Even the Arizona Republic is starting to get impatient with the Accidental Governor. No time to relax: Ariz. is in the eye of a hurricane Where's your sense of urgency, Governor?

Attorney General Terry Goddard on Monday was forced to lay off 12 attorneys and 17 support staff in the Child and Family Protection Division due to the inaction of the Legislature on the Department of Economic Security budget which funds this division. Attorney General's office cuts 29 positions The cut backs diminishes the AG's ability to protect Arizona families. Terry Goddard said in a written statement that “I call on the legislature to restore critical public safety resources at the earliest opportunity.”

NB: The word for the day is Omphaloskepsis: äm(p)-fə-lō-ˈskep-səs (noun) From the Greek: omphalos (navel) + skepsis (examination). 1.The contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation. It is well known in the usually jocular phrase directed towards egotism and self-absorbed pursuits: "contemplating one's navel" or "navel-gazers." 2. inertia.