September 4, 2009
Line Item Veto Ends Special Session
Arizona has a FY2010 budget. Governor Brewer used her line-item veto to protect public schools from some of the most devastating cuts and eliminated the corporate tax give-aways. Her action leaves Arizona with an unbalanced budget that is still $1.5 billion in deficit. Warnings of mid-year budget cuts loom. See how your legislator voted.

September 3, 2009
Governor Signs HB2010 Budget
Two weeks ago the legislature sent a Republican-only budget package containing 9 bills to the governor. She signed one of those bills, the Environment Budget Reconciliation Bill the next day. Since then, no action was taken on bills until today when Governor Brewer signed HB2010, the criminal justice bill that gives DPS the authority to spend money that has already been appropriated. She is expected to act on other bills prior to Saturday's deadline. AEA President John Wright issued a letter calling on citizens to contact the governor to ask her to veto the budget. View a summary of the

September 2, 2009
Bipartisan Deal Falling Apart
It appears that time is running out for a bipartisan budget agreement before the September 4 midnight deadline for the governor to act on the budge package. Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia met with members of his caucus today and learned that there was not support for the repeal of the school equalization tax. Instead, the Democrats want the $250 million in revenue to be used to backfill cuts to public education and other vital services. Garcia met with the governor and delivered the news late in the day.

September 1, 2009
Senate Bipartisan Budget Discussions
Reports that Republican Senate President Bob Burns, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Jorge Garcia and Governor Brewer are working on a Senate bipartisan budget surfaced throughout the day. It is rumored that the deal will delay the repeal of the school equalization tax for one year. It is unclear if the group actually met, but Senator Garcia indicated he will be calling small groups of Senate Democrats together tomorrow to see if there is support for such a package.

August 31, 2009
Five-party Negotiations Stall
Reports that bipartisan negotiations have stalled followed a late afternoon meeting of the five parties attempting to craft a budget agreement. It appears that the sticking point is the refusal of the Republican legislature to consider any compromise on the permanent repeal of the school equalization tax. The Democrats are willing to support a sales tax referral, but not if the budget includes a permanent repeal of the school equalization tax that will provide $250 million in revenue. The Democrats want to use most of that revenue to backfill cuts to public education and other vital services, while using the rest to balance the budget.  

August 27, 2009
Another Bipartisan Session - No Agreement
The deadline for the veto is September 5 at midnight. The five party negotiations continued today but little progress was reported. Based on public comments it appears the governor is holding the bills on her desk over the heads of both the Republican and Democratic leadership and encouraging them to compromise for the good of the state. The Democrats are asking to use revenue from the expired suspension of the school equalization tax to limit the amount of cuts to public education while the Republican leadership wants larger cuts to education and a permanent repeal of the equalization tax that primarly benefits large corporations. The governor is not tipping her hand on most issues but is clear that she wants a temporary sales tax. The Democrats seem willing to support one with certain conditions and the Republicans have tried to get votes for it in the past, but fallen short. Another meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 31.

August 25, 2009 - 4:30 p.m.
Special Session is Over - Bipartisan Negotiations Underway
The Legislature has ended the special session, sine die. The House and the Senate took the action today allowing the governor ten additional days to consider how she will deal with the eight remaining budget bills sitting on her desk. If the legislature had stayed in special session, her deadline to act on the bills would have been tomorrow. Now her deadline is midnight on Saturday, September 5. Prior to that time, she can sign or veto the budget bills at any time. If she does not act on a bill by the deadline, it will become law without her signature.
 
Currently the governor is engaged in five-party bipartisan negotiations with Republican Senate President Bob Burns, Republican House Speaker Kirk Adams, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia, and House Minority Leader David Lujan. This group met last Friday and this morning. As this is being written, they are meeting again today. It has been reported that actual proposals are being discussed and exchanged. According to an article in today's Arizona Republic, Governor Brewer stated, "The bottom line is we now pretty much know where everyone stands and what it's going to take to get it done."

August 24, 2009
More Bipartisan Talks
A three-party discussion of the state budget took place early this evening among Gov. Jan Brewer, Senate President Bob Burns and Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia. The talks are a prelude to Tuesday's 1:00 p.m. resumption of the special session on the budget. The five-party talks are scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. tomorrow. There were not budget talks over the weekend.

August 21, 2009
Five Party Bipartisan Meeting
Finally the Governor met today with the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to discuss the budget. Attending were Governor Brewer, Senate President Bob Burns, Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia, House Speaker Kirk Adams, and House Minority Leader David Lujan. The meeting was private and there are many rumors about what occurred. It is not clear what if any progress was made in this initial meeting. There are indications that an option for the legisalture to sine die on Tuesday allowing ten additional days before the governor will have to make a veto decision on the budget. This would allow more time for bipartisan negotiations. Others are saying the governor will just sign the budget bills and then work to get a sales tax referral based on Senator Burns promise he will keep working on finding the votes.

August 20, 2009, 3:00 p.m.
Burns and Adams Send Flawed Budget Package to the Governor
Senate President Bob Burns (R-Peoria) and House Speaker Kirk Adams (R-Mesa) transmitted a partisan budget package to the governor today. AEA's March4Schools movement launched an immediate media and grassroots effort asking the governor to veto this budget package. The budget is almost exactly like the one the governor vetoed on July 1 when she called it a "fatally flawed budget" that is "irresponsible with devastating cuts to public education." The budget package will cut nearly $500 million in education funding, strip basic rights of teachers, provide a $250 million tax cut to corporations, and leave our state with a budget deficit in 2011 of over $2.5 billion dollars. Click here for a summary of this flawed budget package.

August 18, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Burns and Adams Ploy to Force Governor to Sign Flawed Budget
AEA was at the capitol today fighting for a fiscally responsible budget that invests in public education. Senate President Burns decided to once again delay the budget process in an effort to force a bad budget on Arizona. He is once again holding the budget bills passed by the Senate and House in order to garner corporate support to pressure the governor to sign a fiscally irresponsible budget that contains massive cuts to public education and a tax break sought by the largest corporations in Arizona.
Here is how the Republican legislative leadership’s newest political ploy works.

August 17, 2009, 5:00 p.m.
House Appropriations passes Revenue Budget Bill on Party Line Vote
After a tension filled debate on an Democratic offerred amendment to add a broad based sales tax, the House Appropriations Committee defeated the amendment and passed the budget revenue bill the Senate had passed last week without any changes. This bill does not have the sales tax referral that the governor has been demanding since June. The vote sets up the possibility that the Republican legislative leadership will attempt to pass the exact same budget that the governor vetoed last month and send it to her again as early as tomorrow.

Both the Senate and House adjourned until tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. with much speculation about whether or not they will attempt to have the full House approve a package of bills that could be put before them tomorrow. If they do, the House vote would send the same budget to the governor that she vetoed on July 1.

August 17, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
Republican leadership plans to send the same budget back to the governor
The legislature is at it again. The House met briefly and sent the Revenue Budget Reconciliation Bill to the House Appropriations Committee where they hope to pass it as adopted by the Senate so they can send a budget without a sales tax increase to the governor today. At the same time the Senate met briefly where Senate President Burns said they would wait while the House sends the budget to the governor and hopes she will sign it rather than veto it. So, they are trying to send her what she already vetoed and called irresponsible. In the meantime, the Democrats are willing to negotiate. House Appropriations is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. today.

August 13, 2009
Making Sense of the Status of the Budget
The Senate and House both met briefly today before adjourning until Monday at 1:00 p.m. The only action taken was in the Senate where Senator Jim Waring (R-Cave Creek) moved to reconsider HB 2015, the budget bill that includes the Governor's priority issue - the one-cent sales tax referral and a spending cap for future budgets.
 
Waring made the motion for the bill's reconsideration because it was defeated yesterday by 14 "Yes" votes to 11 "No" votes. (A bill needs 16 votes to pass the Senate.) Waring's motion passed. This allows the governor and Republican Senate leadership to continue over the weekend to cut deals and twist arms in order to find 16 votes on Monday.
 
Without the 16th Senate vote on the sales tax referral, the House and Senate may send all the remaining budget bills passed by the Senate to the governor. In order to do so, the House would need to approve a few minor changes made to the revenue bill when the Senate passed the House-approved bills yesterday and then transmit them to the Governor.
 
As it stands now:
• A package of budget bills that mirrors the June 30 budget that the governor vetoed is very close to being ready to transmit to the governor. Only House approval of minor changes made by the Senate is needed.
• The package includes the exact same cuts to public education that the governor described as "devastating" and "unacceptable."
• The package lacks the sales tax referral that the governor has insisted be part of the package.
• The corporate and personal income tax cuts were removed from the budget package by the Senate action yesterday.
• The provision that would have allowed the legislature to ignore voter approved programs like Proposition 301 funding was also removed by the Senate action on Thursday.
 
Please contact Governor Brewer and ask her to veto this budget if it is sent to her. Instead, the governor must sit down and negotiate a budget with the leaders of the Republican and Democratic caucuses of the House and Senate.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Deja Vu - Senate Passes Same Budget the Governor Already Vetoed
This afternoon the Senate passed the budget bills minus the Governor's key piece-the referral of the sales tax by Republican-only vote.  The budget that was passed today mirrors the budget that the Republican Legislature passed on June 30/July 1.  This means that the Governor could get the exact same budget bills she has already vetoed.
 
The Senate passed the same budget package that had been passed over a week ago by the House with the exception of two bills. Here are the differences.

The Senate defeated the House version of the tax bill.  The House tax bill had four components.
1) It referred the repeal of Prop 105 protected funds (Voter Protection Act) to the voters.  The Voter Protection Act protects voter approved funding from being cut by the legislature. Without this protection the legislature will be free to raid Prop. 301 revenue-the 2% inflator plus Classroom Site Fund monies.
(2) It included $400 million in new corporate and personal income tax cuts.
(3) It permanently repealed the school tax or state equalization property tax. This tax provides $250 million to school districts. Larger corporations would be the primary beneficiaries of this tax cut.
(4) It referred a three-year sales tax and spending cap to the voters. 

The Revenue Budget Reconciliation Bill-was amended in the Senate.  The amendment added back the permanent repeal of the school tax or state equalization tax into this budget bill.  This bill, SB1025, will now need to go back to the House and run through the full process (committee, caucus, COW and floor vote) before it can be transmitted to the Governor.

All the other budget bills have been transmitted back to the House (the chamber of origin) and are expected to be sent to the Governor once the House passes out the amended version of the Revenue Budget Reconciliation Bill (SB1025 as mentioned above).
 
There was also an attempt to pass a different sales tax referral bill that also failed when Senate President Burns failed to deliver the vote of a Democratic Senator he said he had lined up to provide the 16th vote. That bill can be reconsidered and there is speculation Burns and the Governor may continue to attempt to find a 16th vote to pass it.

The bills that passed today include the massive cuts to education, the bad education policy changes, and the permanent repeal of the state equalization rate.  These were all components of the June 30/July 1 budget.

View today's Senate vote on HB2011 (the K-12 budget bill).  

The Governor has vetoed this budget package, and it deserves to be vetoed  again.  Read Governor Brewer's July 1 veto statement. 

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Republican Leadership Budget Fails to Capture 16 Votes
Once again, Senate President Burns was unable to garner 16 votes from his own Republican caucus to pass the devastating budget proposal that has been stalled in the Senate for over a week. It appears that a slightly revised Senate version of the budget that was passed by the House is losing support within the Republican caucus.

The Senate adjourned until Wednesday, August 12 at 10:00 a.m. and the House adjourned until Wednesday, August 12 at 1:00 p.m.

The partisan budget proposal has stalled in the Senate because it is fatally flawed. The AEA March4Schools movement continues to push for bipartisan budget discussions among the Democratic and Republican leadership of the legislature and the Governor. It is time to work together for a budget that represents the views of Arizonans.

Monday, August 10, 2009
Budget Update - No Progress Despite Changes in Budget
Senate President Bob Burns continues to try to find 16 votes to pass a flawed budget that devastates public education and provides tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Arizonans. After failing to pass the version of the budget passed last week by the House, Burns tried a new approach today.
 
The Senate Appropriations Committee met earlier this afternoon and passed two of the House bills with amendments.  This process subdivided the tax bill as passed the House and put the provisions into two separate bills.  The revenue bill, HB2007, now contains the repeal of the $250 million in the school tax (state equalization property tax) and the $400 million in new tax cuts for business and personal income (to start on Jan. 1, 2011).  The tax bill (HB2015) continues to have the temporary sales tax referral, coupled with the new statewide spending cap, plus the referral to voters to allow the legislature to ignore previously passed voter-approved expenditures (this is the suspension of Prop 105).
 
If this budget passes, the voters will have two measures to consider at the November ballot.  The first will be the temporary sales tax plus the spending cap. The second will be the suspension of Prop 105.  The AEA opposes the entire budget and remains opposed to both HB2007 and HB2015.  View a summary of the current budget proposal as it impacts K-12 education.
 
The Senate and House are adjourned for the day and are scheduled to go to the floor tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1PM. when the Senate will attempt to pass the budget bills.  If 16 votes can be found in the Senate for all the budget bills, then the two bills that were changed (see above) will then be sent back to the House for concur/refuse.  Assuming the House "concurs" and doesn't send the bills to conference committee, the House will then have to pass both bills on final read.  This means the House will need 31 votes on those two bills in order for them to be sent to the Governor so that she has the full budget package.
 
August 7
Another Day - No Progress on Budget
The House and Senate met at 1 p.m. today and adjourned until Monday, August 10. There were not enough Republican Senators attending today to pass the budget.

August 4
Protest, Closed Caucus, Republican Caucus Division, No Budget Progress
Another effort by Senate President Bob Burns to gather 16 Senate Republican votes to pass a budget that would devastate Arizona public schools, drive our state's economy even deeper into recession, and provide $650 million in tax cuts to the wealthiest Arizonans and largest corporations has failed. The Senate met today without acting on the budget and is adjourned until Friday at 1:00 p.m.
 
When the Senate convened and attempted to pass the budget, over 100 AEA March4Schools supporters were in the gallery. The Senate met briefly before going into caucus meetings.
 
The Senate Republican Caucus closed its meeting to the public. The closed caucus was due to the resignation of the Senate Republican Caucus Whip Pamela Gorman who resigned over ideological differences with others in the caucus related to the sales tax ballot referral in the budget proposal. Steve Pierce (R-Prescott) was chosen as the new Republican Whip.
 
As the day continued, additional supporters of the March4Schools movement arrived at the capitol in preparation for a 4:00 p.m. demonstration that had been organized. As it became clear that the Republican Caucus was in disarray and unable to pull together the votes to pass this budget, the demonstration was cancelled.
 
The continued failure of this partisan budget strategy provides an opportunity for Arizona citizens to be heard. Citizens must call upon Senate President Burns, Governor Brewer, and House Speaker Adams to resume discussions with the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to hammer out a bipartisan budget agreement that prudently balances the budget through a fair and adequate revenue system that protects public education and vital state services from massive cuts.

July 31, 8:00 a.m.
Senate Lacks Votes- Desperately Attempting to Salvage Devastating Budget
Despite desperate attempts by Senate President Bob Burns and Governor Jan Brewer, the Senate does not have enough votes to pass a budget. It is time for them to realize that this flawed budget does not deserve to be passed and to go to work through a bipartisan process on a new budget solution.

But rather than admitting this budget does not have support, they continue to use strong-arm tactics to force senators to vote for this partisan budget.

At 6:00 a.m. the Senate President finally told Senate members they could go home and sleep, but he did not adjourn the Senate. Instead, it is recessed until 1:00 p.m. this afternoon.

At 6:00 a.m. the governor and Senate President Burns were still holding Senator Pamela Gorman (R-Anthem) in the Senate President's office attempting to convince her to change her vote, although she strongly opposes the budget.

Minutes ago, the 1:00 p.m. meeting of the Senate was cancelled, and the Senate is officially adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4.

One hundred AEA March4Schools activists led by AEA Vice President Andrew Morrill kept vigil at the capitol during the process yesterday and there were still fifteen teachers, parents and education supporters in the gallery at 6:00 a.m. this morning when the Senate President finally recessed the Senate. When the Senate decided to recess, there were more education supporters in the gallery than Senate budget supporters on the Senate floor,

Constant March4Schools contact with key senators, testimony, and visible coverage by the media have helped support senators who are attempting to hold firm against this budget - a budget that contains massive education cuts and huge tax breaks for the rich.

July 31
5:00 a.m.
Budget Passed the House - Senate in Disarray without a Budget Vote 
The Senate Appropriations Committee adjourned at 8:30 p.m. For several hours the House and Senate members waited while the Governor and Senate President Bob Burns make phone calls and personal pleas to several Republican Senators to try to convince them to support this flawed budget.

After midnight the House Leadership called the House of Representatives to the floor and voted out all the budget bills in the Committee of the Whole and on 3rd Read. Thus, the House passed the budget.

As the House finished its 3rd Read voting, the Senate went into Caucus and passed all the budget bills through the Committee of the Whole. All that was left to send this budget to the governor would be getting 16 Senators to vote yes "on the board" during 3rd read.

After about ninety minutes of leadership informal vote counting of the Republican Caucus members, it was apparent there would not be enough votes to pass the budget. Senate President Burns huddled with a number of supporters of the budget and decided not to attempt to 3rd read the bills and allow any of them to fail due to lack of votes. The President informed his caucus that they could go home and discussed availability for meetings next week.

Most Senators left the building before the Governor and some of her staff informed the Senate President that she wanted to call the Senate back together to vote on the bills, hoping to pressure enough to vote yes.

At this moment the governor is in the office of Senate President Burns attempting to pressure a few Republican Senators to pass the budget and attempting to call others to return to the Capitol to vote. There are only 10 Senators still at the Capitol.

The House has passed the budget.

A list of House members who voted for this budget and a reproducible flyer describing the damage it will do to public schools, vital services, our economy, and our state budget's fiscal health will be published soon and sent to you to reproduce and distribute to colleagues, friends and neighbors.

July 30
5:30 p.m.
Budget Still Stalled in the Senate
It appears that Senate Republican President Bob Burns is once again struggling to find enough Republican Senators to pass a budget that includes massive cuts to public education and other vital services. So, once again he is attempting to manipulate the legislative process to get what he wants.

After adjourning yesterday and regrouping this morning with the Governor and House Speaker Kirk Adams, Burns scheduled the Senate Appropriations Committee to meet at 3:30 p.m. to get the budget passed and sent on the floor of the Senate. But, when two Republican Senators who oppose the budget failed to show up today there were not enough present to make a quorum for the committee.

To solve this problem, Senator Burns called the whole Senate back to the floor after convincing another Senator to take the place of one of the absent Appropriations Committee members so there would be a quorum and the budget could be moved.  But, there were only 15 Senators who attended, falling short of a majority by one Senator. Senate President Burns declared a quorum anyway and appointed John Huppenthal to replace the Appropriations.

So, now the Appropriations Committee will meet.

Do they have the votes?

June 30
11:00 a.m.
Governor and Republican Leadership Attempting Again Today
The Senate is planning to call an Appropriations Committee meeting at 3:00 p.m. today. This indicates that the Republican leadership and governor have not given up on the flawed budget proposal they are attempting to pass and will be pressuring Republican Senators to support it in hopes of pushing it through tonight.
 
It is crucial that we continue to protest this budget visibly and make direct contact with legislators at the capitol. The AEA March4Schools movement must continue to represent the voice of the majority of Arizonans who oppose taking funding from classrooms in our state to provide large tax cuts for the wealthiest Arizonans.

June 29, 2009
5:45 p.m.
House Appropriations Passing Damaging Bills on Party-line Votes
The House Appropriations Committee is passing a package of budget bills that punishes teachers by taking away some of the basic rights, gives huge tax breaks to the wealthiest Arizonans and largest corporations, and includes massive cuts to education. But, it is not clear if this partisan has the support of enough legislators to go any further.

Prior to the Appropriations meeting, over 100 AEA March4Schools supporters packed the lobby of the Governor’s Tower and held an impromptu news conference where AEA Vice-President Andrew Morrill spoke for the majority of Arizonans who want a balanced approach to balancing our budget that supports funding for public schools and vital services through a fair and adequate tax system.

The AEA March4Schools news conference followed a news conference organized by the Governor, House Speaker Kirk Adams, and Senate President Bob Burns which was designed to put pressure on Republican Senators who are not committed to supporting this harmful budget. Interestingly, Senator Burns was a last minute no-show to the Governor’s news conference fueling speculation that once again, the Senate is having difficulty getting enough votes to pass the budget.

Please come down and join our protest and contact the governor’s office and your legislators asking them to oppose this budget. Learn more at www.march4schools.com .

House and Senate Adjourn Until 1:00 p.m. Tomorrow Without a Budget

July 29, 2009
3:30 p.m.
Partisan Budget Bills Being Written that Will Devastate ArizonaThe House and Senate have convened and then recessed until the sound of the gavel while budget bills that will decimate the future for Arizona school teachers and children in are being drafted. Over 120 March4Schools supporters are gathered in the House gallery and House Appropriations Hearing Room waiting for the bill process to begin.

Details of the Republican leadership budget are becoming available. A “Budget Stabilization Bill” that has been drafted is specifically designed to take money from our schools and vital state services and put it in the pockets of the wealthiest Arizonans and largest corporations while increasing the sales tax that impacts working families and the middle class. This harmful bill will also pave the way for additional cuts to education and vital services that have been mandated by voters and, up to now, protected from the legislature by changing the constitution.

Here is a summary of the bill:
• Marries a three year temporary sales tax to a three year spending cap. The temporary sales tax increase will be 1 cent in the first two years and ½ cent in year three. The spending cap will limit Arizona’s under funded schools and other vital state services to the amount of expenditures budgeted in June of 2008. These two measures will be referred to voters as one question on the November 2009 ballot.
• This bill will also include permanent tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest Arizonans and largest corporations. A combined personal income tax cut, corporate income tax cut, and school equalization tax cut will drain more than $650 million per year from our state, permanently. As an example, the personal income tax cut will give a tax cut of over $600 to a person who earns $200,000 per year, but only provide a $60 tax cut to a new teacher who earns $30,000 per year.
• Refers to the November ballot a suspension of the “Voter Protection Act of 1998” for three years. This constitutional   provision currently requires the legislature to protect funding for programs passed by Arizona citizens on the ballot, such as Proposition 301 that provides classroom funding through the collection of a previously approved sales tax.

The overall impact will be less revenue for the state with a huge budget deficit and under funded schools and vital services and huge budget deficit hole in future years that will force more cuts.
 
This is just one of several bills being considered. Other bills are not yet available, but will include massive cuts to public schools and other vital services.

The big question is: Do they have the votes?

July 28, 2009
Republican Budget Proposal Details Emerge
The governor and Republican legisaltive leadership distribute a summary of their "Legislative Majority Budget Proposal" that includes drastic cuts to education and irresponsible fiscal measures.

July 27, 2009
Republican Budget Deal??
The legislature met and adjourned until this Wednesday afternoon. Reports quickly emerged that the Republican leadership had met with the governor during the morning. The Democratic leadership was not included in the meeting and do not appear to be part of whatever strategy is emerging. Republican leaders are having small-group meetings with members of their own caucus, while the Senate Democratic leadership held an open caucus meeting.

It remains to be seen if a regularly scheduled bipartisan meeting among the legislative leadership will be held Tuesday. The governor has not been participating in the bipartisan meetings that have occurred over the last few weeks.

Initial reports of a potential budget settlement are emerging, as described in this Arizona Republic article. 

July 20, 2009
Legislature Convenes in Special Session
With few members present, the legislature briefly convened and adjourned. It is reported that the Republican and Democratic legislative leaders are meeting privately to discuss possible budget solutions. The governor is not represented in these meetings. The legislature is adjourned until July 27.

July 13, 2009
Legislature Convenes in Special Session
The legislature convened but conducted no official business. The Senate Republican caucus met behind closed doors following an internal dispute among its members. President Burns removed Senator Thayer Verschoor (R-Gilbert) as the President Pro-tem and replaced him with Senator Steve Pierce (R-Prescott). The legislature is adjourned until July 20.

July 9, 2009
Governor Signs Special Session Temporary Budget Fix
Upon signing the four special session bills, the  governor commented, “Republicans and Democrats united to fulfill my number one priority -- preventing Education
from being decimated by massive cuts. I am pleased the Legislature retained higher funding levels for K-12, for Universities, for the Department of Economic Security and for the Department of Health Services. This will allow Arizona to proceed with my application for federal stimulus funds, both for education and for AHCCCS.”

4:45 p.m. July 6, 2009
Special Session Day One
Bi-Partisan Leadership Agrees to Temporary Budget Resolution
Seventy five citizens showed up today at the capitol to encourage legislators to work together on a bi-partisan budget that provides adequate funding for education and other vital services supported by a fair and adequate revenue structure. It appears the legislature is ready to be more responsive to the March4Schools citizens' movement, but not ready to finish the job, yet.

The legislature convened the special session at 1:00 p.m. with Senate and House floor sessions that were quickly adjourned in order to convene a joint session of the Senate and House. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee Director briefed the House and Senate members on the impact of the Governor's July 1 budget veto during this joint session.

After the joint session both chambers began working on a budget deal that will provide a stop-gap budget solution that is only good until October 1. The temporary budget deal is being deliberated right now. The budget bills have just passed the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The bills are being caucused right now.

Here is a brief summary of the deal that was struck among leaders and is currently being considered:

• Restores the 2% inflation factor for K-12 education based on the FY09 revised base support level. This is an increase of K-12 funding over the budget vetoed by the governor.
• Delays a decision on other education cuts that were in former partisan budget bills vetoed by governor ($175 million soft capital, career ladder reduction, utilities funding, desegregation funding, early kindergarten).
• Suspends the per diem pay for legislators during the coming months and continues the special session over the summer. This will allow legislators to reconvene in August or September and continue the special session without costing the state more funds.

It is clear that this temporary budget fix does not completely resolve important budget issues such as revenue and the final funding levels of public education. If it is passed and signed by the governor, the legislature will reconvene in August and must finish the job prior to October 1.

July 1 - 11:45 a.m.
Governor vetoes most of the budget and sends legislature into special session
Within a few hours of receiving a flawed budget, Governor Brewer used the line item veto to restore many cuts to health and human services and eliminated the entire K-12 education budget. Her vetoes all the budget reconciliation bills, including the education bill that included punitive measures against the AEA and teachers. The veto eliminates the repeal of the school equalization tax. She called the legislature into a special session on July 6 to pass a budget that adequately funds public education and provides additional revenue to balance the budget. 

July 1  - 7:30 a.m.
Budget is done and sent to governor
The budget has been passed and sent to the governor. Prior to the official end of the session, the Senate voted out dozens of bills at the last minute in the middle of the night. Many Senators had no idea what they were voting on. The budget is flawed and sets Arizona back years in education funding, gives away $250 million in revenue through a permanent repeal of the state school equalization tax, and does not include the governor's one cent sales tax. (As far as Senate President Burns is concerned, it was June 30 until July 1 at 7:30 a.m.)

January 30 Midnight
Clocks off the wall and still no budget
It is now midnight and there is still no budget. The budget has passed the House and been sent to the Senate where they are currently beginning to consider the bills in the Committee of the Whole. The House vote was strictly party-line with all Republicans supporting significant cuts to education, a permanent repeal of the state school equalization tax, and other major funding cuts to health care and vital services. The governor's sales tax is now out of the package - so is the flat tax. Senate President Burns took the clocks off the wall and when questioned if the legislature is out of compliance with the constitution said that "we are still in the June 30 legislative session."

January 29 - 11:35 p.m.
Devastating Budget Revived in Senate Education Committee
Once again, under the cloak of darkness, the governor/Republican leaders’ budget proposal cleared its first legislative committee on a party line vote. Senate President Bob Burns (R-Peoria) had to resort to a very unusual tactic in order to find enough votes to get the budget moving after it had stalled in the House on Saturday. (See below)

Voting for these budget bills were Senator John Huppenthal (R-Chandler), Sylvia Allen (R-Show Low), Senator Jonathon Paton (R-Tucson), and Senator Linda Gray (R-Glendale). Opposing the bills were Senator Linda Lopez (D-Tucson), Senator Paula Aboud (D-Tucson), and Senator Leah Landrum-Taylor (D-Phoenix).

The Senate is scheduled to go to the floor and begin considering the budget package today, June 30 at 9:30 a.m. Some of the House versions of the same bills were passed on Saturday (see below), but two failed and may be heard in House Appropriations today at 11:00 a.m.

The AEA is organizing a protest for 11:00 a.m. today. View the summary of the budget and the reasons this budget will devastate Arizona.

January 29 - 7:15 p.m.
Senate Leadership Attempts to Revive Failed Budget Bills
At 6:19 p.m. the Senate Republican leadership suspended more rules and rushed the budget bills that had failed earlier in the day (see below) to the Senate Education Committee where they are currently being heard. You can watch the hearing on your computer by clicking here. Once again, no time for the committee members to prepare for the hearing with almost no notice.

Jaunary 29 - 11:45 a.m.
Devastating State Budget Compromise Appears Dead
View video/print media reports on the latest at the capitol and the March4Schools movement.

It appears that the budget deal brokered among the governor, Senate President Bob Burns (R-Peoria), and House Speaker Kirk Adams (R-Mesa) has fallen apart. Over 500 education supporters protested the budget deal on Saturday and over 100 showed up at the capitol this morning where the Senate Appropriations Committee was attempting to revive the budget bills after Saturday's failed attempt in the House to pass them.

The Senate Appropriations Committee heard the first bill (the general appropriations bill). But the only members in the committee present were the seven Republicans and one Democrat (Paula Aboud).  When the general appropriations bill was called for a vote, it failed on a 4-4 vote, no votes: Ron Gould (R-Lake Havasu), Jack Harper (R-Surprise), Steve Pierce (R-Prescott) and Paula Aboud (D-Tucson).  This caused committee chairman Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) to gavel the committee into recess.  The committee waited no longer than five minutes before being called back into session for purpose of reconsidering the bill.  At that point it was evident that some of the Republican senators were still not going to support the bills, so Senator Pearce had to again gavel the committee into recess.  

The House Appropriations Committee was supposed to begin at 11AM to hear and vote on the sales tax referral and flat tax bills it failed to pass Saturday. This committee has not been called to order.

Speculation around the capitol at this point is that this deal is dead in the water. One possible scenario is that Senate President Burns will send the budget passed on June 4 to the governor who will be forced to sign those bills, allow them to become law without her signature, or veto them.  If she vetoes them, the government shuts down at midnight on Tuesday.

AEA supports a veto of the June 4 Republican leadership budget that could be sent to the governor.

Thanks to the 500 who came down Saturday and over 100 who are at the capitol as part of the March4Schools movement. Thanks to all of you who are calling and sending emails to your legislators and the governor. You are making a difference.

Stay tuned...today will be very telling. Watch for a call to action and be prepared to continue our fight for a budget that funds our schools, protects vital state services, invests in our economy, and gives a fair shake to the middle class and working families.