Lawmakers resist restrictive spending
by Paul Davenport - Associated Press
ARIZONA - Efforts at the Arizona Legislature to pull in the state's
fiscal reins over the long haul are producing more notable stumbles
than successes so far this session.
Republican conservatives who objected to many of the tactics used
to balance the budget when the recession crimped state revenue and
spending earlier this decade have proposed dozens of changes, some
major and some minor, that they say would help make the state live
within its means and keep more dollars in taxpayers' pockets.
"We need to get things back in line," said Sen. Karen
Johnson, R Mesa.
However, many of the proposals face opposition from interest groups
which fear they would lock out spending for under funded programs
they support. Others are opposed by lawmakers who don't want to
tie their own hands by taking budget balancing options off the table.
"I don't want to be in a position where you might as well send
a robot down here," said Sen. Robert Cannell, D Yuma.
For example, in separate votes Thursday the House and the Senate
each rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to provide new
muscle to the Arizona Constitution's existing requirement for a
balanced budget. Democrats joined some Republicans to overcome GOP
supporters in each chamber.
If it had been placed on the ballot and approved by voters, the
measure would have required the state to end each fiscal year with
an unspent reserve equal to at least 1 percent of the total budget,
keep spending for the state's operations within permanent state
revenue, and defer no spending commitments to future years.
Those all reflect tactics or situations that came into play during
the hard times when the state raided special accounts, deferred
spending obligations into future years, and borrowed money to help
pay operating expense.
"This is essentially cash accounting," the Senate version's
sponsor, Republican Sen. Dean Martin of Phoenix, said during an
earlier caucus when Republicans discussed the measure. "We've
been treating one time revenue as permanent."
Fellow Republican Barbara Leff voted for the Senate version of the
proposed referendum (SCR1027) Thursday but previously expressed
views held by many other lawmakers.
It's the Legislature's job to decide priorities during hard times,
Leff said. "Do we really want to tie our hands over and over
and over?"
Rep. Andy Biggs, a Gilbert Republican who sponsored numerous bills
developed by a session working group of fiscal hawks, said fellow
lawmakers should be more concerned about whether they're tying their
hands by starting or expanding programs that lack assured funding.
Otherwise, lawmakers could be stuck "either trying to swipe
someone else's money or cutting the program," he said. "I'm
not sure everybody is weighing that in the long term."
Some bills supported by Biggs and others are still advancing in
the Legislature. Included are bills that require legislative approval
of more lawsuit settlements, new reporting of the state's cash receipts,
advance notice of requests for federal funding, and possible rollbacks
of fees charged by state agencies.
Many other measures have apparently fallen by the wayside.
Rep. Russell Pearce's resolution for a constitutional amendment
to largely limit state spending increases to population and inflation
adjustments last was heard from in early February when it limped
out of a House committee.
Modeled after Colorado's controversial Taxpayer Bill of Rights-part
of which Colorado voters suspended last year - the proposed referendum
was criticized even by the head of a business backed taxpayer organization
who backs many other proposed fiscal changes.
"We think you ought to maintain the flexibility to make spending
decisions every year," said the Arizona Tax Research Association's
Kevin McCarthy.
Proposals such as TABOR are wrongheaded because the Arizona Legislature
has a track record of both avoiding profligate spending during good
times and making deep budget cuts during hard times, said Sen. Robert
Cannell, D Yuma.
"The budget is the key thing we do here and it seems like these
kind of bills are going to limit our ability within the budget to
achieve positive things for the state," said Cannell, citing
initiatives like all day kindergarten and the new medical school
campus in Phoenix.
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