John --

Welcome to our latest stay-at-home update, where I am sheltering in place and working remotely.

I hope that you and your families are doing well, and staying safe.

In lieu of my usual Monday morning video updates from the capitol, I recorded a video from my home office this morning with some updates and news. You can watch the video on my Facebook page here.

When we recessed our legislative session last month, we set a return date for next Monday, the 13^th of April. I don’t see us reconvening next week, for a multitude of reasons. If we do come back, I think early May is a more likely target.

In addition to the health and well-being of our constituents, one of our concerns has been the fiscal environment going forward, and what it might mean for the bipartisan state budget that we passed last month. We made the decision to not use hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus dollars because we envisioned a large and substantial fiscal impact on our state budget due to the coronavirus.

Almost 90 percent of our state revenue, about $10 billion a year, comes from either our state income tax or the state share of our sales taxes. Naturally, when the economy isn’t doing well, people lose their jobs and they also buy fewer things. So we expect both sources of revenue to drop going forward. During the last recession in 2009, there was a time when the state had a $3 billion deficit for a $10 billion overall budget.

And unlike the federal government, as a state, we have to balance our budget every fiscal year (each fiscal year starts July 1^st, so the budget we just passed goes into effect this upcoming July), and while we can take on debt and roll over payments to future years, balancing our budget every year is a chief priority.

We don’t know yet how significant the fiscal impact is going to be, but we will get our first sense of the scale later this week on Thursday when the Finance Advisory Committee, or FAC, meets and presents the latest revenue projections. In the coming weeks, we will gather more information about the extent of the overall revenue loss, and if we as a legislature need to reconvene our session and take another look at the budget we just passed. In a worst case scenario, this could mean making cuts to the budget that goes into effect July 1^st.

When we do come back into session (whenever that date should be), there is also going to be a debate about what we should do when we are there. Do we simply adjourn the session completely, and come back for a special session in the summer? Or do we go on as planned and run committee hearings, floor sessions, and vote on bills on the floor?

In a normal legislative session, we pass around 400 bills and send them to the governor for him to sign or veto. Because of the timing of the coronavirus crisis, this year we’ve passed fewer than 60, which means there are a LOT of bills sitting in either chamber waiting for either a committee hearing or a final floor debate and vote. I personally have three mental health bills sitting in the House that all passed the Senate unanimously earlier this year.

The sense I get from my colleagues is that our session, when we do return, will be solely focused on relief and aid for our state and our constituents, and the hundreds of bills that have yet to receive a final floor vote will not do so this year. This crisis certainly takes precedence over everything else that we are doing, and I think that’s the right move.

So stay tuned for future updates when I have more information about when we will return to work, either in person or virtually.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

When we passed our bipartisan state budget last month, we fought very hard for a COVID-19 related relief package for our constituents, and one facet of that was relief for folks struggling to pay rent and/or facing the risk of eviction because they lost their jobs. As part of the $50 million appropriation we added to the budget, the Rental Eviction Prevention Assistance Fund was created. You can learn more about the program here, including whether you qualify and how to sign up, here: https://housing.az.gov/general-public/eviction-prevention-assistance

We are receiving a lot of questions about the CARES Act, which was the federally approved legislation that created a $350 billion fund to cover loans to small businesses to help them pay employees. Provided that at least 75 percent of the fund goes to paying employees, the loan will be forgiven and covered by the federal government.

I have personally reached out to banks after receiving questions and concerns from some of you, and I’m happy to continue doing so. More information on the program, and how to apply, here: https://www.azcommerce.com/covid-19/business-financial-support/

As you may have heard, the governor finally updated the list of “essential services” that could stay open and operating, and removed things like hair salons and spas. And yes, golf courses are still allowed to stay open at the moment, for some reason. More information on the order, and which businesses do and do not qualify as “essential,” here: https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2020/04/governors-office-provides-additional-guidance-essential-services

The one catch-all resource that the state has created to help you find information on services and resources available is at https://arizonatogether.org/. The site has a lot of great information about programs and services to help during this difficult time.

I will continue to include resources and information in this newsletter each week. You can always reply to this email with any questions, and for the most up-to-date information, you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, in addition to all of the information above, mental health is something that is critically important in times like these. This is a difficult time, and isolation and staying in place are tough for a lot of people, especially those who live alone, or are used to high levels of social interaction on a daily basis.

I would urge all of you to think about your loved ones, neighbors, friends, or colleagues who may need social interaction more than most. While we can’t go to a sporting event or restaurant together for the time being, a simple phone call, video chat, or text message makes a lot of difference. We are all in this together, and thinking proactively about those who need us means a lot to those who need it most.

And for self-care, I recommend going on a walk, or a hike, to clear your mind. I’m going on at least one walk outside every day, and hike at least 2-3 times a week. Just make sure you keep six feet away from people as much as possible!

Thank you for reading, and my best to you and your family. More to come next week!

Sean

http://www.seanbowieforaz.com/