John --

Welcome to our latest weekly update from the state capitol!

There’s not much going on at the moment at the capitol these days. Sure, there are conversations ongoing about the state budget, and how we should use the billions of dollars in surplus money that we are projected to have.

This is the point of the legislative session where individuals in the majority know they need to work collaboratively on a budget that will very likely require bipartisan support to pass, but they still aren’t willing to really truly compromise and give folks in the minority things that they want.

We are currently still operating on different planets, it seems like. Let me explain.

As I have shared in previous updates, the state is sitting on a lot of money at the moment. The ongoing surplus is projected to be about $1.3 billion, and the one-time surplus is projected to be over $3 billion. Keep in mind our annual state budget is about $14 billion per year.

What should we do with those dollars? Let’s start with the one-time surplus of over $3 billion. You ideally don’t want to use this for ongoing expenses like teacher pay raises or tax cuts. There are some really good uses for these dollars like paying down more of our state debt, funding our state pension responsibilities, investing in infrastructure, or funding school building renewal. All good things worthy of bipartisan support.

The fight isn’t really over the one-time surplus. It’s over the ongoing surplus of about $1.3 billion per year.

There are lots of things you can fund with ongoing surpluses, like funding for K-12 education, our state universities, pay raises for state employees, or reimbursement rates for our developmentally disabled providers, just to give you a few examples.

Now, I am of the opinion that we should be investing more ongoing dollars in our K-12 schools and our higher education system. If we want an educated workforce and want to compete for the high-paying jobs of the future, we need to invest in education. This is a belief shared by pretty much all Democrats, and a few Republicans too. A bipartisan budget would incorporate additional dollars to help fund these improvements.

Another wrinkle in all of this? The governor is in his last year in office, and he wants to spend quite a bit of money, too. He wants one-time spending on issues like water, and he wants ongoing spending for things like pay raises for state employees. He also has a great idea for a tax cut this year, which also happens to be my idea for a tax cut as well: an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that would directly help and assist low-income working families throughout the state. It would cost about $85 million per year (that means it’s ongoing).

Meanwhile, you have some members of the majority caucus who don’t want ANY additional spending, and who actually want to cut state spending, even with all the surplus that we have. Their approach would be to cut taxes even further than they’ve already been cut in recent years.

When you add up all these factors, it certainly sounds like a bipartisan budget makes sense, right? Have I mentioned the razor-thin majorities in both chambers yet? (The Senate is 16-14 and the House is 31-29).

I’ve been saying all year that we are in for a long legislative session, and so far, I have been proven right. All the ingredients are there for a budget that will very likely require bipartisan support to pass both chambers. All it takes now is for my colleagues in the majority to realize this and act accordingly.

I have been very clear about my openness to support a bipartisan budget this year based around several key components: additional investment in our K-12 public schools, universities, and community colleges, greater support and investment for our state’s housing trust fund, and the passage of SB 1018, my Earned Income Tax Credit bill.

It’s not a long list, and it’s not an unreasonable request. Conversations are ongoing, and I certainly hope we can come to an agreement sooner rather than later. Regardless, I will be at the capitol hard at work trying to get a deal done. Stay tuned!

What else is happening at the capitol? Not a whole lot. The last two weeks we were only in session three days of the week, Monday through Wednesday. We normally meet four days a week, so we’ve had a shortened week two weeks in a row.

And guess what? This week will be more of the same. We are scheduled to come in today through Wednesday and get Thursday off. Four-day weekend! Because we have nothing to work on, right?

Even better, I’m hearing the House is only coming in two days this week (today and Thursday) and taking Tuesday and Wednesday off.

June 30^th is the end of our state fiscal year, and the official deadline for our state budget. You might remember that we went all the way to the deadline last year and adjourned on June 30^th exactly.

As always, you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more regular updates! I’ll be posting a video later this morning with more updates.

Thank you as always for reading!

Sean

http://www.seanbowieforaz.com/

Paid for by Sean Bowie for State Senate. Authorized by Sean Bowie.