No Budget Agreements Yet
Governor Pushes Funding For Corrections Dept., All-Day K

April 1, 2005
By Jim Small

Very little progress has been made thus far in budget negotiations between the Republican-led Legislature and the Democratic governor, according to those involved in the meetings.

“We’ve done nothing yet,” House Speaker Jim Weiers said March 30.

Likewise, Governor Napolitano said there haven’t been any agreements made regarding what will or will not be included in the budget, but she did say that it is becoming clear who stands where on certain issues. Some portions of the budget will be easy to agree on, she said, while others will require considerable work. In terms of absolute numbers, she said, the two sides aren’t “that far apart.”

“The areas of agreement and disagreements are starting to emerge,” the governor said. “I think in some areas as we begin to dive into some numbers, we’re going to be much closer than we thought. In some areas, we still have a tussle to go through.”

The governor did mention at a press conference some specific funding she will push.

Dept. Of Corrections At Issue

"My number one concern is that we have a Department of Corrections where we are properly paying our officers and we have a proper level of safety and security equipment and that we don’t continue to balance the budget in Corrections by artificially inflating vacancy savings and things of that sort,” Ms. Napolitano said. “That’s been the pattern in the past. That pattern has to stop.”

A list of items Ms. Napolitano is seeking money for was presented to House Republicans at their March 28 caucus. In addition to the funding for the Corrections Department, it included expanding full-day kindergarten, more money for Child Protective Services to hire more caseworkers, money for a downtown Phoenix medical school and the reinstatement of the Commission on Indian Affairs.

The list was a by-product of a request by House Republicans that the governor present her requests in writing, though Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18, said the governor acknowledged during negotiations that the list was not complete.

Republican leaders have said publicly that decisions will not be made during negotiations unless they have received approval from the majority caucuses. If the budget cannot garner the needed 16 Senate votes and 31 House votes in the respective Republican caucuses, it will not move forward, House Majority Leader Steve Tully, R-11, said.

Democrat leaders say making a stand like that is not in the best interest of the citizens of Arizona. House Minority Leader Phil Lopes, D-27, said it is political posturing so the Republicans can claim the budget is theirs.

“How important is that?” he asked. “Isn’t it more important that we do what’s best for the state, regardless of how many Rs and how many Ds are on the budget?”

Mr. Lopes said such an insistence could be a “barrier” to getting a budget done in a timely fashion.

Throughout the process of creating the legislative budget package that was vetoed earlier this month by the governor, Democrats were vocal that they were not being included in the process in any substantive way. Many felt the only way they would truly be at the table in budget discussions was for the governor to veto the package. Now that that has happened, Democrat leaders say they are certain they will have a chance to present their ideas to the Republicans.

“They will at least get listened to and we will have the opportunity to make our case as strongly as we can, and, hopefully, we’ll prevail,” Mr. Lopes said.

However, Mr. Pearce, chairman of one of the House’s appropriation committees, said there are limits to the amount of bending his caucus is willing to do.

“We are the majority and people have to recognize that – there’s things we’re not going to do,” he said. “One of those is borrow and spend money that we can’t justify spending. We’re going to have a balanced budget.”

The negotiations figure to be difficult and the governor said long meetings were likely in the near future to iron out the differences between the two camps.

“It takes a while. These are big, complicated things,” Ms. Napolitano said. “We need to keep meeting and meeting, and I expect there’ll be some late nights coming up soon.”

Sine Die Target Is April 15

Senate President Ken Bennett, R-1, and Mr. Weiers, R-10, echoed the governor’s statement, with Mr. Weiers saying that meetings with the governor would take place whenever possible in order to meet the sine die target date of April 15.

“The deadline was put there – that’s what we’re always looking forward [to],” he said. “You’ll never hit it unless you continue to keep looking towards it.”

Initial meetings featured members from both parties in both chambers in addition to the governor. Besides Mr. Weiers and Mr. Bennett, appropriations committee chairs Mr. Pearce, Rep. Tom Boone, R-4, and Sen. Robert Burns, R-9, were in attendance, as were the two majority leaders, Sen. Tim Bee, R-30, and Rep. Steve Tully, R-11, and House Majority Whip Gary Pierce, R-19.

Among the Democrats at the table were Senate Democrat Leader Linda Aguirre, D-16, Sen. Robert Cannell, D-24, Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, D-27, and all three members of House Democrat Leadership, Mr. Lopes, Linda Lopez, D-29, and Pete Rios, D-23.

Staff from each caucus and officials from the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting were also present.

But at subsequent meetings, only the governor, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Weiers, attended, though it was unclear if any of the others would return to the table for later meetings.

Ms. Aguirre was hopeful that substantive strides could be taken in the negotiations now that there are fewer people in the room. She said the governor, the speaker and the president know the wishes of their respective caucuses well enough to negotiate without anyone else present.

“Everybody’s not sitting there thumping their chest for someone,” she said. “Jim doesn’t have to perform for his caucus. Ken doesn’t have to perform for the members in there, and the governor can really sit down and negotiate a budget. I’m comfortable with it.”

Arizona Capitol Times Senate reporter Phil Riske also contributed to this article. —