By Christopher Conover and Andrea Kelly
ARIZONA PUBLIC MEDIA
The Arizona Legislature is winding down its work for the year in terms of schedule, but there is a lot left to do before the House and Senate adjourn for the year.
The most important part is writing a state budget, which must be completed by the time the 2013 fiscal year begins, on July 1, 2012. In year’s past, the session ends quite rapidly after the budget is approved.
The Arizona Senate chamber.
The governor is negotiating with House and Senate majority leaders for a compromise on the biggest budget issues of disagreement, including how much money to set aside for potentially bad upcoming budget years vs. one-time spending on school building repairs and debt repayment.
Governor's staff members told Arizona Public Media it is too early to draw hard lines in the budget sand. However they also said Gov. Jan Brewer is “a patient woman.”
House Democrats put forth a budget proposal this week, which calls for more spending to restore previous cuts to health care.
For the most part, all legislation that still has a chance of passing has been approved by at least one chamber. The deadline has passed for all bills originating in the House to be heard there, and now the body is considering bills from the Senate. The same is true for the Senate and bills that originated in the House.
That said, even bills that have already failed can be brought back for reconsideration or can be rewritten and reintroduced. Seemingly dead bills also can be substituted in place of others as “strike everything amendments.” Those bills still must be approved by both the House and the Senate in their final forms.
Rep. Ted Vogt, Republican of Tucson, and others are fond of pointing out no bill is truly dead until the final gavel falls at the end of the legislative session.
One example is a proposal to tax online retailers with distribution centers in Arizona, which would apply to Amazon. That bill was defeated by the full Senate last week, but through parliamentary maneuvering is scheduled for reconsideration today.
One of the still-outstanding legislative proposals, other than the budget bills, is the governor’s request for overhauling the state personnel system, which could make it easier to hire, fire and promote state employees. That legislation may be considered later this week.
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