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Republicans trash Hobbs’ budget proposal for targeting GOP priorities [1]

['Jerod Macdonald-Evoy', 'More From Author', '- January']

Date: 2024-01-16

Republican lawmakers grilled Gov. Katie Hobbs’ budget team Tuesday over her proposed budget that they have already dismissed as an “unserious mess.”

Last week, Hobbs released her proposed $16 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which details how she wants to tackle what her office estimated would be a $406 million deficit with a number of proposals that Republican lawmakers have already declared dead on arrival.

The biggest objections were to Hobbs’ proposals to curtail the state’s universal school voucher program — changes the governor believes will mean nearly 50,000 fewer students use vouchers — and her economic projections, which predict a deficit half as small as legislative analysts.

But GOP lawmakers also keyed in on how Hobbs is proposing reducing the deficit by clawing back money already given to a variety of projects — with nearly all of the targeted spending inserted into last year’s budget by Republican lawmakers.

“Tell us how partisanship did not play a role here?” Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, asked of Hobbs’ staff.

During last year’s budget negotiations, Republicans set aside money for a variety of highway projects and $15 million to the Prescott Rodeo, among other things. Republicans in Tuesday’s joint appropriations meeting claimed that they were unaware of Democratic initiatives from the budget that were equally hit.

“It appeared to me that there was a substantial portion that were Republican requests,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Livingston, R-Peoria, said before asking Hobbs’ staff to bring the committee information breaking down the political demographics of projects that were impacted.

Last year, GOP leaders gave every legislator a small pot of money that could be used to fund any project they wished, provided it was one-time spending and didn’t obligate the state to spend more in the future. While Democrats largely pooled their money to be used to bolster state agencies or existing programs, many Republicans used their budget allowances to fund smaller projects.

Hobbs’ staff said the disparity in projects affected by the clawback was because Republicans simply had many more projects.

Hobbs’ staff added that they looked at projects “agnostically” and determined which would see reductions based off certain criteria, such as additional available funds, readiness of project and if funds could be spent at a later date.

“I did not see one in a Democrat district,” Livingston shot back.

Many of the fixes proposed by Hobbs include re-appropriating money from other projects in order to avoid the budget deficit. That includes $121 million in one-time appropriations from the current budget that span 11 agencies, as well as a reallocation of $201 million for 12 capital and IT projects allocated in 2022 through 2024 that came in under budget, have not yet started or have prior funding that has not yet been used.

Another point of contention was around the use of funds to combat the on-going fentanyl epidemic.

Gress tried and failed to get Hobbs’ staff to say that the epidemic is being caused by a failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. China and Mexico are the primary sources of fentanyl with China’s online synthetic drug networks playing a major role in the proliferation of the synthetic opioid.

Hobbs’ staff said that the investments proposed by the governor would go to support local law enforcement, including around the border, as well as providing money to give first responders access to the overdose saving drug Naloxone.

“It is pretty easy to stop a fentanyl epidemic if we really wanted to stop it,” Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale said, adding that he thought the money being spent on an awareness campaign was “laughable.”

Kern bragged that a bill he proposed last session that would have given prosecutors the ability to seek the death penalty in fentanyl death cases, even in cases of accidental death, was the best way to fix the on-going crisis.

“I think we all know what we need to do,” he said, blaming Democrats for not voting for his measure.

The biggest debate of the day centered around Hobbs’ proposed reforms to the Empowerment Scholarship Account school vouchers, commonly referred to as ESAs.

The program, which prior to its universal expansion served a smaller group of students, has ballooned beyond projected costs with the current year’s budget estimates showing the program costing $625 million with over 68,000 students enrolled. However, a revised estimate projects the program to cost around $723.5 million with more than 74,000 students.

One of Hobbs’ proposed reforms would make it a requirement for all students who receive an ESA to have previously attended public school for at least 100 days at any point in their lives. More than half of the students receiving ESA vouchers under the universal voucher program have never been enrolled in a public school, state education officials have estimated. If Hobbs’ reform were implemented, they would either have to enroll in public school to qualify for the voucher in the future, or they would have to give up the state funding they currently receive.

The Hobbs administration estimates that almost 50,000 students currently using vouchers don’t have any history of attending public schools and removing them would save the state $244.3 million in the upcoming year.

Republican lawmakers were skeptical of this plan.

Livingston asked Hobbs’ staff how they intended to implement the change, asking if the Governor’s Office had a list of all students who met the criteria for removal with Hobbs’ staff saying that the change would go into effect on the next contract signed by parents and students.

“I don’t think there is a list. I’ve been asking for months and months for this list actually,” Livingston said about a list that could be used by the Governor’s Office to determine the cuts adding, “Your proposal is retroactive, but how are you going to go backwards and do that?”

Hobbs’ staff reiterated that the change would occur during the next contract to be signed by ESA students and parents, but did not specify if the changes would in fact be retroactive or not.

“I can’t calculate that,” Livingston added about the $244.3 million figure cited by Hobbs as savings if the changes are implemented. “It almost looks made up, and if it is not, I’d like documentation specifically on this issue.”

Democratic members said that the whole discussion highlighted the points they’ve been making regarding transparency in the program, which Livingston said he was in “partial agreement” on.

A separate appropriations meeting held by the Senate that featured a presentation by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee said that the estimate made by Hobbs’ staff in regards to ESA cuts was accurate. However, JLBC expects that the budget shortfall will be far greater than anticipated by Hobbs’ office.

At the end of the joint committee hearing, Livingston thanked Hobbs’ staff for their time and for responding to their questions.

“We also look forward to negotiating with you all,” Livingston said.

The governor and lawmakers must come to an agreement on the budget before July 1, when the next fiscal year begins, in order to avoid a government shutdown.

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[1] Url: https://www.azmirror.com/2024/01/16/republicans-trash-hobbs-budget-proposal-for-targeting-gop-priorities/

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