Governor Doug Ducey is set to lay out his priorities for Arizona in 2016 in his second State of the State address as the Legislature returns for its yearly session today.
Ducey’s afternoon address is expected to be a stark contrast to his 2015 speech, which came as the Republican governor faced a $1.5 billion budget shortfall in his first 18 months in office. Now, the state treasury is flush with a $325 million surplus, and Ducey will face pressure to restore funding to universities, K12 education, county and city funding and social services cut during the Great Recession.
Below are just a few of the main points the governor is expected to address when the State of the State gets underway at 2 p.m.
Taxes
Ducey was elected in 2014 on a campaign promise to submit legislation every year to reduce taxes with the goal of pushing income tax rates as close to zero as possible.
He is vowing to maintain a tight leash on state spending while making good on those campaign promises.
Education
All that comes on the heels of big cuts in state spending, particularly to public education.
Ducey said much of that will be addressed if voters approve Proposition 123 at a special election on May 17. The measure would take money out of the state land trust and add $3.5 billion over the next decade to education funding.
A report last month said the measure would do little to make up for all the cuts to education lawmakers have made. But supporters of Prop 123 have mounted a successful fundraising campaign, with major donors like Go Daddy contributing.
Prisons
Ducey is expected to ask legislators to consider whether everyone the state is sending to prison actually belongs there, specifically people behind bars on minor drug offenses.
At the end of the 2006 fiscal year there were fewer than 35,000 inmates behind bars. As of last Friday, that figure is more than 42,500, including more than 6,400 housed in private prisons at the state's expense.
Ducey is particularly focused on reducing the number of folks who get sent back to prison.
KJZZ will stream a live broadcast of Governor Ducey's State of the State address at 2 p.m.