The Arizona House of Representatives returned from a weeklong break Tuesday only to announce they’re taking another two weeks off.
Lawmakers are close to the end of this year’s session, but they still need to vote on the state budget.
The Senate is also on break.
During the downtime, House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) said legislative leaders are deep in budget negotiations. There aren’t many other bills this far along in the legislative process for the Legislature to consider.
“Those conversations are ongoing and the work continues every day, for the next two weeks we’re going to continue to do that. So that we can push this process forward but in the meantime it's not the easiest to bring everybody in for one day next week,” he told his colleagues.
The Republican-controlled Legislature must pass a budget, and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs must sign it, no later than June 30, or risk a state government shutdown.
The House is now scheduled to reconvene on June 4.
Hobbs last month condemned Republican leaders for taking an extended break, calling it “shameful” and a “dereliction of duty.”
At the time, she also accused GOP lawmakers of not being clear about their budget priorities.
