This week at the Arizona Legislature: Fighting over Prop. 123 funding, Cesar Chavez holiday

We’re about three months away from the end of the fiscal year — when Arizona lawmakers and the governor need to agree on a new state budget. But the Governor’s Office has called off budget talks, accusing GOP legislative leaders of refusing to take part in serious negotiations.

In response, the speaker of the state House and president of the Senate say Hobbs has chosen to walk away from talks despite “a path forward being within reach.”

Part of the dispute appears to be over the future of Proposition 123, which voters narrowly approved a decade ago to fund public K-12 education. Lawmakers and the governor allowed it to expire last year and instead backfilled the money from the state’s general fund. There’s been disagreement since about what to put before voters to renew the plan.

Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services joined The Show to talk about what to expect this week at the state Capitol.

Capitol Media Services

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Full conversation

MARK BRODIE: Howie, good morning.

HOWARD FISCHER: Good morning. You can always expect lawmakers and the governor to fight.

BRODIE: I mean, especially these lawmakers and this governor. So, I guess usually we talk about what to expect this week. I guess what we're not expecting this week are budget talks.

FISCHER: That appears to be the case. I mean, they've been talking — and I use the word loosely because usually it takes the forms of, I'm going to send a memo to your people, you'll send a memo to my people, and somehow we'll come up with a plan.

The problem becomes is that both sides are sort of stuck in the mud. Now, in terms of who to blame, hard to say. This started with Gov. Hobbs last fall saying, I want some tax cuts, and more to the point, telling her Department of Revenue to put out a form that included her tax cuts, but none of the other cuts. Which of course is how we say, annoyed the Republican lawmakers who had their own ideas.

And she's done a little bit of the my way or the highway saying, "Look, this benefits 88% of people who take the standard deduction, and you should just do that. And then, trust me, we will negotiate later for your tax cuts." Well, trust is a little bit in short supply among the Republicans there, and they're not willing to take a little kiss and a promise that they will be discussing her tax cuts.

So that's the heart of that problem. Like I say, Prop. 123 is a whole different piece of that. Because as you point out, the original Prop. 123 expired last year. There's money to be had if you tap the state trust fund. It depends on how much do you take out. Do you take out the 6.9% which had been the Prop. 123? Do you take out more that the governor sort of hinted on? And where does the money go?

Education

Arizona educators call for lawmakers to renew Prop. 123 and fully fund public schools

Bridget Dowd

Arizona educators have been lobbying at the state Capitol, asking lawmakers to spend more time figuring out how to fully fund public schools. The Arizona Education Association says there’s no sign a ballot measure to renew Proposition 123 is getting to the finish line.

The legislators say all the money should go to teachers. You could probably fund $4,000 raises across the board with that additional $300 million. The Governor's Office said, "Well, we want a little more flexibility for school districts, some to teachers, some to support staff, some to security and some to other educational functions." And that's piece one.

Piece two is some of the Republicans saying, "Look, we have something here we can negotiate with, say if we're going to do this Prop. 123 for public education, we also want to cement in the Arizona Constitution the right to to vouchers."

Now, vouchers have been declared legal by the Supreme Court, but that is subject to change of the Legislature because they can redo it. You put in the Constitution, all of a sudden, any changes — whether pushed by the governor or a couple of ballot initiatives we've talked about — become impossible.

BRODIE: Well, so Howie, having this kind of disagreement toward the end of March is maybe a little less concerning than if it were coming at the end of May or June. But how do you think they're going to move beyond this? Because at a certain point they are going to have to pass a budget.

FISCHER: Well, obviously that's the case. You know, you can't do a continuation budget. This isn't Congress ... where you get to the end of fiscal year, say, "Well, we're going to swing and we'll just continue things the way they are." That's not allowed under the Arizona Constitution. Somebody's going to have to give.

Now, I'm not willing to put money on who's going to give up what. I think the governor is going to have to give up some of what she wants. I think that the Prop. 123 is going to be a little closer to what the Legislature wants in terms of focusing on teacher salaries.

I also think that she's going to have to agree to tax break. She says, "Well, your numbers are phony." And they're saying to her, "Well, your numbers are phony because you're relying on $700 million from the federal government reimbursement and you're relying on curbing vouchers to save $80 million and you're relying on higher taxes for gaming."

And so, again, where's the middle in that? Hard to say. But I think that there will be larger tax cuts in terms of businesses than, and I don't think that the Republican-led Legislature is gonna get everything it does want ...

Politics

Cesar Chavez Day and events renamed or canceled in Arizona, across the U.S.

Kathy Ritchie, Associated Press

The allegations have prompted swift fallout, including from the United Farm Workers, which announced it would not take part in any events named after the organization's former leader.

BRODIE: OK, Howie, let me ask you about something that is actually going to happen this week, and that is something that Republican lawmakers signaled last week when all the very troubling news about labor leader Cesar Chavez came out. This is a bill that would basically get rid of the state's Cesar Chavez holiday coming up in a committee this week.

Do we have a sense, is this gonna be like a straight. We're just getting rid. Does it seem like there might be an effort, as in some other states, to rename it or reclassify it somehow?

FISCHER: Well, the Republicans simply want to get rid of it. Now, remember, just because it's a state holiday listed in Arizona statute doesn't mean anybody gets a day off or anything like that. We have a number of those holidays there. It's sort of like the Hallmark of holidays. You know, you get a card for Happy Cesar Chavez Day, if you want to call it that.

But I think there's some sentiment among some Democrats to say, "Look, Cesar Chavez may have been a very flawed individual, but the things he did to organize workers here in Arizona and California certainly are important." And so there's some of them are looking at the idea of creating a farmworker day. Again, wouldn't be a day off, wouldn't be anything special, but it does replace it. Now that should create an interesting debate as we go forward.

BRODIE: Do you have a sense of ... how that debate might go? Obviously Democrats are the minority, so if Republicans don't want to go along with it, that's kind of the end of it. Might there be some sentiment among any Republicans to do that?

FISCHER: I don't know. There's a lot of sentiment. I mean, for example, Jake Hoffman, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, when I asked him about it, said, "Well, Cesar Chavez was a communist."

Well, OK, when we're starting on that as a basis for talking about who deserves a holiday, I think there are a lot of Republicans in the state and, you know — I'm trying not to paint with a broad brush — who also believe that a lot of the farmworker movement was led by socialists and communists and are still unhappy about the fact that there are strong labor unions.

I mean, we passed laws in Arizona to say you can't have secondary boycotts. I don't if you remember the grape boycotts where you said to a grocery store: If you buy non-union grapes, we're gonna boycott the store. And the Republican-led Legislature actually passed a bill to make such secondary boycotts illegal. ... So there's a lot of strong feelings on this.