The Arizona Senate is expected to gavel into session today and then vote to take the next few weeks off. This follows the House, which last week voted to adjourn until the beginning of June.
The expectation is that GOP legislative leaders will use that time to negotiate with the governor on a new state budget, after she vetoed a Republican spending plan last week.
You know who’s not taking a break for the rest of the month? Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, who joined The Show to talk about what the next few weeks may hold.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Good morning, Howie.
HOWIE FISCHER: Good morning. I was planning on going on a cruise but then I read about a hantavirus and that ended that.
MARK BRODIE: Yeah, better to stay on land, my friend. So, what are the odds that the Republican legislative leadership and the governor can come up with a compromise in the next few weeks?
HOWIE FISCHER: Well, define the next few weeks. I mean, the odds of them coming up with something by June 30 or thereabout is pretty much 100%. They’ve done that for over a century. It always comes around. Somebody has to give, somebody has to recognize that there is no future for the state on July 1 for most state agencies if they don’t.
Now, next couple of weeks, let’s define our terms there. We know that after the veto queen, as she’s been called, has threatened to say nothing’s going to happen until we get a plan, they’re meeting again. Now, that doesn’t mean the governor is sitting down with the Senate president or the House speaker, it means their staffs are meeting together to try to figure out, OK, what can we knock things that aren’t going to happen on either side off the table and where can we find areas of agreement. So, they’re moving in that direction.
I think that both sides are recognizing they’re not going to get everything they want. I think the governor recognizes that the chances for a Prop. 123 extension or relying on $760 million of federal money that may not come are not going to happen.
I think lawmakers are recognizing that on one hand that it may be too late to deal with full conformity from the feds for this year, but that they can negotiate what happens in future years, who gets what tax breaks and how that happens.
MARK BRODIE: I guess, Howie, we’re at the point where the fact that they’re at least meeting or their staffs are meeting has to be considered progress?
HOWIE FISCHER: Well, of course it is, because they both recognize that, you know, what happens if there is a shutdown? I mean, look, we’ve seen this on the federal level. And what’s happened there is everyone says, well, the other side’s to blame, and for the Republicans, unfortunately, they’ve been usually the ones to take the blame, and I think Republicans here recognize that if suddenly people can’t get into state parks, if people can’t get their driver’s licenses renewed and things like that, they’re going to take the blame because the governor has the larger bully pulpit as far as, well, why couldn’t we get there?
MARK BRODIE: All right, so we’ll see how they, how they do with that.
Of course, we should also mention that the Legislature with 72 hours’ notice could be called back into session before June 1 if, you know, the Legislature and the governor, if the legislative leaders and the governor come up with an agreement. But sounds like you’re saying that’s maybe not the most likeliest scenario?
HOWIE FISCHER: Well, I think they could.
That gets into the other thing we want to talk about this morning, which is you’ve got some director nominations that are running into a time problem. I mean, for example, the director nominations committee [Monday] is going to hear whether to decide that John Conley should be the permanent, because he’s currently the interim director of the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. If he gets through the committee, that’s fine, but under Arizona law, he’s already been serving as acting director and he cannot serve more than a year as acting director. If my calculator is right, that ends on May 23.
So, question is, would they come in, at least the Senate because you don’t need House confirmation, would the Senate come in at least to confirm him, assuming they want to go along with that and then maybe go home? So, it’s real easy for them to come in on 72 hours’ notice.
You know, how much interest there is, I don’t know because again, the other thing we’re working up against is we have early ballots going out next month. A lot of these folks would like to get either re-elected or run for a higher office. How much time are they willing to spend at the Capitol?
MARK BRODIE: Howie, is this the only agency head or interim agency head who’s running up against these calendar issues?
HOWIE FISCHER: Well, one who’s going to get close is Ruby Dhillon-Williams, who is head of the Department of Housing. She actually took over for Joan Serviss, who ran into some interesting problems including $2 million that disappeared because fraudsters sent a bill to the department and the department paid it.
Now, she’s run into some issues because of the fact she was the deputy director at the time and the questions that came up during her hearing because she did get through the nominations committee is, what were you doing? Why weren’t you paying attention?
I think that she can get through. Now, her year isn’t up, again, looking at my calendar, until June 11. So, theoretically, plenty of time for that. But, you know, you never want to let stuff come right up against the, you know, the deadlines there because it always, always, always leads to problems.
MARK BRODIE: Well, what happens under state law if a director is sort of in the process of being confirmed and their year runs out?
HOWIE FISCHER: They can’t be a director anymore. You may remember that we went through this a little bit when the governor couldn’t get some of her directors appointed and confirmed, and she said, well, I’ll just make them executive deputy directors. Well, that went to court and we know how well that came out. The court said, no, you can’t do that, that’s you’re just getting around the law.
What happens is they just go away. You know, they could hold another position in the department, but they can’t be the person running the department. Now, you know, how, how do you find another head of the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs? I don’t know. I’m not even sure I fully understand everything that they do.
MARK BRODIE: Interesting. All right, that is Howie Fischer with Capitol Media Services staying at the Capitol even when the lawmakers are not necessarily there to hang out with him. Howie, thanks as always, appreciate it.
HOWIE FISCHER: You’re welcome.
-
Environmental advocates argue that new water-sharing rules can and should keep the river flowing for plants, animals, people and infrastructure. -
Gov. Katie Hobbs has issued a proclamation making July 15 Native Right to Vote Day in Arizona. -
Public school advocates are suing over descriptions of two separate ballot measures related to Arizona’s school voucher program approved last week by state lawmakers. -
Critics have said the Golden Dome as proposed would be too expensive to operate and ineffective against cheaply made weapons like drones and short-range missiles. -
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors passed a unanimous resolution on Wednesday banning county employees from using insider information to make bets on prediction markets.
