Here’s some big news today out of Arizona:
Every single Democratic lawmaker in the Arizona House refused to show up for legislative business on Tuesday, preventing their GOP colleagues from moving forward on a budget that includes a $1.7 billion tax cut that would mainly benefit the wealthy.
The Arizona Legislature is furiously working to pass a budget by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats say that Republicans, who hold the majority, are trying to quickly push through the package without their input and without enough public debate. Feeling like they were left with no other good options, Democratic members didn’t come to the floor Tuesday, denying Republican leaders a quorum to proceed.
The move was reminiscent of a recent battle in Texas, where Democratic legislators staged a dramatic walkout last month to block a bill restricting voting rights.
The Arizona House requires 31 members for a quorum, and Republicans have exactly 31 members of their caucus, but several of them were not in Phoenix on Tuesday. Democrats have 29 members.
“The public and our members need more time to analyze the measures Republicans negotiated in secret and stuffed into their budget plan, and what the long-term implications will be for our state before we debate this,” House Democratic Leader Reginald Bolding said in a statement, adding, “Dropping a dozen new amendments this morning that rewrite major portions of their plan to vote on this afternoon is inappropriate.”
Here’s a little more info:
But the Senate plowed ahead and was on track to pass the budget plan, advancing many of the 11 bills toward final votes expected as soon as late Tuesday. They also unveiled a raft of new policy changes that include a massive expansion of the state’s private school voucher program.
Both chambers are controlled by Republicans, and Democrats could not block Senate action.
The Senate amendments to the budget also ban so-called “critical race theory,” ban K-12 schools and universities from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, prevent both from requiring face masks if the coronavirus pandemic surges again and bar any employer or business from requiring vaccine passports.
All were priorities of majority Republicans but had not passed as standalone bills or were new issues. That was the case with facemasks at universities, where Gov. Doug Ducey last week issued an order barring Arizona State University from implementing a new policy that said unvaccinated students must be regularly tested and wear face masks.
Democrats vehemently oppose a $1.9 billion-per-year tax cut in the budget negotiated by Ducey and top leaders of the House and Senate, all Republicans. The plan would lower tax rates for most taxpayers to 2.5%, down from a range of 2.59% to 4.5%. Wealthy taxpayers would, in effect, be spared from a 3.5% tax hike approved by voters last year to pay for schools.
Arizona Democrats deserve our support and we need to make Arizona Bluer. Click below to donate and get involved with these Arizona Democrats campaigns:
Katie Hobbs for Governor
Mark Kelly for Senate
Reginald Bolding for Secretary of State
Arizona Democratic Party