The Governor and President Burns are still pushing for a vote today. The Senate is still scheduled to convene at 1 p.m. today (Aug. 4). The Governor and Legislative leadership have been relentlessly trying to round up the final two "yes" votes. A great deal is riding on this afternoon's session.
Public Education supporters will be gathering in the Senate gallery at 1 p.m. A rally is planed for 4 p.m. on the capital lawn. Please be there to help convince the Governor and Leadership to abandon the current proposal and return to negotiating a budget package that will protect Arizona's future. More details can be found at the march4schools web site.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
AEA Maintains A Presence at the Capital Until the End
Down to the final seconds in Round 3
For the third time the legislative leadership has pulled an all-nighter in any attempt to balance the budget with out raising revenue. As some one in the gallery on Thursday night put it, “you can’t balance your check book by taking a pay cut.” I believe in the concept of limited government with minimal taxation; that is why I belong to the Republican Party. However, once you have established what government should do, there is an obligation to fund it. The legislative leadership wishes they could ignore this obligation, and so far they have.
In round one, we survived because the leadership did not even submit the budget to the Governor. They knew it stunk, so they hid it in the basement, even after she sued. In round two we survived because the Governor did not get a sales tax referral and vetoed the whole mess. Now we are down the closing moments of round three. Only one vote separates us form the nightmare coming true.
A recap of Thursday’s/Friday’s events:
President Burns appoints Sen. Huppenthal to Appropriations Committee.
The votes were not there to pass all the bills out of committee. Burns faced this situation the last time. On June 30, Burns pulled the bills from the Appropriations Committee and assigned them to the Education Accountability and Reform Committee, which Huppenthal chairs. This time he simply appointed Huppenthal to the Appropriations committee, but at least he had to wait out a quorum call before doing so. We are still not sure if Huppenthal’s appointment was proper; only 15 Senators were shown present on the board, not the required 16.
Standing in the hallway just before the hearing started, Huppenthal was taking to a pair of reporters. When they asked him if he was a definite YES vote, I sort of interrupted saying “Seeing as how the Senator is running for Superintendent we were counting on him to stand up for public education and vote NO.” The Senator didn’t find it funny. Sorry Senator.
Appropriations Committee Hearing
At the beginning of the hearing we learned why Burns only had to appoint one new member. Sen. Harper, a consistent NO vote before, had been bought. Sen. Harper traded his vote for four provisions in the new budget. The two most notable: fire 5% of all state employees and kill Rio Nuevo (an downtown economic development program in Tucson). To be fair the 5% would include already vacant positions and the Rio Nuevo Taxing District would still exist but be limited only to paying the existing debt. Shortly after Harper introduced his amendments, Representatives from southern Arizona appeared in the room to stare him down. Many of them have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months to restructure the Rio Nuevo project in hopes that Tucson would not lose the largest gem and mineral show in the country to Las Vegas.
During the hearing, Andrew Morrill (AEA Vice-president) and I both testified before the committee. Andrew spoke to the devastating effect this budget will have on Arizona’s future. During Andrew’s testimony Sen. Harper asked the chair if he could ask a question outside the scope of the budget. Once given permission, he asserted the proposition that Republicans only join the association for the liability insurance. Andrew did a good job of correcting the Senator’s misconception. Then Sylvia Allen tried to engage in a philosophical debate with Andrew. When the video of the hearing is posted next week, I would check it out just for the entertainment value.
I testified after Andrew and spoke to the improper inclusion of policy changes in a special session budget bill. After I made my comments, Sen. Harper continued his assault on education associations. He asked a question about NEA’s support of rights for same-sex couples. From his comments, it was apparent that Sen. Harper was not interested in the truth; he only wanted to bring up and reinforce misconceptions about the NEA and its stance on socially sensitive issues. I made a brief response before Sen. Aboud and Sen. Rios called for a point of order. The Chair agreed and cut short Sen. Harper’s line of questioning. I spoke with Sen. Harper after the hearing; he freely admitted his questioning was intended to “drive a wedge” between Christian teachers and the education associations.
About half way through the hearing, Sen. Gould arrived. Arriving in a tee shirt and jeans having driven from Lake Havasu after work, his first question to the chair was “am I still on the committee?” Sen. Gould is one of the three NO votes. He has strongly held objections to any tax increase. The Chair assured him he was still on the committee and staff brought him a coat.
All of the bills passed out of Committee.
And then we waited.
After the committee hearing, we gathered to discuss what had happened. Sen. Aboud joined us in the discussion. She thanked all of us for our continued presence at the capital and all of the work we have done over the last few months. She jokingly suggested that we could all go home now, she was. We all knew that we would be there well into wee hours of the morning.
No one was sure whether the votes were there. After awhile, when no bell rang calling the Senators to the floor, it was apparent that there were not 16 Senators willing to vote yes. The House, where the bills had passed committee on Wednesday, had not gone back into session to conduct a committee of the whole and take a vote, and there was no indication if the Senate would. Small groups of legislators were going in and out of the Governor’s tower. The votes just weren’t there. But we knew that they only needed one or two more. Of the four Senators that we speculated were NO votes. Two were NO’s because they would not consider even the possibility of a tax increase; the other two were NO’s because the believed the cuts and policy changes in this budget were too damaging to the State. We were scared that the leadership and the Governor could buy two of these votes as they had Sen. Harper’s. But being scared on an empty stomach is not fun, so we went and ate.
And then we waited some more.
After returning form diner, the House moved the bills through COW and the bell rang in the Senate camber. Could they have gotten the votes? As Burns called the floor to order, we were concerned, but he only announced another recess. He explained that they were waiting on the bills from the House. Time passed and we breathed a sigh of relief, he still didn’t have the votes.
While we were waiting Sen. Verschoor joined us in the gallery. Sen. Vershoor was the president pro tempore until Burns replaced him after the last budget round. Sen. Vershoor expressed frustration with the process that was underway and answered some questions. It didn’t seem we were going to convince him to vote NO, but we had a good conversation. He agreed with us that the policy changes should not be part of the budget bills.
When it was apparent that the leadership was not having much success finding their 16th vote, and speculation was that they would adjourn, we were tempted to call it a night. It was well past midnight and everyone was tired. But Sheryl Mathis (AEA Executive Director) was not willing to leave. “I just don’t trust them.” We stayed and she was right.
Senate Committee of the Whole
The Senate resolved itself in a COW and proceeded to go through the bills. Sen. Aboud and Sen. Garcia held fort for the Democrat Caucus. The bills were moved without much discussion. Throughout the proceedings, leadership continually flanked Sen. Gorman, but she would not give in. Sen. Gorman along with Sen. Gould will not consent to the sales tax referral.
Finally they got to the sales tax referral bill, and things got interesting. Sen. Gould proposed a serious of amendments, each calling for the complete elimination of the personal income tax with differing timelines. His amendments stood no chance of passing. Rather they were used to signal to leadership that they still did not have the votes. Sen. Gould called for a role call vote on each amendment. Each time there were at least three votes.
The COW was concluded and it was time for Third Reading of the Bills.
And again we waited some more (but this time there was excitement).
The Senate did not move directly to Third Read. The votes were not there. And then the Chaos erupted.
Senators were coming and going from the floor. At one point Sen. Tibshraeny got into shouting match with Sen. Sylvia Allen. The Governor’s staff arrived. There were huddled conferences in different locations on the floor. President Burns was in and out of his office. At one point the press was allowed on the floor, and by the end even the reporters were shouting at each other. It became apparent there would be no vote any time soon. Finally Sen. Jim Waring apologized to Sen. Tibshraeny and left the building.
Then the Governor arrived. Reportedly she met with Sen. Gorman for a long period of time. But it was not to be. At around 6 in the morning the Senate was recessed until 1 p.m. on Friday.
We went home.
Latter that afternoon, the Senate was adjourned until Tuesday.
Everything Depends on Tuesday
The Senate is scheduled to resume the special session at 1 pm Tuesday. The Governor and leadership need to pass their budget deal before the August 5th deadline to submit measures for the November ballot. She only has to get one vote.
For the third time the legislative leadership has pulled an all-nighter in any attempt to balance the budget with out raising revenue. As some one in the gallery on Thursday night put it, “you can’t balance your check book by taking a pay cut.” I believe in the concept of limited government with minimal taxation; that is why I belong to the Republican Party. However, once you have established what government should do, there is an obligation to fund it. The legislative leadership wishes they could ignore this obligation, and so far they have.
In round one, we survived because the leadership did not even submit the budget to the Governor. They knew it stunk, so they hid it in the basement, even after she sued. In round two we survived because the Governor did not get a sales tax referral and vetoed the whole mess. Now we are down the closing moments of round three. Only one vote separates us form the nightmare coming true.
A recap of Thursday’s/Friday’s events:
President Burns appoints Sen. Huppenthal to Appropriations Committee.
The votes were not there to pass all the bills out of committee. Burns faced this situation the last time. On June 30, Burns pulled the bills from the Appropriations Committee and assigned them to the Education Accountability and Reform Committee, which Huppenthal chairs. This time he simply appointed Huppenthal to the Appropriations committee, but at least he had to wait out a quorum call before doing so. We are still not sure if Huppenthal’s appointment was proper; only 15 Senators were shown present on the board, not the required 16.
Standing in the hallway just before the hearing started, Huppenthal was taking to a pair of reporters. When they asked him if he was a definite YES vote, I sort of interrupted saying “Seeing as how the Senator is running for Superintendent we were counting on him to stand up for public education and vote NO.” The Senator didn’t find it funny. Sorry Senator.
Appropriations Committee Hearing
At the beginning of the hearing we learned why Burns only had to appoint one new member. Sen. Harper, a consistent NO vote before, had been bought. Sen. Harper traded his vote for four provisions in the new budget. The two most notable: fire 5% of all state employees and kill Rio Nuevo (an downtown economic development program in Tucson). To be fair the 5% would include already vacant positions and the Rio Nuevo Taxing District would still exist but be limited only to paying the existing debt. Shortly after Harper introduced his amendments, Representatives from southern Arizona appeared in the room to stare him down. Many of them have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months to restructure the Rio Nuevo project in hopes that Tucson would not lose the largest gem and mineral show in the country to Las Vegas.
During the hearing, Andrew Morrill (AEA Vice-president) and I both testified before the committee. Andrew spoke to the devastating effect this budget will have on Arizona’s future. During Andrew’s testimony Sen. Harper asked the chair if he could ask a question outside the scope of the budget. Once given permission, he asserted the proposition that Republicans only join the association for the liability insurance. Andrew did a good job of correcting the Senator’s misconception. Then Sylvia Allen tried to engage in a philosophical debate with Andrew. When the video of the hearing is posted next week, I would check it out just for the entertainment value.
I testified after Andrew and spoke to the improper inclusion of policy changes in a special session budget bill. After I made my comments, Sen. Harper continued his assault on education associations. He asked a question about NEA’s support of rights for same-sex couples. From his comments, it was apparent that Sen. Harper was not interested in the truth; he only wanted to bring up and reinforce misconceptions about the NEA and its stance on socially sensitive issues. I made a brief response before Sen. Aboud and Sen. Rios called for a point of order. The Chair agreed and cut short Sen. Harper’s line of questioning. I spoke with Sen. Harper after the hearing; he freely admitted his questioning was intended to “drive a wedge” between Christian teachers and the education associations.
About half way through the hearing, Sen. Gould arrived. Arriving in a tee shirt and jeans having driven from Lake Havasu after work, his first question to the chair was “am I still on the committee?” Sen. Gould is one of the three NO votes. He has strongly held objections to any tax increase. The Chair assured him he was still on the committee and staff brought him a coat.
All of the bills passed out of Committee.
And then we waited.
After the committee hearing, we gathered to discuss what had happened. Sen. Aboud joined us in the discussion. She thanked all of us for our continued presence at the capital and all of the work we have done over the last few months. She jokingly suggested that we could all go home now, she was. We all knew that we would be there well into wee hours of the morning.
No one was sure whether the votes were there. After awhile, when no bell rang calling the Senators to the floor, it was apparent that there were not 16 Senators willing to vote yes. The House, where the bills had passed committee on Wednesday, had not gone back into session to conduct a committee of the whole and take a vote, and there was no indication if the Senate would. Small groups of legislators were going in and out of the Governor’s tower. The votes just weren’t there. But we knew that they only needed one or two more. Of the four Senators that we speculated were NO votes. Two were NO’s because they would not consider even the possibility of a tax increase; the other two were NO’s because the believed the cuts and policy changes in this budget were too damaging to the State. We were scared that the leadership and the Governor could buy two of these votes as they had Sen. Harper’s. But being scared on an empty stomach is not fun, so we went and ate.
And then we waited some more.
After returning form diner, the House moved the bills through COW and the bell rang in the Senate camber. Could they have gotten the votes? As Burns called the floor to order, we were concerned, but he only announced another recess. He explained that they were waiting on the bills from the House. Time passed and we breathed a sigh of relief, he still didn’t have the votes.
While we were waiting Sen. Verschoor joined us in the gallery. Sen. Vershoor was the president pro tempore until Burns replaced him after the last budget round. Sen. Vershoor expressed frustration with the process that was underway and answered some questions. It didn’t seem we were going to convince him to vote NO, but we had a good conversation. He agreed with us that the policy changes should not be part of the budget bills.
When it was apparent that the leadership was not having much success finding their 16th vote, and speculation was that they would adjourn, we were tempted to call it a night. It was well past midnight and everyone was tired. But Sheryl Mathis (AEA Executive Director) was not willing to leave. “I just don’t trust them.” We stayed and she was right.
Senate Committee of the Whole
The Senate resolved itself in a COW and proceeded to go through the bills. Sen. Aboud and Sen. Garcia held fort for the Democrat Caucus. The bills were moved without much discussion. Throughout the proceedings, leadership continually flanked Sen. Gorman, but she would not give in. Sen. Gorman along with Sen. Gould will not consent to the sales tax referral.
Finally they got to the sales tax referral bill, and things got interesting. Sen. Gould proposed a serious of amendments, each calling for the complete elimination of the personal income tax with differing timelines. His amendments stood no chance of passing. Rather they were used to signal to leadership that they still did not have the votes. Sen. Gould called for a role call vote on each amendment. Each time there were at least three votes.
The COW was concluded and it was time for Third Reading of the Bills.
And again we waited some more (but this time there was excitement).
The Senate did not move directly to Third Read. The votes were not there. And then the Chaos erupted.
Senators were coming and going from the floor. At one point Sen. Tibshraeny got into shouting match with Sen. Sylvia Allen. The Governor’s staff arrived. There were huddled conferences in different locations on the floor. President Burns was in and out of his office. At one point the press was allowed on the floor, and by the end even the reporters were shouting at each other. It became apparent there would be no vote any time soon. Finally Sen. Jim Waring apologized to Sen. Tibshraeny and left the building.
Then the Governor arrived. Reportedly she met with Sen. Gorman for a long period of time. But it was not to be. At around 6 in the morning the Senate was recessed until 1 p.m. on Friday.
We went home.
Latter that afternoon, the Senate was adjourned until Tuesday.
Everything Depends on Tuesday
The Senate is scheduled to resume the special session at 1 pm Tuesday. The Governor and leadership need to pass their budget deal before the August 5th deadline to submit measures for the November ballot. She only has to get one vote.
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