Journalists’ Roundtable: State budget deadline approaching

June 20

This week’s topics:

State budget passes state Senate, deadline rapidly approaching for budget
Bills of note from the legislature, including Proposition 123 extensions, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, animal cruelty crimes, foreign-ownership of land, and Chase Field renovations and improvements
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap vs. Board of Supervisors feud continues in court
Agency Head nominations

On state budget passing state Senate, and deadline approaching for budget:
Laurie Roberts: “[Senate President] Warren Petersen is living in the real world, which is that if you want to get a budget without doing the Governor’s veto dance so you can get out of there for the year, you’ve got to work with the Governor. You’ve got to give and take on both sides and be the adults in the room and neogate something.”

Mary Jo Pitzl: “The thought was that the House felt they were being boxed into to just have to rubber stamp this budget. But you know what, the House Republicans chose to not negotiate with the Senate and the Governor.”

Camryn Sanchez: “I do think that the House is gonna have to continue with this thing that they’ve started, right? They’re gonna not just pass the budget and say everything is fine now, because they obviously did this for some sort of reason . . . so I don’t know, maybe they’re trying to get to the point of a partial government shutdown to prove they’re conservative enough and that they’re better than the Senate. If they accomplish that, then I suppose that’s great for their base, to a degree. But eventually, we’re just gonna have to come together and put something together that’s real and bipartisan otherwise there is no real endgame here.”