Arizona lawmakers face cut in their daily allowances

PHOENIX — State lawmakers’ inability to wrap up their business by now is going to hit them in the wallets, and some harder than others.

Arizona law gives legislators from Maricopa County $35 a day for every day of the Legislature’s session. Known as “per diem,” that payment is made seven days a week, regardless of whether the legislators are at the Capitol. Under the law, that payment drops to $10 a day after the 120th day of the session. And Tuesday is Day 121.

Out-county lawmakers used to get $60 a day. But legislators pushed through a measure in 2021 to raise that to the General Services Administration rate, the figure used by the federal government to reimburse employees on the road. That is currently $252 a day, covering lodging and an allowance for meals.

But on Day 121, that gets cut in half.

The cut in allowance for lawmakers was designed to spur them to come to the Capitol, get their business done — and go home.

It isn’t the only sign that their legislative job isn’t meant to be more than part-time.

By rule, the legislative session is supposed to end the Saturday of the week of the 100th day. That came and went on April 23.

Only thing is, that’s just a rule. And it takes only a majority voice vote of each chamber to ignore it.

But legislators cannot simply override the allowance cut that now kicks in.

Budget holdups

Action has slowed to a crawl in the past few weeks as lawmakers, done with most routine matters, have been meeting just one day a week, though they continue to get their daily allowance for all seven days.

So why is the session dragging on?

Senate President Warren Petersen told Capitol Media Services the blame lies with Gov. Katie Hobbs.

“We are still here because the governor has not been serious until recently about negotiating the budget,’’ he said. “We have been ready since late December.’’

House Speaker Ben Toma agrees.

“The gov hasn’t been serious about negotiating a budget,’’ he said.

But the state budget situation has been complicated by mountains of red ink, a figure that could approach $1.3 billion. That covers both the balance of this fiscal year that ends June 30 as well as the new budget year starting July 1.

GOP lawmakers in the Legislature’s majority have been complaining for months that the Democratic governor has not been actively engaged in negotiations. Hobbs acknowledged last month she was waiting for new revenue projections in hopes they would show an improvement.

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Her press aide Christian Slater confirmed that, at least at this point, Hobbs has not been personally involved in the budget talks.

But two weeks ago she ordered state agencies to limit new hiring, though she declined to call it a hiring freeze. She also directed state agency chiefs to present her with plan to trim 4% from spending in the current fiscal year as well as a 2% cut in the new budget that begins July 1.

Part of the reason for the slow progress is that Hobbs built her proposed budget on a plan to roll back the universal vouchers, approved in 2022, that allow all parents to get state funds to send their children to private and parochial schools and for expenses of at-home learning. That has proven to be a non-starter with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

So where are we now?

“Budget negotiations are happening,’’ Hobbs said Thursday. “They are moving along. And I anticipate we’ll be able to wrap up really soon.’’

Toma said he is optimistic.

“Things are finally moving along with budget negotiations,’’ he said. “So my hope is we will get somewhere over the next few weeks.’’

Immigration measure

Finances, however, are just part of the delay in lawmakers going home. There are some last-minute issues GOP lawmakers hope to get across the finish line.

One involves immigration.

House and Senate committees are scheduled to take action this week to send a measure to voters to enact a version of SB4 from Texas. That is the law that seeks to empower state and local police to arrest anyone who entered this country at anywhere other than an official point of entry. It also would allow judges to suspend prosecution if the person agreed to return to his or her country.

Lawmakers approved an identical measure earlier this year over the objections of Democrats who said it would lead to racial profiling. Democrats said there would be no way for a police officer who is not standing at the border to know how someone entered this country, or whether or not they are citizens.

Hobbs vetoed the measure, saying problems at the border are a federal issue. HCR 2060 would bypass the governor and send the issue directly to the November ballot.

Whether it would be enforceable, however, is another matter. The Texas law has been placed on hold while a lawsuit litigating its legality works its way through the federal courts.

All this comes back to the fact that it is now early May, far past the self-imposed deadline of the week of the 100th day for the session, and lawmakers are still here.

Still, even at 121 days, this session is still far shorter than 2023’s, which went 171 days. Even that is less than the record set in 1988 of 173 days, a time when out-county lawmakers got just $20 a day for everything after 120 days.