Special Session House Bill 2001 is the main appropriations bill. It accomplishes two things it patches the nearly $700 million hole in the current (2009-2010) budget and crafts the budget for the next fiscal year (2010-2011). The proposal makes cuts to a number of different programs. The budget reductions receiving the most attention are cuts to AHCCCS and KidsCare which will leave hundreds of thousands of Arizona residents without health coverage. Special Session HB 2001 also eliminates the Department of Juvenile Corrections and forces the counties to pay for the incarceration of juvenile criminals. The state estimates it costs about $140 thousand a year to keep one juvenile behind bars. Right now, Pima County officials say under the plan 100 juveniles would be sent back to Pima County. Using the state’s figures that means Pima County would have to come up with $1.4 million to house the juvenile offenders.
The plan assumes that Arizona voters approve the three-year increase in the sales tax. If that does not happen, lawmakers have a contingency plan that cuts from education and the courts among other places.
Follow the link at the top of this article to see the full break down of the budget proposal. Numbers in parenthesis are reductions. The contingency budget based on voters NOT approving the sales tax increase is at the bottom of the same page.
Update
The full House approved Special Session HB 2001 on March 11, 2010 on a 34-25 vote.
Pima County House Delegation Vote:
David Bradley (D) – No
Olivia Cajero Bedford (D) – No
Steve Farley (D) – No
David Gowan (R) – Yes
Matt Heinz (D) – No
Phil Lopes (D) – No
Daniel Patterson (D) – No
Vic Willimas (R) – Yes
Nancy Young Wright (D) – No
Full House Vote on Special Session HB 2001
Update
On March 11, 2010 the full Senate approved Special Session HB 2001 on a 16-13 vote.
Pima County Senate Delegation Vote:
Paula Aboud (D) – No
Frank Antenori (R) – Yes
Jorge Luis Garcia (D) – No
Linda Lopez (D) – No
Al Melvin (R) – Yes
Full Senate Vote on Special Session HB 2001
Update
Signed by Governor Jan Brewer on March 18, 2010
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