After a closed-door meeting, House Republicans eye a short-term budget as stalemate continues

After a planned budget vote evaporated on Thursday and the chamber unexpectedly adjourned for the weekend, Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives met behind closed doors for nearly three hours Friday to discuss how they should proceed to finalize a state spending plan. 

And it appears that, instead of working with the Senate and Gov. Katie Hobbs to strike a deal on a full year’s budget before the June 30 end of the fiscal year, the lower chamber will instead pass a short-term spending plan that will keep government operating past that deadline so negotiations can continue deeper into the summer.

“The House is not going to be forced into a take-it-or-leave-it deal that doesn’t reflect the will of our members or the people we represent,” House Speaker Steve Montenegro said in a written statement. “We will do what responsible legislators should do: take action to keep government running and protect Arizona taxpayers.”

A top Senate Republican panned that idea, however.

“My only thought is I truly don’t know what he thinks can be negotiated that after June 30th that couldn’t have been negotiated in January, February, March, April, May, and last week,” Senate President Pro Tem T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, told the Mirror.

And Hobbs on Saturday blasted Montenegro’s plan as a “farce” that is more about “political grandstanding” and trying to cover for his failure to negotiate a path forward than it is about actually governing.

“I remain committed to having conversations about improving our bipartisan budget, but let me be clear: any kind of partisan ‘continuation budget’ will immediately meet my veto pen, if it even has the votes to reach my desk,” the governor said in a written statement.

Hobbs also sharply criticized House Republicans for a supposed plan to include a $215-a-day pay increase for Maricopa County lawmakers — the two-thirds of legislators who live in Maricopa earn $35 a day in per diem payments, compared to $269 for out-of-county lawmakers — at the same time they’re pushing a spending proposal that would scrap raises for state troopers and firefighters, and cut funding for education.

“It’s time for House Republican leadership to come back to reality, stop wasting everyone’s time, and show some common sense by working with their colleagues in a productive fashion to deliver on behalf of the people of Arizona,” Hobbs said.

Although it had approved its own budget on June 13, the House on Thursday had been expected to vote on the budget that the state Senate negotiated with Gov. Katie Hobbs. Prior to the budget vote on Thursday, all sides had reportedly signed off on a series of amendments aimed at winning support in the House. 

Montenegro insisted that the Senate budget didn’t have the votes to win approval in the House, though his lead budget lieutenant, Appropriations Committee Chairman David Livingston, disagreed. The Peoria Republican said on June 18 that the Senate added “a lot of good things” for Republicans and speculated that 31 of the chamber’s 33 Republicans would back the budget that the Senate ultimately passed.

But that plan fell by the wayside by late afternoon on Thursday, as conservative Republicans — including many members of the far right Arizona Freedom Caucus — revolted and refused to back the bipartisan plan. A little before 2 a.m. Friday, a frustrated Senate took a bipartisan vote to end the session after passing the package of budget bills. 

Montenegro said that House Republicans, who walked away from the negotiating table several weeks ago, have “worked in good faith” on the budget. He also sharply criticized the Senate for both passing its budget plan and unilaterally moving to end the annual legislative session.

“The House is working—as it has all session,” he said. “We’re focused on preventing a shutdown, protecting the state, and making sure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly.”

The day’s activities prompted House Republicans to hold a closed-door caucus meeting Friday morning in a room on the third floor of the historical Capitol building. Upon leaving, GOP lawmakers refused to comment to the Arizona Mirror about what was discussed. 

“No, it was a good meeting though,” Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman, said. 

“Oh, look, the media is here,” Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, said upon seeing the Mirror. “Closed caucus is closed caucus.” 

Gress, who was budget director for former Gov. Doug Ducey, was one of the architects of the House budget that Hobbs called “dead on arrival.” He is set to leave this weekend because he is getting married in Italy, further complicating the budget voting process. 

Several hours after the meeting ended, Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, told the Mirror that the meeting was about going over the Senate’s budget “line by line.” He said that the meeting allowed them to “digest some of the questions individual questions members have” to better draft amendments. 

“They’re working all weekend to hammer this out. I have faith that we will have something by at least Tuesday,” Blackman said. 

Shope said the House’s approach to the budget has been frustrating.

“Obviously, we were caught off guard by their decision to adjourn but kept working on the deal we made with the Governor on a good budget she’ll actually sign,” he said. 

Some House Republicans are unhappy with the budget the Senate and Hobbs negotiated. Livingston on Thursday called it “a Democrat budget,” while Rep. Rachel Keshel, R-Tucson, accused her colleagues who want to strike a budget deal of staging “a coup …regarding the budget.” 

“I don’t pay attention to those things,” Blackman said when asked about comments like Keshel’s. “All the outside noise, if it is not about trying to pass a good structurally sound budget, I don’t pay attention to it.”

Shope said he hopes that the House seriously considers the budget that the Senate approved. 

“I don’t know anything about a coup other than, by this time, people start looking at the best available deal and it seems to get more attractive as time goes on,” Shope said. “Look, we hope they will (approve the budget) because we don’t want all the work we did to incorporate their requests into our document be in vain. 

“This is the most conservative budget we can have signed and that should always be the goal for the Republican caucus.” 

While the Senate budget does have differences that include some Democratic priorities, such as more Medicaid spending and more K-12 funding, there are many similarities with the proposal put forward by the House as well. 

“I assume they were trying to explain to their pissed-off members why they abruptly took off for the weekend and aren’t working to pass a negotiated bipartisan budget that would easily pass if it was put up for a vote,” House Democratic Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos told the Mirror. “All I really heard from some House Republicans is it was more of the chaos, incompetence, and dysfunction we’ve sadly grown to expect.” 

The House is set to reconvene Monday afternoon and lawmakers have to pass a budget by the end of the month.

***UPDATE: This story was updated to include new comments and information about the House’s plan to pass a continuation budget instead of a full budget. The headline was also changed.