Senate budget vote postponed amid signs of possible GOP deal

The Arizona Senate on Wednesday pushed back its plans to vote on the chamber’s state budget proposal, with signs pointing to a possible deal with Republicans in the state House of Representatives that would avoid a government shutdown in less than two weeks. 

Discussion and approval of amendments to the Senate’s budget plan are now set for Thursday morning, with a vote on the bills tentatively set for later the same day. 

Senate President Warren Petersen told lawmakers on Wednesday that the drafting of amendments — including requests from House Democrats and Republicans — caused the delay. That means that at least some House Republicans are finally negotiating with Senate Republicans after leaving the collaborative process several weeks ago to create their own separate budget proposal. 

While lawmakers from both parties in the Senate, along with House Democrats and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, negotiated a bipartisan budget plan, House Republicans made their own plan with numerous provisions that Hobbs has said are non-starters. 

House Democrats boycotted the vote on the House GOP budget plan last week, calling it a sham and a waste of time. Even John Kavanagh, the Republican chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, criticized the approach, saying that Hobbs had made it clear she wouldn’t sign the House Republicans’ plan. 

The separate budget plan from the House GOP has also put a strain on legislative staff, who were working long hours last week on that plan and will have to do the same if the House takes up the Senate plan. 

Both chambers of the legislature, along with the governor, must agree on a budget plan by June 30 to avoid a state government shutdown. 

The GOP’s chief architects of both the House and Senate budget proposals have said that the plans are not that far apart from one another, but there are several key differences. 

The $17.3 billion House plan, approved by a vote of 31-0 late last Friday, includes additional oversight and eligibility requirements for the state’s Medicaid program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps. 

That plan also includes around $100 million less in K-12 public school funding and around $260 million less in Medicaid spending than the $17.6 billion Senate version. 

If the Senate votes to approve its budget proposal on Thursday, as planned, it would still need a vote from the House before it’s sent to Hobbs for her signature.