Brewer and Legislature: Special Session this week

 Hey folks - this week is the time to be hitting the capitol visibly about the latest round of budget cuts and AZ prison privatization. Let them know when Marcia's Friends are there...

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Special Session: Get ready for Thursday

AZ Capitol Times
By Yellow Sheet Report

Published: November 12, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Gov. Jan Brewer and GOP leaders are expected to meet this week to discuss a special session, which is still being penciled in for Nov. 17-19. House Speaker Kirk Adams and Senate President Bob Burns both told our reporter that they were speaking with members about the budget changes that would be voted on and both were upbeat about the possibility of the session happening.

“It looks to me like it’s pretty good,” Adams said. Burns said he was “very close” to securing both the support needed and the commitments from those members to come to the Capitol. “But close doesn’t get us over the finish line,” he said, explaining that the dates aren’t set in stone. Burns added that, if the right combination of members can’t be at the Capitol next week, leadership would schedule the special session for Thanksgiving week. Still, Senate leadership is aiming for a one-day special session next Thursday. But that would depend on whether Democrats would cooperate to waive rules, a source told our reporter today.

Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia said he and Burns have talked about the possibility of waiving the rules to do the special session in one day. Garcia said he is waiting for feedback from members.

AEA Update: AZ Leg Special Session

Here's the latest legislative update from Doug Kilgore at the Arizona Education Association. We have some common interests, and they are aggressive activists and can be good allies. I think we need to support a lot of their efforts here - Doug embedded action links to make it easy. We need to start engaging with them in this dialogue about the prison industrial complex as well, since they see where it all begins and might have some ideas for models of education and institutional management which are built from restorative, not retributive, forms of justice - and how to incorporate those concepts at the different grade levels.

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November 9-13, 2009

This Week's Issue: 

• $144 Million Cuts to K-12 if Special Session Called Take Action Now
• Every School Employee in Every School Organizing for Change
• Arizona Budget Deficit and Fiscal Mismanagement
• News Links

$144 Million Cuts to K-12 if Special Session Called Take Action Now
Will there be a special session to cut an additional $144 million dollars from public schools? What last week seemed likely, today seems uncertain. Again, the governor is attempting to work with Senate President Burns and House Speaker Adams on a partisan strategy to force a budget decision that includes Republican votes only. The proposed special session budget includes cuts but no additional revenue.   

The proposal includes over $500 million in reduced state expenditures for the current fiscal year (FY10 runs through June 30, 2010).  For K-12 education, the proposal will include a reduction of $144 million taken from soft capital.  The $144 million amount represents the maximum amount that legislative and executive staff believe the state can cut education without violating the federal stimulus' maintenance of efforts (MOE) provisions. Services for Arizona's most vulnerable citizens will be hard hit by a proposed cut of over $140 million.

Partisan strategies like this allow the most extreme anti-public education legislators to hold out for deeper cuts to our schools and vital state services in return for their support on the budget deal. Instead, the Governor, Speaker Adams, and President Burns should reach across the aisle to work with both Democrats and Republicans to build a comprehensive budget solution that includes a combination of tax and revenue options to balance our state's budget and avoid massive cuts to education and vital services. Contact the governor and your legislators and urge them to support a comprehensive bipartisan budget solution. 

Every School Employee in Every School Organizing for Change

Learn How You Can Help! School employees all over Arizona are organizing for change. Attacks on the basic rights of teachers passed by the legislature on September 4 have provoked Arizona school employees to take action. These legislative attacks are viewed as retribution for effective efforts by school employees and parents to stop massive budget cuts to our public schools.

Every school employee can get involved in this grassroots movement to repeal the punitive legislative attacks on Arizona's education profession by organizing a petition drive at their campus or work site. Following the petition drive to repeal these punitive laws, the AEA March4Schools movement will organize school site reports on the impact of budget cuts on students and school employees. Learn how you can get involved at your school site. 

Arizona Budget Deficit and Fiscal Mismanagement

The Pew Center for the States released a report on state budget fiscal mismanagement.  Arizona's budget mismanagement is second among the states. Only California is worse.

Arizona legislators and governors have spent the last 30 years cutting taxes. When the economy has expanded they, have cut taxes. When the economy was in recession, they cut taxes and spending. We have eliminated a well-constructed, broad-based tax base that existed in the 1960s and 1970s for a system full of loopholes for corporations and the wealthiest Arizonans which is overly reliant on the sales tax.

Our economy has suffered for a lack of basic government support for infrastructure and quality schools. Major corporations are leaving Arizona as a result. Learn more about our state's fiscal crisis and examine solutions offered by the AEA and Children's Action Alliance.  

News Links

Breaking the cycle

If you were to grade Arizona's education system, it would be much closer to an 'F' for failure than 'A' for amazing.  The state spends only $7,338 per pupil per year, well below the national average of $9,683, according to U.S. Department Education, and Arizona has also consistently ranked very near the bottom in comparison to other states in educational achievement. 

Special session may be faltering 

Thank goodness the Legislature doesn't send out those "save the date" notices about upcoming events. It seems the prospects for a special session next week are getting a little wobbly about the knees, amid concerns about whether there are enough votes to act.

Education chief fears teacher layoffs

Arizona schools may be forced into massive teachers' layoffs next year unless an answer is found to the state's budget crisis, according to Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. 

  

Arizona may sue tuition groups holding donations

The Arizona attorney general is considering suing some non-profit organizations that distribute private-school scholarships funded by tax credits, to prevent them from holding millions in unspent donations, state lawmakers were told Thursday.

Lawmaker questions unspent tuition donations

The Arizona Attorney General's Office should explore whether the state can access millions of unspent tuition tax credit dollars in light of information presented Tuesday, one state lawmaker said.

Contact Us  
Please contact Doug Kilgore, Government Relations Organizational Consultant, doug.kilgore@arizonaea.org for questions and comments. 

More Dirty Legislative Tricks at the Capitol

Well, I think I was quickly removed from Russ Pearce's email list after posting one of his messages, but Doug still keeps me pretty informed. Here's tonight's AEA Legislative Update from Doug Kilgore:

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Burns and Adams Ploy to Force Governor to Sign Flawed Budget

August 18, 2009, 6:00 p.m.

Take Action Today!

AEA was at the capitol today fighting for a fiscally responsible budget that invests in public education. Senate President Burns decided to once again delay the budget process in an effort to force a bad budget on Arizona. He is once again holding the budget bills passed by the Senate and House in order to garner corporate support to pressure the governor to sign a fiscally irresponsible budget that contains massive cuts to public education and a tax break sought by the largest corporations in Arizona.

Here is how the Republican legislative leadership's newest political ploy works.

The Senate met briefly today when Senate President Burns had them abruptly adjourned until 1:00 p.m. on Thursday. This makes it impossible for the budget to be sent to the governor until then. There was a high probability the governor would have vetoed the budget package today since she quickly vetoed an almost identical package on July 1.

The Senate President now has all the budget bills that have been passed by both the House and Senate in his control except for one, the Revenue Budget Reconciliation Bill. That bill had to be passed by the House and sent back to the Senate before Burns could transmit a budget package back to the House who is required to send it to the governor.

The House continued to meet today and was able to pass the missing budget bill by 3:00 p.m. So, it is clear that it would have been easy for Burns and House Speaker Adams to send the budget package to the governor today. Burns and House Speaker Adams chose a different strategy.

They chose to adjourn for two days.

The budget package Senate President Burns will be sending the governor is almost identical to the one she vetoed on July 1.

It includes massive cuts to public education, nearly $500 million.

It eliminates 2500 state jobs, cutting deeply into vital services to our citizens.

The budget shifts the property tax burden from corporations to homeowners for school district and municipal bond and override elections. This will make it more difficult to pass such measures.

It contains language that removes some basic employment rights of teachers, although these policy issues have no impact on the budget.

It is not fiscally responsible. It does not include revenue to help balance our state's huge budget deficit, especially in FY 2011 and FY 2012 when the federal stimulus money will be gone and deficits are expected to grow to over $2.5 billion again. It does not include a sales tax referral as called for by the governor on numerous occasions. It does not offer any other revenue sources as an alternative to the sales tax.

It permanently repeals the statewide county school equalization tax which eliminates $250 million of revenue. Considering the shortfall of state revenue to fund public education and other vital services, it makes not sense to repeal this school tax at this time. The governor does not favor the repeal at this time. According to her spokesperson, Paul Senseman, Brewer never wanted an immediate repeal. Instead, with the state facing a $3 billion deficit, she wanted the levy to come back, and then be phased out over the next three years.

When the legislature sent an almost identical budget to the governor on June 30, she called it a "flawed budget" that was "fiscally irresponsible with devastating cuts to public education." (Read the entire July 1 veto letter from the governor.)

So, why did the Republican leadership of the House and Senate choose to adjourn for two days rather than send the governor this budget?

The legal deadline for counties to begin collecting the statewide county school equalization tax was yesterday when counties were required to send out the tax notices. But, somehow, it was announced today that the Maricopa County Assessor is willing to wait until Friday and the Pima County Assessor is also delaying carrying out their duty.

This delay along with the delay in sending the governor the bills will allow for two days of corporate purchased or orchestrated media pressure to be focused on the governor in an attempt to coerce her to sign the budget.

They will wait until Thursday and send her a message the day before the new "deadline" for property tax notices to go out. Their message will be simple. Tomorrow, the governor will be increasing "your property taxes by $250 million" if she vetoes the permanent repeal of the school equalization tax. (They won't mention that the actual impact on the owner of a $200K home is only $5 per month and it is the largest corporations who will benefit from the repeal.)

The governor needs to hear from regular citizens over the next few days. She needs our support to stand up to the greed of corporations who are trying to avoid their responsibility to help support public education and vital services to our citizens.

There is a better way to solve this budget deficit. It is time for the governor to sit down in bipartisan discussions with the Republican and Democratic leadership of the House and Senate. Senator Rebecca Rios (D-Pinal County), the Democratic Caucus Assistant Leader, told the Senate today that a budget could be finished within a week through bipartisan negotiations.

Contact the governor today. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ask your friends, coworkers, and neighbors to contact the governor, too.

Keep up with the budget issues and citizen action at www.march4schools.com

Hitting the Radar

I was going to post Governor Brewer's public schedule for this week, but the current one isn't on her website.

Go figure. I'm sure that's just because of all the uncertainty about the budget negotiations.

A big part of me wants to camp out at the Capitol overnight and harangue all the Republicans as they do their dirty deeds in the morning, but it just isn't worth the trouble it would bring, and I'd advise other folks against it. Those people criminalize anyone who disagrees; they'll just laugh at us and throw away the key.

Along those lines, I don't think I'm under the radar anymore, so my friends who have not already been acting as if my communications are hot should now proceed on that assumption - and certainly don't take seriously any suggestions or inferences I make about demonstrating (like at the FBI's office or the Governor's appearances) unless you plan to dance with the sheriff, the feds, or the state police; I want to empty the prisons, not fill them. I honestly don't know what the law says is okay anymore in terms of protest.

As for myself, once I give them reason I'll be lucky if all that happens to me is a booking and a trip to Tent City. Copwatchers, please track me down if they take me away. I waive all rights to confidentiality if you show up at the asylum gates. In all probability I'll be getting strapped down and slated to have high voltage sent through my brain (everyone knows that women who resist domination are clinically insane). Even if you hear me say I want them to hook me up, storm the damn place! Otherwise it'll take me two years to regain my memory.

Okay. Enough histrionics. Leave the psych wards and good doctors alone. My family will begin to get worried. Just know that none of us are really "safe". You might even want to steer clear of me for awhile.

I'll keep posting pertinent (or just entertaining) information about government activities as long as I can locate it; I do think it's healthy for our public servants to expect to be held accountable - all in accordance with the finest of American (non-violent) traditions - and to know that we can find them as easily as they can send goons after us. As far as I'm aware, there's nothing against the law about knowing where our elected officials are doing their public duties.

Not yet, anyway.

In that spirit: Russell Pearce's office in the State Senate is in room #110. His phone number there is 926-5760. His email is rpearce@azleg.gov. I understand he's not at all the hateful, racist ogre some have made him out to be. Since this is the end of the regular legislative session - and he's worked so hard on our behalf - send him some dandelions or something if you can swing it, and tell him I said hello.

Last thing: if you really plan to hit the legislature (that's just a figure of speech, folks) before the final, final budget deal is made, look for the Education Committee meeting - the Appropriations Committee wouldn't pass the leadership's agenda last night, so Burns (President of the Senate and long-time champion of a Woman's Right to Choose) just moved the budget package to a committee that I imagine will rubber-stamp it by the time the day is through.

So, as evidenced by that move (and the governor suing the legislature), even diversity within the Republican party isn't tolerated. End of discussion; Arizona-style democracy inaction triumphs once again. Our last great hope is the continued immigration of enlightened beings (or a mass alien abduction of the right-wing....).

Goodnight, June.