{"id":2268840,"date":"2024-06-16T08:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T12:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/accounting-maneuvers-esa-changes-but-no-tax-hikes-in-arizona-budget\/"},"modified":"2024-06-16T08:56:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T12:56:47","slug":"accounting-maneuvers-esa-changes-but-no-tax-hikes-in-arizona-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/accounting-maneuvers-esa-changes-but-no-tax-hikes-in-arizona-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona budget includes accounting shifts, ESA modifications, without raising taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faccounting-maneuvers-esa-changes-but-no-tax-hikes-in-arizona-budget%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2268840&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Arizona lawmakers successfully passed \u2063a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/czechs-to-seek-lower-loan-from-eu-recovery-fund\/\" title=\"Czechs aim for reduced EU recovery fund loan.\">state\u200d budget<\/a> after extensive\u200c late-night \u2063negotiations on \u200ca\u200d Saturday. The budget, \u2064which addressed a $1.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-californias-budget-surplus-isnt-due-to-progressive-tax-policies\/\" title=\"No, California\u2019s Budget Surplus Isn\u2019t Due To Progressive Tax Policies\">4 billion deficit<\/a>, included numerous agency cuts and fund transfers. The legislative process involved multiple amendments and smaller \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-minimum-wage-increase-in-next-covid-relief-bill-republicans-warn-the-minimum-wage-increase-will-kill-small-businesses\/\" title=\"No minimum wage increase in next COVID-relief bill, Republicans warn the minimum wage increase will kill small businesses\">budget bills<\/a>\u200b leading up to the final approval of the\u200d general \u200bappropriations act\u200c late in the evening. The vote was bipartisan, with \u2063members of both political parties voting both in favor and against \u2062it. Representative Consuelo Hernandez \u2064from Tucson noted that,\u2063 despite its imperfections, the budget had its positive aspects.\u200d Additionally, specific issues such as regulations for the\u200b Empowerment Scholarship Account and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/addiction-recovery-services-grant-possible-in-pennsylvania\/\" title=\"Possible addiction recovery services grant available in Pennsylvania.\">opioid settlement funds<\/a>\u200c were also addressed during the discussions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 Arizona lawmakers narrowly passed a budget on Saturday after hours of negotiations into the night on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The budget was one that entailed many cuts and fund transfers to combat a $1.4 billion deficit. Cuts were made across agencies, and several amendments were made between the original budget draft and the final one. There are several smaller budget bills that were voted on throughout the day, but the general appropriations act was not passed by both chambers until late into the evening.<\/p>\n<p>The vote was bipartisan with both Republicans and Democrats voting \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really proud that even though it was not a perfect budget there are still wins,\u201d Rep. Consuelo Hernandez, D-Tucson said.<\/p>\n<p>Issues such as Empowerment Scholarship Account regulations and opioid settlement language were among the reasons for the votes against.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Matt Gress, who was the budget director under former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, explained his vote against the budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been involved in the Arizona state budget since 2013, including serving as the state\u2019s budget director,\u201d the Phoenix Republican said in a statement. \u201cThe state budget is a policy document and a reflection of priorities. This year\u2019s seems more focused on just \u2018getting it done\u2019 than \u2018doing it right.\u2019 I voted \u2018no.\u2019 There\u2019s a reason there is bipartisan opposition. This is not a budget that reflects the shared priorities of Arizonans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Laura Terech, D-Phoenix, tweeted ahead of the vote that the budget did give a start to some ESA restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first several budget bills have passed. Now we\u2019re returning to vote on the rest, including the K-12 bill. I am looking forward to voting through the first ESA reforms we\u2019ve seen in the state of Arizona since the inception of vouchers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-sends-740-billion-green-energy-healthcare-package-to-bidens-desk\/\" title=\"House Sends 0 Billion Green Energy, Healthcare Package To Biden\u2019s Desk\">vote concludes<\/a> with a contentious legislative session hallmarked by several resignations, an abortion law repeal, and a controversial border and immigration ballot referral vote. Still, the Legislature with two seat Republican majorities in each chamber managed to finish before the conclusion of fiscal year 2024, which is June 30.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will never see a perfect budget, that is delusional. Truly,\u201d Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, said before voting in favor.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gov. Katie Hobbs indicated that she would sign the budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArizonans can rest assured that their state has a balanced budget. I\u2019m thankful for members of the legislature who came together, compromised, and passed this bipartisan agreement,\u201d her office said in a statement shortly after the package\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arizona lawmakers approved a budget after extensive late-night negotiations, addressing a $1.4 billion deficit through numerous cuts and fund transfers. The budget, passed narrowly, saw multiple amendments from its original draft, affecting various agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2268841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/iStock-157308559-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2268840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/iStock-157308559-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2268841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}