Aguirre: Lawmakers to stay in special session

District 24 State Senator Amanda Aguirre said she hopes lawmakers will restore some of the money to the state budget cut last month by the Legislature in Monday's special session called by Gov. Jan Brewer.

Aguirre said it was her understanding lawmakers would address four bills dealing with kindergarten through 12th grade education, senior health care, services for special needs children and per diem expenses legislators receive. 

She noted, lawmakers will stay in special session even if they adjourn later Monday, but she did not expect there to be a marathon session continuing into the early morning hours as there had been last week before the close of the fiscal year.

"I was glad the governor vetoed the bill that will privatize the prisons, I was strongly in opposition to that," Aguirre said. "But I'm getting a lot of letters from all over my district, especially isolated areas, Quartzsite and Wellton that WACOG (Western Arizona Council of Governments) sent out letters notifying seniors their in-home health care assistance will no longer be provided."

Aguirre also said she does not know the exact details of all the bills but hopes lawmakers will move forward. She pointed out for the last several weeks lawmakers' per diem expenses of $60 a day has been reduced to $20 because the session dragged on passed 110 days. However, since the governor called a special session they will again receive $60.

However, one of the bills Monday calls for legislators not to receive further per diem expenses unless they are working in their Phoenix offices, Aguirre said. Because she works on the Senate's appropriations committee she added that she is likely to be called back into session at any time after Monday in order to try to help resolve the state's projected $3 billion deficit for the 2009/10 fiscal year that began on July 1.

According to published reports, Gov. Brewer has proposed to put on November's ballot an initiative to let voters decide to support her idea of a one cent hike to the sales tax increasing it to 6.6 percent for the next three years that could raise $1 billion a year.

 Brewer acknowledged if voters rejected her plan it could mean a $220 million cut in state aid to education and less money for health and welfare programs too. But she was quoted as saying that, "I'm betting and hoping once they look at the tax referendum and it's on the ballot they would vote for it."

Many Democratic lawmakers, including Aguirre, have previously rejected the one cent sales tax as regressive to low-income wage earners having to spend a larger proportion of their take-home pay on taxes than those with higher incomes do.

"All the e-mails I get from Yuma and La Paz are against the one cent sales tax increase and I'll support that because that's what my constituents want," Aguirre said.

District 24 Rep. Lynne Pancrazi noted the first bill will guarantee $1.2 million  more to eduction than the bill passed by the Legislature on June 4 and a bill restoring money for senior health care will allow the state to access $1.7 billion in Medicade funds.

Pancrazi also said that by putting the sales tax before the voters the governor is hedging her bets but it may not pass and the state will lose the estimated $1 billion yearly revenue and that it is the responsibility of elected officials to put together a budget.

"Until now, the majority leaders in the Legislature has not invited the minority to draft a bill but it looks like were going to work together and put through a budget that works best for the whole state. I'm very optimistic," she said.

The special session began at 1:30 p.m. Monday. Pancrazi said she hoped there would be a vote on the bills by 8 or 9 p.m. and expects they will all pass and Gov. Brewer will sign them. While the Legislature will take a periodic recess they will remain in special session and have set a deadline of Oct. 1 for straightening out the budget, she noted.

The other District 24 Rep., Russ Jones was unavailable for comment.