By Hank Stephenson and Ben Giles | Arizona Capitol Times
Three weeks after the Senate surprised the Capitol community by unilaterally moving forward with a bare bones budget proposal, Republicans in the House and Senate came to an agreement on a spending plan they hope the governor will accept.
The House and Senate approved the $9.23 billion budget for fiscal year 2015 on Monday evening. The vote was mostly along party lines in both chambers, with most bills clearing the floor 36-19 in the House and 17-12 in the Senate.
Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Phoenix, cast a yes vote for HB2703 after securing an amendment to provide $125,000 for the Arizona Commission on African-American Affairs.
Though much of the budget remained the same as the original plan put forward by the Senate, several hard-fought battles over line item appropriations – especially for K-12 education, universities and child welfare – ended with a compromise that increased spending from what the Senate proposed, but was still lower than the budget proposed by the House.
