By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Star
The state’s high court this morning upheld the legality of an assessment on hospitals that helps pay for health care for 400,000 Arizonans.
In a unanimous decision, the justices rejected arguments by the attorney for some Republican lawmakers that the levy, approved by the Legislature in 2013, was illegally enacted.
They argued that it really was a tax, making it subject to constitutional requirements for a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate. The measure passed with a simple majority.
But Chief Justice Scott Bales, writing for the court, said there is an exception to that requirement for assessments that are approved not by lawmakers but instead by a state agency. And that, he said, is the case with the $290 million being raised here.
