JEROD MACDONALD-EVOY
Arizona Mirror
Republican lawmakers grilled Gov. Katie Hobbs’ budget team Tuesday over her proposed budget that they have already dismissed as an “unserious mess.”
Last week, Hobbs released her proposed $16 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which details how she wants to tackle what her office estimated would be a $406 million deficit with a number of proposals that Republican lawmakers have already declared dead on arrival.
The biggest objections were to Hobbs’ proposals to curtail the state’s universal school voucher program — changes the governor believes will mean nearly 50,000 fewer students use vouchers — and her economic projections, which predict a deficit half as small as legislative analysts.
But GOP lawmakers also keyed in on how Hobbs is proposing reducing the deficit by clawing back money already given to a variety of projects — with nearly all of the targeted spending inserted into last year’s budget by Republican lawmakers.
“Tell us how partisanship did not play a role here?” Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, asked of Hobbs’ staff.
During last year’s budget negotiations, Republicans set aside money for a variety of highway projects and $15 million to the Prescott Rodeo, among other things. Republicans in Tuesday’s joint appropriations meeting claimed that they were unaware of Democratic initiatives from the budget that were equally hit.
