By AZ Mirror
After a planned budget vote evaporated on Thursday and the chamber unexpectedly adjourned for the weekend, Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives met behind closed doors for nearly three hours Friday to discuss how they should proceed to finalize a state spending plan.
And it appears that, instead of working with the Senate and Gov. Katie Hobbs to strike a deal on a full year’s budget before the June 30 end of the fiscal year, the lower chamber will instead pass a short-term spending plan that will keep government operating past that deadline so negotiations can continue deeper into the summer.
“The House is not going to be forced into a take-it-or-leave-it deal that doesn’t reflect the will of our members or the people we represent,” House Speaker Steve Montenegro said in a written statement. “We will do what responsible legislators should do: take action to keep government running and protect Arizona taxpayers.”
A top Senate Republican panned that idea, however.
“My only thought is I truly don’t know what he thinks can be negotiated that after June 30th that couldn’t have been negotiated in January, February, March, April, May, and last week,” Senate President Pro Tem T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, told the Mirror.
