Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers had an interesting take on how Gov. Ducey’s recent vetoes could be a positive. “It kind of unifies people in one way,” he said. “It makes them uniformly mad.”/ Photo by Howard Fischer / Capitol Media Services 2019
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
The decision by Gov. Doug Ducey to veto bills because he has not seen a budget will only make it harder for Arizona lawmakers to reach that goal, says Senate President Karen Fann.
It’s bad enough that Ducey seems to be ignoring the fact that Republicans do not have a lot of wiggle room to line up the votes, Fann told Capitol Media Services.
That’s because it will take all 16 Senate Republicans and 31 in the House to approve any spending and tax-cut package. And that, in turn, empowers each GOP legislator to hold out for his or her priorities.
“One person can hold things up,” Fann said.
But what’s worse, she said, is that many of the 22 bills he vetoed on Friday were crafted and sponsored by lawmakers who were the most supportive of the $12.8 billion spending plan and $1.9 billion in tax cuts. And all Ducey managed to do is annoy his friends.
“Many of these members are the ones that have been team players with getting the budget together,” Fann said, trying to get other Republican holdouts on board.
