By Jamar Younger | State Affairs
The Legislature will reconvene Tuesday afternoon after taking an extended break over Easter weekend.
With regular committee hearings complete, lawmakers will spend the next few weeks in Committee of the Whole and third read hearings to amend, approve or reject bills that have cleared earlier hurdles.
From there, those measures will head to the governor’s desk to either be signed into law or struck by her veto pen.
This week will also feature a utility board election that could validate the efforts of a prominent conservative advocacy group that’s poured money into voter registration and aims to use the race as a midterm springboard.
Here are five things to watch this week:
Legislative Republicans want to stop cities from giving tax breaks to developers
GOP lawmakers are advancing a bill to curb cities’ ability to offer tax breaks to developers through the Government Properly Lease Excise Tax program. The measure, Senate Bill 1293 (GPLET; abatement; limitation) would restrict GPLET abatements for cities and towns while exempting school districts. The Arizona Tax Research Association, which has said GPLET serves as a vehicle for large developer tax breaks, backs the bill, arguing cities and counties are giving away other jurisdictions’ property tax dollars for economic development, while Democrats counter that the measure would hamper local housing initiatives.
