Weekly Report

Sorry I missed last week's "Weekly Report." Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day!

We are making good progress on getting the budget in place. The Governor has decided that she won't consider the budget until there is also a "comprehensive" plan for immigration integrated into it. So, leadership has been working very hard on both issues. We had meetings on Thursday with small groups to discuss the proposed spending and tax cut plans, and to review the "Immigration Onmibus." Here's the ironic part: if the Governor had not vetoed every one of the illegal immigration bills we sent her this year, there would have already been a comprehensive plan in place.

The onmibus bill includes 13 separate provisions, most of which have already passed both houses. There have been some changes to make them more palatable to the Gov., plus the addition of a Joint Legislative Committee on Border Security charged with ensuring that all border related matters are in accordance with legislative intent.

The proposed budget calls for spending of $9.87 Billion, an increase of 11.5% over last years spending. It is important to note that without any action from the legislature, spending would have increased 7.6% because of the formulas put into place by voter initiatives. Some of the highlights:

       $345M for transportation infrastructure
        135M for border security and illegal immigration measures
        105M over the formula increases for education, for districts to implement        programs under local control: all-day kindergarten if they wish, teacher        salary increases, or whatever the districts think is most important

         71.9M in property tax reduction
        155.5M in income tax reductions

This budget spends more that I would personally like to see; however, it must get through both houses of the legislature and receive the Governor's signature. There are compromises that must be made to insure that both things happen, and overall there are more things to like in this plan than to hate. Fine tuning is still going on, with additonal input being requested from members. I hope we will pass this out in the coming week, and most importantly, the Governor will sign it.

Even though we are still hard at work in Phoenix, the campaign season has started in earnest. I've attended several gatherings throughout the district and have been pleased with the warm response my re-election effort has received. I am still looking for nominating petition signatures and the $5 contributions that will qualify me as a "clean elections" candidate. Once we have completed this session, I will be back on the circuit visiting all the clubs and bringing everyone up to date on what the final outcome of the budget/immigration legislation has been.

I was pleased to be the guest of the Hualapai tribe last weekend for a tour of their Grand Canyon West Resort, complete with a helicopter tour that landed at the base of the canyon, followed by a pontoon boat ride up the Colorado River. Seeing the Grand Canyon from both the air and looking upward was truly spectacular. If you haven't investigated the western portion of the Canyon, you have missed a great opportunity to see the grandeur of the area without the congestion found at the South Rim.

Until next week,

Nancy