What We Accomplished

At the beginning of the year I listed what I thought would be priorities in the legislature:  Illegal immigration, water and taxes.  Here's what I believe we accomplished:

 We did pass, and have signed into law, an "employer sanctions" bill.  This had to be done, but I'm not sure we crafted the best possible solution.  The problem will not be solved until the federal government does two things:  close the border and issue a "right to work" card that is not easily forged.  When those two things happen, then we can be assured that anyone who hires someone not eligible to work in this country has done so knowingly and willingly and can be punished accordingly.

   On water, we passed three bills that were the recommendations of the Statewide Water Advisory Group (SWAG), a committee of 52 individuals who were all knowledgeable in water issues, including Maureen George of Lake Havasu City and Supervisor Pete Byers of Kingman.  Among the features was a provision that confirms that a county can deny (with a unanimous vote of the supervisors) permission to build where it believes the water is insufficient.  This is an important step in curbing unbridled growth, but the battle to enact it was hard-fought.

   We were not able to enact meaningful business tax reform this session.  The Senate, whose budget for the most part was the one passed, was reluctant to "spend" much money for tax relief.  They did agree to a plan for accelerated depreciation (about $4 million) and an acceleration of the business property ratio phase-down (about $3 million).  The House proposed 2.5% corporate income tax reduction and insurance premium and research and development tax credits were not included.  With the economy slowing down, this was the year to enact tax reforms that would have helped existing businesses and been incentives for new or relocating companies.  We will, of course, try again next year.