Ducey signs tax break and $1B university funding bill
Monday was the final day for him to act on proposals
Gov. Doug Ducey tied a bow on the 2017 legislative session, signing a final 27 bills into law and vetoing six on the final day for him to act on proposals passed by the Legislature.
He started the bill-signing flurry with his signature on a $1 billion university bonding package that, Ducey said, will ensure continued higher-education excellence “for decades.”
He also approved bills that fit with the economic-development and social-welfare goals he outlined in his January State of the State speech.
He vetoed a measure that would have opened Arizona to industrial-hemp cultivation (Senate Bill 1337), saying it lacked the funding to get it started.
He also vetoed Senate Bill 1384, which would have clarified First Amendment protections for student journalists. The governor said while he supports freespeech protections, he fears “unintended consequences” on high-school campuses.
The actions bring to 11 the number of bills the governor has vetoed out of the 353 bills lawmakers sent him.
Monday’s bill blizzard started with a private signing ceremony for the university package, the hardest-fought part of this year’s budget debate.
Surrounded by university officials and the three schools’ brightly dressed mascots, Ducey signed House Bill 2547, which will provide about $30 million a year over the next decade to help the schools fund building repairs. Money will also go to construction projects to further research-and-development efforts. The schools will match the funding.
Ducey praised the deal, saying it will boost the state’s economic competitiveness. When asked what more, if anything, he will do to restore the $99 million that was cut from university budgets two years ago, he suggested the state’s growth and resulting tax revenues should help.
The Republican governor also signed several bills that lower taxes and were finalized after the state budget was approved.
House Bill 2191 will increase by $10 million the tax credits available for investors in small businesses. Senate Bill 1416 extends a job-creation tax credit for major manufacturers, such as Intel, and allows local government to keep more of the sales tax generated from such projects to help pay for infrastructure. It is estimated to cost $1.4 million to $3 million over the next three years.
The much-disputed bill expanding the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program also was signed into law. House Bill 2372 creates new re-
strictions on a cash-aid program for low-income families while expanding the benefit for some to two years from the current one year. Still, it keeps Arizona’s program as the strictest in the nation.
Some of the bills were part of the horse trading that led to the state-budget deal, such as Senate Bill 1152, which will require cities and towns to hold any election related to taxes only in November of even-numbered years. Several House Republicans, including Reps. Anthony Kern of Glendale and Kevin Payne of Peoria, pushed for the bill.
The cities appealed to Ducey to consider a veto, arguing the bill takes away the authority elected city and town council members have to decide local-funding issues.
Making cities wait two years between elections could leave local governments without the ability to deal with a funding emergency, the League of Arizona Cities and Towns wrote. Besides, the letter stated, “the state does not impose the same requirements on itself.”
Last year, lawmakers and Ducey put two measures on the 2015 ballot, including Proposition 123, which advanced state land-trust money to education, and Prop. 124, which made changes sought by firefighters and public-safety officials to their retirement system.
The governor signed HB 2410, which adds heart- and lung-related health issues to the list of ailments that must be considered for coverage under worker’s compensation programs. It was a priority for Rep. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, to support the budget.
The governor also signed a bill that marries his push for less government and a desire for a more compassionate approach to people needing a second chance.
House Bill 2091 removes a requirement that food-stamp beneficiaries submit fingerprints to qualify for aid. Ducey’s office argued the state has several other methods to check for fraud and the fingerprint requirement was redundant. It should save the program about $400,000 a year.
The governor vetoed a bill designed to exempt the state Charter School Board from certain rulemaking procedures, but also added a process for people to object to charter policies. Ducey, in a rare signing letter, said while he supports fewer regulations, the extra requirements in the bill were too onerous.