Ducey inks $11.8B budget, including coronavirus relief
Gov. Doug Ducey signed an $11.8 billion budget Saturday that includes economic aid for Arizonans affected by the new coronavirus.
Legislators passed the basic, socalled “skinny” budget last week to ensure that the state government can continue operating into the new fiscal year. They then adjourned temporarily as a public health precaution, shelving any major new programs or tax cuts on their way out the door.
“This is not the budget we envisioned in January. But our world has changed. We are facing the realities of a public health emergency, and our priorities and our decisions have had to adjust accordingly,” Ducey wrote in a letter to the secretary of state and legislative leaders on Saturday.
Lawmakers tentatively plan to return to the Capitol on April 13. Several have said they intend to expand on the budget the governor just signed. Whatever legislation they may have envisioned at the beginning of the session in January will likely be cast in the harsh light of a new economic reality as joblessness rises.
The governor acknowledged the $50 million in relief included in the new budget will not be the last step lawmakers take to address the public health ramifications and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our job isn’t done with this package of budget bills. There will certainly be more work to do and many tough decisions ahead of us as we better understand the full impact of this crisis on our citizens and economy,” he wrote.
Part of a bipartisan deal forged in the state Senate, the relief funds can be used by Ducey’s administration to provide housing assistance, aid for businesses, nonprofits and health care providers with fewer than 50 employees, and assistance for food banks as well as organizations serving people experiencing homelessness.
Democrats in the state House of Representatives raised concerns that the plan leaves too much discretion to the governor, rather than specifying where and how the relief funds will be spent.
“I don’t feel confident that it will be spent the way it should be spent,” Rep. Randy Friese, D-Tucson, said when senators rolled out details of the relief package March 19.
Meanwhile, Ducey’s office has not said how tenants, businesses or nonprofits might apply for any of this assistance.
The funds come at an urgent time, though. Nearly 30,000 Arizonans applied for unemployment benefits the week beginning March 16 — about eight times the number that applied the previous week and an onslaught big enough to crash the state’s website for jobless claims.
The budget Ducey signed also includes money for the third planned installment of pay raises for teachers and funding that lawmakers had previously cut from school districts, known as district additional assistance, which legislators are restoring over several years. The budget also includes $11 million for locks, HVAC and fire suppression systems in state prisons after whistleblowers raised concerns about the severe dangers of broken locks inside the Corrections Department.