Summary Report for AzTA

Transcription

1 52 nd Arizona Legislature First Regular Session (2015) Summary Report for AzTA The 52 nd Arizona Legislature, First Regular Session, began on January 12, 2015 and concluded its business April 3 at 3:37 a.m. after a mere 81 days of debate on 1,163 bills introduced. This was the earliest adjournment of the Arizona Legislature since As of April 8, 226 bills have been signed into law, while six have been vetoed. Those numbers will grow in the coming days. The session began by welcoming the new Governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, to deliver the State of the State Address to a welcoming group of like-minded conservative Republicans, who hold solid majorities in both the House and Senate. The overall split of Republicans to Democrats remained roughly the same in both, but the leadership teams in both bodies became even more conservative than in previous years, giving the new Governor a friendly and philosophically aligned legislative majority with whom to work. Also, Senate President Andy Biggs clearly set expectations when he predicted a 65- day legislative session, virtually unheard of in modern times. The Arizona legislative session rarely ends in less than 100 days, and in some years can stretch many months beyond even that unofficial (and often ignored) deadline. At 81 days, however, Biggs desire for a quick session with a minimum of controversy was largely realized. The following is a brief summary of specific issues that dominated the 2014 Arizona Legislature. State Budget During Arizona legislative sessions, the state s budget tends to overshadow most other issues. In 2015, the budget eclipsed all other issues. The dramatic cuts made necessary by the desire to balance the state s FY 16 finances without any revenue increases the primary goal advanced by Governor Ducey, President Biggs and Speaker David Gowan were, by far, the most dominant legislative headlines in This was aided by a decided emphasis by House and Senate leaders against 1

2 highly controversial legislation (i.e., religious freedom ) that has marked so many recent sessions. Governor Ducey, his budgeting team, and GOP legislative leaders produced the fiscal year budget for the State of Arizona, heading into a significant structural deficit, in record time. The various bills making up the overall budget were approved by the House and Senate on Saturday, March 7 the earliest date in recent memory, many weeks ahead of the typical time frame for a budget package. It was not without controversy, however, as many members complained of having little time to review the details of the various budget bills prior to voting on them, and that the Appropriations Committee processes were not substantive, but merely an academic exercise before the bills proceeded to the full bodies for consideration. Also, members in both houses found many flaws in the dramatic cuts being made in areas such as higher education and Medicaid spending, while funding for prisons and the desire to keep already-planned corporate tax cuts as well as a taxpayerfriendly change to personal income tax inflation indexing -- seemed to find favor with Governor Ducey and legislative leadership. Of great importance to AzTA, and not surprisingly, the approved budget did not provide any meaningful relief when it comes to HURF fund transfers, nor any sign of LTAF s revival. Given the leaders of the budget negotiations, this was anticipated, though still disappointing. Other than the state s budget, however, a few non-budget bills that received a good deal of attention in the session included: SB 1318 (abortion; health care exchange; licensure) SB 1318, which was signed by the Governor on March 31, states that any qualified health insurance policy, contract or plan offered through any health care exchange operating in Arizona, instead of any state health care exchange established in Arizona, is prohibited from providing coverage for abortions, and abortion coverage is no longer permitted to be offered as a separate optional rider for which an additional premium is charged. Also, the list of information that a physician must inform a woman of at least 24 hours before performing an abortion is expanded to include that it may be possible to reverse the effects of a medication abortion if the woman changes her. HB 2609 (reciprocal driver license agreements) This legislation, if signed by the Governor, creates a travel ID that will allow Arizonans to board commercial airline flights starting in January The bill, if signed, will go into effect only if the federal government denies the state s request for a waiver from the Real ID requirements. If so, Arizona residents will have the option of obtaining a Real ID-compliant driver's license. 2

3 HB 2643 (sovereign authority; Affordable Care Act) HB 2643 bars the state from using any resources or staff to comply with the federal Affordable Care Act. Most importantly, if the bill is signed by Gov. Ducey, it would prevent Arizona from establishing its own health-care exchange. HB 2135 (transportation network companies) HB 2135 is a bill (expected to be signed by the Governor) that creates new rules for rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft, while maintaining a level playing field for taxis, livery vehicles and limousines, along with other rideshare companies using different business models than Uber and Lyft. HB 2840 (Department of Weights and Measures; transfer) Gov. Ducey's plan to dissolve the state Department of Weights and Measures and divide its duties among other state agencies was introduced late in the session. Lawmakers approved the measure, which puts most of the department's duties in the Department of Agriculture, with the remaining duties assigned to the Department of Transportation. The Governor s signature, obviously, is expected. HB 2636 (underground storage tank program) HB 2636, which still awaits the Governor s signature, extends a penny-per-gallon tax on gasoline for another eight years. The tax will revive a program that ended nearly five years ago that helps businesses cover the cost of cleaning up leaks from underground tanks. SB 1332 (empowerment scholarship accounts; open enrollment) This bill, passed on the session s final day, is an expansion of empowerment scholarship accounts, or vouchers, to benefit schoolchildren on Native American reservations. The bill awaits the Governor s signature. AzTA Legislative Issues 2015 Throughout the 2015 Arizona Legislative Session, we actively lobbied for and closely monitored a number of bills of interest to AzTA. They included: AzTA s yield to bus bill, HB 2528 (vehicle right-of-way; buses), unfortunately did not pass this session. Senate President Andy Biggs once again refused to allow the bill to move through the Senate process, despite repeated attempts by the bill s sponsor, Rep. Bob Thorpe, and others to persuade President Biggs otherwise. The bill passed the House Transportation Committee, and the full House by a vote of 48-3

4 9. HB 2324 (intergovernmental agreements; public agency indemnification) stated that an intergovernmental agreement may require one public agency to defend, indemnify or hold harmless the other public agency for liabilities, damages, losses and costs only to the extent caused by the negligence, recklessness or intentional wrongful conduct of the indemnifying public agency. Any other indemnity clause in an intergovernmental agreement would be void. The bill passed the full House on a vote of 58-0, and passed the Senate Government Committee on a vote of 7-0. However, it was not scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee, and died for the session. This likely signaled that President Biggs did not support the bill. HB 2617 is a bill to address administrative costs at the Department of Revenue related to the change in tax collections and auditing practices. Initially the bill called for $10 million each from cities and counties to cover the obligations. The bill was amended to reduce the county portion to $7 million, and now requires MAG to pay an assessment fee of $2.5 million and PAG a fee of $500K. The bill passed the House (on Final Read ) late on the final night of the session, and now awaits a decision by the Governor. SB 1274 was the ADOT "omnibus" bill that unfortunately failed in the final hours of the session, mostly due to various provisions added late in the process that caused controversy. One of the items included in the failed bill was the transfer of the administration of the Citizens Transportation Oversight Committee (CTOC) from ADOT to MAG as part of the state's cost savings measures. We anticipate this discussion to continue in the interim, and perhaps be included in 2016 legislation. Sen. Steve Farley introduced four bills early in the 2015 session that were of interest to AzTA: SB 1102 (text messaging while driving; prohibition) would have prohibited texting while driving anywhere in Arizona. This has been an annual effort by Sen. Farley that has been defeated each year. The same happened this session, in large part because the bill was assigned to three committees: Transportation, Public Safety/Military/Technology and Government. The bill was approved by the Government Committee, but died for lack of any further hearing. SB 1304 (commuter rail authority; special district) would have added a new chapter to Title 48 (special taxing districts) authorizing local governments to establish a joint powers commuter rail authority. The bill was assigned to the Senate Transportation and Finance Committees, but was not scheduled for a hearing and thus failed for this session. SB 1109 (lottery; funding; LTAF; restoration) would have reestablished the Local Transportation Assistance Fund (LTAF) and appropriated $20.5 million each year. 4

5 The bill was assigned to the Transportation and Appropriations Committees, but was never given a hearing. SB 1108 (task force; gas tax replacement) would have established a 24-member Highway User Fee Replacement Task Force to develop a design for revenue collection for the state's transportation system that will replace the motor fuel tax and use fuel tax. The bill was assigned to three committees, but was never given a hearing. We hope this summary report is helpful, and will be happy to provide any further information you might need. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as AzTA s representative at the 2015 Arizona Legislature. 5