FROM THE CAPITOL

June 14, 2010            Elaine Arena

            Arena Government Communications, Inc.

STILL PLENTY HAPPENING OUTSIDE OF THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Here’s a rundown of the major issues –

Proposition 100, the temporary sales tax increase, was a resounding “yes” with voters, capturing almost two-thirds of the ballots cast.  The margin of victory was a surprise even to supporters and to many legislators as well.  It won in every county save Mohave.

This was a big win for Governor Brewer, who began advocating for the temporary sales tax increase shortly after she was sworn into office in January, 2009.   How the results translate into votes at the statewide and legislative level will be revealed at the end of August when voters make their choices in the primary election.

Brewer also got a bump in the polls with the signing of Senate Bill 1070.

And then there’s “clean elections”, Arizona’s version of public campaign finance.  In early June the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the distribution of matching funds, leaving publicly funded candidates to make do with the base amount of funding.  On June 8^th the court granted a request made by the Goldwater Institute to stay a recent ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled the matching funds unconstitutional.

The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission considered, and rejected, seeking clarification to the district court ruling, which may have allowed participating candidates to raise private funds.  The commission’s decision drew sharp words from Governor Brewer’s election attorney.  Brewer is at a distinct financial disadvantage with Republican challenger Buz Mills spending more than $2.3 million in private funds.  Both Brewer and challenger Dean Martin would receive an additional $1.4 million each under the public finance matching funds provision.

On a positive note the Joint Legislative Budget Committee reports that April General Fund revenues saw the first positive gain in collections since September 2007.  Base revenues grew by 4.1% over April 2009.  Overall sales tax collections were higher than in April 2009, marking the end of 26 months of year-over-year sales tax reductions.  There is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

And of course, lest we forget, it is fundraising season.