After a marathon legislative session finally wrapped up around dawn on Saturday morning, Southern Arizona Democrats were not exactly rushing to pop champagne bottles.
Instead, lawmakers and lobbyists were tallying smaller victories after spending months in survival mode at a Republican-controlled Capitol.
They blocked some bills, softened others and managed to pass a few priorities of their own. But they also walked away frustrated by a state budget that left out many of their priorities and several policy battles they could not win.
That’s the reality of being in the minority: Sometimes success is measured by what never becomes law.
Tucson wins some, loses some
The big win for the City of Tucson was preserving Rio Nuevo after Republicans briefly put the voter-approved district on the chopping block last month in an effort to trim $19 million from the state budget.
However, many of the city’s legislative victories are buried inside the state’s $18.3 billion budget.
For example, the Arizona Department of Administration initially proposed a $4 million cut to the 911 system statewide at the start of the legislative session. The budget ultimately signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs kept the city whole.
The city wasn’t so lucky when it came to tax cuts, with Republicans celebrating “full conformity” with President Donald Trump’s tax cuts contained in last year’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee initially estimated a $7 million loss in revenue for Tucson annually, but changes made during negotiations lowered that estimate to an annual loss of roughly $3 million to $4 million.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, who worked closely with Southern Arizona lawmakers, said she was thankful for a handful of victories in the budget, including the temporary pause on tax breaks for new data centers. Still, she wasn’t thrilled with the Legislature’s treatment of Tucson.
“Unfortunately, Republican tax cuts for corporations will hurt Tucsonans and the funding that our city uses to provide the services that our residents deserve,” she said. “This budget will continue the habit that the Republican state legislature has of taking money away from cities that we use to fund police, fire, parks and other core services, further pushing costs onto cities.”
Smaller victories during the legislative session for the Old Pueblo included:
Beating back House Bill 2328, which would have restricted Tucson Water from charging a differential water rate structure
Lobbying Hobbs to veto HB2985, which would have impacted the region’s water supply by making it easier for the state to package water rights with state trust land before selling or leasing that land to developers
Pushing for changes to HB2946, which Hobbs signed into law. The law prevents cities and towns from charging development fees based on size, but it now includes an exemption for cities like Tucson that already have fee structures in place.
Pima County racks up some wins
Pima County’s lobbyist, Michael Racy, said one of the biggest wins was securing $10.4 million in state funding for probation officers. The county has long struggled with hiring — and keeping — probation officers, whose salaries are jointly funded by the county and the state.
The influx of cash will help hire more officers and give raises to existing staff, helping lower caseloads.
“Given the very challenging political landscape during an election year — both statewide and at the legislative level — we came out relatively well,” Racy told us.
County officials are also happy with a one-time expenditure exemption that will allow them to spend more of their opioid settlement funds on rehabilitation and transitional services.
Other Pima County legislative victories included:
Killing SB1170, which would have required the county medical examiner to perform a second autopsy when a minor dies in a case related to drug overdoses. Those opposed to the bill argued the second autopsy was unnecessary and would delay grieving families from burying their children.
Defeating a series of bills related to small modular nuclear reactors that would have stripped local governments of their ability to regulate them. Critics worried the reactors — which are still in the early stages of commercial deployment — could eventually be used to support additional data centers.
The LD19 showdown: Pima County Republican Party Chair Kathleen Winn chatted with the Herald/Review about an interesting race for the pair of House seats in Cochise County’s Legislative District 19. Cheryl Caswell is hoping support from Turning Point will help her unseat Republican Rep. Lupe Diaz and Republican Sen. David Gowan (who is running for the House this year). Caswell is asking voters to use the “single-shot” approach and only vote for her, instead of voting for two House candidates, as voters are entitled to do.
“It can work or can backfire, and we won’t know until we’ll see the efforts of their work,” said Winn, who will not endorse any candidate until after the primary.
Shrinking on purpose: University of Arizona enrollment is going to drop by about 3% in the fall, but UA officials say it’s all part of their plan to bring in smaller incoming classes, Prerana Sannappanavar reports for the Arizona Daily Star. They’re trying to focus on in-state students and students with financial need, while offering less merit-based aid to out-of-state students. At the same time, fewer international students are applying to U.S. universities, which Provost Patricia Prelock attributed to “geopolitical, economic and policy factors that no single institution can control.” We’re pretty sure she’s hinting at the Trump administration vilifying international students and haphazardly revoking their visas en masse last year, which led to a nationwide drop in foreign students.
Still in a pickle: The Tucson Area Pickleball group struck a deal with the Tucson City Council last month to stop a proposed pay-to-play scenario. The group’s members can still play for free, but they haven’t seen the promised memorandum of understanding from the city, which is putting a crimp in their plan to resurface courts and sponsor partnerships, Lindsey Dean reports for KGUN.
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Straight from City Hall, part one: Tucson Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz penned an op-ed in the Star in response to critics of city policies, particularly fare-free transit. Santa Cruz says it’s a “tidy argument” to say the city has lost its way and is trading safe parks and clean streets for equity initiatives and so-called ideological projects. But, Santa Cruz says, “it’s also backwards.” Fare-free transit serves low-income residents who are trying to get to work and still afford rent. As Santa Cruz noted at a recent city council meeting, cities that charge fares still have crime on buses. The larger issue is “pervasive poverty,” Santa Cruz writes.
Straight from City Hall, part two: In a separate op-ed in the Star, Tucson Councilwoman Miranda Schubert says critics of city policies often say the role of government is to “maintain order, punish disorder, and protect property and commerce.” But, Schubert says, another tradition is “rooted in care, stewardship, and mutual responsibility.” In that tradition, success is judged by whether everyone’s “basic needs are met.”
“From that perspective, many of the challenges we see around us are not evidence of too much compassion. They are evidence of too little,” Schubert writes.
We can’t wait to see how Rodney Glassman phrases this in his next campaign ad.
Glassman, the former Tucson City Councilman who’s running for Arizona attorney general, kinda sorta got an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Trump couldn’t be bothered to say some variation of “I endorse Rodney Glassman,” so Trump just reposted Mohave County Supervisor Sonny Borrelli’s endorsement of Glassman without any comment.
How is Glassman going to fit that on a bumper sticker?
“Rodney Glassman: President Trump endorsed some other guy’s endorsement of me.”