By Roland Murphy for AZBEX – BEXClusive
By the time you read this, the Proposition 400 renewal quagmire could either be resolved or on its way to becoming a full-blown economic development crisis.
The Arizona Legislature is coming back to work for two days this week between lengthy official recesses. Lawmakers will be in session June 12th and 13th before breaking until early August, which could then be the end of the legislative term.
Among the host of bills still up in the air is enabling legislation to send a renewal of the Maricopa County half-cent transportation tax, known as Proposition 400E, to voters to approve or reject.
The Conservative Conundrum
While a bill last year had overwhelming public support, according to polls conducted at the time, and was soundly endorsed by all 32 agencies that make up the Maricopa Association of Governments, it was vetoed by then Gov. Doug Ducey for reasons that did not hold up to rational examination then and make even less sense in retrospect.
Ducey bewilderingly claimed that since last year’s bill called for a 25-year term, rather than the previous 20, it was, somehow, a tax increase. He also claimed expanded funding sources like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act reduced the need for the tax, even though federal programs require matching funds, which Prop 400 would have provided. Lastly, he claimed the veto was justified because the bill and the transportation plan it would fund had a reduced focus on freeway projects, which had been more prominent in prior iterations, compared to transit projects and programs.
We cannot officially confirm, but the scuttlebutt among process insiders at the time was that Ducey vetoed the bill in a fit of pique because he felt he was not sufficiently courted by supporters to give his approval. If true, he should be ashamed of himself.
It is that last point in Ducey’s list of reasons that has led to this year’s stalemate. A consortium of far-right legislators has worked to either prevent the renewal legislation from coming forward or to gut transit programs and funding in any bill they would consider approving.
There are some conservatives who claim light rail and bus service constitute a threat to the American free enterprise system, represent a too-vast expansion of state control over individual opportunity and motivation, and see it as a hallmark of European-style “Democratic Socialism.”
There are other conservatives who understand that for whatever flaws public transit may have, it is also an economic development engine that has spawned more than $10B in private development since the first light rail tracks were laid in greater Phoenix.
Liberals see the hard-right efforts to gut transit as a “Let them eat cake” -style benchmark as to how far out of touch the conservatives are, since tens of thousands of Valley residents rely on some form of public transit every day for their transportation to work, school or services, like doctor’s appointments and grocery shopping. Not only would these people suffer if transit funding is eviscerated, so would their employers, schools and retailers when they have no way to get to work, class or the store.
The Governor Shows Up
And now Governor Katie Hobbs has waded into the fight after giving it little to no public mention in the early days of the session. She and members of the Legislature have been working to craft an acceptable compromise to get enabling legislation to her desk for a signature.
On June 10th, Hobbs issued a statement accusing the right-wing legislators of holding the state’s economy hostage and threatening Arizona’s potential as a leader in growth industries.
She’s absolutely right, and she should have been putting on a lot more pressure a lot earlier. Hobbs signed the state budget into law with the usual pomp and glad-handing associated with such things on May 11th. Transportation advocates had been lobbying her to threaten to hold the budget if there were no movement on Prop 400 legislation. Hobbs apparently did the political math and didn’t see enough polling shift to warrant the risk that comes with a fight.
Now that she’s stepped forward publicly to twist some arms in the 11th hour, Hobbs is calling on the Legislature to pass a compromise bill that has a reasonable amount of traction. Hobb’s June 10 call for action listed the details as follows:
- Sets allocations at: 40% for freeways, 22% for arterials, and 38% for transit with the elimination of flexibility between the modes;
- Sets aside 3.5% for the capital rehabilitation of the existing light rail system;
- Includes proposed farebox language to provide statutorily prescribed benchmarks for farebox recovery consistent with our peers;
- Road diet language applies to arterial and freeway projects;
- Includes definitions for air quality and regional programs.
The road diet and definitions bullet points will almost certainly be the compromise bones offered up to let the opposition kill something so they can save face with their base.
Echoing her official statement, Hobbs tweeted on Saturday, “From day one, I promised that I would be laser-focused on growing our economy and bringing high-paying jobs to our state for Arizona workers. That’s exactly what our Prop 400 compromise does, and business leaders, labor leaders, and mayors across Arizona agree.”
The first sentence depends on whom you ask as to whether that focus has actually been functional or if Hobbs has just ridden the momentum she inherited. The second sentence, however, is spot on and not open to debate among rational people.
Gov. Hobbs and segments of the Arizona Legislature have both acted like petulant children since she was elected. The legislature has sent ridiculous bill after ridiculous bill to her desk, including criminalizing homelessness and mandating a list of required medical procedures for every baby born in the state. Hobbs has vetoed the extremely partisan measures, as expected.
In fact, Hobbs is on track to stamp the most vetoes of any Arizona governor. Just last week she sailed past Ducey’s number for his entire tenure in the job.
Hobbs, however, has also vetoed bills that had broad popular appeal and benefits, including expanding the rights of cottage food vendors like homemade tamale resellers, and bills that would have eliminated rental taxes and taxes on grocery purchases.
Hobbs said she vetoed the tax bills because they would have had negative impacts on municipal revenues, but she neglected to point out that most cities are currently so flush with cash they may as well be printing it, themselves, in the basements of city halls around the state. Meanwhile rent and grocery taxes disproportionately impact lower income residents who have been drowning in inflationary increases for two years.
I say all of that to say this: The very future of Arizona economic development is at stake. The time for partisan bickering, obstructionism and electoral base point scoring has long since passed. There are billions of dollars for transportation infrastructure at stake, and several billions more in private development that will benefit from that infrastructure.
The Arizona Republic quoted House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Glendale, as saying, “It’ll either happen Monday or Tuesday, or it won’t ever — at least not in this session.”
This issue of AZBEX hits our subscribers’ inboxes at 5 a.m. Tuesday and will go on our website later that morning. I hope by then I will have wasted 1,400 words on a solved problem. If not, let me close this column by simply saying this directly to our state’s so-called “leaders:” Governor Hobbs and members of the Arizona House and Senate: Wash your faces, brush your teeth, pull up your big kid pants and get to work! My subscribers are tired of reading about Prop 400. I’m tired of writing about it, and Arizona residents are tired of your childish antics threatening to turn Phoenix into the next Detroit through your continued failures of leadership.