Legislative session expected to continue until August
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GOP lawmakers will finish voting on legislation Tuesday but will push the long-running session until around the first week of August to continue exercising vetting authority over Gov. Katie Hobbs' executive nominees.
- That will make this year's regular session the longest in state history.
Context: Arizona has no set time frame for its legislative sessions, which begin in January and typically conclude sometime between April and the end of June.
- The only definitive deadline lawmakers face each session is July 1, the start of the fiscal year, and they must pass a budget before then.
- Once the budget is completed, lawmakers usually don't stick around much longer before they adjourn sine die.
- Hobbs signed the fiscal year 2024 budget last month.
State of play: Lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday after a nearly month-long break and will hear more bills Tuesday before recessing until the first week of August, Speaker Ben Toma tells Axios Phoenix.
- Toma says they won't hear any bills after Tuesday, making it the deadline for Republican legislative leaders and the Democratic governor to reach a deal on Proposition 400, the half-cent transportation sales tax for Maricopa County that will expire after next year.
The intrigue: Sen. Jake Hoffman, the Queen Creek Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Director Nominations, said extending the session will give GOP senators more time to vet Hobbs' appointees.
- "Obviously we'd still like to continue doing that, and so I think that the timeline matches with our desire to continue vetting Governor Hobbs' nominees," Hoffman told us.
- He noted that Hobbs withdrew her nomination of former Sen. Martín Quezada to run the Registrar of Contractors after his committee voted to oppose his confirmation on May 31.
Yes, but: The Senate and its committees have had months to consider Hobbs' nominees, and many still haven't received committee hearings.
- Executive nominees can serve for a year without Senate confirmation.
- Hoffman declined to comment on why he didn't hold committee hearings for the governor's agency nominees earlier in the session.
Between the lines: "My personal preference would be to get it over with sooner than that," Toma says, but the Senate wants more time to oversee gubernatorial nominations.
Why it matters: Most new laws don't go into effect until 90 days after sine die.
Of note: While they're in session, lawmakers receive per diem payments whether they're working or not, so even if they don't come back to the Capitol once between now and Aug. 2, they'll still be getting paid.
- Maricopa County legislators get $35 per day while those from outside the Valley get $238 for the first 100 days of session, but those amounts dropped to $10 and $119 after the 120th day of session, which was in early May.
- Lawmakers can opt out of per diem.