FACT SHEET: The Republican Legislative Budget Raises Costs, Kills Jobs, Attacks Public Safety, is Structurally Unbalanced

• $600 million in tax breaks to billionaires and special interests.
• $30 million tax break to data centers.

The reckless and unbalanced Republican budget hikes costs, attacks healthcare, housing and food assistance for working families.

• Kicks up to 200,000 Arizonans off their healthcare, while taking food off the table of working class Arizona families.
• Eliminates the $6,000 senior deduction from the Middle Class Tax Cuts Package.
• Cuts $1.8 million in SUN Bucks, leaving 640,000 children to go hungry during the summer and forfeiting $79 million in federal funds.
• Cuts $14 million from the Housing Trust Fund, eliminating 1,000 units of affordable housing.
• Hikes taxes on solar and clean energy production by $57.6 M/year, attacking the state's "all of the above" energy strategy, lowering energy development and increasing costs for families and businesses.

The reckless and unbalanced Republican budget attacks public safety, cutting Trooper pay, wildfire suppression and emergency response dollars.

• Reduces firefighter and Trooper take-home pay by $600/year by FY29.
• Cuts $2.2 million from DFFM's budget and does not include any new funding for wildfire suppression.
• Ignores $4 million in needed 911 funding.
• No new emergency funding, even after Gila County was denied federal emergency relief for historic flooding.
• Cuts $16 million from DCS, including the Guardian casework system, putting kids at risk by potentially forcing DCS to reduce on-the-ground caseworkers in order to cover the essential expense.
• Sweeps $10.9 million from the state's Border Security Fund.

The reckless and unbalanced Republican budget kills jobs and will drive businesses away to Texas and California.

• Sweeps the Arizona Competes Fund, putting 21,000 good-paying jobs at risk and putting the State at greater legal liability from broken contractual agreements.
• Increases taxes on businesses by eliminating the Quality Jobs New Employment Tax Credit, threatening 3,400 new jobs each year.
• Eliminates Rio Nuevo, taking $57 million in economic development funding from southern Arizona.
• Eliminates funding for the Office of Tourism, attacking a key Arizona industry.
• Cuts the Department of Water Resources by $1.2 million in the middle of Colorado River negotiations.
• Directs $0 to the Colorado River Litigation Fund or the Colorado River Protection Fund, undermining Arizona's bargaining position on the national stage and threatening a job-killing water shortage.

The reckless and unbalanced Republican budget puts Arizona's fiscal health at risk.

• Cuts the Office of Tourism entirely. Handouts claim it will be paid through gaming money, which would need a renegotiation of the Gaming Compact.
• Sweeps tens of millions of dollars that don't exist, have already been spent, or are already contractually committed:
  • Automobile Theft Authority Fund, Housing Trust Fund, SMART Fund, Technology and Research Initiative Fund, Competes Fund, Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Fund
• Puts the State at risk of default on $80 million in outstanding debt obligations by sweeping Rio Nuevo.
• Sweeps from structurally unbalanced funds, putting the fund in the red.
  • Risk Management Fund, Construction Insurance Fund
• The Health Insurance Trust Fund (HITF) ends FY 2027 in the red. If employee premiums are adjusted to hit a $50-$100 M HITF balance as recommended by JLBC, Troopers with families will see a total yearly pay cut of $7,400 - $10,000.

Meanwhile, Republican budgeters refused to sweep their own slush funds. Below is a list of non-lapsing funds the reckless and unbalanced Republican budget does not sweep:

• $17,042,010: 2017-2024 Legislative Council Operating Lump Sum Appropriations
• $11,000,000: 2024-2025 Treasurer Ballot Paper Funds
• $5,955,714: 2022 Legislative Repair, Restore, and Renovation Funds
• $2,696,304: 2024 House of Representatives Operating Lump Sum Appropriation
• $2,426,678: 2024 JLBC Operating Lump Sum Appropriation

"The reckless and unbalanced Republican budget hikes costs, attacks public safety and kills jobs, all to give tax breaks to billionaires, data centers, and special interests," said Governor Hobbs communications director Christian Slater. "The effects will be devastating, with Arizonans kicked off their health care, tens of thousands of jobs lost, and public safety being put at risk. Legislative Republicans are putting Arizona last by forcing through their reckless and unbalanced budget."