State Capitol News

Phoenix, AZ – State law allows the sale and serving of wine, beer and liquor
daily from 6 a.m. to 2 the following morning. But there's one
exception: Nothing can happen before 10 a.m. on Sundays. That
caught first-term Rep. Matt Heinz by surprise.

(A couple of constituents were actually planning for an event
they were having later in the day on Sunday and tried to purchase
some beverages from Safeway, whatever. And they called me up and
said, why can't we do this on Sundays but we can do this on
Saturdays?)

Phoenix, AZ – The proposal is simple enough: Every time lawmakers impose a pay
cut on state workers, their own salaries would be cut by an
identical amount. Sen. Ken Cheuvront who crafted the measure said
it's only fair.

(We should be following our lead that if we are asking our
employees to cut their salaries, we should be doing the same
things ourselves.)

Phoenix, AZ – The plan cuts corporate income taxes by about 30 percent, with a
10 percent cut in individual income taxes, permanent repeal of
the state property tax and shifting some of the burden of local
property taxes from businesses to homeowners. Rep. John Kavanagh
did not deny that shift. But he said the solution to the state's
problems is not funding more welfare programs with tax dollars.

Phoenix, AZ – The issue, said Mills, is money. The state is spending too much.
He opposes the plan of incumbent Jan Brewer for a temporary hike
in state sales taxes to minimize the cuts that have to be made.
Mills acknowledged the current gap between revenues and expenses
exceeds $3.5 billion. But he said that's irrelevant.

(It's real simple. You've got to cut spending somewhere. It's
just a matter of how big the number is. If you had $65,000 of
income and $100,000 in bills, what would you do?)