(The Center Square) – It’s now up to the Arizona House to keep the government running.
The Arizona Senate passed a $17.6 billion 2025-26 budget early Friday morning and voted to end this year’s session. The budget now goes to the House, which has until June 30 to approve the spending plan to avoid a government shutdown.
The final of the Senate’s 16 budget bills was passed just before 2 a.m.
The passage of the bills came a week after the House passed its version of the budget, but Gov. Katie Hobbs said the House version was full of proposals that she would reject. Republicans have majorities in both houses, but lack enough seats to override the Democratic governor’s vetoes.
The Senate bill includes raises for state law enforcement and firefighters, along with tax cuts and investments in education, transportation, water and public health. Under the Senate budget, veterans who are 100% disabled no longer will have to pay property taxes.
“In the wake of last year’s state budget, where Republican lawmakers reduced spending, shrank government, and eliminated a $1.4 billion deficit, Republicans are now focused on providing the men and women in public safety with raises, bonuses, and additional resources to better serve our communities, help secure our border, and protect our citizens from harm,” said Senate President Warren Petersen.
The Senate’s budget reduces taxes on small business owners and veterans, supports major transportation projects and fully funds K-12 schools while protecting school choice, Petersen, R-Gilbert, said in a news release.
The Senate met its goals without raising taxes or creating new ones, Petersen noted.
The budget provides money for work on State Route 347 through Maricopa. It also allocates more than $100 million for other road and highway projects throughout Arizona, Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope said.
“We’re focusing on the safety of our rural communities by increasing funding for fire suppression,” Shope, R-Coolidge, said. “We’re also providing resources to help address Arizona’s fentanyl crisis, human trafficking, our doctor shortage and water conservation efforts.”
Senate Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, a Republican whose district includes most of Scottsdale, described the budget as a truly bipartisan one that the House can support and Hobbs can sign.
The budget allocates:
$78 million for new investments in public safety. That includes 5% pay raises for all sworn state law enforcements officers and 15% pay raises for firefighters.$113 million for transportation projects. That includes $54 million to finish projects along State Route 347.$280 million in new funding for K-12 public schools.$28 million in new funding for higher education.$180 million in new funding for health and welfare. That includes fully funding the developmental disability program at the state Department of Economic Security for the next fiscal year. $12 million for water investments. That includes $2 million for on-farm irrigation projects.
Besides the tax break for disabled veterans, the budget increases the business personal property tax exemption from $270,000 to $500,000. It also raises the deduction for adoption expenses from $5,000 to $10,000.
To see the breakdown of budget bills SB 1735 to SB 1750, see www.azleg.gov.
