The state’s Medicaid program won’t have the money to pay its bills next month unless the governor and legislators quickly reach agreement on at least some elements of the budget.

Senate Speaker Warren Petersen told Capitol Media Service last week that legislative Democrats were hesitant to give Republicans a list of their priorities.

Without it, little progress will be made in developing spending plans for the fiscal year beginning July 1, he said.

But a more pressing issue is that some state agencies need additional funding this budget year. And Gilbert said efforts to resolve it have stalled in negotiations over next year’s budget.

Most pressing is the funding of Arizona’s healthcare cost containment system.

Legislative budget officials say the agency has requested an additional $3.3 billion to close out the current fiscal year. This includes both state funding and authorization to use federal dollars to cover about two-thirds of the total price.

Gov. Katie Hobbs signed half of that bill into law in March. GOP staff say they are unable to make payments to

Although not an immediate issue, we also need an estimated $180.6 million shortfall in spending on K-12 education requirements in June.

Arizona State Hospital also needs additional cash by June 30, but the numbers weren’t immediately available.

Petersen said all the supplement requests were included in the “meager” budget Republicans sent to the governor earlier this year.

But Petersen said an easy way to fix the current budget shortfall is in the Arizona Constitution, which empowers the governor to remove spending items she doesn’t like.

“She could have itemized everything but supplements,” he said. That would have kept her bargaining power over the 2023-2024 budget without creating a potential emergency for the current year.

Hobbes’ press secretary, Christian Slater, said his boss was working to “pass a budget that makes meaningful investments in improving the lives of the people of Arizona.”

The latest report from AHCCCS shows that it provides care to approximately 2.5 million Arizonans.

“Republicans are pledging to provide medical care to a third of the Arizona hostages and earn cheap political points,” Slater said, as Senate Republicans did in March. He added that there was no reason why he could not act now and approve in a bipartisan manner. Additional funding for AHCCCS.

Assuming the more pressing funding issues can still be resolved, there are only 66 days left until the end of the year to adopt a new budget.

Unlike the federal government, Arizona does not have the power to enact “continuing resolutions” to keep the state in operation once the new budget year begins on July 1st.

What will happen without the budget is largely uncharted territory, but one year of negotiations actually took several hours into the new year of spending.

Petersen said it was legislative Democrats, not governors, who were holding back progress.

“We have the governor’s request,” he said.

For now, he hates Republican leaders starting new ongoing programs or significantly expanding existing programs with funds that may or may not exist in the next few years. Because, he said, much of the discussion is about projects that can be financed with one-off dollars…now.

Many of them are clearly projects requested by one or more legislators.

For example, $5.9 million has been spent on pavement restoration along US99 in Yuma County. A plan to improve the drainage and safety of Moson Road in Cochise County has been recorded for $6.1 million. About $10 million has been set aside for the transportation interchange between I-10 and Coltaro Road in Marana. We also need an additional $6.9 million to improve the Ironwood Drive stretch of Apache Junction.

There are also fewer allocations for everything from streetlights to rebuilding roundabouts.

Peterson said there are “hundreds of millions” of dollars available for such projects, and some of those dollars are available for Democratic priorities.

Tucson Minority Leader Andres Cano said Democrats provided a list of priorities. But that list is passed to the Democratic governor, whom the Republican leader is negotiating with, and he has final authority over the budget.

Kano said his colleagues have genuine concerns about lawmakers making wish lists of their own road projects that may not even be a priority for the transport ministry. To allow Maricopa County residents to vote to continue the 0.5-cent sales tax that pays not only roads but also public transportation, including light rail, while seeking to fund local road projects. Many have refused to advance the necessary legislation, he said, and the program he said is a priority for business leaders in the region.

Nor does Kano intend to free up Republicans for the looming AHCCCS deadline.

He said Republican leadership had an opportunity last month to approve the entire $3.3 billion needed for AHCCCS. Instead, according to Kano, they decided to do this “week by week, month by month, trying to paint minority parties as saboteurs.”