ARIZONA STATE SENATE
47TH LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
MINUTES OF COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
DATE: February 1, 2005 TIME: 1:30 p.m. ROOM: SHR 109
CHAIRMAN: Senator Burns VICE CHAIRMAN: Senator Huppenthal
ANALYST: Carolyn Atwater
COMMITTEE
SECRETARY: Melissa C. Upshaw
INTERN: Bill Boyd
ATTENDANCE BILLS
Committee Members Pr Ab Ex Bill Number Disposition
Senator Arzberger X Senator Cannell X Senator Garcia X Senator Giffords X Senator Gould X Senator Harper X Senator Johnson X Senator Martin X Senator Waring X
Senator Huppenthal, Vice-Chairman X
Senator Burns, Chairman X
PRESENTATIONS
Shelli Carol, Fiscal Analyst, Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC)
Bill Greeney, Principal Budget Analyst, Office of Strategic Planning & Budgeting (OSPB) Gary Stuart, President, Arizona Board of Regents
Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
John Denis Haeger, President, Northern Arizona University Peter Likins, President, University of Arizona
Brad Regens, Assistant Director, JLBC
Chairman Burns called the meeting to order at 1:38 p.m. and the attendance was noted.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairman Burns moved the minutes of January 25, 2005 be approved. Without objection, the minutes were approved as distributed.
ADOPTION OF AGENCY BUDGETS
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGENCY (GITA) – ADOPTED DEPARTMENT OF GAMING - ADOPTED
RESIDENTIAL UTILITY CONSUMER OFFICE (RUCO) – ADOPTED ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF RACING – ADOPTED
DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR LICENSES AND CONTROL – ADOPTED ARIZONA STATE PARKS BOARD – ADOPTED
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS – ADOPTED
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND FIRE SAFETY – ADOPTED
Senator Burns stated that without objection the adoption of the following agencies would be moved as one motion, with the exception of the Automobile Theft Authority, which would be moved as a separate motion.
Senator Huppenthal moved the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) recommendation in FY 2006 and FY 2007, including footnotes, format, performance measures, and statutory changes if applicable, for the following agencies be ADOPTED: Government Information Technology Agency (GITA), Department of Gaming, Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO), Arizona Department of Racing, Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, Arizona State Parks Board, Office of Administrative Hearings, Department of Building and Fire Safety.
Senator Harper offered and explained his substitute motion.
Senator Harper moved the JLBC recommendation in FY 2006 and FY 2007 including footnotes, format, performance measures, and statutory changes if applicable, for the following agencies be ADOPTED: Government Information Technology Agency (GITA), Department of Gaming, Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO), Arizona Department of Racing, Department of Liquor License and Control, Arizona State Parks Board, Office of Administrative Hearings, Department of Building and Fire Safety, Automobile Theft Authority. In addition, the following reductions to out-of-state travel in FY 2006 and FY 2007 as follows: $15,600 from the Information and Technology fund in GITA, $87,400 from the Arizona Benefits Fund in the Department of Gaming, $7,000 from RUCO Revolving Fund in RUCO, $1,500 from the General Fund in the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, $12,500 from the Auto Theft Authority Fund in the Automobile Theft Authority, $3,000 from the General Fund in the Department of Building and Fire Safety, $2,500 from the General Fund in the Department of Racing. In addition, the following changes to the Automobile Theft Authority budget: sufficient additional monies from the Auto
Theft Authority Fund in FY 2006 and FY 2007 for commensurate pay raise for the Automobile Theft Authority officers, if the Department of Public Safety officers receive a pay raise.
Senator Harper clarified that the amounts mentioned does represent all of the out-of-state travel for the agencies listed.
Senator Burns stated that he does not object to taking a closer look at the state travel as there was some discussion of possibly doing something more global farther down in the process. He informed the Committee that Senate Leadership met with the Minority to discuss the budget items, but the possibility of reducing out-of-state travel monies for the agencies was not included in their discussion. Therefore, he said he would oppose the substitute amendment at this time with the opportunity to work this issue in the future.
The substitute motion FAILED by voice vote.
The motion to ADOPT the JLBC recommendation CARRIED with a roll call vote of 10-1-0 (Attachment #1).
COMMISSION FOR POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION – NOT ADOPTED
Senator Burns announced that the adoption of the agency budget for the Commission for Postsecondary Education would not be voted on today.
AUTOMOBILE THEFT AUTHORITY – ADOPTED
Senator Huppenthal moved the JLBC recommendation in FY 2006 and FY 2007, including footnotes, format, performance measures, and statutory changes if applicable with the following adjustment to the Automobile Theft Authority budget be ADOPTED: sufficient additional monies from the Auto Theft Authority Fund in FY 2006 and FY 2007 for a commensurate pay raise for Automobile Theft Authority offices if the Department of Public Safety officers receive a pay raise. The motion CARRIED with a roll call vote of 11-0-0 (Attachment #2).
PRESENTATION OF AGENCY BUDGETS
Lorenzo Martinez, Assistant Director, Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC), informed the
Committee that they would be receiving a second budget book this afternoon that would show some of the standard elements they have been seeing in the packet handouts from JLBC. Specifically, the comparison sheet that shows elements of each budget, total funds graph and the detailed numbers spreadsheet page.
UNIVERSITIES
Shelli Carol, Fiscal Analyst, JLBC, distributed a handout (Attachment A) and provided a
PowerPoint presentation on JLBC’s budget recommendations for the Arizona University System: the Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. Ms. Carol responded to questions from the members.
Bill Greeney, Principal Budget Analyst, Office of Strategic Planning & Budgeting (OSPB),
referenced the handout (Attachment B) that summarized the Executive’s Fiscal Year 2006 budget recommendations for the State University System. Mr. Greeney answered questions posed by the members.
Mr. Martinez responded to Senator Johnson’s question regarding enrollment growth funding.
Gary Stuart, President, Arizona Board of Regents, briefly explained the Board’s responsibilities
and spoke about ratios at the three state universities. Mr. Stuart highlighted the vital issues of the three universities and responded to questions from the members.
Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University (ASU), provided a brief overview of ASU’s past
performance, its goal within the State University System, and its focus on student enrollment growth. President Crow distributed a handout (Attachment C) regarding tuition increases. A marginal increase chart depicting the differences in the amount of money from the OSPB and JLBC recommendations for each of the three universities. President Crow responded to questions posed by the members.
John Denis Haeger, President, Northern Arizona University (NAU), presented NAU’s Fiscal Year
2006 budget request (Attachment D) and talked about its critical needs: enrollment growth funding and faculty retention. President Haeger also discussed the faculty salary issues, NAU’s distance learning, nursing expansion, and other issues. President Haeger answered questions from the members.
Peter Likins, President, University of Arizona (UA), distributed a handout (Attachment E) that
summarized the Governor’s budget for all three institutions. President Likins briefly spoke about UA’s funding, its student enrollment growth, and tuition cost, UA’s College of Medicine, expansion of medical education and research. President Likins answered questions posed by the members.
Sophie O’Keefe-Zelman, Undergraduate Student Body President, ASU, testified in support of
funding higher education in Arizona. Ms. Zelmann spoke about increasing investment in the three state universities.
Ryan Patterson, Arizona Student Association Delegate Board member, UA, testified in support
of funding the state’s three universities and briefly spoke about tuition costs and financial aid.
Saif Al-Alawi, Student Body President, ASU West, briefly spoke about the investments in higher
education, enrollment growth and tuition costs. Mr. Al-Alawi provided a copy of ASU’s newspaper The State Press (Attachment F) pointing out that the picture on the first page is an example of the type of repairs needed at their campus.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Brad Regens, Assistant Director, JLBC, distributed a handout (Attachment G) and provided a
PowerPoint presentation on JLBC’s budget recommendations for the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC). Mr. Regens answered questions posed by the members.
Bill Greeney, Principal Budget Analyst, OSPB, provided a 3-page handout (Attachment H) and
gave a brief summary on the Executive’s Fiscal Year 2005 and 2006 budget recommendations for ADC. Mr. Greeney responded to questions from the members.
Dora B. Schriro, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC), presented ADC’s budget
recommendations referencing the handout (Attachment I), which included: general information, population demographics, bed plan, staffing issues, equipment, inmate fire crews, and inmate re-entry. Director Schriro responded to questions posed by the members.
Senator Harper requested the following verbatim testimony to be included in the record.
Senator Harper: I want to know if there is any, this is an e-mail I received, is there a coordinated effort to stack your programs? Your parallel universe program for people who are least likely to re-offend anyway, so that your statistics look better, as far as recidivism rate, compared to the general population.
Director Schriro: No, Mr. Chair…and the reason for that is that this is a four-year roll out that ultimately incorporates all programmable inmates in the population. So the 32,000, some 95% of them, except for those who are in a lock down situation like a detention unit or Special Management Unit (SMU) II, for those of you who have been out there, will all be engaged. So these expectations are being applied across the board and the reason is a very practical one for all of us as citizens and taxpayers. Ninety-six percent of our population are sentenced to a term of years and that means whether or not we like it, no matter truth or sentencing or not, 96% of 32,000 people are coming back to our communities. And so, to speak to the long term public safety efforts we are really committed to making contributions, not just during the time of their confinement, but after their release back to the community.
Director Schriro continued with her presentation and answered questions from the members. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa C. Upshaw
Committee Secretary
