Your State Budget
Join Me Online This Saturday, May 8, at 3 pm for the
Arizona House Democrats Budget Town Hall
It’s budget season, the time of year when your legislature completes its primary purpose. Our state budget is really important to all of us since it will reflect our values as the people of Arizona. So, your voice is important in this process.
Please join me and my colleague, Rep Mitzi Epstein as we listen to your priorities and share the House Democrats’ budget planning at this point. Other legislators may also be available.
I hope to see you there! Please register here to get a link for the event.
Sincerely,
Rep Judy Schwiebert
Arizona State House Representative from LD20
Your State Budget
The legislative session cannot end until a budget is approved. While majority legislators are working in secret to construct a budget that is expected to be released early next week, Democrats are also at work listening to our constituents and constructing a budget based on your priorities.
For several years, Arizona has been underfunding schools, healthcare, roads, prisons, environmental concerns, and other important state responsibilities. However, despite the pandemic, we have billions of dollars in surpluses this year, providing us with an opportunity to invest in the needs of the people of Arizona including
Roads and infrastructure. Every Appropriations committee meeting seemed to include bills for desperately-needed road repairs that can’t wait the 5-10 or 15 years it takes for ADOT to get to them because they don’t have adequate funding.
Healthcare. We have a moral obligation to care for our most vulnerable citizens, but independent evaluations show that our state’s budget falls short by hundreds of millions of dollars annually in what’s needed to address the needs of our youngest, elderly, and disabled neighbors.
K-12 classrooms. Too many of our school buildings are decaying. All of our children deserve safe and modern facilities in which to learn.
Teacher pay. We were in such a deep hole, that even after recent increases Arizona teacher salaries remain in the national basement, and children in 1 in 4 classrooms have no permanent, qualified teacher.
Higher education. Tuition for our state universities is among the highest in the nation, largely because Arizona invests less in all three universities than we do on prisons, which are also underfunded.
