HCR 2038~Spending Limit for Arizona Government

A Proposed Floor Resolution to be made at the January 26, 2008 Republican State Committee:

Whereas, the Governor and her legislative allies have spent the state government into a billion-dollar budget deficit;

Whereas, some legislators are using the deficit to justify bringing back the state equalization property tax;

Whereas, in 2006 and 2007, state government spending as a portion of the state economy, as measured by personal income, exceeded 6.4 percent;

Whereas, fiscal moderation and fiscal conservatism both demand that government not be allowed to grow faster than the private economy;

Whereas, the existing Constitutional spending limit of 7.41 percent of state personal income was far too high to restrain recent spending binges;

Resolved, the Arizona Republican Party in Convention assembled on this 26th day of January 2008 does hereby declare that:

The Arizona Republican Party supports HCR 2038, a referendum bill introduced in the Second Session of the 48th Arizona Legislature, which would allow voters in November 2008 to amend Arizona’s Constitutional spending limit to cap spending by the state government at no more than 6.4 percent of state personal income;

Further, the following legislators are to be commended for sponsoring HCR 2038: from the Arizona House of Representatives, Russell Pearce, Mark Anderson, Ray Barnes, Andy Biggs, Judy Burges, Sam Crump, Eddie Farnsworth, Trish Groe, John Kavanagh, Rick Murphy, Bob Stump, House Speaker Jim Weiers, and Steven Yarbrough, and from the Arizona Senate, Robert “Bob” Burns, Ron Gould, Jack Harper, Sen. Karen Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor.