Arizona Budget Coalition

As the end of the legislative session nears, Gov. Brewer has committed to finally bringing the budget saga to a close.

With only five weeks left to finalize a budget, the Governor and Legislature have little time to reach a compromise that includes enough revenue to fund state services.

The current budget discussions have been slow moving and characterized again by controversy when proposals to cut services like education have been floated. Creating a solution that avoids the divisiveness of the last budget will be difficult, but channels of communication between the Governor and key Legislators are beginning to open.

Capitol Media Services reports that this budget has been difficult given that the Governor never presented her own budget proposal:

Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, points out that last year - and the years prior to that - the governor put out her own budget proposal, as required at the beginning of every legislative session by the state constitution.

"So you had something to compare against,'' said Burns, who chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee during some of the years that Democrat Janet Napolitano was governor.

"We don't really have that this time around,'' Burns said, with Brewer, who was sworn in Jan. 21, more than a week after the legislative session started, never having provided lawmakers with an agency-by-agency list of what she wants.