Arizona legislature returns Monday to enact state budget
The Arizona Legislature returns to work on Memorial Day with a tentative deal in place to break a budget impasse and hopes of adjourning for the year by the end of the day.
The agreement confirmed Sunday is likely to break a logjam that has kept lawmakers at work more than a month longer than planned.
The budget negotiated between majority Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Doug Ducey was hung up by some members wanting more cash for their priorities and a non-budget issue — a proposal giving childhood sexual assault victims more time to sue their alleged assailants.
If that measure passes and the budget passed by the House early Saturday is tweaked, the Senate could send an approved budget to Gov. Doug Ducey and finish its 2019 session.
The deal extends the statute of limitations for suing from age 20 to 30 and allows victims now barred from the courthouse to sue until December 2020. It is supported by Republican Sen. Paul Boyer, who with GOP Sen. Heather Carter refused to back a budget deal without it.
Boyer said Sunday he will wait until that proposal passes before voting on a budget.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader David Bradley said passing Boyer’s bill and adding some cash Carter and others want would open the way for the Senate to pass a revised version of the budget approved by the House before dawn on Saturday, possibly with support from at least some Senate Democrats.
Boyer’s proposal to extend the time child sex assault victims could sue had been blocked by Senate President Karen Fann and Sen. Eddie Farnsworth. Democrats aligned with Boyer and Carter in insisting on more rights for sex abuse victims, and with Carter in seeking more funding for key priorities.
Fann didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday, and House Speaker Rusty Bowers also didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
The sex crimes issue revolves around the statute of limitations on victims suing child predators. Arizona law allows someone who says they were abused as a child to sue for only two years after turning 18.
Boyer was pushing for a much longer period, to age 30 or 35, plus a “window” that would allow current victims who had been barred from court to sue.
That “window” was the bone of contention for Fann and Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, a fellow Republican who controls the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said Saturday the limits on lawsuits prevent allegations against innocent people from being brought decades after an alleged incident, when they can’t defend themselves. There is no limit on criminal charges for sexually assaulting a minor.
The impasse stalled work in the Senate Saturday, which returned late in the morning after the House convened until dawn to approve the budget.
House Republican Majority Leader Warren Peterson also confirmed the agreement. He tweeted, “We have a deal that balances protecting victims and the innocent. Likely we wrap up soon. “
