Truth in Spending -- Please send a note to Gov. Brewer's policy advisors!
Dear Arizona Taxpayer,
Senate Bill 1275, the Truth in Spending reform bill, has passed the House Appropriations Committee and will soon go to the House floor for a final vote before going to the desk of Governor Jan Brewer. We need to start now to make sure that Governor Brewer’s policy advisors understand how important Truth in Spending is for budget transparency and fiscal restraint in Arizona. (You can read more about Truth in Spending at the bottom of this post.)
TAKE ACTION!
Please send quick and friendly emails to Eileen Klein, Michael Hunter, and John Arnold on Governor Jan Brewer’s staff. Klein, Hunter and Arnold come from conservative backgrounds, and they should support Truth in Spending, but they are very busy reviewing dozens of bills each week. Their contact info is posted below.
(Your note can be as simple as “Dear Ms. Klein/Mr. Hunter/Mr. Arnold, Please take a look at the merits of SB 1275, the Truth in Spending reform bill. As a budget transparency bill, SB 1275 is very different bill from Rep. Debbie Lesko’s HB 2791, which functions as a statutory spending limit. Thank you! Sincerely, Joe & Jane Taxpayer.”)
Eileen Klein eklein@az.gov
Michael Hunter mhunter@az.gov
John Arnold jarnold@az.gov
(You can also leave short messages for their secretaries at 602-542-4331 in Phoenix or 520-628-6580 in Tucson.)
More action items:
1) Use our Action Page to send emails to your House members
2) Send quick thank-you emails (LINK) to the members of the Appropriations Committee.
ARIZONA NEEDS TRUTH IN SPENDING!
Truth in Spending (SB 1275) would require a special vote if the Legislature wants to increase state spending at a rate that is faster than the rate of growth of state population plus inflation, and would increase budget transparency by requiring the Legislature to give the public two weeks’ notice before holding a public hearing on the budget.
Truth in Spending will serve as a “speed bump” for future Legislators–letting them know when spending growth outpaces the ability of the state economy to pay for that spending. As this chart shows, if Arizona had stuck to a spending limit based on population plus inflation (“TABOR”) since 2003, our deficit problems would not have reached the crisis proportions they reached during the past four years. Truth in Spending can help to keep Arizona from getting back on the spending rollercoaster that destroyed state finances during the Napolitano years.
This is NOT an onerous transparency requirement: every year, dozens of Arizona cities and towns provide their citizens with two weeks’ notice before budget and property tax hearings (thanks to the “Truth in Taxation” law). More information about Truth in Spending, including a printable pdf fact sheet, is available at http://tinyurl.com/truthspend.
To see how the Committee members (and other Legislators) scored on AFP-Arizona’s 2011 Legislative Scorecard, along with cumulative scores for past years, click here.
To learn more about AFP-Arizona’s 2012 Legislative Agenda, click here.
For Liberty, Tom
Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
www.aztaxpayers.org
tjenney@afphq.org
(602) 478-0146
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