HB2221

THE CONTEXT: The Urban Revenue Sharing (URS) program provides that a percentage of state individual and corporate income tax revenues are to be shared with municipalities in Arizona. Through FY 2023, the amount distributed to municipalities was 15% of net income tax collections from two years prior to the current fiscal year.

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would prohibit a municipality from reducing the budget of a law enforcement agency below the previous year's budget, provide that a municipality that reduces its law enforcement agency's budget will not have its state-shared monies withheld if: a) the municipality does not have sufficient monies; b) the budgets of all other departments and agencies are reduced by an equal or greater amount as the reduction in the law enforcement agency's budget; c) the municipality has not experienced population growth; or d) the municipality increased the law enforcement agency's budget in the previous year for a one-time capital expense, and state that if a municipality reduces their operating budget, the municipality: a) must reduce all other departments' or agencies' annual operating budgets first; and b) may not reduce the annual operating budget for a law enforcement agency in an amount greater than the reduction to all other municipal departments' or agencies' annual operating budgets.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to set a clear legal boundary for law enforcement instead of leaving the conduct unaddressed. It would prohibit a municipality from reducing the budget of a law enforcement agency below the previous year's budget, and would also provide that a municipality that reduces its law enforcement agency's budget will not have its state-shared monies withheld if: a) the municipality does not have sufficient monies; b) the budgets of all other departments and agencies are reduced by an equal or greater amount as the reduction in the law enforcement agency's budget; c) the municipality has not experienced population growth; or d) the municipality increased the law enforcement agency's budget in the previous year for a one-time capital expense, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.