HB4141

THE CONTEXT: The Arizona Legislature adopts a budget for each fiscal year (FY) that contains general appropriations. Article IV, Section 20, Part 2, Constitution of Arizona, requires the General Appropriations Act (feed bill) to contain only appropriations for the different state departments, state institutions, public schools and interest on public debt.

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would appropriates the following amounts to the specified agencies in FY 2027 for the maintenance and repair of state buildings: Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) $16,800,000 from the Capital Outlay Stabilization Fund (COSF); requires ADOA to allocate these monies to state agencies for necessary building renewal; reduces the appropriation from the COSF to the amount available in that fund if the monies in COSF are insufficient to fund the full appropriation; allows the monies to be used for retrofitting facilities for space consolidation; Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) $5,864,300 from the DOC Building Renewal Fund; restricts DOC from spending these monies on personal services or overhead expenses related to managing the funded projects; Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGF) $1,932,900 from the Game and Fish Fund; Arizona State Lottery Commission (ASLC) $237,800 from the State Lottery Fund; Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) $22,990,400 from the State Highway Fund (SHF); and $394,900 from the State Aviation Fund (SAF). ADOT Statewide Highway Construction, appropriates $432,663,000 from the SHF in FY 2027 to plan and construct state highways, including the national system of interstate highways within this state, the state primary or secondary system, the county primary or secondary system and urban rural routes, to acquire rights-of-way and to provide for the cost of contracted field administration and field engineering on construction projects and debt service payments on bonds issued for highway construction, and specifies that any balances and collections in the SHF that exceed the specific amounts appropriated in the General Appropriations Act and in the Capital Outlay Act for FY 2027 are appropriated to ADOT for the purposes of statewide highway construction.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to put public resources toward the named state purpose through an accountable appropriation. It would appropriates the following amounts to the specified agencies in FY 2027 for the maintenance and repair of state buildings: Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) $16,800,000 from the Capital Outlay Stabilization Fund (COSF); requires ADOA to allocate these monies to state agencies for necessary building renewal; reduces the appropriation from the COSF to the amount available in that fund if the monies in COSF are insufficient to fund the full appropriation; allows the monies to be used for retrofitting facilities for space consolidation; Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) $5,864,300 from the DOC Building Renewal Fund; restricts DOC from spending these monies on personal services or overhead expenses related to managing the funded projects; Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGF) $1,932,900 from the Game and Fish Fund; Arizona State Lottery Commission (ASLC) $237,800 from the State Lottery Fund; Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) $22,990,400 from the State Highway Fund (SHF); and $394,900 from the State Aviation Fund (SAF). ADOT Statewide Highway Construction, and would also appropriates $432,663,000 from the SHF in FY 2027 to plan and construct state highways, including the national system of interstate highways within this state, the state primary or secondary system, the county primary or secondary system and urban rural routes, to acquire rights-of-way and to provide for the cost of contracted field administration and field engineering on construction projects and debt service payments on bonds issued for highway construction, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.