Miscellaneous

Sales of cigarettes in Arizona have fallen by millions of packs since voters approved a big tobacco tax increase and a ban on smoking in bars a year ago


Tobacco tax revenue increased $57 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, to $345.6 million.

But all of that increase, and more, went into a new fund for early childhood education. The fund received $74 million, nearly all the revenue from an 82-cent per pack increase approved by voters.

PHOENIX - Key Republican lawmakers said Friday they have no intention to bow to Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano's agenda, despite her statements that her big re-election win gives her a mandate.


And one top Republican leader said illegal immigration, an issue that saw GOP lawmakers and the governor battle nearly the entire 2006 session, will again be prominent on GOP lawmakers' to-do list in 2007.

Of all the oddball ideas on next month's ballot - and there are a bunch - none is more bizarre than Proposition 203. Or sadly, more of a sure thing.


Proposition 203 is like pitting Pee-wee Herman against the Terminator, like calling up a tee-baller to pitch to Barry Bonds. Like inviting a leper to run against the Gerber baby.

Early-childhood-education and health programs on next month's ballot could lose millions of dollars if a misplaced decimal point is interpreted technically.


Proposition 203 is built around an 80-cent-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes to pay for the programs. But the ballot language calls for an ".80 cent/pack" tax increase, or 1/100th of what backers say they intended. That's less than 1 cent per pack.

The process of "ballot-box budgeting," where special-interest groups sidestep the state budget process to earmark taxes for their pet projects, has been much abused in Arizona.


This year's effort comes in the form of Proposition 203, an initiative that calls for a dramatic 68 percent increase in tobacco taxes.

The continued efforts of special-interest groups to use the initiative process to receive guaranteed and permanent funding for their programs is bad public policy and should be rejected.

A five-year effort to establish a statewide program for early childhood education and health care is on the ballot this fall in the form of Proposition 203, which would raise the tobacco tax by 80 cents per pack of cigarettes to generate upwards of $150 million a year for the programs.


But a conservative tax watchdog group says the proposition has many flaws, including potentially violating a constitutional amendment approved by voters two years ago that prohibits ballot measures from affecting the state's General Fund.

Former Tempe mayor and Democratic state senator Harry Mitchell is getting some help from Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano in his bid upend Scottsdale Congressman J.D. Hayworth.


Hayworth has been an outspoken nemesis of Napolitano and considered challenging her in this year's race for governor before deciding not to run.

Napolitano will host a fundraiser for Mitchell May 9 in Tempe. The event will also feature former state attorney general Grant Woods, noted real estate attorney Grady Gammage Jr., Democratic consultant Fred DuVal and Slade Mead.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Top legislative leaders offered cool assessments of Governor Napolitano's performance on budget issues and suggested that they expect the GOP-controlled Legislature to be at odds with her on spending and tax issues during the upcoming session.


Senate President Ken Bennett told a business-oriented tax lobbying group that the state's fiscal picture is brightening but that the state would be in relatively poor shape if lawmakers had gone along with past Napolitano proposals on spending and borrowing.

Republican leaders suggested Friday that the GOP-controlled Legislature would be at odds with Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano on spending and tax issues during the upcoming election-year session.


Senate President Ken Bennett told a business-oriented tax lobbying group that the state's fiscal picture is brightening.

But he said the state would still be in relatively poor shape if lawmakers had gone along with past Napolitano proposals on spending and borrowing.

"We can't afford that Christmas list," agreed House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix.

Voices of dissent regarding a proposed $233 million city of Phoenix bond to bankroll Arizona State University's downtown expansion are growing louder. They are coming from conservatives and tax watchdogs who are questioning the effectiveness of another publicly financed center city project and why a local government is funding a state university.