(July 14, 2023) Banning puppy mills: The Pima County Supervisors plan to discuss next month whether to ask the state Legislature to ban “puppy mills.” (Tucson Agenda)
(July 24, 2023) Blocking “hostile” bills: Pima County officials are developing suggestions for bills they’d like to see in the state Legislature, according to the mid-year legislative report the county’s lobbyists sent to the county supervisors. Overall, counties like Pima had a “successful session blocking dozens of hostile measures that would have stripped county authority and revenues,” such as shifting costs for juvenile corrections. (Tucson Agenda)
(August 8, 2023) Pima County officials are writing their annual wish list for the state Legislature, highlighting the local issues that’ll come up, or not, in the next legislative season. Arizona’s 15 counties play a game of tug-of-war with the Legislature over tax dollars every year. The wish list Pima County officials put together, known as the 2024 Legislative Agenda, is one of the first official pulls of the game. (Tucson Agenda)
(August 9, 2023) Pima County supervisors backed away from a potentially democracy-hindering proposal during Tuesday’s meeting, opting to pull an item from their 2024 Legislative Agenda after the meeting’s public comment session. The item was a proposed law that Pima County Attorney Laura Conover wants the state Legislature to pass that would establish “reasonable boundaries around public records requests while maintaining a high level of transparency and accountability,” as she put it in a recent memo to the board of supervisors. (Tucson Agenda)
(November 20) Return the money: Pima County officials and lobbyists need to advocate for the state to restore the full $10 million for the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund, County Supervisor Rex Scott wrote in a memo to the board. The state cut the normal allocation down to $6 million this year. That money is used for all sorts of outdoor recreation and education projects in Pima County and throughout the state. Scott asked the other supervisors to consider adding the item to the county’s legislative agenda at Tuesday’s meeting. (Tucson Agenda)
(January 8) Pima County officials didn’t meet the deadline to provide financial information to the Arizona Auditor General. They were supposed to turn over the annual financial report by Dec. 31, as they usually do. If they don’t provide that information soon, the auditor general is going to reassign staff and the audit could be delayed for months. The notice came in a letter from the auditor general that Supervisor Christy included in the materials for Tuesday’s meeting. (Tucson Agenda)
(May 23) Not looking good: As officials in Tucson and Pima County gauge how much money the state Legislature will share with them this year, state officials had some bad news about sales tax revenue, the Arizona Mirror’s Jim Small reports. That revenue had been growing steadily for months, but the April tally was $93 million lower than expected. The state is facing a $1.3 billion budget deficit, split between the rest of this fiscal year and upcoming one.