ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

On a party-line vote, the state House approved a stripped-down $17 billion spending plan late Tuesday, a "continuation bill'' that would keep government open. It is not only less than the nearly $17.6 billion plan the Democratic governor negotiated with the Senate but also less than a $17.3 billion plan House Republicans approved a week ago.

Hobbs remains unmoved even though, without a state budget, there is no authority for the state to spend money after June 30.

“She’s vetoing the continuation bill,’’ said her press aide, Christian Slater. But he would not respond to questions about whether Hobbs could be the first governor to shutter state government.

There are signs, however, that the united front by House Republicans may be cracking.

One is the fact that, even as the House votes for its $17 billion plan, there have been ongoing negotiations involving the House, Senate and governor. That is happening despite several GOP lawmakers, led by House Appropriations Chairman David Livingston, saying they cannot accept any larger spending plan, no matter how it is packaged.

There’s also the fact that House Speaker Steve Montenegro tried to shut down Livingston during the House GOP caucus Tuesday. Livingston was detailing why he believes anything above $17 billion should be cast aside.

“I think we’ve heard enough,’’ interjected Montenegro, a rare rebuke of a fellow Republican in public.

More significant is that Montenegro told Capitol Media Services after the caucus that he does not believe there will be a shutdown.

More significant is that Montenegro told Capitol Media Services after the caucus that he does not believe that there will be a shutdown.

But lawmakers already are pointing fingers about who is to blame if there is no state budget by July 1 and many state services cease.

Democratic House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos contends if the House had allowed a vote on the Senate-passed plan he believes it would have passed — and there would be no threat of a shutdown.

"Any government shutdown is 100% the fault of House Republicans,'' he said. "Period. Full stop.''

Wrong, said Montenegro. "The majority of the members voting for this budget cannot be accused of a government shutdown,'' he said. In fact, Montenegro said, the whole purpose of a continuation budget is to guarantee that there will be services "while we continue to have serious deliberations.''

Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin, who voted for the continuation budget, has his own theory about all this.

He said he expects that the Senate, which is set to vote Wednesday on what the House just passed, will approve it and send it to the governor who will veto it. And at that point supporters of the $17.6 billion spending plan will raise the specter of a government shutdown, say there's not time left to negotiate something else, and "jam the disastrous Senate budget ... down our throats.''

Kolodin also launched into an intraparty attack, saying anyone who supports the Senate budget "will be an enemy of the people of Arizona.''

"And it doesn't matter if that person sits in a chair or on a dais in the other chamber and live-action role plays as a conservative,'' he said, in a slap at Senate President Warren Petersen, who voted for that plan.

There was no immediate response from Petersen.

The vote to go with the stripped-down state budget came despite pleas from some who said going that route will end up costing more in the long run.

One of those was Nick Ponder, who represents an organization of all the community colleges in the state.

He pointed out that the budget being pushed through the House lacks $12 million for community colleges that was in the $17.6 billion budget passed by the Senate — the one negotiated with Hobbs and the one House Republicans are not even willing to bring up for a vote. That includes $6 million for adult education programs.

“There are about 800,000 individuals in Arizona who lack a high school diploma,’’ Ponder told lawmakers, saying about two-thirds of those get some form of state assistance. That includes the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program.

“Each individual on AHCCCS costs the state about $7,100 a year,’’ Ponder said.

“About 5,000 students a year go through our programs,’’ he continued. “If we can get two-thirds of those individuals off of AHCCCS, that’s $23 million a year in savings to the state.’’

Also not included in the House GOP budget is $9.5 million for a proposed 5% increase in pay for state troopers. Jeff Hawkins, president of the Arizona State Troopers Association, said that gap will have costs, too, in the form of turnover.

He said other police agencies are approving significant increases in their pay to keep experienced officers, including a 15% increase by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and a 12% pay raise for the Mesa Police Department.

“Those are all folks that now pay more than a state trooper,’’ Hawkins said.

Also missing, he said, is $11.2 million “to keep the lights on’’ at Department of Public Safety offices. He said it’s not a question of paying the power bill but “the infrastructure at headquarters is so old that, literally, the lights will turn off.’’

While rejecting any effort to add to the bill, Livingston did offer a carrot of sorts to Hobbs and others who support more spending.

He said once there’s a guarantee of continued state operations beyond July 1 — which the House GOP spending plan would provide — then there could be a special legislative session to decide whether to add back in some of the priorities that were in the larger spending plan.

In fact, Livingston said he would support some of those requests. Those include $25 million to widen a stretch of Interstate 10 in the Buckeye area, a provision Livingston himself put in the earlier $17.3 billion House plan.

He said, though, that if the state is to pass a continuation budget, then it must be stripped of everyone’s pet projects, including his own.