THE NEW FEDERALISM AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR ARIZONANS

posted by Michael Chihak

Two U.S. Supreme Court cases with implications for Arizonans are pending decisions, and at least one more -- possibly two or three more -- cases are headed to the highest court in the land.

All are examples of Arizona's pushback of what Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, GOP Attorney General Tom Horne and Republican legislative leaders say are illegal and unwarranted federal intrusions, or shortcomings by the federal government in providing Arizona the protections that the Constitution calls for.

Now before the court are:

• A challenge to the state's school tax credit system, specifically its allowance for contributions under the credit going to religious-only schools, saying that is a violation of the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state. Supreme Court arguments were heard in November 2010.

• A challenge to the state's Clean Elections system, which gives to candidates who apply and qualify for it public funding in an amount equal to what their opponents raise privately. It also is a First Amendment case, citing the Clean Elections law as a violation of free speech. Supreme Court arguments are expected this spring.

While those are First Amendment cases, the basis for much of the legal and political activity in Arizona is aimed at interpretations of the U.S. Constitution's "supremacy clause" vs. the 10th Amendment.

The "supremacy clause is Article VI, Clause 2, which says that the Constitution and the laws of the United States "shall be the supreme law of the land." The 10th Amendment says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

One case likely to go to the Supreme Court is over Arizona's SB1070, the strict immigration control law, passed last year amid talk by state Republican leaders of their frustrations over the federal government failing to protect the state from what some called an "invasion" of illegal immigrants across the Arizona-Mexico border.

This legislation session has seen introduction of bills calling for the state to be able to nullify any federal law that legislators think intrudes on the state's sovereignty and one bill that would make it a minor felony for a federal officer to undertake enforcement of any such law.

Additionally, a legislator and Attorney General Tom Horne have said they reject a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2007 that upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

For Friday, Arizona Week is assembling a list of guests who can speak to the issue from both its political and legal viewpoints, along with a panel of journalists to provide commentary on the issues.

JOURNALIST PANEL MAKES PERTINENT POINTS ABOUT AZ JOBS BILL

posted by Michael Chihak

The three journalists whose commentary will be on tonight's Arizona Week raised a raft of significant and interesting issues around this week's swift introduction, debate and passage of the Arizona Competitiveness Package.

From Luige del Puerto of the Arizona Capitol Times: The debate was furious for a day or so, but the bill ended up being handled the way the AZ Legislature handles the budget -- crafted it behind closed doors, then jammed through quickly.

From Mark Evans of tucsoncitizen.com: The problem with the quick movement of the bill was that legislators didn't get time to read it, let alone understand it. "The legislative sausage making that we're so derisive about" is a necessary component of the process, Evans said.

From Jahna Berry of the Arizona Republic: The business community hasn't fully weighed in, especially on the idea of the transparency that everyone is promising with the Commerce Authority. Can businesspeople accustomed to operating privately make the adjustment? We'll watch closely.

All that and more commentary on tonight's broadcast, 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV Channel 6 in Tucson and online at azweek.com.

WHEN IS LAST TIME BREWER SAT FOR AN INTERVIEW?

posted by Michael Chihak

Gubernatorial Communications Director Matthew Benson set up Arizona Week's interview with Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday. The governor and Benson were generous with her time, giving us a good half-hour on a busy day.

Timing couldn't have been better. Brewer walked into the interview room minutes after the Arizona Senate had approved the Arizona Competitiveness Package, a 214-page strategy for growing quality jobs and overall economic improvement.

She was ebullient over the passage, saying she hoped the bill would be transmitted to her quickly for her signature. That occurred Thursday evening, and the bill with its big tax cuts for businesses and other incentives is now law.

As we settled in for Wednesday's interview with the governor -- adjusting microphones and sound levels, checking camera angles and warming under the bright lights -- I told her that the cameras would begin rolling momentarily and not be stopped for the entirety of the interview.

"We'll make adjustments in the editing if I screw up," I said jokingly.

Her immediate response: "Will you cover me, too?"

We did. Late in the interview, Brewer began coughing, and we had to stop so she could sip water. We restarted, and she responded to the question at hand in the same way she had begun to before the break.

The unabridged version of the interview to be posted on our Website later today will be without the coughing episode. But everything else there is as it occurred.

When the interview ended, I thanked Brewer and told her I would look forward to future interviews. She expressed openness to the idea, saying, "Yes, do you want to talk about the budget? How about the border?"

Indeed. We shall be back. Communications Director Benson allowed afterward that we could count on "regular" interviews with Brewer; he defined that as meaning every couple of months.

BREWER: BUSINESSES 'WAITING IN WINGS' TO COME TO AZ

posted by Michael Chihak

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer in her first one-on-one broadcast interview of 2011 said Wednesday that she knows the state needs a strong higher education system to help attract business.

Nevertheless, she said, the state doesn't have the money to expand the system. Instead, her budget for next fiscal year would impose a $170 million cut, 20 percent, on the three state universities, and a $73 million cut, or 45 percent, on the community college system.

"Education's been a No. 1 priority," Brewer said. Nevertheless, the universities and community colleges should have been prepared for the big cuts, because "they knew it was coming."

She said the proposed cuts are a change from the current fiscal year, in which federal stimulus money was used to shore up their budgets.

Brewer and the Republican-controlled Legislature pushed through $100 million in state funding cuts on the three universities for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Although funding didn't go down for the current fiscal year because of the federal stimulus money, the universities had to give up $10 million in state aid to get the federal money.

Tax cuts for businesses in the economic development plan that Brewer was expected to sign into law today would give them a $400 million a year break at full implementation, according to her office. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimated the reduction at $538 million a year.

She said a number of big businesses were "waiting in the wings" to set up shop in Arizona and create jobs, waiting for the tax cuts package and other incentives in the economic development plan. She declined to identify any of the businesses.

WHO WILL WATCH NEW AZ COMMERCE AUTHORITY?

posted by Michael Chihak

The structure of the new Arizona Commerce Authority is such that it will be in control of private businesspeople, while operating under the sanction of the state government. Gov. Jan Brewer is ceding her executive control of the old state Department of Commerce to the authority.

The authority will raise money from the private sector and have control over a number of significant financial tools, including a state-funded pool of up to $25 million that will serve as a "deal-closing" fund. It would help attract businesses to the state by offering incentives to get them to sign on.

Additionally, the authority will oversee the certification of tax-credit eligibility for businesses that create "quality jobs." The legislation defines such a job as one that pays more than the median income in the county where it is being created.

Businesses creating such jobs will be eligible for tax credits of up to $3,000 a year for three years for up to 400 new jobs.

A key question is how the members of the authority will avoid being in conflict of interest when they are considering the tax-credit certification for businesses that may themselves be investors in the authority.

Commerce Authority Director Don Cardon has pledged transparency and openness in operations. Brewer will need to assure state residents, including as it turns out several members of her own Republican Party in the Legislature, that the authority will operate totally above board.

GOV. BREWER'S JOBS PLAN ON A FAST TRACK

posted by Michael Chihak

Gov. Jan Brewer's economic development plan, manifest as SB1001 in a special legislative session, could see quick action with approval as early as Wednesday, some are saying.

The plan would reduce several business taxes -- including taxes on corporate income and property -- and offer tax and other incentives to attract business.

The proposal would give tax credits to companies creating "quality jobs", defined as jobs paying more than the median income in the county where it is created. For that, an employer would get a tax credit of $3,000 a year for three years for each of up to 400 jobs.

Corporate income taxes would decline from the current 6.9 percent to 4.9 percent in half-point increments for four years, starting in 2014. That would save businesses more than $200 million at current income levels.

Total tax savings for businesses at full implementation of the cuts would be $400 million by the governor's office estimate, $538 million by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee's estimate.

Brewer and legislative leaders say business growth stimulated by the cuts should help offset the tax revenue losses. They also say that the plan should help replace many of the 300,000 jobs that Arizona has lost in three years.

The state's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in December, the last month for which statistics are available.