ARIZONA: Halfway There

Outgoing Gov. Jane Dee Hull has until Saturday to sign what may be her last piece of legislation -- a package of spending cuts and revenue adjustments that reduces the state's estimated $500 million fiscal 2003 budget shortfall by half.

All indications are that Hull will sign the budget-adjusting bill, despite the fact that it left out some of her proposed remedies, including $300 million of revenue bonds for school repairs. The 2003 budget originally called for $6.2 billion in spending.

"I would have liked to see legislators adopt my entire $409 million proposal, but they took a step in the right direction by adopting the majority of my plan and putting a major dent in the current year budget deficit," Hull said.

The budget cuts, which included a loss of 1,700 state jobs, came in a one-day special session that Hull called Nov. 25.

With an eye toward her successor, Hull, a Republican, praised the Legislature for taking the budget problem seriously. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, will become the first woman in Arizona history to replace another woman governor.

"Legislators had a responsibility not to drop this problem in the laps of the incoming Legislature and governor, and, in part, they met that responsibility," Hull said. "Governor-elect Napolitano and the new Legislature still have their work cut out for them."

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