Top Arizona legislators are aiming to adjourn their annual session in the next few days as a public health precaution while officials brace for more cases of the new coronavirus.

House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, told members of the Legislature on Monday afternoon that he hoped to pass a few bills he described as noncontroversial and a basic budget that would continue funding for state agencies and services.

Talk of the unusual move comes after some members said they would no longer attend proceedings at the Capitol and President Trump recommended canceling gatherings of more than 10 people.

About two months into a session that could last 100 days or longer, it remained unclear Monday how exactly the Legislature would wrap up its business. Bowers suggested the Legislature would return in the near future but others may be interested in adjourning for the year and returning if the governor calls a special session.

Exactly which bills lawmakers would salvage before heading out the door is bound to be a subject of plenty of political wrangling as talks proceed.

Senate President Karen Fann said Monday evening there had been no decision on whether to adjourn sine die and end the session or merely break for periods at a time.

Fann, R-Prescott, suggested that lawmakers would aim to pass a budget this week to keep government operating but that legislators might keep working off and on in the coming weeks or months.

"Let's get something in place that we can all agree on and that we're comfortable with so we know if worst comes to worst and we don't have a quorum next week, we can work through that," Fann told reporters. "It doesn't mean that a bunch of us can't be here and work if we want to — I wouldn't say doing committees, but if there's work that needs to be done."

House Speaker Pro Tempore T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, said returning in a few weeks or months would give the Legislature flexibility in crafting financial plans for the budget year that begins in July.

The amount of money the state government can expect to raise this year is likely to change as major tourist draws are canceled, such as spring training, he noted.

"That's one of our biggest financial boons," Shope said. "It's going to be pretty bad."

Adjourning would cast doubt over the status of hundreds of pieces of legislation still wending through the Capitol.

It also raises questions about who will manage parts of the state's response.

'We're not working at all'

Workers in industries that already are bearing the brunt of canceled conferences and vacations at the height of tourism season traveled to the Capitol on Monday to urge that legislators soften the economic blow.

"For the last three weeks, maybe for a month, we've had less work and less work every week. Now, we're not working at all," said Maria Valdez, a banquet server at the downtown Sheraton Grand Phoenix who said she will only get one shift this week.

Adrian DeMoss, who works at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, said some of his colleagues are now working fewer than 20 hours a week.

"That affects their insurance. If you can't afford to pay for your insurance, you're not going to pay for it," he said. "As a 60-year-old, that really, really frightens me to not have my insurance."

Some lawmakers said they would prefer to stay and deal with the ramifications of the new coronavirus.

"We're ready to work on what needs to get done," said Rep. Aaron Lieberman, D-Phoenix.

The Arizona AFL-CIO and other groups, such as Mi Familia Vota, called on officials to ensure greater access to free coronavirus testing as well as a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs and health insurance terminations. They also called for paid sick leave that goes beyond what Congress is considering, which does not cover companies with more than 500 employees. And they called for expanding unemployment insurance, among other measures.

Social distancing a challenge at Legislature

If states are the laboratories of American democracy, as the saying goes, legislatures can certainly feel like petri dishes. People from across the state sit shoulder to shoulder in long, crowded committee hearings. Lines of school children on field trips snake through the Capitol each day. And there is endless handshaking and backslapping. The social distancing recommended by public health officials can seem impossible in a place where much of the action unfolds in close huddles and crowded committee rooms.

Some lawmakers already were avoiding the Capitol before Monday's developments.

Rep. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix, said he would not attend proceedings in the House due to his work as an emergency room doctor. Shah said he will continue to work his shifts but did not want to put the health of his legislative colleagues at risk.

"Some have asked whether I would cancel my shift, and my answer is a resounding 'No,'" Shah wrote in a lengthy Facebook post over the weekend. "I simply cannot allow some other doctor to become exposed to this virus while I am relatively young and healthy and therefore at lower risk."

Sens. Heather Carter, R-Phoenix, and Paul Boyer, R-Glendale, told the Associated Press last week they are not returning to the Capitol immediately in an effort to protect vulnerable family members.

The departure of those two senators in particular leaves the Republicans with even less power in the chamber and less ability to pass controversial legislation if opposed by other members of their own caucu.

Meanwhile, a sizable minority of legislators are around age 65 or older — a group the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says should stay home as much as possible.

The state had not recommended the cancellation or postponement of large events until Sunday, when it recommended canceling events with more than 50 people. As recently as Friday, Gov. Doug Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman told school officials they did not recommend closing campuses.

On Sunday, however, they reversed course and said all schools would remain closed through March 27.

Lawmakers in 11 other states had adjourned due to the new coronavirus, as of Saturday, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That includes legislatures in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois and Kentucky.

Contact Andrew Oxford at andrew.oxford@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter at @andrewboxford.