Alia Beard Rau

The Republic | azcentral.com

In response to criticism last year that Republican leaders rushed passage of a state budget with little public input, Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature this year promised more transparency.

But not everyone at the Capitol views transparency the same way when it comes to the state's proposed $9.5 billion spending plan.

At one end of the spectrum: The House Appropriations Committee has elected not to allow public comment during departmental budget hearings to be held over the coming weeks.

At the other end: The Senate Appropriations Committee will invite the public to speak on the state spending plan, and the Governor's Office has been gathering public comment at events around the state.

The House and Senate appropriations committees have each scheduled four public budget hearings. But with no legislative budget to discuss, the hearings will consist of key department heads discussing their budget requests.

Senate Republican spokesman Mike Philipsen said the Senate Appropriations Committee will allow public comment during its hearings. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Justin Olson said he will not open the floor to the public because these will be fact-finding presentations and the committee will not be voting on the actual budget bills.

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"Our practice is to make a general call for testimony involving any official act the committee is considering taking," he said. "The challenge with debating a bill that is not before the committee is that there is not a specific proposal to debate. That's why it has been the practice of the Legislature to have that significant public comment on a specific bill."

House Minority Leader Eric Meyer, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, called the decision unfortunate. He said he recalled public comment being allowed at similar hearings last year.

"A lot of my constituents and people around the state have asked me when the hearings are. They want to come and comment," he said. "I don’t understand why we’re fearful of hearing what the citizens of Arizona think about what we should do as their representatives. The game is rigged, and it's unfortunate."

Olson said the presentations from department heads are still a valuable exercise.

"It's a valuable opportunity to gather information in a public hearing where the members of the Legislature can seek and receive answers to their questions about what is going on," he said.

Olson said if individuals or groups would like to make a formal presentation to the committee related to the budget, they can make that request to his office (602-926-5288). Otherwise, the committee will take public comment once budget bills are introduced and come before the committee for vote.

Bruce Merrill, a veteran public pollster and senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said he was surprised the House is limiting comment on such an important issue when they choose to have hearings "ad nauseam over trivial things." But he said it may be in response to a public that's not engaged in the day-to-day workings of government.

"I hate to be cynical, but I'm not sure it makes much difference," he said. "I doubt if 5 percent of the people have a clue. Look what's going on in the presidential election. I haven't heard anybody talking about policies; I've heard nothing about governance or who has the experience to run the country."

These days, he said, "the special-interest groups are where the real action occurs."

"It's a shame that there isn't more respect for public input, but it's not surprising," he said.

For some, Arizona Gov. Ducey's rhetoric not matched by his budget

In prior years, the governor's staff would release their budget proposal in small meetings attended by state lawmakers and the media. The Legislature's majority party — Republicans in recent years — then huddled behind closed doors to develop its own budget. Once it was complete, the House and Senate appropriations committees would release the plan to the minority party and the public, and each hold one hearing where the public could comment.

But as part of its effort to be more transparent this year, the Governor's Office broadcast over the Internet its presentation of Ducey's budget proposal, and for the first time traveled to Flagstaff and Tucson to present the plan to residents there. The audience was able to ask questions of budget staff. More presentations are expected to be held in other parts of the state.

"The governor really believes the public not only should have the opportunity to see everything in the budget and understand it, he also wants to make sure they have the opportunity to participate in the conversation," said Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato. "No one has a monopoly on good ideas. The budget that's passed will have changes from what's introduced, and he (Ducey) wants to make sure the public has the opportunity to participate in that."

Hearing schedule

The House and Senate appropriations committees will hold several budget hearings. All hearings are at 2 p.m. at the state Capitol, 1700 W. Washington St. in Phoenix. The Senate hearings are in Senate Hearing Room 109. The House hearings are in House Hearing Room 1.