The Arizona House of Representatives broke through a political logjam on Monday, approving a $50 million relief package as the state faces the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and adjourning for three weeks as a public health precaution.

The spending package allows Gov. Doug Ducey's administration to use the funds for housing assistance, aid for businesses, nonprofits and health care providers with fewer than 50 employees, and assistance for food banks as well as organizations serving people experiencing homelessness.

With this, the Legislature finished work on a basic budget that will keep state government operating into the new fiscal year that starts in July.

Lawmakers and the governor acknowledged immediately, however, that the package is likely a first step as the number of known cases of the new coronavirus increases day by day, hitting 234 on Monday. Restaurants are closing, tourists have canceled travel plans, and uncertainty swirls around new investments and new hiring.

"The $50 million that the Legislature put forward is going to allow us to work with the most vulnerable. It's our intention and we will be stretching and strengthening the safety net of the state," Ducey told reporters.

Lawmakers are adjourned until April 13 unless the House speaker and Senate president decide otherwise, adding Arizona to a long list of states that have postponed legislative sessions due to public health concerns and leaving unwritten legislators' next steps to address a very uncommon crisis.

In a sign of the times, about a couple dozen lawmakers voted remotely using a computer conferencing program first introduced last week.

Initially thought to best accommodate only a handful of people at a time, the system accommodated many more who have health concerns or live far from Phoenix.

Previous effort unraveled

The state Senate approved the relief plan with bipartisan support Thursday but it came to a screeching halt on reaching the House, which adjourned that night until Monday.

The move to adjourn outraged Democrats, who argued there was not time to spare on passing a relief package. Meanwhile, some Republicans described the Senate as dropping the plan in their laps. The political wrangling that ensued revealed the different dynamics of the Legislature's two chambers amid a public health emergency.

House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, said Thursday, however, that there was not enough support at that time for the measure passed by the Senate and argued that many proposals put forward by Democrats did not give the governor flexibility to address a fast-changing situation.

Meanwhile, many Democrats in the House had argued that the proposal was not nearly large enough and left too much discretion to Ducey.

But by Sunday, every Democrat in the House signed a letter committing to vote yes on the Senate plan.

Still, Democrats offered a series of amendments on Monday, such as a proposal to ban evictions, foreclosures, utility shutoffs and auto repossessions during a health crisis state of emergency.

"This is a crisis. The reality is that many Arizonans are going to have a difficult time getting out of it," said Rep. Isela Blanc, D-Tempe.

Democrats also tried to keep alive an unrelated proposal to help firefighters with cancer.

Bowers suggested that the House Democrats, with their slew of amendments, had gone back on a promise to support the Senate's plan.

"We're just trying to take advantage of a crisis here," he told the House at one point.

Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, told the chamber that Democrats would withdraw their amendments but argued the House had needlessly delayed the bill altogether when much of her caucus would have voted for it on Thursday.

"We could have done it then. We should have done it then. Instead, we put it off for one more day and one more weekend," she said.

The measure passed 59-1. House Majority Leader Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, was the lone vote against the bill with the relief measure. He did not respond to a message inquiring about his vote.

Concerns about a 'skinny' budget

The measure now goes to the governor's desk along with a basic budget that will keep state government operating into the next fiscal year. Many lawmakers wanted to pass a basic, "skinny" budget last week and break at least temporarily for health reasons.

Both chambers passed a general appropriations act on Thursday but the House still had to act on some accompanying measures, including the relief package, on Monday.

Observers argued that a basic budget would not guarantee the sort of economic support the state will likely need if the economic situation worsens.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow blasted the idea of a basic budget last week. But others have noted that the state's finances will likely look very different as tax revenue drops as a result of a ruined tourism season and restaurant closures, making it difficult to craft a more detailed budget now, before state staff get new data.

Democrats, meanwhile, also accused some Republicans of dismissing or minimizing the current public health emergency. Last week, four lawmakers posed for a photo while dining out and one posted it on Twitter. Many observers took it as a message mocking the move by Phoenix last week to restrict dining in at restaurants.

Many legislators, however, raised concerns about the safety risk to the public and to themselves if they continued working at the Capitol, where members come from across the state and many fall into the category of older adults that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned to take extra precautions.

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