Legislative Update: Arizona Legislature Passes Budget

After pulling an all-night legislative session, the Arizona House and Senate passed a $9.1 billion budget for State Fiscal Year 2015/2016 on Saturday morning around 8:00 am.

Here is a summary of the budget bills as it relates to the HURF Transfers:

There will be additional highway/road fund transfers or “sweeps” (money transferred from the dedicated funds to pay for the Highway Patrol operations) by $8.2 million. The budget transfers $96.81 million from Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) and another $7.3 million from the State Highway Fund (SHF) for a total of $104.11 million.

The budget also includes a $20 million funding raid of ADOT’s Highway Expansion and Extension Loan Program (HELP) and $15 million from the State Aviation Fund (half of that Fund’s current balance).  A transportation-related amendment was added late in the deliberations, which will appropriate $1.2 million from the State General Fund for transportation projects on the Navajo Nation.

The original proposal to increase vehicle registration fees for additional revenue for DPS was not included in the final budget.

Governor Ducey is expected to sign the budget.