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ATA eNewsletter

May 2010

A Word from ATA Lobbyist Barry Aarons

The Arizona Legislature adjourned its regular session on Thursday, April 30th, the first time in a decade that a regular session has ended in April. And, of course, it ended it with a bang.

SB 1070 (is there anyone in America who doesn't know that bill number?) deals with illegal immigration. Rather than try to define it myself I think that Peggy Noonan's definition in the May 1 Wall Street Journal does a much better job. She wrote in her article on public alienation with our government, "Which brings us to Arizona and its much-criticized attempt to institute a law aimed at controlling its own border with Mexico.  It is doing this because the federal government won't and because Arizonans have a crisis on their hands, (emphasis added) areas of the border where criminal behavior flourishes, where there have been kidnappings, murders and gang violence. If the law is abusive, it will be determined quickly in the courts." She continued later in her column, "But the larger point is that Arizona is moving forward because the government in Washington has completely abdicated its responsibility. For 10 years -- at least - through two administrations, Washington deliberately did nothing to ease the crises on the borders . . . "

The tourism industry has felt the brunt of broad based and loud unhappiness with this new law but only when taken out of context is the reactive response understandable. The calls for boycotts, the cancellations of meetings and the threats were, in retrospect, to have been expected. Ironically three other states, Texas, Utah and Georgia are considering passage of the same law and more may do the same when their sessions commence or resume. The point is that that 1070 has ignited what has been a smoldering public debate and one that will not soon be resolved.

Was there good news? In the face of severe budget cuts to the Arizona Office of Tourism (a 100% in funding from the tourism formula funding and as  much as a 50% cut in the Prop 302 "stadium" funds which may now be used for AOT administration at the expense of the Maricopa County CVB promotional funding) perhaps not. But that is with one glaring exception. The Legislature with the help of several tourism friendly legislators reinserted the AOT formula so that future legislatures may resume the funding stream. That is very significant. Without the dedicated statutory language we would be fighting with education, health care and corrections for our small share of the revenue pie. A small victory with potentially big implications.

There were also a couple of Arizona Centennial related bills that passed including authorization for the conduct of a raffle for fund raising and the agreement without legislation that an interagency agreement between AOT and the Dep't of Transportation for a commemorative front plate may be undertaken.
Are they done? Well, that all depends on whether the voters approve the referred one cent increase in the state sales tax for a three year period. That election on May 18th will likely determine whether additional budget cutting will be necessary for the 2011 fiscal year.

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