FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2024
PHOENIX – Arizona State Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan and House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos released the following statement in response to the Republican outbursts and theatrics in the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) before approval of a routine request to shift funds within the Arizona Department of Child Safety budget to cover higher-than-estimated costs.
Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan (LD18) stated, “Today, what should have been an unremarkable meeting of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee devolved into a political circus at the expense of our foster children. Republicans are working feverishly to stretch facts and manufacture outrage over a completely routine budgeting procedure that has happened multiple times over the past decade under both Republican and Democratic governors. Under Republican Governor Doug Ducey, the legislature approved nearly $50 million of these requests to move money from one line item to another within an agency budget — all without batting an eye. This Republican behavior was disgusting, and their grandstanding puts Arizonans at risk of losing desperately needed services.”
House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos (LD11) added, “The Department of Child Safety is not running out of money next week, as the Republicans claim. This is a pathetic attempt to distract voters from the fact that, just yesterday, House Republicans killed a bill to provide emergency funding for kids with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism, and other developmental disabilities. If the Republicans don’t act in the next few days, these children will be cut off from lifesaving services. They are attempting to distract you when they should be making life better for disabled kids across Arizona.”
