From the Children's Action Alliance...

Arizona's Budget Latest!!
On Monday of this week, a budget proposal emerged from secret talks at the legislature.  First thing Tuesday morning, identical budget bills (HB 2852 and SB 1523) were heard and adopted by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on a party-line vote.  Obviously, this gave Arizonans no time to learn about a budget proposal that will affect health care, education, public safety and much more.  We urge our lawmakers to make this the beginning of a public conversation on budget priorities.

The legislature and Governor Brewer are far apart on a variety of issues, including the projection of future revenues and the overall level of spending.  For more information comparing the Governor's budget to the new budget bills, click here.

Thanks to the fast-action analysis by Karen McLaughlin, Children's Action Alliance was there Tuesday morning to speak up for kids and families.  We urged lawmakers to make three clear changes in their budget to give Arizona kids the chance to grow up healthy and strong:

1. Add $6.5 million to this year's budget to lift the KidsCare freeze.  This will be a short term investment with a long-term payoff of healthier children, more school success, fewer family bankruptcies, and a stronger health care system.

2. Support Governor Brewer's proposal to add $50 million for reading instruction in elementary schools so that more children can read well by the end of third grade and Arizona can compete and win the jobs of the 21st century.

3. Sustain Child Protective Services, job training, community emergency services, and domestic violence prevention with $50 million to the Department of Economic Security.  These funds will replace federal funds that Arizona is losing and allow current services to continue.  A new investigative unit in CPS simply cannot improve child safety if this budget cut happens at the same time.

UPDATED!  CAA's Legislative Fact Sheets

CAA recently updated all of our legislative district fact sheets to include the most recent data. You can use them to learn about your legislators and the conditions of children in your community.  The new information available includes the percentage of children with at least one foreign born parent and the percentage of 3 and 4 year olds NOT enrolled in some type of preschool. 

Review the fact sheets here, or get more data per legislative district by visiting our Data Center.