California Journal of Politics and Policy

While Arizona’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget itself offered modest changes from 2012-2013, two budget policy areas became the battleground.  With the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012, the biggest lingering question in the Republican-dominated state government was what would happen with Medicaid expansion.  Governor Jan Brewer chose the pragmatic path of seeking Medicaid expansion and eventually had to rely on Democrats for the votes to add it to the budget over leadership objections in both the State House and Senate.  Meanwhile, efforts to reform Arizona’s complex sales tax system ran into opposition from cities and towns and ultimately a compromise became law.