PHOENIX (3TV / CBS 5) – The city of Phoenix filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona on Tuesday alleging that state lawmakers illegally added dozens of provisions to the recently passed state budget bill. The city claims this is a violation of the state’s constitution. The lawsuit, which has been filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court, focuses on the “single-subject rule,” which relates to the Arizona Constitution’s transparency process, where bills must mean what they say. According to the City of Phoenix, this means that budget laws must be budgetary and general legislation must be one topic at a time. ”The constitution’s makers were right. We should do one thing at a time, and you shouldn’t take a bunch of things that probably wouldn’t happen by themselves and throw them into a budget bill that was bound to happen, “said Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix. (Source: Gavel) The city argues that legislative proposals only need to be debated and voted on with other provisions related to them, rather than stacking multiple provisions on top of each other. City guides say the legislature violated the requirements of the constitution when they drafted this year’s budget HB2893. The city cites various provisions of the draft budget, including issues that affect at least 10 different government agencies, and covers a variety of issues from an emergency “standby center” to disputes over water rights. “We wanted to say it wasn’t is okay to attack cities illegally by one Budget without any public process or under the Constitution, “said Gallego. The city of Phoenix also points to its new Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT), which the city approved by ordinance in May. The city claims that a certain provision in the draft budget affects how the city monitors its police and OATs. The provision, the city claims, “nullifies an office created to provide an independent, civilian-led review of the Phoenix Police Department.” The governor’s new law, which bans masked mandates, does not come into effect until September 29, obeying the constitution just like everyone else, “said Jean-Jaques Cabou of Perkins Coie LLP, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the city.” The City lawsuit asks the court to enforce these rules in the constitution. ”A court ruled that the Arizona legislature violated the constitution and prevented the law from going into effect, which would include Governor Doug Ducey’s ban on masking mandates in schools “The constitution says you can’t ban masks in the middle of a household,” said Gallego. To read the full lawsuit, read below: Copyright 2021 KPHO / KTVK (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
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