Bill to help fund highway patrol doomed despite Senate’s support

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Senate Democrats and three Republicans approved a contentious bill that would eliminate the need for an annual sweep of funds meant to help repair the state’s roads, but it was all for naught.

Senate President Steve Yarbrough won’t allow SB1146 back to the floor for a vote, effectively killing an effort to find a way around the practice of sweeping dollars from the Highway User Revenue Fund, better known as HURF, to supply dollars to the Department of Public Safety.

The Chandler Republican said he won’t schedule the bill for another vote on the Senate floor, despite the fact that a majority of senators approved it, 16-14.

“I have made it abundantly clear that there are aspects of this bill that I don’t like,” Yarbrough said. “That’s the prerogative that I get to implement here.”
Yarbrough said he shares the concerns of a majority of the Senate’s GOP Caucus, who railed against SB1146 and made repeated attempts to derail the bill.

It took seven votes to give the bill preliminary approval in the Senate’s Committee of the Whole, as some Republicans repeatedly sought to derail an amendment from Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa.

Rad more at AZ Capitol Times

Corrie O'Connor