Hello all,

After working through the evening to 6:00AM on Thursday night to pass a budget, the Legislature came back and finished up their work on remaining bills on Friday, ending the session at 12:25AM last night.

In addition to the approximate $1B in supplemental transportation funding in the budget, the legislature also passed a bill that authorizes Maricopa County to take to its voters an extension of the regional one-half cent transportation sales tax which is expected to be on this November's ballot.

A stand alone bill was also passed on Friday that provides $33M for improvements to Cesar Chavez Boulevard in San Luis, a road that is vital to linking the San Luis ports of entry to the local highways. This addition brings the total of transportation supplemental funding to $995,147,500. In addition to the $400M to widen I-10 through Pinal and Maricopa Counties, an additional $324,578,500 is provided to Greater Arizona projects across the State.

A big thank you to the Legislature and Governor for prioritizing transportation in this year's budget. Special appreciation should be extended to Rep. Tim Dunn, Senate President Karen Fann, Senator David Gowan, Speaker Rusty Bowers, Rep. Frank Carroll, and Senator Sine Kerr for their successful efforts on our behalf.

Appreciation is also extended to Governor Doug Ducey for the SMART Fund which will provide $50M in assistance to Greater Arizona for application preparation and local match funding for federal transportation competitive grants maximizing the ability of rural Arizona to secure this additional funding for our infrastructure.

An updated summary of transportation funding including the changes from yesterday is attached.

Sincerely,
Kevin Adam,
Legislative Liaison
Rural Transportation Advocacy Council