PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s action on the final 33 bills from the 2017 legislative session (all times local):
7 p.m.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has finished action on 33 remaining bills on his desk by signing 27 and vetoing more bills in a single day than he had all year.
Ducey vetoed six bills Monday, including ones legalizing the growing and processing of hemp and extending more protections to student journalists.
He signed legislation allowing universities to borrow up to $1 billion to build new research facilities and tackle a maintenance backlog, plus a partial restoration of cuts to welfare that he made in 2015. He also enacted three tax credit bills backers say will help boost businesses but opponents call giveaways.
State lawmakers will get more for mileage under another bill, while cities will be forced to hold sales tax elections only during November general election years.
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1:05 p.m.
Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has signed legislation allowing the state’s three public universities to borrow up to $1 billion to build new research facilities and tackle a maintenance backlog.
The bill Ducey signed Monday provides $27 million a year to help cover payments plus annual inflation increases.
The bonding package was one of the most contentious of the session. Many majority Republicans opposed it until cutting deals at the last minute.
No House Democrats backed the bill but many Senate Democrats ended up voting for it.
The funding will allow Ducey to claim a win going into his 2018 re-election bid by pointing to the new university funding. But it doesn’t come close to replacing the $99 million in annual funding he cut in his first budget in 2015.
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3 a.m.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey faces a deadline to sign or veto the final 33 bills from this year’s legislative session.
Atop the list of expected signings is a $1 billion university loan package championed by the Republican governor. He also must decide by close of business Monday whether to sign a series of tax credits and other breaks for big and small corporations.
Two bills extending workers’ compensation coverage to current or retired firefighters with some cancers or heart problems also await action. Others would boost mileage payments for state lawmakers and require counties and cities to only set votes for sales tax increases during November general elections.
Ducey has signed 317 bills so far this year and vetoed five others. The Legislature adjourned its 2017 session on May 10.
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