Arizona conservatives got a lot more than they deserved in transportation tax battle

Now that Proposition 400 finally gained release from the Legislature, Maricopa County and its regional allies can breathe a sigh of relief.

Voters will get their say on the half-cent transportation tax extension in next year’s general election.

But they are not the biggest winners in the monthslong saga.

That distinction goes to conservative state lawmakers — even if the most intransigent among them refused to the bitter end to approve the deal after their side exacted concession after concession.

Republicans made Democrats go along

They won exclusion of any use of Proposition 400 revenue for light rail extension.

They won reduction of the pot of money dedicated to public transit.

They won elimination of regional government’s ability to use some of the proceeds toward environmental efforts to reduce vehicle emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.

And they got Gov. Katie Hobbs and Democrats in a position of having little choice but to go along. (The grand bargain may have involved Hobbs capitulating to a Republican-passed bill to ban cities from imposing a tax on residential rent, which the governor signed on Tuesday.)

Senate Bill 1102 that enabled the renewal of Proposition 400 passed handily in both chambers on Monday, even without the support of the Republican Party’s own Freedom Caucus, its most unyielding partisans.

Republicans got more than anyone would have guessed at the start of the legislative session.

And certainly more than they deserve.

Never mind that this is a local issue

After all, Proposition 400 is a local issue.

It had been in the works for several years, a process driven by the Maricopa Association of Governments that involved a heck of a lot more public meetings with a heck of a lot more stakeholders than what drove SB 1102.

The Legislature was intended to merely shepherd enabling legislation to place the transportation tax extension on the ballot for Maricopa County voters to decide.

In fact, said legislation passed with little contention last year — only for then-Gov. Doug Ducey to veto it because he deemed the timing was wrong for voters to contemplate a tax extension.

A new Legislature, with a crop of new lawmakers, turned things upside down. That included tossing aside deference, apparently.

Another view: Far-right got rolled on transit. More, please

Never mind MAG’s lengthy process to map out the regional transportation priorities for the next 20 years and public engagement on how to go about it.

Never mind that county voters have approved, multiple times, transportation tax plans that included big chunks of spending on buses and light rail. Or that as recently as 2019, voters in Phoenix easily defeated a citizens initiative to halt light rail expansion.

Never mind the interference on an issue that affected only Maricopa County residents and should have been left for them to decide.

Transportation fight is settled, for now

As Rep. Selina Bliss, R-Prescott, noted before casting a “yes” vote on SB 1102, “This is their sandbox. I say let them play in it.”

Just as salient was Bliss' observation about the importance of Proposition 400: It freed up state transportation monies for more rural counties like hers that Maricopa County would have otherwise fought vigorously for.

Even the concession that Republican legislators gained to nix a planned light-rail extension around the state Capitol complex came across as small-minded.

As if public transportation stops near the state Senate and House buildings represent an affront to the public servants inside.

Yet, for all the pettiness and silly assailing of public transportation “no one uses,” the Republicans bargained hard and won big — even if it’s on a matter they had no business sticking their nose in.

The big solace for cities, mayors and regional government — aside from getting Proposition 400 on the ballot before the transportation tax expires — is that they won’t have to deal with this scenario again for another 20 years.

Reach Abe Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com. On Twitter: @abekwok.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Transportation tax goes to voters. But they're not the biggest winners