By Mary K. Reinhart
The Arizona Guardian
The Senate moved to adjourn the special budget-balancing session Tuesday without voting on the final bill worth about $20 million, and the House concurred, ending the session just before 3 p.m.
The action came after Senate Republicans agreed to put repeal of the First Things First child development program on the November ballot, looking to sweep about $325 million in tobacco tax money into the general fund.
The 17-13 vote capped a cantankerous but fast-paced six-day special session, this Legislature’s seventh, that cut about $1.1 billion in state programs and services toward closing a $2.6 billion hole in the $8.5 billion fiscal 2011 budget and the remaining $700 million deficit this year.
