Cities won't be cut in state's budget

I know it's pretty useless to repost things that were already printed in the Arizona Republic, but amidst all the budget cuts being thrown around as possibilities, cutting revenues the state shares with cities will not be one of the cuts. This is thanks to Tucson Democratic Representative Steve Farley. Voters in 1992 in AZ passed a constitutional amendment requiring a 2/3rd majority in the legislature to raise revenues (i.e. taxes). Farley asked the Legislative Council that writes bills for the legislature and gives them legal advice whether cutting tax revenue that is shared with cities so that the state can keep more of it amounts to a revenue increase that requires a 2/3rd majority vote. They said it would indeed require 2/3rd, far more votes than the legislature can muster.