...of course, they failed, but they were negotiating with themselves.
When doing that, it's kind of hard to pull off failure, but legislative Republicans achieved that.
Taking cues from someone who isn't involved doesn't seem to help.
From AZMirror, written by Jerod Macdonald-Evoy, dated 6/29/2026 -
School voucher special session deal is likely dead in the water
A plan by Republican lawmakers to call a special session of the Arizona Legislature to strike a deal with the state’s largest teachers union to kill a ballot initiative aimed at the school voucher program is likely dead in the water.
In the final hours of the annual legislative session just three weeks ago, Republican lawmakers pushed through a ballot referral that, if approved by voters, would nullify the two citizen-led initiatives aimed at regulating the state’s billion-dollar school voucher program, formally known as the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.
[snip]
Some long-time ESA advocates are continuing to push for what is now being called the “Biggs plan,” named after Republican Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs, despite signals from the ninth floor that the governor will not agree to that deal.
Note: this headline was written before signature were due; they're now in, and "likely dead" has become "is dead."
Legislative Democrats noticed, and had something to say.
From their press release -
Legislative Dems Statement on Republican Special Session Failure on ESAs and Ballot Measures Attacking Educators, Fire Fighters and Law Enforcement
Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan and House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos released the following statement regarding the Republican failure – announced today via social media – to come together on a special session to pass modest ESA voucher reforms and to claw back misleading ballot referrals attacking public schools, educators, firefighters and law enforcement.
"Republicans created this mess by rushing harmful and misleading ballot referrals through the Legislature, including an attack on teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers and other public employees who wish to join a union and negotiate the terms of their employment. Today, they had the opportunity to come together and work with Democrats to pull back these rushed and ill-considered reforms and once again, they failed Arizona.
[snip]
What we saw today was a failure of leadership from Republicans in both chambers. While Speaker Montenegro and President Petersen stated they were negotiating in good faith – we now know the truth. There will be no special session. Instead, Republicans backtracked on the terms of a deal which were not only widely reported, but which they themselves put together.
The Arizona Education Association (AEA) noticed, too.
From their press release -
Arizona Labor Unions and Allies Slam “Biggs Deal” that Hurts Working Families and Enshrines Voucher Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Arizona Constitution
Today, labor unions and allied groups representing hundreds of thousands of working families, parents, and educators across Arizona released the following statement slamming Legislative Republicans for backing away from bipartisan voucher reforms in support of a so-called “Biggs Deal” that would block basic guardrails for the scandal-plagued ESA voucher program and risk millions of dollars in funding for Arizona school districts by keeping SCR 1032 on the ballot:
"The Biggs deal is a non-starter that would be horrible for students, educators, parents, and working families across Arizona. When Republican lawmakers approached us with an offer to pass common-sense voucher reforms and drop their three disastrous referrals (HCR 2040, SCR 1032, and HCR 2048), we were open to good-faith discussions. After Biggs and his extremist allies intervened, their involvement left the Republican caucus divided and unable to negotiate in a serious or constructive way. We are no longer willing to participate in what has become a political circus.
My guess is that what happened here is that legislative Republicans floated the special session rumor and offered a one-sided "deal" (one where they gave up nothing while the other parties to the deal gave up all), and when the other parties didn't play their game, brought in Andy Biggs and his merry bunch anti-society cutthroats to take the blame for their own failure.
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