John C. Scott

J.C. Scott: Az House panel kills Medicaid expansion ... for now

Posted Jun 10, 2013

John C. Scott Show

On Monday's edition:

We started with Democratic state Sen. Steve Farley (LD9), who informed our listeners that the House Appropriations panel had just killed Medicaid expansion. This was not unexpected; Farley hopes open debate on the floor will take place later this week, when the measure could be added back into the budget.

20 minutes into the show, we interviewed the executive director of the Arizona League of Cities and Towns, Ken Strobeck, who talked about sales tax reform and consolidated elections legislation.

37 min: We were joined by Downtown Tucson Partnership CEO Michael Keith, who gave a presentation to Mayor and Council last week. Although he highlighted the investment in infrastructure and private business that has occurred over the last 10 years — Rio Nuevo's $600 million, $250 million in private investment and another $100 million this coming year — the downtown organization's budget was cut by the city. Keith estimates there will be up to $2 billion of private investment downtown over the next decade and another $2 billion or so in the areas surrounding downtown – the university area and west of I-10.

50 min: We talked with Republican strategist Sam Stone about NSA information gathering, immigration reform and new allegations of a State Department cover-up.

68 min: We interviewed Committee for Sustainable Retirement Benefits Chairman Joe Larusso and representative of the Liberty Initiative Fund Scott Tillman. The Committee for Sustainable Retirement Benefits is collecting signatures to put on the November ballot pension reform that would require the City Council to implement a defined contribution retirement plan for new employees, rather than the current pension system.

88 min: We finished the show with developer Richard Studwell, who talked about city pensions, budget, Grand Canyon University and downtown development.