On Wednesday, Governor Jan Brewer and AHCCCS Director Tom Betlach petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to review the recent appellate court decision regarding the state’s Motion to Dismiss a lawsuit aiming to prevent implementation of the Medicaid Restoration law.
In February, all of the Republican legislators, who voted against the governor’s Medicaid expansion plan during last year’s legislative session, filed suit against the governor in Arizona Superior Court. In April, an appeals court overturned a ruling by the lower court that the lawmakers lacked standing, allowing the lawsuit to move forward.
Despite the fact that Obamacare Medicaid expansion has not been popular for the most part, Brewer is fighting to keep the program for the benefit of healthcare corporations. “I am hopeful that the Arizona Supreme Court will agree to review the Court of Appeal’s decision. Permitting the appellate decision to stand confuses and misapplies existing Arizona Supreme Court case law and would set a disturbing precedent in Arizona – one that would result in our courts acting as referees in the legislative process, and also opening a Pandora’s box for future baseless, politically-charged lawsuits.”
Brewer maintains her position that the lawmakers’ lawsuit is an effort by, “upset state lawmakers who lost a political debate.”
Arizona State Court of Appeals rejected Brewer’s argument that the legislature has the “sole power to dictate when and if a bill is subject to passage by a two-thirds supermajority under the Arizona Constitution.” Brewer’s legislation was not supported by a two-thirds supermajority.
Last year, Governor Brewer and a handful of republican lawmakers, with the assistance of all of the Democrat Caucus members, rammed though HB 2010, which was passed in both chambers of the Arizona legislature by a simple majority vote and signed into law by the Governor in June 2013. The law authorized the director of AHCCCS to “establish, administer and collect an assessment on hospital revenues, discharges or bed days for the purpose of funding the nonfederal share of the costs,” otherwise known as Brewercare.
The lawmakers challenged the law based on the nature of the “assessment.” The lawmakers contended that the bill imposed a new tax on hospitals as a funding mechanism for the expansion of Arizona’s Medicaid program. As a result, the bill was subject to passage by a two-thirds supermajority of each legislative chamber in accordance with Article 9, Section 22 of the Arizona Constitution, according to the lawmakers.