Governor signs $8.8 billion Ariz. budget into law

PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed an $8.8 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 into law.

The budget was negotiated with the same bipartisan group of lawmakers that bypassed conservative Republicans in the Legislature to enact Brewer's Medicaid expansion plan. Brewer signed the budget and Medicaid bills on Monday.

The budget is about $100 million less than the governor requested but includes money for more Child Protective Services workers, gives money to community colleges and the University of Arizona's medical school in Phoenix and provides the second installment of parity funding for the state's other two universities.

The budget also provides an $82 million boost to K-12 schools to account for inflation and $3.6 million for school resource officers. Democrats wanted $17 million for school officers.