Rep. Steve May (R-Paradise Valley) had introduced a bill earlier in the session that would allow contractors to sign multi-year contracts prior to the June 1 enactment of a sales tax hike earmarked for education. The bill proposes that contractors who placed bids prior to November's passage of the sales-tax increase should be exempt from paying the additional .06%.

If the bill isn't passed, contractors who must honor bids for jobs made prior to the November passage will be harmed, May says. "Since margins in the construction industry are extremely low due to intense competition, tax-rate changes made after the initial bid will be a hardship to many," says the Arizona General Contractors Association in a memo to Gov. Jane Hull. "Contractors are stuck with absorbing the tax increase as a loss."

But wants the bill killed and has asked House Speaker Jim Weiers to let the proposal die. It has been her only request of this kind in this session. So far, Weiers has complied and the measure has not moved to a full vote of the house.

Hull says she's worried that the bill's passage would lead to a glut of long-term contracts with developers who would raid the Proposition 301 education fund, which has $1 billion to spend on the upgrading and maintenance of schools around the state. Bill backers say that the state already stands to make an estimated $480 million or about $50 million more than originally had been projected. For now the bill doesn't appear to be moving anywhere and the session is expected to wrap up in the next few weeks.