Wrap Up with Gov. Katie Hobbs

Gov. Katie Hobbs’ second legislative session saw her collaborate more with Republicans and score key victories for Democrats, but several of her priorities went unaddressed when lawmakers adjourned mid-June to hit the campaign trail.

The most notable victory for Hobbs and Democrats came when the Legislature sent a repeal of the state’s 1864 abortion ban to her desk with the help of several Republicans. But major issues like reforms to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and groundwater management legislation saw little-to-no movement.

Hobbs is eager to address some of those issues next year with a new Legislature, one that Democrats hope will come into their control in the November election. Others like groundwater policy and Proposition 123 funding could be addressed in special sessions either this year or next.

What do you consider your biggest wins coming out of this session?

Well, top of the list has to be repealing the 1864 abortion ban, which is something I promised to do on the campaign and something 23 governors before me couldn’t or wouldn’t do. So I’m really proud of that. Obviously there’s still more work to be done to protect Arizonans’ reproductive freedom, but that repeal was huge and will go a long way towards ending the chaos and confusion for patients needing to access reproductive health care.

I’m proud of again passing a bipartisan budget, [it was] obviously a really different environment than last year’s budget where we had a lot of extra funds. We closed a nearly $2 billion deficit and did that in a way that continues to protect vital services for Arizonans and even made some critical new investments like expanding childcare, addressing affordable housing, funding for border security and addressing the fentanyl crisis, among other things.

And we passed significant reform for long-term care that’s going to go a long way to giving us the tools to protect the most vulnerable folks in Arizona, as well as moving the needle really far on groundwater reform. We’re still having conversations, we’re still negotiating to get to a bill that we can pass, but we’ve made more progress in the last year on that than has been made in decades on groundwater reform.

Your office has indicated that a special session could be called to address groundwater policy will there be a special session on water in 2024?

There’s two critical things that we’re still negotiating, or I guess three. One is the ag-to-urban issue, rural groundwater and then closing some of the loopholes on urban groundwater. We’re still at the negotiating table. Those meetings continued as early as this week. And I think all the stakeholders are committed to continuing in the conversation until we get something that’s workable. Whether that happens in special session, that’s always tricky in an election year. So if a special session will work, it’s absolutely a tool that we have, but we’ll definitely have something that we can bring forward in the next session if that doesn’t happen sooner.

This is the second session without any significant reform to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program. Are you considering any other avenues to enact reform or changing your negotiation strategies for the next session?

Well, I made my position really clear on ESA reform. I proposed an ambitious package of reform with our executive budget and in my State of the State. Arizonans should expect transparency and accountability in how their taxpayer dollars are spent and that’s not the case here. But given the fact that Republicans said any reform conversations were dead on arrival, I’m proud of the reform we were able to make. We closed some loopholes that will save taxpayer dollars and we are making sure that kids in private schools are safe. That being said, there’s absolutely still more to be done and I’ll continue working on that. And it’s an election year, so we’re going to have a different Legislature next year.

Are you preparing for a potential majority change in the Legislature next year and the complexities that could bring?

I’m not going to speak to hypotheticals. I’ve been really clear that I’m focused on a governing majority that will work with me to deliver the agenda that Arizonans elected me to. But I’ve also made it clear that no matter who’s in the Legislature, I’m willing to work with anyone to tackle the tough challenges that we’re facing.

What are some of your other priorities going into the next session?

A lot of the issues we’re facing even ones that we’ve made significant progress on there’s still more to do. None of the challenges that we face happened overnight and we’re not going to solve them overnight. We passed some significant bills that will help address the affordable housing crisis, but there’s more to be done there, whether that’s legislative or otherwise. I mentioned water, so certainly that continues to be a priority, both the groundwater reform that we’re working on as well as other augmentation and conservation projects. Outside of the legislative session [we’re] working on the Colorado River negotiations, which is an ongoing discussion, but the goal there is to make sure Arizona is in the best possible position and we’re not facing egregious cuts from the federal government. And certainly there continue to be attacks on reproductive freedom, on Arizonans’ voting access, so [we’re] continuing to work to protect those things.

Are negotiations for Proposition 123 ongoing or have they been put on hold until after the election?

We kind of reached a stalemate during the session and so I think we’ll be dealing with that with the new Legislature. And we have to, I mean, we’re facing a deadline in terms of when the current Prop. 123 expires.

You vetoed far fewer bills this session than you did last session, do you attribute this to Republicans using ballot referrals or introducing fewer controversial bills?

I think both of those are factors certainly, but we also walked away from last session with lessons learned about our approach. Our legislative team is completely different than last year and we worked really early to engage on bills to get them to a place where I could sign them. There are a lot of bills that came up to my desk that were similar to bills I vetoed last year, but we were able to get changes that made them workable. I’ve heard feedback across the board from members of both parties that they’ve just really appreciated that ability to work with our legislative team.

Is there anything else you would like to add looking back at the session?

Every session has its own personality and character and this one was no different. I’m proud of the work that we got done, especially repealing the 1864 ban. And I think that I’ve been able to deliver on promises to Arizonans to continue to tackle our toughest challenges and work with anyone who is willing to work with me to tackle those challenges, and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.

 

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