PHOENIX -- Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs began the 2024 session saying she was "optimistic'' about working with the Legislature.
When it all ended five months later, the Democratic governor, in her second year in office, wielded her veto stamp 73 times to kill ideas from the Republican majority. And that accomplishment was second only to the record of 143 -- set by Hobbs herself the year before.
But Hobbs, in an interview with Capitol Media Services ahead of the session that begins Monday, said she's hanging on to that prediction -- even as she sends a warning to a Legislature that is even more Republican than last year that she won't be shy about inking up the stamp.
"I'm always optimistic,'' the governor said about achieving some of her goals this year
"From Day One I have approached this role as someone who needs to bring people together to solve problems,'' she said. "We've done that. And I'm going to continue to do that.''
Hobbs, however, faces a changing political reality.
The 2024 election was a major setback for Democrats. Arizonans who rejected Trump in 2020 by more than 10,000 votes last year gave the once-and-future president a 187,382-vote victory.
Democrats not only failed to pick up seats in competitive legislative districts but actually lost two seats in the House and one in the Senate. That enables GOP leadership to send more controversial issues to the governor, bills that in prior years were killed perhaps because a single Republican lawmaker refused to go along.
And Arizona voters made it clear that they don't accept the governor's claim that the state's role in securing the border is pretty much limited to stopping the flow of drugs.
Hobbs last year vetoed legislation last year to give state and local police more authority to enforce federal immigration laws.
GOP lawmakers came back and put Proposition 314 on the ballot. Its key provision allows state and local police to arrest those who are not citizens if they enter the country at other than a port of entry.
Voters approved it by a nearly 2-1 margin.
With all that, Hobbs even broke with many legislative Democrats in acknowledging that many Arizonans actually want the government detaining and deporting those who have committed crimes.
In fact, Hobbs gave her endorsement to the Laken Riley Act named after a Georgia nursing student who allegedly was killed by someone in this country illegally.
The bill, which already passed the U.S. House on a 264-159 margin and now awaits Senate action, requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to actually take into custody those who commit all sorts of crimes -- including minor ones like theft.
That puts her in alignment with another Arizona Democrat who also was reading public sentiment: Ruben Gallego, the newly elected U.S. senator from Arizona, signed on as a co-sponsor.
"I think that's the right approach,'' Hobbs said. "And I think Arizonans, regardless of immigration status, want violent criminals off of our streets.''
Hobbs however, said she also believes there are areas of "common ground,'' like resolving questions about water supply and affordable housing.
"Those are not Democratic or Republican issues,'' she said. "Those are Arizona issues.''
But the governor insisted that, entering her third year as the state's chief executive, she will be no more inclined to accept what she has rejected before. More to the point, Hobbs said none of what she has nixed should have come as a surprise.
"With those vetoes, I said exactly what I said I was going to do,'' she said. "I vetoed stuff that didn't address those, that attacked people's freedoms, that aren't the right solutions, that aren't bipartisan, that don't focus on the right issues.''
Such as? Well, there are social issue bills like who gets to use which bathroom and whether teachers are allowed to address students by their preferred pronoun.
"Anything that takes away Arizonans' freedoms will continue to be vetoed,'' the governor said.
Such a move, however, will only delay resolution of the issue. Sen John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, the sponsor of both, told Capitol Media Services he already is teeing up to take both issues directly to voters in 2026 -- the year Hobbs hopes to get reelected -- after her anticipated veto.
Hobbs said she has a definite idea of what are the "right issues'' on which she and GOP lawmakers can find common ground. And that includes affordable housing.
The governor last year got her Arizona Department of Housing to set aside $13 million for a new "Arizona is Home'' program. It provides money that eligible first-time home buyers can use, either for down payment assistance or to "buy down'' the interest rate, in both cases making the monthly payments more affordable.
But that is enough for only 500 home buyers. Hobbs wants to finance enough to double that figure.
Still, that requires a legislative appropriation in a year where there will be other demands for the available cash. The governor was a bit vague in where she's going to find the cash for that and other programs on her wish list.
"You'll see the priorities laid out in our budget,'' she said, which will be released Friday.
"But our budget prioritizes this,'' Hobbs continued. "And if we want housing affordability as a priority, which I think Arizonans have been loud and clear about, we can do this.''
The other big focus is water.
On a macro basis, that starts with working to minimize the cuts that the federal Bureau of Reclamation is expected to demand in withdrawals from the Colorado River.
The simplest solution would be if all the users agree, including the seven states that draw water from the river, various tribes and federal agencies. But the "upper basin'' states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are pushing a plan where it would be the "lower basin'' states of Arizona, California and Nevada to bear the brunt of reductions.
Hobbs, for her part, is financially preparing for a legal war.
"We are going to signal that we are going to fight for Arizona's fair share,'' she said. "And that means setting aside a sum of funding for litigation if that is necessary.''
But there are other internal fights over water that have so far defied resolution, including what limits to place on groundwater pumping in rural areas. That has been hung up on several questions, including whether the Legislature makes the rules or the Department of Water Resources.
In both cases, the governor already is looking for allies in the business community to pressure recalcitrant Republicans to go along with what she is proposing. And she is using the magic word: economy.
"If we have more affordable housing, that's going to help the economy,'' Hobbs said in a presentation Friday at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "If we are protecting our water future, that is helping our economy.''
One thing the governor has working in her favor is the state GOP is not a unilateral monolith.
There is a split between the traditional business-backed Republicans and members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus who advocate for even smaller state government. Put simply, there are not enough Republicans to put through a package of their own without at least some Democratic support.
That's exactly what happened last year.
The only reason there continues to be a state Commerce Authority -- a favorite of business-backed Republicans because of the grants and loans it gives out to both attract new business and allow others to expand -- is because of bipartisan support. That helped supporters, including Hobbs, quash a bid by Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, to abolish the authority, divide its duties among other state agencies and repeal some of the tax credits that have been used as incentives.
That same situation played out as lawmakers debated whether to give Maricopa County the authority to ask voters extend a half-cent sales for road and transit projects. Here, too, more conservative Republicans balked at funding mass transit. But a bipartisan coalition gave the go-ahead and voters approved the extension in November.
That still leaves the issue of border security.
Republicans see this as a matter of having the state play a more active role in dealing with illegal immigration. That means funding law enforcement to take an active role.
The governor continues to take the position that the state is doing all it can -- and should -- and should focus on the issue of drug smuggling.
"With Task Force SAFE we have 40 guardsmen down (at the border) right now assisting with vehicle inspection and tear down,'' she said, saying those efforts have resulted in seizure of eight million fentanyl pills and 1,700 pounds of other "dangerous substances.''
"Those are the kinds of things we should continue,'' Hobbs said.
But this isn't just about what the Legislature might approve.
Hobbs was vague about what actions she might take, as the person who controls both the Arizona National Guard and the Department of Public Safety, if President Trump follows through with his plan to order mass roundups and deportations of those here illegally.
"Look, I'm not going to 'what if' because there's no clear details on what exactly he's going to do or how he's going to carry that out,'' the governor said. "But I will work with anyone who wants to put in place real solutions on border security to keep communities safe.''
Still, Hobbs said she will not use state resources to "participate in misguided efforts that harm our communities,'' a phrase she did not define.
There's one other fight Hobbs is going to pick with the Republican-controlled Legislature: vouchers.
The program started in 2011 originally was designed to provide state dollars to the parents of children with special needs to be able to get them at private schools. Since then there has been a step-by-step expansion to include children living on reservations, foster children and those attending public schools rated D or F.
And lawmakers finally removed all constraints under former Gov. Doug Ducey, a move that resulted in many children who already had been going to private schools on their parents' dime now getting state aid of $7,000 or more a year.
Hobbs asked in each of the last two sessions for the Legislature to scale back the expansion which, by some estimates, has ballooned the cost of the program to close to $900 million a year.
The governor said her prior unsuccessful efforts to rein in vouchers have not deterred her.
"That ship has not sailed.'' she said.
"It remains a priority,'' Hobbs continued. "As far as details, you will have to come in Monday to see the specifics.''
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Arizona Gov. Hobbs looks ahead to 2025 legislative session

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