100 days down

100 more to go? … From campgrounds to kickbacks … And an offer you can’t refuse.

Every legislative session is defined by a landmark moment or key issue that Arizona’s lawmakers have to solve.

Last year, it was overturning the near-total abortion ban that state Supreme Court justices reinstated while filling a $1.3 billion budget hole.

But as lawmakers complete the 100th day of the legislative session today, not a lot has made national headlines.

Instead, the first 100 days have seen a lot of infighting, partisan antics and more than 50 vetoes.

If lawmakers actually closed up shop on the 100-day mark — as state law intends — they’d be leaving Arizonans without a budget, thousands of families without a way to care for children with disabilities and public schools without answers on a major funding source.

The deadlines to get bills heard in committees have passed. But our lawmakers still have a lot to do.

So today, we’re rounding up some of the top issues Arizona’s lawmakers still have to address. Plus, we’re throwing in a recap of the year so far.

Our art intern, ChatGPT, thinks Arizona’s lawmakers use insanely large pencils to get their work done.

To-do

Besides passing a state budget, lawmakers have a lot of individual funding issues to solve and some procedural hoops to jump through.

Deliver disability dollars

The most pressing issue on everyone’s plates is funding for a program that thousands of families use to take care of their kids with disabilities who demand full-time care.

That program, Parents as Paid Caregivers, has devolved into a mess of infighting over how the state should keep funding it as the COVID-era funding that previously paid for it runs out.

Those parents and disability advocates have made the trek to the legislature several times to tell lawmakers emotional accounts of what no longer having access to the program would mean for them.

But Republicans packed a committee to get an extension passed that would cut the funding parents receive in half. Gov. Katie Hobbs refuses to pass any bills and Democratic House members refuse to vote on them until Republicans agree to a better continuation plan. The program’s funding runs out at the end of the month. It’s a mess.

Meanwhile, a Phoenix mother who has a daughter with a disability launched a recall campaign against four Republican representatives who’ve been slow walking funding for the program: House Speaker Steve Montenegro and Reps. David Livingston, Michael Carbone and Matt Gress.

A $300 million tug-of-war

Before the session started, the most pressing matter on legislators’ to-do list was the extension of Prop 123: A $300 million annual distribution of state land trust money to public schools that expires in June.

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth between Hobbs and legislative Republicans on how to get it done. Republicans like Rep. Matt Gress want the money to go solely toward classroom teachers, and Hobbs wants more flexible options.

To keep Prop 123 from expiring, legislators have to get voters’ approval. Gress is fine with pushing off the election until November 2026, and Arizona is required to backfill the funding even if the measure isn’t renewed in June.

Still, it has been months since anyone released any updates on a plan to sustain a major funding source for public schools.

The ballpark bailout

The Arizona Diamondbacks want taxpayer money to upgrade their home field, and lawmakers seem ready to write a check.

Legislators advanced a measure that would reallocate tax money to the Diamondbacks’ home stadium at Chase Field. Legislative economists estimate the changes would cost the state’s General Fund $9.2 million annually starting in September next year, and the combined hit to state and local governments’ revenues is an estimated $15 million a year. The bill has bipartisan opposition.

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ CEO Derrick Hall said he’s “confident” the bill will pass. The team’s lease at Chase Field ends in 2027, and lawmakers like Republican Rep. Jeff Weninger want to ensure the Diamondbacks stay here. The bill barely made it through a Senate committee, where lawmakers amended it to set a $500 million cap on public contributions.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego has expressed concern throughout the bill’s journey. There is no guarantee the Diamondbacks will fulfill their pledge to put money toward the effort, and Phoenix taxpayers could end up footing much of the bill.

Finalizing Hobbs’ cabinet

Hobbs is no longer allowed to skate by with unconfirmed “executive deputy directors” running government agencies — and more than two years into her governorship, she still doesn’t have a solid cabinet.

Republicans won a lawsuit last summer forcing her to return to the formal nomination process, which was full of contentious hearings and invasive questions hurled at Hobbs’ nominees in 2023.

Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman is still heading the Committee on Director Nominations and he’s kept up the grilling sessions for Hobbs’ picks.

But a few are finally getting through.

Hoffman and two other Senate Republicans voted against Barbara Richardson’s appointment to lead the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions after public testifiers called her a “DEI activist.” Richardson was the first appointee to get rejected by the committee this year.

The committee has confirmed eight other department heads so far.

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What happened over the last 100 days?

Arizona’s lawmakers still have a lot to do after 100 days. But that doesn’t mean a lot hasn’t happened these past four months.

Trumpizona

We wrote about the Arizona-specific impacts of Trump’s second presidency seven days after his inauguration. QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley announced he was going to buy guns after receiving a pardon for breaching the Capitol, city councils banned “DEI hires” and more than 24,000 Arizonans who work for the federal government were at risk of losing their jobs.

Since then, Republican lawmakers have been expertly co-opting Trump policies at the local level. Senate President Warren Petersen got the “Arizona ICE Act” — which would have required local law enforcement to work with the feds to deport people — all the way to Hobbs’ desk for a veto. Anti-DEI bills have proliferated throughout the session, including one that would pull state funding from universities that teach DEI and another that bans DEI in state government hiring.

From D.C. to Arizona

Republican leadership invited key Trump administration officials to the Capitol for a series of photo shoots and speeches. Tom Homan, Trump’s chief border security advisor, told Republican lawmakers, “If you’re in this country illegally, you should be looking over your shoulder.” (Democrats walked out of the speech.)

Republicans spared Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr. from questions about Texas children dying from Measles during a Capitol “press conference.” Kennedy backed a bill to stop people from using food stamps to buy soda, and Hobbs vetoed it a week later.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also paid us a visit, but the highlight of her trip was joining an ICE raid and praising mass deportations at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix.

Taser-backed housing

One of this year’s most controversial bills, and the source of much Republican infighting, was a proposal to let Taser-maker Axon develop its headquarters in Scottsdale without getting voter approval.

Hobbs signed that bill into law on Friday. It relaxes zoning regulations on land zoned for light industrial use if the proposed project includes a company’s headquarters, and while there’s no mention of Axon in the legislation’s language, it was designed expressly for the company.

Axon’s plans for its headquarters include 1,900 housing units, a hotel and restaurants. Some Scottsdale residents wanted to stop that from happening in a 2026 referendum, but the change in state law stops those efforts.

Scottsdale-based Republican lawmakers opposed the bill, and Rep. Joseph Chaplik told lawmakers that Axon CEO Patrick Smith “assaulted, accosted and threatened” him over the legislation.

Stolen valor

Army Veteran and Republican Rep. Walt Blackman beat his MAGA primary opponent, Steve Slaton, in his return to the Legislature this year. Slaton lied about his military service in that election, but still got the support of fellow Trump loyalists Sens. Wendy Rogers and Mark Finchem.

Rogers refused to hear Blackman’s bill this year to harshen state-level penalties for stolen valor. Blackman went around her to get the bill passed anyway and accused Rogers and Finchem of obstructing the bill.

In a rich turn of events, Rogers ended up voting in favor of the bill and said she “facilitated meaningful changes” to it.

It was only a matter of time: After endorsing Karrin Taylor Robson as his GOP contender in next year’s gubernatorial race, President Donald Trump also gave his “COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT” to Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs yesterday, marking yet another dueling presidential co-endorsement.

Camping is for the rich: The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is considering whether to ban camping in public spaces, the Republic’s Sasha Hupka reports. The county is now part of a growing number of local government bodies in Arizona attempting to mitigate liability after Arizona voters approved Prop 312 last year and put local governments on the hook for not enforcing public nuisance laws. And the Sedona City Council voted to return a grant from the Arizona Department of Housing that was supposed to fund a parking lot for the city’s workers to camp out in their cars, per the Red Rock News’ Tim Perry. Separately, Perry notes that the council also increased the maximum rent landlords can charge under a city program that gives landlords a kickback for not turning their rental into a short-term rental.

Deporting citizens: ICE detained a 19-year-old U.S. citizen for 10 days because he didn’t have an ID and they didn’t believe he was a citizen, AZPM’s Danyelle Khmara reports. The agency claims Jose Hermosillo admitted to crossing the border illegally, though he pretty clearly did not. His family didn’t know what happened to him, and they believe he narrowly escaped deportation to Mexico. Meanwhile, Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed legislation that would have forced local officials and police to help enforce federal immigration laws.

They got E.T. on the same charge: Federal prosecutors charged a Phoenix resident with failing to register as an “alien” with the federal government, a charge the judge said she had never seen before, the Republic’s Richard Ruelas reports. Usually, these cases would lead to charges related to crossing the border illegally, but U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in February she planned to enforce the little-used Alien Registration Act from the 1940s.

National security threats: Speaking of Noem, if you found her purse at the “Capital Burger” restaurant in Washington, D.C., the Secret Service would like to speak to you. The purse contained Noem’s “driver's license, medication, apartment keys, blank checks, passport, makeup bag, about $3,000 in cash and her Department of Homeland Security access badge,” per CNN. And speaking of security breaches, the White House is not seeking a new defense secretary. Pete Hegseth, who added a journalist to his war plans group text, continues to have the full faith of the White House, per the White House. NPR had reported he was on the way out, which the administration called “fake news.”

License to sue: A cannabis company is suing the Governor's Office and state health officials over allegedly helping Trulieve, a major dispensary, get a dual-use marijuana license after the deadline passed to do so, per Capitol Times’ Kiera Riley. Arizona Wellness Center Springerville, LLC claims Hobbs’ chief of staff Chad Campbell worked with a Trulieve lobbyist to get the license. The Governor’s Office called the matter “little more than sour grapes,” since the company filing the lawsuit was vying for the same license.

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A six-shooter on every hip: Republican lawmakers want to allow hunters and sportsmen to shoot shotguns or arrows within an eighth of a mile of an occupied building, rather than the current quarter-mile, the Republic’s Ray Stern writes. The idea came from conservative radio host Jeff Oravitz, who asked Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers to sponsor the bill. Meanwhile, legislative Republicans want to fine elected officials who attempt to impose gun regulations that are stricter than the state’s laws. There’s already a law allowing the state to withhold revenues from a city that enacts tough gun regulations, but this idea would go after the city council members personally, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer writes.

A big deadline is approaching for Arizona school officials who want to keep DEI policies but are scared of Trump administration officials.

And Arizona schools will have a whole new batch of state laws to deal with this year.

All that and more in tomorrow’s edition of the Education Agenda.

If you want to stay on top of the education world, subscribe today!

Yesterday’s discussion thread with you subscribers was a blast.

In case you missed it, we got more than 100 comments deep into the state of the Arizona Democratic Party and all sorts of other stuff. Even Republican state Sen. John Kavanagh got in on the action!

But perhaps our favorite comment came from reader bisbeefred, who said he wished that Gov. Katie Hobbs could clean up the Legislature’s opaque and rushed budget process — and suggested that we offer a free subscription to the Agenda to any lobbyist, lawmaker or political staffer who leaks us this year’s budget documents.

This is a legit offer. Claim your prize now!