Hobbs’ big speech
ICYMI this ain’t our first rodeo … Water’s for fighting … And so is politics.
Over the last three and a half years of writing this little newsletter about Arizona politics and government, we’ve built up quite an archive.
Today, as we prepare for Gov. Katie Hobbs’ third State of the State Address to lawmakers, we’re diving into those archives to help you get primed and ready for a whole new Legislature.
We told you recently about the five big “to dos” on lawmakers’ list this year, and we explained the Capitol’s high-school-cafeteria vibe as a way to guide you to the various cliques that run the show. High school is a pretty good analogy for the Legislature, as was the small-town metaphor we used in 2024 to introduce you to the power players at the Capitol.
Those clips are all worth a quick review as we head into yet another drama-filled legislative session.

But drama at the Capitol is nothing new.
When Hobbs became the first Democrat to win the Governor’s Office in a generation, we looked back on the drama and bipartisanship that defined Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano’s tenure as Arizona’s top Democrat.
“Bipartisanship wasn't as frowned upon back then,” Chad Campbell, a Democrat who served in the Legislature when Napolitano was in office and now serves as Hobbs’ chief of staff, told us in 2023.
The only real job lawmakers have each year is to pass a budget, and it’s usually the last thing they do.
The state budget is a fat stack of complicated paperwork packed with numbers that few people truly understand.
So we’ve broken down how to read budget documents and the appropriations report to help you better digest the digits.
And if you need a refresher on the last few years of seesaw budgeting, check out our coverage on former Gov. Doug Ducey’s final budget, Hobbs’ first pork-packed “DIY” budget with slush funds for lawmakers of up to $30 million each, and last year’s trimmed down budget, which nobody was happy with. It’s also worth noting the huge strain that Arizona’s universal school voucher program has added to our budget.
And if that’s not enough budget nerdery for you, check out our coverage on what we dubbed “The Battle of the BRBs,” AKA a little court fight that changed state budgeting forever by banning lawmakers from stuffing the budget with non-budgetary items.
Finally, when it comes to lawmakers' personal budgets, we really could use more information. The financial disclosure forms they’ll fill out at the end of January are woefully inadequate, as we’ve noted a few times.
And don’t even get us started on lawmakers’ crypto holdings.
Hobbs’ speech today isn’t our first State of the State address. The Agenda is old enough to remember Ducey’s final State of the State, in which he screamed “WE WILL CUT TAXES!”
Fun fact: He did.
We were also there for Hobbs’ first State of the State, in which Republican lawmakers turned their backs and walked out mid-speech, and her second State of the State, particularly the hoopla surrounding the speech.
But the legislative session isn’t all budgets and speeches. It’s mostly about the bills.
So we created this handy ‘zine explaining how a bill becomes law — guiding you through both the formal process and the gamesmanship that goes into sausagemaking. We’re proud to say that ‘zine has been used in classrooms and civic groups across Arizona. Plus, it includes a fascinating backstory about the time the state Senate kidnapped the beloved “Arizona Bill.”
And of course, our archives are packed with coverage of Arizona’s most important bill: The legislation to allow a monument honoring murdered journalist Don Bolles on the state Capitol lawn.
We hear lawmakers are preparing to file a version of the bill again this year.
Finally, if you’re like us, the start of the legislative session means tracking down documents and filing public records.
We can help you on that front, too!
Check out our guide to getting public records in Arizona, and “Finding Stuff 101” our tour of state government and the websites you need to use to navigate the Legislature and state government like a pro.
The Arizona Agenda is a journalist-owned, reader-supported publication that helps you keep tabs on what your politicians are doing.
To support our work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Happy opening day! The first day of the 2025 legislative session will be packed with swearing-in ceremonies and press conferences before lawmakers get down to business.
There’s a loose schedule that plays out every year. So here’s a reminder of what to expect as the session unfolds.
This week: The state House and Senate will convene at noon today. Republicans and Democratic leaders are holding press conferences in the morning to say what they’ll be pushing this session. At 2 p.m., all lawmakers will head to the House chambers for Gov. Katie Hobbs' State of the State speech where she’ll outline her priorities for the year. You can watch it live at azleg.gov/liveproceedings. On Friday, Hobbs will outline her budget proposal for the year.
The bill frenzy: House lawmakers are subject to a seven-bill cap starting Thursday. They can pre-file as many bills as they want before then, so expect a cascade of proposed legislation this week. Senators can introduce bills up until Feb. 3, and representatives have until Feb. 7 before they hit the chamber’s bill introduction cutoff date.
Crossover week: The last week of February, the House will vote on a flurry of bills and send them to the Senate, and vice versa. This week signifies many bills’ deaths if they don’t leave the chamber they were introduced in.
100th day: The 100th day of the session lands on April 22 this year. That’s how long the session is supposed to last, but that never really happens. On the 120th day of the session, Maricopa County-based lawmakers have their per-diem pay cut from $35 a day to $10 a day. Out-of-county lawmakers have their pay cut in half.
Get the budget done: The last, and one of the most important tasks lawmakers tackle is approving the state’s budget. That’s a chaotic, furtive process that usually signals the end of the session. We’re just hoping they’ll get started by mid-April.
Concessions for this session: Gov. Katie Hobbs hit hard on bipartisanship in an interview with the Republic to outline her priorities for 2025. The governor said her priorities like housing affordability and funding border communities can’t be “defined as Democratic or Republican issues.” Water policy might be one of those partisan issues, however. Hobbs is committed to limiting the groundwater pumping that comes with new developments, and legislative Republicans aren’t on board. Meanwhile, political consultants say while Hobbs’ $6 million campaign funding haul is impressive, she’ll have to work with Republicans to effect meaningful policy this year to increase her reelection chances. Hobbs’ first opportunity to do that might be by making concessions to renew education funding through Prop 123, the Arizona Capitol Times’ Reagan Priest writes.
Ducey lives on: Speaking of Prop 123, Republican Rep. Matt Gress and Sen. J.D. Mesnard are spearheading Republicans’ efforts for a renewal plan, and Gress still wants all the money from the measure’s state land trust fund to go to teacher raises instead of general school needs, the Arizona Capitol Times’ Kiera Riley reports.
“A lot of my Republican colleagues will not be happy with a blank check to K-12 education,” Gress said. “... (W)e want to make sure that the money gets into the classroom, and that it’s not gobbled up by administration.”
#NoRegrets: Republican former Mesa Mayor John Giles said on KTAR’s “AZ Political Podcast” that he doesn’t regret endorsing Kamala Harris and that the move wasn’t a partisan issue for him. Mesa benefitted from Biden-era policies like the CHIPS Act, he said, and “silence was not an option.” Giles is also worried about politics at the state Legislature, where moderate Republicans are going extinct.
Cold cases: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is opening a cold cases unit that will work alongside law enforcement with the help of new technology, per the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger. Two staffers were assigned to the unit to start working on five initial cases, including finding out what happened to 15-year-old Melody Harrison, whose body was identified in 2023 after she went missing in 1992.
Committee on counting faster: The state House launched a new committee on “Election Integrity and Florida-Style Voting Systems” that Freedom Caucus Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin will head, Votebeat’s Jen Fifield reports. It’s an “ad hoc” committee, so it won’t actually hear bills, but rather investigate ways to speed up vote-counting in Arizona elections. Kolodin, who is known for his antics, swears it’ll be all technical in nature and not “a good show.”
This week, we’re launching three new weekly newsletters diving into policy areas near and dear to our heart: education, water and artificial intelligence.
The first edition will hit digital mailboxes tomorrow.
Subscribe (for free) now!
Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin wants to turn the state Legislature into a British Parliament-style viewing fest by making the governor answer questions from the Legislature every third Wednesday, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer writes.
Kolodin introduced legislation to make it happen, and both parties would have time to ask questions. He acknowledged the bill is fodder for political theater, but said, it’d be “a compelling show.''
Hey, we’d watch.
But the state is such a nicer place when the legislature is not in session.
While the legislators will do their "swearing in" today, we on the outside will engage in our "swearing at" efforts. That's not limited to the legislative session, fortunately.
Speaking of "swearing at," we'll watch for Alex's non-antics over the next few months