Signed, sealed, defied
Where’s the letter of the law? … Fake electors, fake crimes … And do not relax.
When Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoes a bill, we get at least a short veto letter explaining why she opposes the legislation.
We aren’t afforded that same luxury when she actually signs a bill into law.
Arizona’s Constitution says the governor has to return vetoed bills “with his objections.”1 We only know why the most powerful elected official in Arizona decided something should become law if she decides to hash it out in the media or release a voluntary public comment.
That absence of explanation has become especially noticeable this year: Hobbs has signed quite a few bills with significant Democratic dissent at the Legislature.
Our art intern, ChatGPT, isn’t quite hip to the nuances of politics — like that governors don’t sign bills from Congress.Hobbs is in reelection mode. And to get elected in a purple state like Arizona, she’s under pressure to appear moderate. A lot of the bills that land on her desk are extremely partisan, easy veto opportunities.
But Hobbs’ signature on two bills that benefit APS, the state’s largest electric utility company, came at a particularly bad time.
Capitol reporter Howie Fischer reported Hobbs has a secret slush fund filled by corporate donors that she uses to pay off her 2022 election lawsuit expenses. Fischer found the money because APS poured $100,000 into the fund last year, and the Corporation Commission requires APS to disclose its donations after it was accused of secretly funneling millions to corporation commissioners’ campaigns a decade ago.
After Fischer dropped his exposé, Hobbs signed two bills with considerable Democratic opposition that shield utilities like APS from liability if their equipment starts wildfires, and allow utilities to shift their debt liability from shareholders to customers.
That’s a bad look, especially as Hobbs fights for reelection against the twin Trump endorsees in the Republican Party — Karrin Taylor Robson and Arizona U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs.
To be fair, Arizona’s Democratic lawmakers are not a monolith. Some centrist lawmakers repeatedly side with Republicans, and the state Democratic party is basically in meltdown mode.
Only 40 Democrats are fighting for and against legislation at Arizona’s Capitol, so when more than half of them oppose a measure, it’s important to consider why. And it is equally important to consider why the governor dissents.
After she signed the law that lets APS pass on costs to customers, Hobbs denied claims that the APS donation had something to do with her support of the bill on KTAR’s “Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos.” And she reiterated APS’s talking points that customers’ bills will actually decrease.
It’s the media appearances Hobbs chooses to attend — and the media inquiries her spokespeople respond to — that give public insights into her decisions. We still don’t know why she changed her mind on a bill requiring age verification to view porn after vetoing the same measure last year. Or why she’s making Arizona divest from China.
So we asked Hobbs’ office for comment on the bills she’s signed despite a lot of Democrats’ concerns.
“She’s taken action to protect children from explicit materials online and ensure Arizona’s colleges and universities are safe and welcoming for every student,” Spokesperson Christian Slater said. “She supported legislation requiring utilities to mitigate wildfire risk and negotiated bill amendments to hold them accountable if they don’t. And she signed securitization legislation to grow the clean energy economy and lower costs for ratepayers. Governor Hobbs does what’s right for Arizona regardless of partisan politics.”
Today, we’re looking at a sampling of some of the bills set to become law in Arizona — to the dismay of many Democrats.
Wildfires
The bill: HB2201 exempts public utility companies from negligence claims related to wildfires if they get a wildfire mitigation plan approved by a governing body and the State Forester.
It was significantly dialed back from an original version that would issue full immunity to utilities that cause wildfires, and the version that passed could subject a utility to a lawsuit for “willful, intentional or reckless misconduct.“
Insurance companies and environmental groups say it will still be harder to sue when utility-caused wildfires wreak havoc in Arizona.
Senate Democratic vote: 6 for, 6 against
House Democratic vote: 13 for, 11 against
APS bonds
The bill: HB2679 lets utilities securitize their debt. That’s a fancy way of saying utilities can issue low-interest bonds and make their customers pay them off instead of relying on high-interest loans that cost shareholders.
APS lobbied for the bill and said it would ultimately lower users’ costs. Attorney General Kris Mayes called it “unconstitutional” and “a total candy store for the utilities.” Former state health department leader Will Humble said APS will offload “old & risky outdated coal debt onto the public.”
APS filed paperwork to increase residential bills last week.
Senate Democratic vote: Zero for, 11 against
House Democratic vote: 10 for, 15 against
Encampments
The bill: HB2880 prohibits people from setting up “encampments” on college campuses as a direct response to pro-Palestinian protests by university students last year. It’s worth mentioning that the bill was sponsored by a Democrat, Rep. Alma Hernandez.
The legislation brought up free speech concerns and defines illegal encampments as those set up for “a prolonged period of time.”
“When a law that restricts speech is so vague that an ordinary person wouldn’t know what conduct is actually prohibited, that’s when it becomes unconstitutional,” Democratic Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón said.
Senate Democratic vote: 3 for, 9 against
House Democratic vote: 13 for, 13 against
Shield your eyes
The bill: HB2112 requires Arizonans to prove they’re 18 or older before accessing online porn. Viewers can submit a government-issued ID or use an age verification system. Websites that don’t comply will face fines of up to $10,000 per day of noncompliance. Hobbs vetoed a nearly identical bill last year, but hasn't said why she had a change of heart.
The adult entertainment industry is an obvious opponent of the new law, but so is the ACLU. There are concerns that the language of the bill could block minors from seeing non-pornographic content on LGBTQ+ resources or sexual education. And other states with porn bans have seen far more illicit websites rise in popularity.
There are also huge privacy concerns for the porn viewers who have to divulge their personal information to watch strangers get it on.
Slater from the governor’s office told us Hobbs signed the bill because she heard from concerned parents “about the harmful impact explicit materials have on our children,” and that within the last year, “new evidence has emerged that confirms the harmful effects that certain online content is having on children.” We’re still not sure what the new evidence is.
Senate Democratic vote: 1 for, 10 against
House Democratic vote: 2 for, 23 against
Divesting from China
The bill: SB1221 prohibits investing public money in China. Bill sponsor Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard said it’s to “make sure money that is vested, wherever it is, is not vulnerable to the seas of international tension.”
Political operative Michael Lucci lobbied for the bill. He runs a dark money group and went on a national tour this year getting state lawmakers to pass bills undercutting China.
Lucci told a Senate committee that the bill would beef up national security and said “China has been signaling intent to perhaps bring the world to conflict over Taiwan.”
Arizona has huge financial interests in Taiwan, which brought chip semiconductor factories here. Hobbs went on a “diplomatic and business trade mission” to Taiwan in March, and someone paid for her to go on an “Arizona Trade Mission” to Taiwan last year, per her 2024 financial disclosure statement.2
Senate Democratic vote: 7 for, 5 against
House Democratic vote: 9 for, 18 against
Gov. Katie Hobbs has no problem signing bills into law despite Democratic opposition. In fact, since she took office in 2023, she’s had a couple of feuds with her party.
Democrats said Hobbs yielded too much in the first budget she negotiated with Republicans, and didn’t bring Democratic legislators into budget talks early enough.
“We seem to be in the same boat as if a Republican were in charge,” Democratic Rep. Cesar Aguilar told the Arizona Mirror at the time.Hobbs’ 2023 veto of the “tamale bill” to legalize the sale of home-cooked foods was met with bipartisan outcry. She signed that bill last year.
Some Democrats were also nonplussed last year with Hobbs’ veto of the Starter Homes Act to loosen building regulations in the name of affordable housing.
Several lawmakers called Hobbs out for sweeping opioid relief funding into the prison budget last year. Attorney General Kris Mayes unsuccessfully sued Hobbs over the $115 million fund transfer. Cardinal Health, which paid money into the settlement for its role in the opioid crisis, received $33 million of that same settlement money for providing hepatitis C treatment in Arizona prisons, per Arizona’s Family.
Oops!: After serving two terms on the Chandler City Council and two terms as Chandler Mayor, Kevin Hartke filed paperwork to run for the city council again in 2026. But that’s pretty obviously illegal under the Chandler City Charter’s term limits clause, locals noted, so Hartke dropped out of the race. But now, people are re-reading the charter and wondering if he ever should have been allowed to be mayor in the first place, the Republic’s Lauren De Young reports. Basically, there are two ways to read the term limits provision: That politicians can serve eight years on the council followed by eight years as mayor, or that they can serve eight consecutive years total. If the latter is the correct reading, Hartke’s seven-plus years as mayor has all been illegal. (Not to mention two former mayors who served 16-year-stints on the council and in the mayor’s office.) City Council members held a closed-door meeting yesterday to confer with their lawyer and are now considering sending language to the ballot to “clarify” the term limits provision.
Dignity is in the eye of the beholder: The case against Arizona’s 2020 fake electors took a hit yesterday when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge found Attorney General Kris Mayes failed to provide the grand jury that indicted the 18 defendants with the actual text of the federal Electoral Count Act, which is key to Republicans’ defense, per the Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez. Mayes says she’ll appeal the ruling, though if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll have to attempt to persuade a new grand jury to indict the defendants. State senator and “persecuted elector” Jake Hoffman says if Mayes “were smart she would cut her losses, stop wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, and end this sham with at least some of her dignity still intact.”
Managing Medicaid: Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani emerged as a key player in the congressional budget debate, the New York Times reports. The GOP has a tiny majority, so every vote counts, and Ciscomani was one of a handful of Republicans who pushed House leadership to drop two of the most aggressive packages of Medicaid cuts. Ciscomani also held out for tax breaks that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act, such as those that benefit electric vehicles.
Still talking: Johnathan Burma — a Democratic candidate challenging Ciscomani in CD6 who is also the former FBI agent who investigated Trump campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani and was later charged with disclosing confidential FBI documents — tells a German documentary outfit that Elon Musk is a prime target for Russian blackmail because he is susceptible to “promiscuous women and drug use, particularly ketamine,” not to mention Burning Man, adult entertainment and gambling, per the Times of India, which picked up the story.
Grill ‘em: Votebeat’s Jen Fifield sits down for a Zoom Q&A with Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and New Hampshire’s Republican Secretary of State David Scanlan to talk about proof of citizenship requirements to vote.
“The conversation didn’t offer tidy solutions, but it did something arguably more important: It acknowledged the nuance, the tradeoffs, and the very real impact these laws can have on voters,” Fifield writes.
Farming my wind: An Arizona bill to prohibit wind farms within 25 miles of any city or county that opposes them got a mention in a Wall Street Journal piece about Republicans attacking green energy in states where green energy is booming. The bill is awaiting a vote from the state Senate. Meanwhile, Arizona’s largest power provider, APS, is racking up the wins at the state Capitol this year, Capitol Media Services’ Bob Christie reports. That’s thanks, presumably, to the $350,000 APS’ parent company has donated to Hobbs.
“It is concerning that they are able to spread dollars around in such a way that they’re able to snap their fingers and everyone comes running,” Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon chapter, said. “And that’s on top of being able to have an army of lobbyists to work the bills.”
Arizona’s most interesting political drama: Navajo Nation president Buu Nygren finally answered the Navajo Council’s laundry list of questions about his spending on cars, challenge coins and his own “Nygren News” service, though his answers amounted to “deceiving the committee and Diné with calculated evasion,” the Navajo Times’ Nicholas House writes.
Each edition of the Arizona Agenda costs less than the Nygren News. Support local independent journalism or someday the Nygren News will be your only option.
One student said: College newspapers are being extra careful about quoting or running opinion pieces from international students in the wake of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk getting detained and accused of supporting terrorists for co-writing an opinion in the college paper that criticized the university’s response to the pro-Palestinian movement.
“There may be some people who, you know, may not want to talk to us with everything going on, but there’s also just as many people who are emboldened by this and want to have their voice heard,” said Matthew Marengo, the multimedia director at ASU’s independent newspaper, the State Press. “And in a time when there’s so many people who are scared to have their voices heard. I think it’s even more important for us to give a voice to the voiceless.”
Amid all the shouting about the culture wars and the budget woes of local school districts, it’s easy to lose sight of what education is all about.
Thousands upon thousands of young people doing their best, working hard and charting the course for Arizona’s future.
So in tomorrow’s edition of the Education Agenda, we’re taking a break from what the adults are doing and focusing on what the “cool kids” are up to.
And, of course, we’ll also get you up to date on what the grownups are doing.
All you have to do is click that button and tomorrow morning you’ll get a fresh breeze in your inbox!
If you want to laugh while crying for the sake of our country, here’s John Oliver’s latest segment on President Donald Trump’s war on journalism, the First Amendment and the press corps.
The lengths that corporate media is going to appease Trump doesn’t just amount to bending the knee, Oliver said, it’s “bending both knees, arching your back and relaxing your holes.”
After standing behind Trump at his inauguration, the Washington Post’s Jeff Bezos told his editorial board to back off Trump and he paid $40 million to license a documentary on Melania Trump.
The LA Times’ billionaire owner told the paper’s editorial team to stop writing about Trump and is now forcing them to send him all opinion pieces for approval.
Trump is filing “frivolous and dangerous” lawsuits against media companies that he doesn’t like, including local news organizations.
But perhaps most concerning is Trump’s attempt to weaponize the Federal Communications Commission to use as a cudgel against any news organization that criticizes him.
And because 90% of corporate media is owned by like five parent companies that have hundreds of other business interests, corporate media companies are throwing their journalism outfits and reporters under the bus.
“The government is directly or indirectly controlling criticism. And that is, to put it bluntly, authoritarianism,” Oliver said. “We’ve seen countries backslide and the press tends to be the first casualty … And those who have watched it in person will tell you this is where it starts and this is also the one chance you get to stop it.”
But let’s end this on a hopeful tone.
Because so much of Trump’s attacks are pure bullshit, reporters have a fighting chance to beat him in court — but only if their corporate backers will stand up and fight for the First Amendment.
“Fundamental rights and freedoms are worth fighting for. And this is one of the fights that nerds in newsrooms can actually win because it doesn’t require any upper body strength,” as Oliver put it.
Yes, the state Constitution still assumes the governor is a man.
Financial disclosure statements have vague monetary values, so we only know someone paid $1,000 - $25,000 for Hobbs’ trip.
The oxymoron or Jake Hoffman speaking of dignity is almost to much to bear. The man has no dignity and no shame.
Sloppy paperwork/diligence yet again. When is Kris “Sue” Mayes gonna win one of her countless suits?