Hobbs breaks the hundred-veto mark
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The Legislature's extended break comes to an end on Monday, but in the meantime, Gov. Katie Hobbs hasn't let her veto stamp rest.
Driving the news: Hobbs vetoed her 100th bill last Monday, hitting a milestone most Capitol observers would've consider unthinkable until recently.
- The 12 bills she nixed this week brought her veto total to 111, nearly double the previous single-session record of 58 set by Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2005.
- That's also the same number of bills her Republican predecessor Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed during his entire eight years in office.
Zoom in: Among them was a bill she rejected Thursday that would've require schools to set aside single-occupancy restrooms for transgender students or let them use employee facilities, but wouldn't have allowed them to use restrooms designated for the gender they identify as.
- In her veto letter, Hobbs called it "another discriminatory act against LGBTQ+ youth" passed by the GOP majority.
Between the lines: Hobbs vetoed several election bills, including legislation to preemptively ban ranked-choice voting, to restrict the kinds of voter signatures election workers can use to validate early ballots, and to require legislative approval for the secretary of state's Election Procedures Manual, which carries the force of law.
- She rejected a bill that would have required cities to tear down homeless encampments and allow people living in them to be charged with trespassing, saying it "effectively criminalizes" homelessness.
- And she vetoed legislation to make it a crime to film pornography in schools and other government buildings and to mandate the removal from schools all materials with depictions of sexual activity, arguing it "serves as little more than a thinly veiled effort to ban books."
The other side: Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, who sponsored the bathroom legislation, criticized Hobbs for her veto, saying, "Women and young girls deserve privacy and their own protected bathrooms, showers and locker rooms."
- Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, called Hobbs' veto of her homelessness bill "irresponsible" and said it "advances chaos, not sanity, within our state."
Meanwhile, Hobbs signed three bills, including one permitting acupuncture treatment for animals.
The intrigue: Legislative committees approved several of Hobbs' stalled executive nominees this week, who now move to the full Senate for confirmation.
- The Senate Committee on Director Nominations recommended confirmation for Ryan Thornell, the governor's Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry director, and Susan Nicolson, her Department of Real Estate commissioner.
- The Senate Education Committee also approved David Zaragoza, Hobbs' nominee for the Arizona Board of Regents.
- Many of Hobbs' nominees have yet to receive a committee hearing.