Capitol Roundup: Hobbs and lawmakers reach disabilities funding compromise
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A prolonged fight between Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Legislature over a funding shortfall for a developmental disabilities program ended with a bipartisan solution shortly before it ran out of money.
The big picture: The House passed legislation Wednesday night to fill a $122 million budget deficit, and the Senate followed suit Thursday. Hobbs signed the bill later in the day.
- The agreement will prevent the Department of Economic Security's Developmental Disabilities Division, which serves about 60,000 people, from running out of money on May 1.
- It also ends a standoff in which Hobbs threatened to veto any legislation that reached her desk before a solution to the budget impasse was reached.
Why it matters: Much of the dispute between the Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers revolved around the pandemic-era Parents as Paid Caregivers program, which grants funding to home caregivers for children with severe developmental disabilities.
- Federal funding for the program dried up this fiscal year and the state must now cover one-third of the cost.
Zoom in: The bill caps the number of hours parental caregivers can be paid at 40, covers the funding shortfall with money from the state's Prescription Drug Rebate Fund, and requires legislative approval for future agreements with the federal government to expand or increase health care coverage.
What they're saying: Hobbs praised the compromise as "common-sense proposals" that provide critical services and important guardrails without pulling money from a housing program, as Republicans initially proposed.
- House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear, called it a "responsible and effective plan."
In other legislative news:
🗳 Following Hobbs' veto of a raft of bills last Friday, including one that would forbid local governments from barring cooperation with federal immigration authorities, Senate President Warren Petersen said he's considering sending the Arizona ICE Act to the 2026 ballot.
- That's the playbook GOP lawmakers used when Hobbs vetoed a border security law, which passed last year with about 62% of the vote.
🔥 Utilities would get some protections from legal liabilities if their equipment causes wildfires while allowing victims of those blazes to sue in some circumstances under a bill that the Senate gave preliminary approval to on Tuesday.
- If it receives the final OK from the Senate, the bill will go back to the House.
⛺ Overnight or prolonged encampments on college campuses would be banned under a bill that got preliminary approval from the Senate Thursday.
- The bill, prompted by pro-Palestinian protests last year, will go to Hobbs' desk if it gets final approval from the Senate.