Get that weak shit outta here: Katie Hobbs breaks her own veto record

Yet again, Gov. Katie Hobbs — also known as the Veto Queen — has broken a record with her pen.

On Wednesday, Hobbs vetoed 28 budget-oriented bills that were passed earlier in the day by House Republicans, bringing her total to a single-year record of 168. She held the previous record with 143 vetoes in the 2023 session.

The recent vetoes come just five days before a deadline to avert a state government shutdown. If a budget is not passed by June 30, many government services will have to stop. Arizona has never experienced a government shutdown before. If it does, both Hobbs and Republicans in the Arizona Senate have said to blame the Arizona House of Representatives.

Hobbs and Senate Republicans negotiated a budget of more than $17 billion last week, which the Senate passed in a late-night vote. Hobbs called it “a bipartisan, balanced, and fiscally responsible budget that the majority of Senate Republicans support.” But the governor and several Republican senators said House Republicans declined to participate in negotiations over the budget, instead passing their own partisan budget that they knew Hobbs would not sign.

Wednesday, facing a looming government shutdown, the House also passed a “skinny” budget to keep the government operating while talks continue. But Hobbs warned House Republicans that it was destined to be vetoed. The Senate passed both budgets — the partisan House budget from last week, and what she called the “starvation” budget on Wednesday — seemingly to get the whole pointless process over with.

“I have long made clear that both of the partisan and reckless House Republican budgets are unacceptable,” Hobbs wrote in a statement. “They gut public safety, slash health care for Arizonans, harm businesses, fail to lower costs, and leave our Veterans out in the cold. These unserious budgets are wrong for the people of Arizona.”

In a veto letter, Hobbs wrote that the vetoed budget bills would have slashed $255 million from health care, cut more than $100 million in K-12 education funding, exacerbated the unaffordability of child care, and left more homeless veterans on the streets. Christian Slater, Hobbs' communications director, tweeted that she vetoed all 28 House bills a mere 15 minutes after they were transmitted to her.

“The governor did what she said she would do weeks ago,” Slater said. “Time to get serious and pass a real, bipartisan budget.”

In a press release, Arizona Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro said: “I’m disappointed the Governor has now vetoed two responsible budgets passed by the House—each of which would have prevented a government shutdown and kept essential state services running."

Prior to Wednesday, Hobbs had vetoed 140 bills this year — all of which Phoenix New Times has summarized.

Last year, Hobbs also smashed the record for all-time vetoes by an Arizona governor. Former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano previously held that distinction for her 181 vetoes from 2003 to 2009. Hobbs is already at 384 vetoes in three years, with a full year left in her term and the same Republican majority running both chambers of the Arizona Legislature as this year.

If this year is any indication, Hobbs could threaten her single-session record again.