The Veto Queen is back: Every bill Gov. Katie Hobbs rejected in 2026

It’s an election year. Can Gov. Katie Hobbs make history again?

We’re not talking about the Democrat’s reelection chances, though those prospects will hang over her every action this legislative session. We’re talking about her vetoes.

Two years ago, Hobbs broke the all-time vetoes record by swatting down 216 bills in her first two years in office, topping the career mark previously held by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. Last session, Hobbs ran up the score, vetoing a whopping 174 bills, which is a single-session record. That brings her three-year total to 390 rejected bills, a number that will only swell in 2026. This legislative session has seen more bills introduced by lawmakers than ever before. Considering both chambers of the Arizona Legislature are controlled by Republicans, that will mean more veto fodder for Hobbs.

Phoenix New Times has tracked those vetoes for the past three years. This is the 2026 edition. If there’s to be a 2027 version, Hobbs will have to emerge triumphant in November.

January

Senate Bill 1106: Vetoed on Jan. 12. This was the first blow in an ongoing battle between Hobbs and Republican lawmakers. Arizona generally mirrors its state income tax code after its federal counterpart, but President Donald Trump’s beloved “One Big Beautiful Bill” significantly altered how federal taxes are to be paid. That will require a change to Arizona’s code, but Hobbs and Republicans have been unable to agree on what those changes should be. When the session started this year, Republicans jammed through a package that would hew closely to the federal changes, but Hobbs vetoed it because it copied many of the same tax breaks that Trump’s bill gives to high-income companies and individuals. “You have sent me partisan legislation that gives tax breaks to special interests while hiking taxes on working seniors struggling to get by,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. “I urge you to rethink your partisan political theater.”

February

House Bill 2785: Vetoed on Feb. 12. This was Round 2 of the big tax fight. Republicans passed another bill that again adjusted the state’s tax code to mirror changes in federal tax law. Hobbs, who has favored adopting only some of the federal changes and excluding breaks for high earners and businesses, vetoed it again. “Again, I urge you to stop the partisan political theater,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. Meanwhile, Arizonans are preparing their taxes, knowing that they’ll likely have to file adjustments whenever Hobbs and the GOP finally iron things out.

House Bill 2206: Vetoed on Feb. 20. This was one of several bills that aimed to crack down on the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” mandated that state SNAP programs cut their rate of administrative errors — that is, the times they over- or underpay SNAP benefits — to 6%, or else states would have to shoulder more of the program’s costs. Sponsored by GOP Rep. Nick Kupper, HB 2206 went even further: It required the Arizona Department of Economic Security to cut its error rate to 3% by 2030, or face budget cuts. In her veto letter, Hobbs blasted “out of touch politicians in Washington” who passed the federal SNAP cuts before touting the changes DES is already making to comply with the new requirements. She also criticized HB 2206 for creating more work for DES without any additional money behind it. “SNAP is the most robust and effective anti-hunger tool we have in Arizona — I know this firsthand,” Hobbs wrote. “It’s also the most secure, thanks to strong anti-fraud measures and oversight. Instead of creating more needless frustration for Arizona families, I invite you to join me in actually lowering costs for them.”

House Bill 2396: Vetoed on Feb. 20. This bill would have barred SNAP recipients from buying less-healthy items like soda and snack foods with their benefits. Hobbs has vetoed similar bills in past years, as she noted in her veto letter this time around. “I appreciate your intent to improve health outcomes of Arizonans,” she wrote. “Yet, instead of offering Arizonans more options to feed their families, this legislation would deprive them of the dignity and economic freedom enjoyed by other grocery shoppers.”

Senate Bills 1002, 1331 and 1334: Vetoed en masse on Feb. 20. These bills imposed more restrictions on the SNAP program:

• SB 1002 would have imposed additional requirements on DES for verifying SNAP recipients’ eligibility, but without additional funding to do so.
• SB 1331 would have required most SNAP recipients aged 60 or younger to work or participate in job training to receive benefits.
• SB 1334 would have prevented state agencies from issuing waivers for SNAP work requirements unless federal law required it or the Arizona Legislature signed off.

In her veto letter, Hobbs chastised Republicans for sending her “yet more unfunded mandates and not a dollar to help our state agencies implement these changes now, or to modernize our systems for the future.”

House Bill 2796: Vetoed on Feb. 20. This bill would have placed more requirements on the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System — or AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid agency — when it comes to verifying participant eligibility. In her veto letter, Hobbs noted that AHCCCS already uses “a wide variety of effective and efficient member eligibility processes” and that the program was already working to adjust to new federal requirements that will go into effect in 2027. Thus, HB 2796 was “redundant,” she wrote.

Senate Bill 1036: Vetoed on Feb. 20. Like the SNAP and AHCCCS bills, this bill would have saddled DES with additional requirements when determining the eligibility of people receiving unemployment benefits, which would likely result in delays or denials for unemployed people. “This legislation creates unnecessary delays for workers, burdens for employers, and costs for the State,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.

Senate Bill 1051: Vetoed on Feb. 20. This bill would have required hospitals in Arizona to ask patients about their citizenship status. It would also have required hospitals to report every quarter to the Arizona Department of Health Services data about the number of undocumented patients seeking care, as well as the cost of uncompensated care for undocumented patients. Though the bill specified that hospital intake forms should state that care would not be affected by a patient’s answer to the citizenship question, Democrats said merely asking it would make sick or injured undocumented people less likely to seek necessary medical care. In her veto letter, Hobbs noted that undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible for Medicaid, which the bill ostensibly was created to police. “This legislature continues to show a troubling inability to grasp some of the most basic functions of Medicaid,” Hobbs wrote.

Senate Bill 1056: Vetoed on Feb. 20. This bill would have eliminated any full-time positions at state agencies that have been open and unfilled for at least 150 days. “This bill does not accurately reflect the state’s merit-based hiring processes,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter, “and would deprive state agencies of their ability to best serve Arizonans.”