Hobbs already smashed the state veto record during her first two years as governor, swatting away 216 bills — 143 in 2023 and 73 in 2024. The record was previously held by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who vetoed 181 bills from 2003-09. Now, thanks to 29 vetoes in a single day in late June, she's broken her own single-session record from 2023. Hobbs has shot down 174 bills this session.
With a slim majority in the House and Senate, Arizona Republicans have little power to overrule a Hobbs veto. As a tactical response and attempt to bypass certain vetoes, Republicans sent eleven bills to the election ballot in 2024, and voters approved four of them.
Phoenix New Times has kept lists of each of Hobbs’ vetoes for the past two years. This is the 2025 edition.
February
House Bill 2703: Vetoed on Feb. 18. The bill would have made a litany of changes to Arizona’s elections system to produce results more quickly. The most notable change was not allowing voters with early ballots to bring them to polling places on Election Day. But the bill made other changes that would not speed up elections, Hobbs said, like effectively ending the Active Early Voting List. “While I too want faster election results, the solution should not needlessly restrict Arizona citizens’ freedom to vote,” Hobbs wrote. “Compromises I proposed would increase voter freedom while speeding up election results.”March
Senate Bill 1119: Vetoed on March 31. The bill aimed to narrow the responsibilities of a public agency that represents Arizona residents' interests when it comes to energy and utility costs. The Residential Utility Consumer Office is tasked with representing the interests of consumers, but the vetoed bill would have defined "represent the interests of" as "advocating for the safest and most reliable utility service achievable at the lowest retail rate possible." Hobbs called the bill "unnecessary" and said it was important to preserve avenues to lower energy and utility costs. State Sen. Tim Dunn, a Yuma Republican, said that the bill would have prevented the state from "prioritizing any costly radical environmentalist agendas."April
Senate Bill 1050: Vetoed on April 7. Passed along party lines, the bill would have required government agencies to keep track of more information in their databases about who they lease to and when excise taxes are "abated," or refunded. It would have added community college districts to the list of entities that need to track that data and required those agencies to note the amount of property tax revenue the entity "will forego during the term of the lease and abatement period." Hobbs' veto letter, which was a crisp two sentences, claimed the bill had "the potential to stunt Arizona's economic development and negatively affect opportunity in the state."House Bill 2012: Vetoed on April 7. The bill seemed to be a response to the COVID-19 vaccine — it would have banned private and health care companies from requiring their employees to get vaccines that were approved under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's emergency authorization. Republicans passed it along party lines in both chambers. According to Hobbs, the bills appeared "to be predicated on a misunderstanding of federal law," had "the potential to jeopardize the public health of Arizonans" and would have dictated "the policy decisions of private employers."
House Bill 2004. Vetoed on April 15. The bill was passed by Republicans in both chambers and would have banned any county’s recorder — a top election official — from giving voter registration cards to people with mailing addresses outside of Arizona, excluding members of the military and expats. Hobbs, in her veto letter, said the bill “adds red tape and places unnecessary burdens” on lawful voters. “We should be making it easier for legal voters to participate in our democratic systems, not harder,” the governor wrote.
House Bill 2058. Vetoed on April 15. Yet another bill passed with only Republican votes, this one was about vaccinations at Arizona’s higher education institutions. Its provisions would have required colleges and universities to let students 18 years or older opt out of vaccination requirements if they sign a paper saying they understand the risks of not getting immunized. “The bill is unnecessary, given existing university and community college policies,” Hobbs said in her veto letter.
House Bill 2060. Vetoed on April 15. The GOP bill would have established that Arizona election statutes about voting qualifications would be applied to federal elections held in the state. Currently, Arizona requires proof of citizenship or residency, while federal law does so only in cases in which a voter’s status is challenged. Currently, voters who do not provide proof of citizenship — but attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury, as required by federal law — are provided a federal-only ballot. “This bill is at odds with federal law and would expose the state to unnecessary and costly litigation,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
House Bill 2062. Vetoed on April 15. This bill would have removed all gender-related terms in Arizona law and allowed only sex-related definitions of people. According to Secular AZ, that would “effectively erase trans, non-binary, and intersex people” in law. Hobbs mocked Republicans for the culture war bill, which seems more about establishing a narrow order than fixing the many problems Arizona faces. “This bill will not lower costs, will not increase opportunity, and will not enhance security or freedom for Arizonans,” Hobbs said in her letter. “I encourage the Legislature to focus on real issues that matter and impact people's everyday lives.”
House Bill 2063. Vetoed on April 15. The bill would have required schools to communicate with parents about vaccine exemptions in any materials that mention vaccine requirements. Republican sponsor Lisa Fink said the bill was aimed at increasing transparency. Hobbs wrote that the bill “is unnecessary as the information it is trying to disseminate is widely available and easily accessible for those who are interested.”
House Bill 2126. Vetoed on April 15. The bill, which had support from a couple of Democrats in the House, would have required health care providers to allow parents access to their kids’ electronic data. Critics noted this could stop kids from getting access to contraceptives if their parents disapprove of birth control. “Patient privacy is a longstanding tenet of American healthcare and this bill would create legal ambiguity for healthcare providers who have existing obligations to patient privacy,” Hobbs wrote about her veto.
House Bill 2153. Vetoed on April 15. Sponsored by Tucson GOP state Rep. Rachel Keshel and passed with only Republican votes, the bill would have expanded the types of voting locations at which party chairpeople can send challengers. Hobbs’ reason for rejecting it was concern that the bill would strain county resources by forcing election officials to keep an eye on more challengers when they are already struggling to recruit poll workers.
House Bill 2165. Vetoed on April 15. Only Republicans supported the bill, which would have required Arizona’s director of economic security to request that soda be taken off the list of things that can be purchased with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food stamps. Hobbs said she appreciated Republicans’ desire to make people healthier, but argued the bill would have deprived SNAP participants of their purchasing power and created a “new underclass of grocery shoppers.” She added that she was open to finding other ways for people to get access to healthier food.

House Bills 2086, 2088, 2089, 2090, 2094, 2202 and 2270. Vetoed en masse on April 15. All were sponsored by Republican state Rep. Gail Griffin of Sierra Vista. Five passed along party lines.
- HB 2086 would have given funds to low- and fixed-income residents to install refillable water storage tanks when their private wells dry up.
- HB 2088 specified the procedure for allowing the director of water resources to remove groundwater protections in parts of the state under “Active Management Areas.”
- HB 2089, in a similar vein, laid out the process by which residents could petition and vote to remove those groundwater protections.
- HB 2090 and HB 2094 made minor, wonky changes to law.
- HB 2202 would have created more opportunities for irrigation.
- HB 2270 updated rules for keeping track of groundwater.
Senate Bill 1027: Vetoed on April 18. The Republican-passed bill would have required “critical telecommunications infrastructure that is located within or serving” Arizona be constructed without any equipment that’s manufactured by a “foreign adversary,” presumably meaning China. The bill didn’t just include new infrastructure — it also roped in existing infrastructure and would have meant replacing equipment. Hobbs took issue with the vague language and potential costs, saying it would “create undue difficulty for the business community and generate costs to taxpayers.”
Senate Bill 1066: Vetoed on April 18. The bill, narrowly passed by Republicans, would have barred the state from giving or selling land to foreign entities if they are from a country that is “hostile to the United States,” as determined by the Director of National Intelligence. “This bill lacks clear implementation criteria which could open the door to arbitrary enforcement and infringement on due process,” Hobbs wrote, adding that it conflicts with federal law.
Senate Bill 1071: Vetoed on April 18. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. John Kavanagh, would have required far more checks on eligibility for SNAP food stamps on a monthly or quarterly basis. Those included checking for lottery wins, changes in employment status and income. No Democrats voted for it. Hobbs defended the anti-hunger program and said the bill would have created “needless frustration for Arizona families.”
Senate Bill 1072: Vetoed on April 18. The bill, which was sponsored by Senate President Warren Petersen and which received three Democratic votes in that chamber, would have required Arizona’s two medical boards to take action on complaints unrelated to protecting public health within a year of receiving them. In a veto letter, Hobbs said the bill would have created confusion since all complaints before the boards relate to public health and safety.
Senate Bill 1087: Vetoed on April 18. The bill was sponsored by right-wing state Sen. Jake Hoffman and did not receive any votes from Democrats. It would have reduced the amount the agency that licenses and regulates residential and commercial contractors could charge for an assessment by 50% when the state’s contractors recovery fund exceeds $15 million. Hobbs said the bill “harms the state’s ability to assist homeowners who have been harmed or defrauded by contractors.” She also noted that another senate bill, one sponsored by GOP state Rep. Tim Dunn — who voted against SB1087 — would be a better approach to protecting homeowners because it increases the limit on claims.
Senate Bill 1123: Vetoed on April 18. The elections bill is sponsored by state Rep. Mark Finchem — who has a checkered past of election denialism — and would have required vendors making paper ballots to use watermarks, invisible ink, holographic foil or other techniques to mark them. In her veto letter, Hobbs said simply: “I am confident in the ability of Arizona’s election officials to administer free and fair elections without added expense and complexity.”
Senate Bill 1164: Vetoed on April 18. Dubbed the “Arizona ICE Act,” the bill is one of the most high-profile vetoes of the year. It would have forced state and local governments to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. A spokesperson from the Republican Governors Association blasted Hobbs after the veto for not wanting to secure the border — though the bill has nothing to do with securing the border. In her veto letter, Hobbs highlighted various measures she has taken to secure the border and to crack down on fentanyl smuggling and cartel operations. “I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state and local officials to take marching orders from Washington D.C.,” she wrote.
Senate Bill 1309: Vetoed on April 18. The Republican-passed bill would have required the Arizona Corporation Commission to make sure that changes to the state’s electric power grid are capable of producing enough electricity. It also would have required new electric generation plants to produce as much or more electricity than retiring plants. Hobbs said: “The bill fails to define specific standards and thus would create regulatory uncertainty that threatens our economic growth.”
Senate Bill 1441: Vetoed on April 18. The bill would have turned school district governing board elections from nonpartisan to partisan. Republicans passed the same bill last year before the governor vetoed it. Hobbs responded by saying that “partisan politics do not belong in Arizona’s schools.”
Senate Bill 1501: Vetoed on April 18. It would have required the Arizona Corporation Commission to conduct a grid security review every other year. One Democratic lawmaker voted for it. The main disagreement was that the bill did not provide funding for the change in law. “I share the mission of ensuring Arizona’s energy system is secure and reliable,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. “However, this bill greatly expands energy planning requirements without the financial support necessary to administer such a sweeping new program.”
Senate Bill 1584: Vetoed on April 18. The bill, which passed by one vote in each chamber, is another chapter in the Republican Party’s anti-DEI culture war: It would have prohibited state and county government agencies from hiring employees based on anything other than merit. Hobbs noted in her veto letter that the state already practices merit-based hiring, except for some preference for veterans. “Not only does this bill attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, it could impact employment opportunities for Veterans in the state,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
Senate Bill 1721: Vetoed on April 18. The Arizona Department of Agriculture wants to require egg-laying hens in Arizona to be cage-free, but this GOP bill aimed to bar that from ever happening — it would have prohibited the state from making housing requirements for egg-laying hens. While the department delayed the requirement to 2027 back in November, Hobbs pushed it back even further in March until 2034 because of concerns over egg prices, a fact she cited in her veto. “It is important that this Department retain its ability to regulate space standards for egg-laying hens,” the governor wrote in her veto letter. “Removing the ability entirely could have serious implications in the future if action is needed to protect human health or animal welfare.”
House Bill 2006: Vetoed on April 18. Though the bill enjoyed some bipartisan support in the House, it passed along party lines in the Senate. It simply would have required the words “not from a government agency" on election-related documents that are hand-delivered by nongovernment workers or people — even if the document is an official, governmental election document. That includes voter registration applications and early ballot requests. Hobbs said in a veto letter the bill could "inadvertently discourage qualified citizens from registering to vote.”
House Bill 2007: Vetoed on April 18. The bill would have altered voter registration organizing efforts by banning people from paying or receiving “anything of value” based on the number of voter registration forms they collect, complete or submit. It received few Democratic votes in the House and none in the Senate. “I will not sign legislation that hinders voter registration efforts based on speculation,” Hobbs wrote.
House Bill 2169: Vetoed on April 18. While the bill passed along party lines in the Senate, it was approved in a 58-1 vote by the House. The bill had three main provisions: 1) requiring school governing boards to hold all meetings at a public facilities in the school district; 2) requiring the governing board to post a live video feed of each meeting, video recordings of meetings and all materials reviewed in the meeting; and 3) requiring the governing board to approve all school-related out-of-state travel by a majority vote. Hobbs said the bill needed work and that she was concerned about the “unintended consequences of this bill, including adverse impacts on interscholastic activities." Her veto letter did not list any examples of those unintended consequences.
House Bill 2257: Vetoed on April 18. The bill passed along party lines in both chambers and prohibits the Department of Child Safety from refusing to put a child in a foster home or kinship foster care based on the vaccination status of the child or other children in the potential foster home. Hobbs called the legislation “unnecessary” and said the department gives biological parents discretion over placements.
House Bills 2271, 2551, 2573, and 2574: Vetoed on April 18. Hobbs issued a single veto letter for the four rural water policy bills, which she called “political cover” for Republicans. “I am disappointed that none of these bills would make a difference in solving the water policy challenges that Arizona residents and communities are facing today,” Hobbs wrote in the letter. She added that her administration is negotiating a plan for rural groundwater management.
House Bill 2375: Vetoed on April 18. The Republican-passed bill would have required school districts to respond within 15 days to parents’ summertime evaluation requests for their kids with disabilities. Hobbs said the bill “fails to recognize the realities of public school staffing over the summer and provides no financial support for adequate implementation.”
House Bill 2515: Vetoed on April 18. Republicans (with the support of three Democrats) wanted to require a whole lot more data about property tax and cost estimates be included in informational pamphlets on budget override and bond elections. Hobbs seemed to find the messaging of the proposed pamphlet language one-sided and added, “I have confidence that Arizona voters understand what they are doing when they vote in a bond election.”
House Bill 2527: Vetoed on April 18. A long list of instructions for the Arizona Corporation Commission, the chief aim of the bill was to prevent the commission from approving the retirement of an electric generation facility unless a new electric generation facility that provides the same or more power is opened and requires it to prioritize energy from traditional energy sources. Hobbs said the bill “seeks to disincentivize, deprioritize, or otherwise limit renewable energy projects” in Arizona.
House Bill 2541: Vetoed on April 18. Passed by Republicans, the bill would have placed a new requirement on petitions to take parental rights from someone or to determine whether a child is dependent: a signed affidavit swearing to the full disclosure of all relevant information to the Department of Child Safety. It also would have modified court procedures for dependency cases. Hobbs called the legislation “overly broad” and said it would “require significant operational enhancements to implement.”
House Bill 2576: Vetoed on April 18. This bill wouldn’t have changed a whole lot, just tweaked government auditing and inspection processes. The bill would have required inspectors that find violations of law within an agency to allow workers the chance to correct them within a “reasonable period of time,” unless the violations were intentional, pose a significant risk to public health and safety, or demonstrate a pattern. Hobbs wrote in a veto letter: “This bill harms the ability of state agencies to conduct their inspections, compliance and enforcement programs, threatening the health and safety of Arizona consumers.”
House Bill 2640: Vetoed on April 18. Passed by Republicans on party line votes, the bill seems aimed at facilitating the transfer of public school property to private schools. It would have given charter schools renting property from a school district the right of first refusal to buy that building if it goes up for sale. It also laid out steps a school district has to take before terminating or not renewing a lease of its property and exempted proceeds of renting or selling property to other schools from legal restrictions on spending the proceeds. Oh, and it was all retroactive to the beginning of this year. “I cannot support wholesale attempts to retroactively undo decisions of elected school district governing boards,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.
House Bill 2649: Vetoed on April 18. The bill was simply a declaration of the importance of the electoral college in presidential elections. In the past decade, the concept of the electoral college has been gaining opponents for the weight it gives to less-populated areas of the country. Hobbs vetoed an identical bill in 2023, saying that it would make more sense for the bill to be a resolution since it does not make any real changes in policy. She cited the same reason in her veto letter.
House Bill 2670: Vetoed on April 18. The bill would have required the State Board of Education to mandate specifically outlined instruction on fetal development for students in 7th and 8th grades. It also requires schools to provide parents a description of the course curriculum and allows students to be excused from that instruction at a parent’s request. Hobbs defended the State Board of Education’s independence and said the Legislature should stay out of it. The governor also said the law “conflicts with Arizona’s opt-in sex education requirements and will create confusion.”
House Bill 2774: Vetoed on April 18. Garnering just three Democratic votes, the bill laid out a relatively easy process for the implementation of a new technology: small modular nuclear reactors. It would have allowed utilities to make the reactors 30 days after giving notice to the Arizona Corporation Commission and do so without filing an application or receiving a certificate of environmental compatibility. Hobbs wrote that she was “supportive of conversations around the responsible adoption of emerging energy technologies” such as small modular reactors. “Unfortunately,” she continued, “this bill puts the cart before the horse by providing broad exemptions for a technology that has yet to be commercially operationalized anywhere in this nation.”
House Bill 2788: Vetoed on April 18. The result of this bill would have been an overhaul of what public energy utilities report to the Arizona Corporation Commission, mandating that they produce a 15-year plan once every three years. The highly technical language of the bill would have also pressured utilities to lean toward producing less renewable but more reliable energy. “While the current review process may benefit from updates, adjustments to the process should not bar updates that work against building an energy economy of the future,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.
House Bill 2814: Vetoed on April 18. The federal government gives two types of funding to the states: one type (custodial) does not allow for any discretion in spending, but another type (noncustodial) lets state agencies decide how to spend it. This bill would have put the Arizona Legislature in charge of divvying up those funds. Predictably, the attempt to override the executive branch’s power received no Democratic support. “This bill would create challenges for the State budget process and could upend important programs upon which Arizonans rely,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.
House Bill 2906: Vetoed on April 18. Another bill with unanimous support in the House and partisan support from Republicans in the Senate, the bill would have renamed Arizona’s fintech incubation program that allows “innovative” financial products to be tested without state authorization. The main change, though, is updating the definition of “innovative” technologies to include digital assets such as cryptocurrency. Hobbs said county treasures across the state have been raising a fuss about the bill, saying it would have created “operational, legal and accounting challenges.”
House Bill 2920: Vetoed on April 18. Passed along party lines in both chambers, the bill would have required property tax bills and statements to include more information about the tax rates in that school district. Hobbs gave a wonky explanation for her veto: “Property tax statements currently delineate school district taxes for operational and voter-approved purposes, and school districts cannot increase property taxes unless specifically allowed by law."
May
Senate Bill 1025: Vetoed on May 2. While passed along party lines in the Senate (where it was sponsored by MAGA fanatic Wendy Rogers), the bill earned some no votes from relatively moderate Republicans and support from the Democratic Party’s three House lawmakers with the last name Hernandez: Consuelo, Alma and Lydia. The bill would have allowed Arizona to start investing some of its state retirement funds in digital assets like Bitcoin if the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury starts doing so. “Arizonans’ retirement funds are not the place for the state to try untested investments like virtual currency,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.Senate Bill 1086: Vetoed on May 2. The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Jake Hoffman and passed along party lines in both chambers. It aimed to update what the Arizona Department of Transportation is required to focus its resources on and would have barred the agency from adopting a plan to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Hobbs ridiculed Hoffman in her veto: “I know transportation and driver safety is not a concern for the bill sponsor given his track record, but I take the responsibility of keeping our roads safe very seriously.” The governor was referring to the fact that Hoffman got out of receiving a speeding ticket when he was traveling at 89 mph when the speed limit was 65.
Senate Bill 1089: Vetoed on May 2. Another partisan bill sponsored by Hoffman, this one would have required the director of Arizona’s Department of Transportation to issue a quarterly report to the House and Senate if any construction project contracts were awarded to anyone who wasn’t the lowest possible bidder. Yet again, Hobbs threw some major shade at Hoffman for blocking her agency nominees while chairing the Senate’s Committee on Director Nominations — also known as DINO. “This bill is Detrimental, Ineffective, Nonsensical, and Objectionable,” was all Hobbs wrote.
Senate Bill 1256: Vetoed on May 2. Sponsored by Rogers and narrowly passed by Republicans (excluding state Rep. Matt Gress), the bill would have banned state offices from having employees take diversity, equity and inclusion training. Hobbs wrote the same thing in her veto letter as she did for SB 1089, clearly still peeved that Republicans on DINO are blocking her nominations: “This bill is Detrimental, Ineffective, Nonsensical, and Objectionable.”
Senate Bill 1280: Vetoed on May 2. Passed with only GOP votes in the House and Senate, the bill sponsored by election denier state Rep. Mark Finchem would have made some currently private voting details a matter of public record. “This bill would place constitutionally protected voter privacy at risk,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
Senate Bill 1296: Vetoed on May 2. The bill would have made changes to the unemployment benefits systems, like bumping the number of required resume submissions from four to five, requiring employers to report when people don’t show up for interviews or decline a job, and running more checks against data from state agencies. It was also sponsored by Finchem and passed along party lines in both chambers. "This legislation creates unnecessary delays for workers, burdens for employers, and costs for the State,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
Senate Bill 1375: Vetoed on May 2. The bill passed on party lines in both chambers and would have made voter information rolls public through an online portal. In a veto letter, Hobbs said the bill “fails to adequately safeguard voter registration information from being redistributed or posted online, and therefore poses risks that the information will be misused or used for commercial purposes.”
Senate Bill 1443: Vetoed on May 2. This bill, sponsored by state Sen. Carine Werner and passed by Republicans and one Democrat, specifically added “mental health decisions” to the list of parents’ medical rights over their children who are younger than 18. Hobbs said the bill “could deter vulnerable children from seeking help” in a veto letter.
Senate Bill 1464: Vetoed on May 2. The bill was passed solely by Republicans and would have required the Arizona Department of Revenue to notify the Senate and House ahead of time about changes in tax law that “adversely affect” taxpayers. Hobbs said that the bill “would politicize the administration of our tax code and interfere with responsibilities outlined in our State Constitution.”
Senate Bill 1472: Vetoed on May 2. Passed on another party line vote in both chambers, the bill was sponsored by state Sen. David Farnsworth and would have required school districts to create budgets and enrollment for the next three years instead of just the upcoming one. Hilariously, Hobbs wrote in her veto: “I agree with the bill sponsor when he called this a ‘weak bill.’ It would do nothing to improve the budgeting process for school districts.”
Senate Bill 1510: Vetoed on May 2. Supported by only one Democrat, the bill would have required state agencies to report when any positions have been vacant for more than five months and then eliminate them. Hobbs argued in a veto letter that the bill “would deprive state agencies of their ability to best serve Arizonans.”
Senate Bill 1534: Vetoed on May 2. The bill was passed by Republicans and sponsored by state Sen. John Kavanagh of Scottsdale. It would have shifted the responsibility of creating titles and writing descriptions for ballot measures from the Arizona Secretary of State and Attorney General to the state’s Legislative Council, which consists of elected lawmakers. Hobbs said she saw “no compelling reason to alter” the current system. Last year, Republicans put 11 measures on the ballot, bypassing Hobbs’ veto pen. Four of them were approved by voters.
Senate Bill 1538: Vetoed on May 2. The bill was sponsored by GOP state Sen. Frank Carroll and passed with only Republican votes. It would have categorized non-thermal electric generating units as a “plant” under Arizona law. Hobbs said in a veto letter that the bill would have added “red tape to energy project deployment” and jeopardized Arizona’s economic growth.
Senate Bill 1610: Vetoed on May 2. The bill passed without Democratic support and would have required county jails to provide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with identifying information and a photo of anyone arrested for crimes like larceny, shoplifting and assaulting an officer. Hobbs seemed not to take an issue with the concept behind the bill, but vetoed it because “state law already bans sanctuary localities,” she wrote.
Senate Bill 1612: Vetoed on May 2. Passed by Republicans with one Democratic vote (state Sen. Analise Ortiz), the bill would have made a number of changes to the state grant awarding process for its Medicaid program, known as AHCCCS. It also would have required companies to disclose when their members and their family members provided any material support to the governor, the governor’s campaign committee or inaugural fund. Hobbs didn’t address that part in her veto letter: “AHCCCS's current procurement and award processes for managed care contracts are consistent with Medicaid Industry best practices.”
Senate Bill 1694: Vetoed on May 2. This culture war bill narrowly passed both chambers with only GOP votes. It would have banned the state from giving any funding to higher education institutions that offer courses on diversity, equity and inclusion and that discuss contemporary society in relation to terms like systemic racism, institutional racism or anti-racism. Hobbs wrote in a veto letter that jeopardizing state universities and community colleges’ funding “with a bill that lacks clarity attacks their future stability and would lead to negative effects on the state's workforce and economy.”
Senate Bill 1705: Vetoed on May 2. The bill, sponsored by GOP state Sen. David Gowan, passed by just one vote in both chambers. It would have opened up local officials who pass stricter local gun laws to fines of up to $5,000 if the laws violate state law. Of the bill, Hobbs said simply in her veto letter: “There are existing mechanisms to challenge city ordinances.”
House Bill 2099: Vetoed on May 2. The bill stated that cities and towns in Arizona, as well as the governor and attorney general, have to comply with federal immigration authorities to "enforce" and “administer” immigration laws. It passed along party lines in both chambers. Hobbs issued a lengthy veto letter for this bill. “Arizonans, not Washington, DC politicians, must decide what's best for Arizona,” Hobbs wrote, citing several of her administration’s programs to crack down on fentanyl smuggling and cartel operations as evidence of toughness on transnational crime. “I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state officials to take marching orders from Washington, DC.”
House Bills 2203 and 2572: Vetoed on May 2. The bills were sponsored by state Rep. Gail Griffin, a Republican from Sierra Vista. They passed on party lines in both chambers (with one Republican defector) and would have made slight tweaks to Arizona’s groundwater laws. One reads more like a copy edit than an overhaul to government — except an exemption from a newly announced regulation for folks who have irrigated their land for more than 10 years (compared to the law’s current exemption for five years). The other modifies the duties of groundwater advisory councils and allows grandfathered groundwater users to add acres of land. Hobbs issued a single veto letter for both, saying that “neither of these bills would move toward solving the water policy challenges that Arizona residents and communities are facing today.”
House Bill 2438: Vetoed on May 2. The bill would have barred making changes to the listed sex on an Arizona birth certificate “as a result of a sex change surgery.” Predictably, it passed along party lines. “This bill will not lower costs, will not increase opportunity, and will not enhance security or freedom for Arizonans,” Hobbs wrote in her veto explanation. “I encourage the Legislature to focus on real issues that matter and impact people's everyday lives.”
House Bill 2449: Vetoed on May 2. Sponsored by Republican Michael Carbone, the bill passed in both chambers along party lines. It would have created more eligibility requirements for Arizona’s Medicaid system, including increased checks with other agencies for changes in circumstances. It would even require more checks for gambling winnings. Hobbs said AHCCCS “already has a number of efficient and effective member eligibility processes” and that the bill “would expend state resources on inefficient administrative redundancies with no clear return on investment.”
House Bill 2693: Vetoed on May 2. The bill would have allowed insurance companies and Arizona’s Medicaid program to limit their coverage for genetic sequencing if the technology used for it comes from a “foreign adversary” country. It picked up some Democratic support in the House but passed by only a single vote in the Senate. Hobbs’ veto letter for this bill was probably her most terse: “This bill is unnecessary” was all she wrote.
House Bill 2017: Vetoed on May 6. Sponsored by Republican state Rep. Rachel Keshel, the bill passed on party lines. It would have barred counties from establishing on-site early voting locations and would have required an election precinct voting location for every 1,000 voters — an absurdly ambitious proposal considering election workers are in short demand and are sometimes on the receiving end of threats. Basically, it would have made it way harder to run elections and to vote, which Hobbs noted. “I have strong confidence in the voting center model that has been used in Arizona for over a decade and provides needed flexibility for eligible voters to vote where it is most convenient for them,” she wrote in a veto letter.
House Bill 2046: Vetoed on May 6. This election bill was sponsored by flamboyant GOP state Rep. Alex Kolodin, whose own understanding of election law is suspect. It passed unanimously in the House but on party lines in the Senate. It would have required a change to post-election audits. First, it required vote totals to be released before the precincts (and voting centers, per a change in the bill) to be audited are randomly selected. Then, it required hand-count audits to begin within 24 hours. Hobbs wrote in a veto letter that “requiring separate hand-count audits for early and election day ballots is inefficient and cumbersome for election officials.”
House Bill 2050: Vetoed on May 6. Another Kolodin election bill, this one garnered a few Democratic votes in the House but none in the Senate. It would have added provisional ballots to the collection of ballots that election officials have to send to political parties, who then work to “cure” the ballots, or help voters fix issues that prevent their vote from counting. Hobbs said provisional ballots “must be researched and verified by elections officials and cannot be cured by the voter” and so did not see a reason for adding provisional ballots to the list.
House Bill 2121 and House Bill 2122: Vetoed on May 6. On party-line votes in both chambers, Republicans wanted to impose stricter requirements on people trying to get food stamps through SNAP. One would have required “able-bodied adults” under 60 to participate in an employment and training program in order to get food stamps, while the other would have banned the state Department of Economic Security from waiving SNAP work requirements for “able-bodied adults without dependents.” Hobbs called the SNAP “the most robust and effective anti-hunger tool we have in Arizona” in a veto letter and said that “putting up additional barriers for families already struggling to put food on the table is not the way to expand opportunity, security and freedom for Arizonans.”
House Bill 2154: Vetoed on May 6. The bill would have required county recorders to immediately remove voters from the Active Early Voting List if the post office cannot deliver mail to them. Currently, election officials have to try to get in touch with such voters. The bill passed along party lines, and Hobbs noted in her veto letter that it “likely contradicts procedures required by the National Voter Registration Act.”
House Bill 2205: Vetoed on May 6. The bill, passed on party lines in both chambers, simply added a paragraph to the law requiring the Secretary of State’s Office to create a procedure manual for elections. In essence, the paragraph was just a statement that the manual only has the force of law for provisions that the Arizona Legislature has delegated to the office. Hobbs wrote in a veto letter that “the scope of authority for the election procedures manual is contained in the statute requiring its creation.” Basically, the governor found it an unnecessary addition.
House Bill 2439: Vetoed on May 6. This bill, passed along party lines in both chambers, would have required Arizona’s Medicaid website to include a link for adoption information and support for pregnant women. The Department of Health Services is already required to do that. In her veto letter, Hobbs characterized the bill as an attack on reproductive freedoms and lambasted Republicans for trying to keep an 1864 near-total ban on abortion in effect.
House Bill 2440: Vetoed on May 6. The bill, passed with only Republican votes, would have banned the Arizona Attorney General from prosecuting, charging or filing a civil suit against county supervisors for voting against the certification of an election, which happened in Cochise County. “My priority lies with protecting the voice of every eligible Arizona voter, not protecting politicians,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. “I am sure you would agree that any violation of law should be properly prosecuted. No one should be above the law.”
House Bill 2441: Vetoed on May 6. The bill passed along party lines in both chambers and would have required the state’s Board of Psychologist Examiners to give people making complaints copies of all documents related to their investigations. Hobbs said the bill was “unnecessary as the Board of Psychologist Examiners already provides copies of investigation files, upon request, to licensees.”
House Bill 2450: Vetoed on May 6. The Republican-passed bill would have changed how long people can receive unemployment benefits based on the recent unemployment rate. “Cutting unemployment insurance will not connect Arizona workers to jobs that match their skills more quickly. If anything, it will send them and their families into needless financial hardship,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter, urging lawmakers to work together to counter the “uncertainty” coming from volatile policies in Washington, D.C.
House Bill 2651: Vetoed on May 6. The bill, passed along party lines, was sponsored by Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro and would have required all parts used in voting machines to be completely sourced and assembled in the United States. “This legislation is predicated on conspiracy theories rather than fact,” Hobbs wrote simply in her veto letter.
House Bill 2824: Vetoed on May 7. The bill would have made it much easier for legislative committees to hold witnesses in contempt. It narrowly passed both chambers with only GOP votes. “The bill weaponizes the power of the Legislature in a way that could be used to intimidate Arizonans,” Hobbs wrote. “Holding someone in contempt is a very serious matter and is best left to be determined by the entire body rather than any one legislator.”
Senate Bill 1002: Vetoed on May 12. A classic state Sen. John Kavanagh bill, this one would have required that teachers get permission from parents to call students by their chosen pronoun or name when it doesn’t align “with the student’s biological sex.” The exception is nicknames. It also protected charter school employees who objected to using those pronouns if they were “against their personal beliefs.” It passed on party lines in both chambers. Hobbs told Republicans to prioritize bills that were focused on lowering costs, border security or water, adding the bill “will not increase opportunity, security or freedom for Arizonans.”
Senate Bill 1003: Vetoed on May 12. Another gender war bill from Kavanagh, the “Accommodations for All Children Act” would have allowed students to opt out of using public restrooms with a request, instead getting private bathrooms or “changing facilities.” The contains several parts along those lines, creating a byzantine system for the bathrooms. Clearly, Kavanagh spent a lot of time thinking about kids in bathrooms. Hobbs issued an identical veto letter to the one she wrote for SB 1002, implying the Republicans are distracted from issues of greater concern.

Senate Bill 1014: Vetoed on May 12. Sponsored by MAGA fanatic and state Sen. Wendy Rogers, the bill would have legalized mufflers on guns. It passed narrowly. Hobbs wrote in her veto letter that “gun silencers make it more difficult for hard-working law enforcement officers to do their job and keep Arizonans safe.”
Senate Bill 1020: Vetoed on May 12. Another Rogers gun bill, the measure would have allowed concealed weapons on college campuses and prevented colleges from banning them. It was widely criticized by campus administrators and barely passed both chambers. “Ensuring the safety of our students is a responsibility that belongs to all of us,” Hobbs wrote in her veto. “Our community colleges and universities are places where our students should feel welcome and safe.”
Senate Bill 1024: Vetoed on May 12. The bill allowed state agencies to make deals with service providers to accept cryptocurrency for tax payments, fines and civil penalties. It divided both chambers of the legislature and passed with only 29 votes in the House. In her veto letter, Hobbs wrote that “legislators on both sides of the aisle acknowledged it still leaves the door open for too much risk.”
Senate Bill 1052: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have blocked U.S. citizens who have “never resided” in the United States from registering to vote. It passed on party lines. Hobbs noted in her veto letter that children of servicemembers overseas who haven’t lived in the United States would be stripped of their right to vote. “I will not sign a bill that diminishes the right of eligible citizens to register to vote, and certainly not one that impacts our military families,” she wrote.
Senate Bill 1064: Vetoed on May 12. The bill was an attempt by Republicans to ban election voting machines from having internet connections. It also created more requirements for voting machines. It was sponsored by two of Arizona’s most notable election deniers — Rogers and state Sen. Mark Finchem — and did not receive a single Democratic vote. Hobbs argued in a veto letter that administrative decisions about running elections should be included in the Secretary of State-created elections procedure manual.
Senate Bill 1088: Vetoed on May 12. The Republican-passed bill would have required all cities, towns and government contractors to comply and cooperate with federal immigration agencies — a broad increase in the power of the federal government. “I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state officials to take marching orders from Washington, DC,” Hobbs wrote of her veto.
Senate Bill 1091: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have required school districts holding bond elections to lay out the amount by which tax rates would dip should voters not approve the bonds. The very slanted language suggestion from sponsor state Sen. Jake Hoffman seems like an attempt to trick more people into ensuring schools don’t get funding and have to close. Hobbs reprised her acrostic veto to Hoffman, who has used his chair on DINO, the committee on director nominations, to block Hobbs’ nominees. “This bill is Duplicative, Ineffective, Nonsensical, and Objectionable,” she wrote.
Senate Bill 1094: Vetoed on May 12. This Republican victimhood bill sponsored by Hoffman would have banned financial institutions, insurers, and credit reporting agencies from discriminating against individuals based on “political affiliation” or “social credit, environmental or social justice” scores. Hobbs again called the bill “Duplicative, Ineffective, Nonsensical, and Objectionable.”
Senate Bill 1095: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have banned the state from using central bank digital currencies for several types of transactions. The problem? “A central bank digital currency does not yet exist,” Hobbs pointed out. Touché.
Senate Bill 1098: Vetoed on May 12. This Hoffman-sponsored bill would have required ID checks for people dropping off early ballots and mandated that anyone dropping off a family member’s ballot attest to that familial connection. “This bill is Detrimental, Ineffective, Nonsensical, and Objectionable,” Hobbs swiped at the DINO chair once again.
Senate Bill 1116: Vetoed on May 12. The bill set up requirements for the Department of Water Resources to respond to applications for “alternative groundwater models.” Hobbs noted in her veto letter that it would have imposed administrative burdens without improving water security or protecting people.
Senate Bill 1143: Vetoed on May 12. Introduced by Rogers, this bill would have barred governmental entities from keeping records of privately owned firearms or firearm transactions, including the use of merchant category codes by financial institutions. Hobbs cited the merchant category codes as “vital” to helping law enforcement solve crimes. “We should make it easier, not harder, for law enforcement to catch violent criminals,” she wrote.
Senate Bill 1268: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have required hospitals to submit quarterly reports to the Arizona Department of Health Services with a tally of patients treated who are undocumented immigrants. Hobbs mentioned her work stopping fentanyl at ports of entry and said that “this legislation is opposed by business leaders, hospitals, and others who understand that
immigration enforcement is best left to federal law enforcement and not health care professionals.”
Senate Bills 1300 and 1518: Vetoed on May 12. Hobbs called the narrowly passed changes to groundwater law in both bills “effort misspent,” “pointless” and a “continued affront to rural Arizonans.” One would have allowed two counties in Southern Arizona to ask voters in 2026 if parts of the San Simon Valley Groundwater Subbasin should be put on a no-irrigation list. The other allowed owners of grandfathered irrigation rights to sell or lease those rights.
Senate Bill 1310: Vetoed on May 12. This bill garnered a couple of votes from Democrats and would have increased the penalty for knowingly making false or forged documents laying claim to property, taking it from a misdemeanor to a felony. Hobbs seemed to agree with the spirit of the proposed change — that home title fraud is bad — but wrote that the bill “does not solve the problem of home title fraud in Arizona.”
Senate Bill 1322: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have transferred the State Broadband Office from the Arizona Commerce Authority to the Arizona Department of Administration. Hobbs said in a veto letter that the change would “delay deployment of critical high-speed internet infrastructure and access to communities across the state that have too long been excluded from the digital economy.”
Senate Bill 1373: Vetoed on May 12. Another cryptocurrency bill, this one would have let the state create a strategic preserve of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Hobbs cited volatility in cryptocurrency markets in saying it was a bad idea to risk the state’s money. The bill was sponsored by Finchem and garnered a few Democratic votes, including the three House lawmakers with the last name Hernandez: Consuelo, Alma and Lydia, who also voted for the state to invest retirement fund money in crypto.
Senate Bill 1435: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have allowed attorneys who are investigated to reclaim money for “loss of earnings” if they prevail in fighting their charge. It was sponsored by Finchem and narrowly passed. Hobbs wrote in her veto letter that “attorneys who speak honestly and practice with dignity have nothing to worry about.”
Senate Bill 1463: Vetoed on May 12. This one passed on party lines in both chambers would have required ballot measures to note what other statutes would be affected should the ballot measures pass. “Proponents of a ballot measure should not be compelled to make their opponents’ arguments for them,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
Senate Bill 1536: Vetoed on May 12. The bill added one small, vague change to the law detailing when local elected officials take office — pushing that date after the “resolution of any election contest” in addition to post-certification of results. Sound a bit fishy? Hobbs thought so. “It is unclear the bill would achieve its stated objectives, and it could instead incentivize frivolous election contests and deny Arizona voters representation from their democratically elected representatives while such contests play out,” she wrote in her veto letter.
Senate Bill 1586: Vetoed on May 12. Sponsored by Republican state Sen. Janae Shamp, the bill would have made health care professionals responsible for civil liabilities related to transition procedures they provide. The bill comes as Trump and national Republicans are taking aim at transgender care and spooking providers. Hobbs wrote that current law gives patients a “private right of action related to matters of informed consent” in her explanation for the veto.
Senate Bill 1591: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have eliminated fees associated with obtaining a concealed weapons permit for Arizona residents. Hobbs noted that such a move would “defund our state police that administer the Concealed Weapons Permit Unit.”
Senate Bill 1725: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have dropped the required weight for a fentanyl possession charge from 200 grams to nine grams. Hobbs noted in her veto letter that last year she signed House Bill 2245, which established mandatory minimums for traffickers — five to 15 years for a first offense of possessing 200 grams.
House Bill 2067: Vetoed on May 12. Originally sponsored by Republican state Rep. Matt Gress but amended to the point he didn’t even vote for the bill, it would have required school districts to provide a governing board member with “access to all information and records that are maintained by the school district” upon the board member’s request. One Democrat voted for it. Hobbs wrote that she opposed “providing individual governing board members with blanket access to sensitive records without compelling reasons and sufficient guardrails.”
House Bill 2092: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have made changes to affidavits needed for selling land in unincorporated areas. Anyone interested can check out the bill’s wonky language. “It is unclear to me why it would be in the public interest to allow for available details about a property to be withheld from a prospective buyer,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.
House Bill 2221: Vetoed on May 12. Republican state Rep. David Marshall sponsored the bill, which would have barred cities and towns from making reductions in law enforcement budgets. It got support from two Democrats but lost the support of one Republican. Hobbs wrote in a veto letter that the Fraternal Order of Police, Arizona Police Association, and the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police all opposed the bill “because it undermines local decision making which is needed for public safety agencies to operate effectively.”
House Bill 2222: Vetoed on May 12. This bill, also sponsored by Marshall, would have required local governments to submit reports to Arizona’s top elected officials at least 90 days before entering into settlement agreements of $500,000 or more. “I vetoed the same bill last year because this is clear government overreach,” Hobbs wrote in her veto.
House Bill 2233: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have banned members of Arizona’s Corporation Commission from lobbying for or against rules, regulations and bills they haven’t officially taken a position on in a public meeting vote. Hobbs wrote that “stifling any agency's ability to provide necessary feedback on legislation that impacts their work is detrimental to developing responsible legislation.”
House Bill 2256: Vetoed on May 12. The bill would have barred courts from ordering parties in family law cases to participate in therapy or counseling programs, like ones designed to improve or maintain the parent-child relationship. It got support from the three Democratic Hernandez lawmakers in the House. “In an attempt to address one specific situation, this proposal would result in unintended consequences that may result in more harm than good,” Hobbs wrote, urging the bill’s proponents to work with the court’s administrative practice to better understand how they operate.
House Bills 2274 and 2570: Vetoed on May 12. Both bills were entirely new sections of law that would have allowed the Cochise County Board of Supervisors to call a special election for the creation of a domestic water improvement district in the Willcox Basin and created new regulations about “non-expansion areas” where land cannot be irrigated. Hobbs said the bills “fail to address the water policy challenges Arizona residents and communities are facing today.” She’s vetoed plenty of other partisanly-passed bills, favoring ones with bipartisan support.
House Bill 2517: Vetoed on May 12. Sponsored by GOP state Rep. Justin Olson, the bill required “locators” — people or businesses who assist in recovering unclaimed property — to register with the Arizona Department of Revenue and pay a fee. In a veto letter, Hobbs said the change was unnecessary.
House Bill 2671: Vetoed on May 12. In this bill, Republicans wanted to order the Department of Child Safety to prioritize placing children with extended family members when removed from their homes. The governor said the law was not necessary since “family members of children in DCS custody are already included in kinship search and placement practices, consistent with state and federal law.”
Senate Bill 1036: Vetoed on May 13. This Kavanagh bill would have allowed local residents to file a civil lawsuit against a city, county or school district that used taxpayer money “for the purpose of influencing the outcomes of elections.” But it’s clear what that really means. “This bill is far too broad and subjective; it opens the door to infringe on First Amendment rights and general public discourse,” Hobbs’ veto letter read.
Senate Bill 1097: Vetoed on May 13. The bill would have required counties to provide both voting centers and precinct polling places and mandated that public schools close on general and primary election days, allowing their gyms to be used as polling sites. The Hoffman-sponsored bill narrowly passed, and Hobbs slung her usual allusion to DINO at the senator: “This bill is Detrimental, Ineffective, Nonsensical, and Objectionable.”
Senate Bill 1600: Vetoed on May 13. Sponsored by Republican state Sen. Frank Carroll, this “patient rights” bill included language requiring all health care professionals to act in their patients’ interest, do no harm and get informed consent before making medical decisions. Hobbs said the bill is unnecessary because that’s already the law. “Health professionals are already legally obligated to act in their patients' best interests and to obtain informed consent for procedures,” she wrote in a veto.

Senate Bill 1649: Vetoed on May 13. This bill was sponsored by Republican Senate President Warren Petersen and would have nixed appointment qualifications for 10 boards and commissions, allowing anyone to be placed in the positions regardless of whether they have expertise in the board’s area. Petersen argued it would broaden the pool of applicants, but opponents said it politicized the process by discarding merit qualifications and warned it risked unqualified appointments. “I agree with President Petersen that appointments made by elected officials should be based on qualifications and subject matter expertise,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter. “It is the height of hypocrisy for this Legislative majority to attempt to exempt themselves from the standards to which they hold others.”
House Bill 2206: Vetoed on May 13. The elections bill would have barred Arizona from participating in multistate voter-registration systems and prohibited state and local governments from contracting with nongovernmental voter databases — something county recorders often do to help maintain their own databases. Hobbs wrote that she vetoed it “because it adds bureaucracy to the maintenance process of the state's voter registration list and imposes significant additional costs on Arizona's county recorders.”
House Bill 2437: Vetoed on May 13. The brainchild of Gress, this bill created “drug-free homeless service zones” around homeless shelters and service centers, making drug use a felony. Its proponents said it would protect unhoused people, but its opponents noted the bill criminalized them. “As someone who has worked with individuals experiencing homelessness, I know that social workers and service providers should focus on engaging people in services, not enforcing our criminal laws,” Hobbs wrote in her veto, asking lawmakers to instead focus on affordable housing and getting the homeless off the streets.
House Bill 2700: Vetoed on May 13. The “Gulf of America” bill was specifically aimed at ensuring teachers have to call the body of water by Trump’s preferred name. It also added geography to the required social studies curricula. Hobbs excoriated the Republican lawmakers who passed it: “I encourage you to refocus your time and energy on solving real problems for Arizonans.”
House Bill 2767: Vetoed on May 13. Speaker of the Arizona House Steve Montenegro sponsored this bill, which would have required the Department of Motor Vehicles to send voter registration data simultaneously to county recorder offices and the Arizona Secretary of State. It narrowly passed on party-line votes. Hobbs said she vetoed it “because it inaccurately represents the maintenance of voter registration information in Arizona, and would place significant costs on Arizona's county recorders.”
House Bill 2798: Vetoed on May 13. A follow-up to Gress’ drug-free homeless zones bill, this one would have banned cities from allowing supervised drug-injection sites. These zones don’t exist in Arizona — the bill was a preemptive attempt to prevent their creation. “These sites are nonexistent in Arizona,” Hobbs wrote in her veto. “I encourage the Legislature to seek common sense solutions to actually help Arizonans struggling with substance use disorder.”
House Bill 2803: Vetoed on May 13. The Montenegro-sponsored bill was about “mixed hoteling,” in which homeless people are temporarily housed in hotels alongside paying guests. It would have required hotels to post signs that clearly state homeless people are also being housed there, forced them to give refunds if requested and banned the state from spending money on mixed hoteling. Hobbs called for more productive efforts on creating transitional and affordable housing in her veto letter, adding that lawmakers “should not micromanage local businesses who have stepped-up to help address our state's housing challenges.”
House Bill 2868: Vetoed on May 13. The fairly extensive bill would have banned any diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, universities and community colleges. It also had several provisions about non-discrimination, seemingly a duplication of existing law. Hobbs wrote in a veto letter that universities and community colleges are critical to society and the economy, and the bills “would jeopardize their continued stability, leading to negative effects on the state's workforce and economy.”
House Bill 2895: Vetoed on May 13. This one would have mandated that government agencies disclose their contracts on their websites — an anti-corruption measure to proponents and a concern for privacy and compliance burdens for opponents. “The bill is written far too broadly and would hinder the State's ability to receive services necessary to support Arizonans,” Hobbs wrote in a veto.
House Bill 2927: Vetoed on May 13. The bill, which was passed on party lines in the Senate but got support from at least six Democrats in the House, would have held government agencies to a stricter standard for providing information and video from public meetings. It also would have required that the attorney general respond to accusations of open meetings law violations within four months. Hobbs did not address the actual provisions of the bill in her veto, preferring to criticize those who passed it: “As the legislative body changed rules to allow their own public records to be discarded after just 90 days, it is unclear as to why this bill attempts to hold others to a more lengthy and costly standard.”
June
Senate Bill 1109: Vetoed on June 2. The bill would have banned the Chinese government and Chinese state-owned companies from buying, acquiring or owning land or property in Arizona, thus protecting the state's "critical infrastructure." While about a half dozen Democrats supported the bill in the House, it passed on party lines in the Senate. Hobbs said she was for the concept but against the bill. "This legislation is ineffective at counter-espionage and does not directly protect our military assets," Hobbs wrote in her veto letter, adding that the bill "lacks clear implementation criteria and opens the door to arbitrary enforcement."House Bill 2867: Vetoed on June 10. One of the more high-profile bills vetoed by Hobbs, it passed narrowly with just a few Democratic votes and would have created a vague ban on teaching antisemitic material in public schools, making teachers legally liable for any violations. But what constitutes antisemitism? Right-wing politicians have recently attempted to label any criticism of the state of Israel and its large-scale killing of Gaza's civilians as "antisemitic." Hobbs noted in her veto letter that while antisemitism is a "scourge on our society and a deeply troubling issue in our country," the bill was "not about antisemitism" but "about attacking our teachers" by "opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits." Hobbs also noted that the Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center, the National Council of Jewish Women Arizona and other Jewish organizations were against the bill, saying it would undermine Holocaust education by forcing teachers to avoid anything controversial.
House Bill 2610: Vetoed on June 24. Supported by one Democrat in the Senate and a half dozen in the House, the bill was pushed by Republicans and crafted in the wake of the financial woes suffered by the Isaac Elementary School District. It would have required the state to fire school district superintendents and all governing board members when a district becomes financially insolvent. The Arizona Education Association opposed the bill, taking issue with the idea of state lawmakers overruling local voters. Hobbs said that while the district's mismanagement was "unacceptable" and the governing board should resign, she added that the bill was a "legislative overreach that would create disruption and confusion" in school districts during crises. "The bill appears to seek broad retribution rather than providing targeted methods to address problems," Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
House Bills 2947, 2948, 2949, 2950, 2951, 2952, 2953, 2954, 2955, 2956, 2957, 2958, 2959, 2960 and 2961: Vetoed on June 25. The set of bills was part of a budget package passed by House Republicans. However, Hobbs negotiated a separate budget with Senate Republicans. House Republicans declined to participate in the negotiations and decided to pass these budget bills that were guaranteed to be dead on arrival. "The partisan antics of the House Republicans should not distract us from working to pass a negotiated, bipartisan budget that strengthens public safety, lowers the cost of child care, protects public education funding, and gives our Veterans the support they deserve," Hobbs wrote in a veto letter for the package of bills.
House Bills 2962, 2963, 2964, 2965, 2966, 2967, 2968, 2969, 2970, 2971, 2972, 2973 and 2974: Vetoed on June 25. House Republicans passed this slate of bills as part of a continuation budget to stave off a government shutdown, which will occur if no budget is signed into law by July 1. Hobbs, who called the bills a "starvation" budget and promised to veto them, said they slashed the proposed pay raises for state troopers and firefighters and tax cuts for small businesses that are in the budget she negotiated with Senate Republicans. They also cut funding for K-12 and higher education and infrastructure projects. "Unfortunately, House Republicans abdicated their responsibility and refused to meaningfully participate in our bipartisan budget negotiation process," Hobbs wrote in a veto letter. "Now, they are attempting to leverage the threat of a government shutdown to force through a reckless and partisan budget that raises costs, harms businesses, and makes our state less secure."
House Bill 2542: Vetoed on June 25. Narrowly passing both chambers on party-line votes, this bill would have barred state agencies from contracting companies based in China to provide goods or services — with one exception. It didn’t apply if the contract was the only reasonable option and not obtaining the goods in question posed a threat to the state. In her veto letter, Hobbs said simply that the “overbroad bill would dramatically increase costs to taxpayers when purchasing goods and services."
Senate Bill 1514: This bill would have forced more arbitrations in disputes between employers and workers and made a few clarifications to the arbitration process. Republicans nabbed three votes from Democrats to pass it. Hobbs said the bill would establish “forced arbitration in Arizona law mandating a take-it-or-leave-it approach” and noted that it would hurt working people.
Senate Bill 1001: This bill would have made significant changes to Arizona's elections processes, including creating on-site tabulation at voting centers during early voting and placing more stringent requirements on returning early votes, like making voters drop off their own ballots. It was supported only by GOP members and narrowly passed in both chambers — in part because two Republicans didn't vote in the House. Hobbs said the bill presented "unacceptable challenges" to voters and would disenfranchise some. "Election reforms cannot be done in a vacuum," Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. "We must balance the speed of counting votes with accessibility, accuracy, and security."
Senate Bill 1019: State Sen. Wendy Rogers' bill would have banned law enforcement from using cameras to enforce traffic laws. It passed with mostly Republican votes but garnered approval from a handful of Democrats. Hobbs said in a veto letter that it would "remove the ability of local law enforcement to keep our streets safe by eliminating a tool used to enhance roadway safety."
House Bill 2091: The water bill was an emergency measure that would have required the state's Department of Water Resources to review new developments' claims that they can guarantee they will have a supply of water for 100 years and overturn them if they see fit. It applies to applications submitted between 2021 and August 2023. It got one vote from a Democrat in the Senate and three in the House. Hobbs said in a veto letter that the bill "harms Arizona homeowners and leaves communities without reliable and affordable water resources."
House Bill 2324: This was a major cryptocurrency bill that would have, among other things, allowed courts to order forfeiture of crypto assets if they are related to a crime and would have established a state Bitcoin and Digital Assets Reserve Fund, from which the state could sell its collected bitcoin. Hobbs wrote simply in a veto letter that the bill "disincentivizes local law enforcement from working with the state on digital asset forfeiture by removing seized assets from local jurisdictions."