By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — Running out of time and money, Gov. Katie Hobbs is upping the stakes in her bid to get more dollars for programs for the developmentally disabled.

The governor told lawmakers Thursday she will veto any new bills they send to her until she gets a measure with $122 million needed to fund the services through June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Without the dollars, the cash runs out at the end of the month.

Hobbs said it needs to be in a form she finds acceptable, and she’s hoping when she holds up pending legislation, they conceded.

House and Senate Republicans already crafted a measure to provide those dollars and had planned to vote on it Thursday. But Hobbs essentially told them not to waste their time, calling it a “nonstarter” which contains too many restrictions and conditions.

The move drew an angry reaction from Rep. David Livingston of Peoria. He chairs the House Appropriations Committee, which has crafted what he said is a solution acceptable to fellow Republicans. He said Hobbs is free to work with Republicans to make changes to the GOP plan.

“Or she can sit up in her ivory tower ... and drink her wine and not worry about it,” Livingston said.

Called out by Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, D-Tucson, for what she considered offensive speech that violates House rules, Livingston backed off — but only a bit.

“I was referring to the whinyness,” he said.

Hobbs press aide Christian Slater responded by accusing Livingston of “engaging in political warfare” and to “put partisan politics aside and do what’s right for our state.”

But a compromise does not appear in the offing.

“She’s not getting her way,” Livingston said. “And she will not get her way.”

But the political spat is widening.

Also Thursday, supporters of additional disability funding began recall drives against four Republican lawmakers including Livingston and Rep. Matt Gress of Phoenix, who has been the other prime foe of giving the governor what she wants. Also targeted are House Speaker Steve Montenegro of Goodyear and Majority Leader Michael Carbone of Buckeye.

Each petition says the targeted lawmaker no longer represents the “best interests” of his constituents. And each specifically mentions the refusal to support funding for developmental disabilities, “threatening access to life-sustaining care for thousands of Arizonans.”

In each case, backers need to gather sufficient signatures in each district — the target is based on the number of votes cast in the last election and varies from 21,747 to 34,399 — by Aug. 15. Then, if they meet that goal, an election is called if the lawmaker doesn’t resign.

Recalls against legislators are difficult given the signature hurdle and time deadline. In fact, only one has been successful in recent memory: the 2011 ouster of Republican Sen. Russell Pearce over his role as the author of Senate Bill 1070, a 2010 law giving police more power to target those not here legally.

There was no immediate response from any of the targets.
At the center of all this is the fact the Division of Developmental Disabilities is set to run out of money as of May 1.

Much of this relates to the cost of paying parents for up to 40 hours a week to provide care for their own children.

That program was established during the COVID outbreak when parents found they were unable to hire caregivers. It was funded with federal dollars.
Those funds ran out last year, with Hobbs continuing the payments using state dollars. But she didn’t tell lawmakers until January that the entire DDD program, which provides services to about 60,000 Arizonans, would run out of cash without the $122 million infusion.

Livingston and other GOP lawmakers responded by accusing the governor of having purposely given them a budget to adopt she knew was not balanced and then placing them in the position of having to face parents who brought their disabled children to the Capitol.

The GOP plan, which was supposed to be voted on Thursday, does provide the money. But that would be by taking it from other programs like dollars the state gets from prescription drug rebates through the state’s Medicaid program, from the Housing Trust Fund, which provides housing assistance, and the Arizona Competes Fund, which can be used to provide incentives to businesses to move or remain here.

But the dollars are just part of the fight. Republicans are demanding more.
One demand is a reduction in payments to parents from the current 40 hours a week to just 20. And lawmakers want the governor to get their approval before the state’s Medicaid program seeks other federal dollars or future waivers from federal rules.

Not all Republicans agree with the package. In fact, several GOP members of the Appropriations Committee were prepared to vote for some changes when the bill was to be considered earlier this week.

Livingston, however, outmaneuvered them: He got Montenegro to add three more Republicans to the panel, allowing him to beat back any changes by an 11-10 margin.

That move — and Livingston’s criticism of Hobbs and legislative Democrats — drew derision Thursday from Rep. Lorena Austin.

“It must be nice to talk about playing games to stack the deck in a committee,” said the Mesa Democrat.

Montenegro took his own shot at the governor, calling her action “political blackmail.”

“She created this crisis by foolishly expanding the DDD program without legislative approval or funding in place,” the Goodyear Republican said in a prepared statement. “And now she’s throwing a tantrum because the Legislature is doing the responsible thing: funding services while putting guardrails in place to keep the program from collapsing.”

Hobbs isn’t the first governor to use her veto stamp as a method to get what she wants.

In 2013, Republican Jan Brewer told the Legislature — then in Republican hands as it is now — she would quash anything they send her until they adopted a new state budget that included her plan to expand the state’s Medicaid program. She eventually got her way.

Eight years later, Doug Ducey used the same tactic against fellow Republicans in the Legislature, vetoing measures until he got an acceptable budget on his desk.

In that case, Ducey did something Hobbs has not: made his threat retroactive, killing 22 measure that already were on his desk when he issued his ultimatum.

Slater, however, said Hobbs will consider the 71 measure on her desk as of Thursday morning and act accordingly.

Some are bills she already has indicated she will sign, like special legislation to let Axon Enterprise build a new corporate headquarters, hotel and nearly 2,000 apartments in Scottsdale despite the fact the plan has been held up because of a local referendum. Hobbs also is likely to pen her approval to “stolen valor” legislation that makes it a crime to claim military honors or service for personal gain, something that includes running for office.

Others may already have been headed for vetoes, like one requiring seventh- and eighth-graders to get instruction on fetal development, new verification requirements for those getting food stamps and other public benefits, and a series of changes in laws governing elections and water regulation.