Arizona State Senator Disappointed After Hobbs Vetoes Another of His Bills

State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) released a statement Tuesday, disagreeing with Governor Katie Hobbs’s (D) decision to veto his senate bill (SB) aimed at balancing power between the legislative and executive branches of government.

“The Legislature is tasked with deciding major questions of statewide policy. SB 1255 would have recognized that duty by giving the Legislature final approval over costly bureaucratic agency rulemaking before rules go into effect and economically impact Arizonans,” Kern said.

Under Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) Title 41, Chapter 6, when agencies make a rule, it must be submitted to the Administrative Rules Oversight Committee (AROC), which contains members of the legislature and an appointee from the governor. The committee’s goal is to ensure that the proposed rule complies with state statutes and make comments. These comments are considered by the governor’s Regulatory Review Council, which either approves the rule or sends it back to the agency for changes.

However, under Kern’s bill, if the proposed rule is expected to increase regulatory costs by $500,000 or more, then that rule could not become effective until legislation is enacted to ratify the rule. Any member of the legislature can introduce a bill to do so, but the bill cannot move on until the Legislature approves. If no legislation is passed to ratify the rule during the legislative session, it is terminated.

Nonetheless, Hobbs wrote that the process state agencies already go through is sufficient for the legislature to comment on concerns with proposed rules. She also said if the legislature has issues with an implemented rule, it can create a bill to change it.

In response, Kern said Hobbs’s reasoning does not justify the veto or speak to the bill’s purpose.

“This is massively counterproductive and does not provide an effective mechanism to address regulatory issues that impact our state’s economy in a timely manner,” Kern said.

While Kern could not get his bill on the books, his was only one of two bills that got axed in Hobbs’s latest batch of legislative actions. The other bill to die was SB 1252, from State Senator Janae Shamp (R-Surprise). The bill would have established the Independent Maltreatment Fatality and Near Fatality Oversight Committee (Committee), run by state officials, public safety officers, and the public. The Committee’s goal would have been to review child abuse cases and publish annual data on trends and observations regarding these incidents.

However, Hobbs said the Committee is ultimately unnecessary and would duplicate work being done by bodies like the State Child Fatality Review Team and the Department of Child Safety (DCS). She also said the committee could further “mistrust of caseworkers” and place “additional burdens” on grieving families.

Hobbs did sign 16 bills Tuesday, several of which came from Republican lawmakers. One example is SB 1205, sponsored by State Senator Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix), which tries to provide better educational care to foster children. Specifically, when a school-aged child is placed in the foster care system, the adolescent and their appropriate guardian have five days to determine if it is in the child’s best interest to continue attending their previous school or begin at a new one. DCS is responsible for providing transportation to the child so that they can find the best school for themselves.

“Loved running this bill. Very happy to see it signed as it will help our foster children,” said Kaiser.

Another new law in Arizona comes from State Senator Wendy Rodgers (R-Flagstaff), who sponsored SB 1299. The bill relates to the governor’s inauguration fund and states that all monies raised for an inauguration event must be placed in a specific fund used only for the event. It also clarifies that individuals may only donate up to $25,000, which does not count as campaign donations.

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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Anthony Kern” by Anthony Kern. Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.

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