PHOENIX — Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, knows she is in the minority this term as Republicans expanded their majorities in the state House after the last election.
But the first-term governor sees room for bipartisan compromise as she strives to advance policies that have long stymied under the Republican Party-controlled legislature.
While President-elect Donald Trump took the battleground state, Hobbs noted in a recent interview with The Associated Press that Arizona voters also preferred Democrat Ruben Gallego to the US Senatesending the message that they want their political leaders to work across the aisle to solve the thorniest problems.
“The issues we face – affordability for families, water security, protecting our border and keeping communities safe – are not Republican or Democratic issues,” she said. “These are simply issues in Arizona that our elected leaders, including myself, must work together to solve.”
Hobbs, who is up for re-election next year, is expected to outline her priorities when she addresses lawmakers at the start of the session on Monday.
Here is an overview of the main policy areas:
It was just two weeks after the November election when Hobbs visited the Arizona-Mexico border promised to go to work with the Trump administration on issues such as stopping the fentanyl trade. But she also acknowledged that some families are concerned about the threats of deportation of the president-elect.
While he doesn’t want to speculate, Hobbs says Arizona will focus its limited law enforcement resources on keeping violent criminals off the streets, regardless of their immigration status.
Arizona voters approved this last year a measure that strengthens the local police to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally, so it’s unclear what new restrictions on immigration would move Republicans beyond guaranteeing adequate funding for law enforcement.
Hobbs will try to put renewed pressure on lawmakers to close regulatory gaps to protect groundwater resources. Her calls last year to update the state’s water laws failed to gain approval from the Legislature, prompting her administration to take executive action in December to curb uncontrolled pumping in a rural area.
This time, Hobbs is optimistic she can reach an agreement with lawmakers on renewing groundwater regulations. In the absence of a pact, Hobbs says she will not hesitate to act unilaterally.
The stakes are high as Arizona is in the throes of a prolonged drought and needs to do something about it a plan by the end of 2026 to manage the dwindling share of water from the overdrawn Colorado River.
Curbing Arizona school voucher program is still on Hobbs’ wish list.
The program, which started in 2011 for disabled children and expanded to all students in 2022, allows parents to subsidize private school tuition and other education costs with public money.
Hobbs and fellow Democrats have criticized the program, saying it is contributing to a drain on state coffers. Republican lawmakers have defended the program as a cornerstone of the school choice movement. The budget approved by lawmakers last year after weeks of negotiations with Hobbs’ office included only small cuts in spending for the program.
Unlike last year, the state is not facing a budget crisis. The latest revenue forecast for the next fiscal year is an increase of $231 million compared to last summer’s forecast, according to legislative analysts.
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Gabriel Sandoval is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.