June 8, 2026
A budget deal is close...From cage fight at the Capitol to cage fight on the White House lawn
Chaos at the Capitol. As Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republican legislative leaders continue negotiating behind closed doors, it seems likely that budget bills will drop early next week, probably Tuesday. Republican legislative leaders want to wrap things up because about a dozen Republican senators are headed out for a 3-day jaunt to DC. As the Arizona Agenda points out, this trip “comes at a pretty inconvenient time, leaving little room for last-minute holdouts and general legislative tomfoolery.” It's irresistible, apparently, to seize “an opportunity to hear how President Trump is ushering in the Golden Age by delivering on the America First agenda,” as the White House invitation states. Plus, the roving Republicans are eager to wrap up the fight over the budget in order to attend the fight in DC: Trump's UFC Fight Night/birthday celebration.
Listing to the right but leaning left. We kept hearing all week that major chunks of the legislative rank and file on both sides were holding out. To bring around their own holdouts, Republican leaders have tried to push their negotiations to the right. Meanwhile, we're encouraged to hear that progressive holdouts appear to be making some progress by digging in on their priorities.
Tax conformity. The status of this big-ticket negotiating point is still murky. We don’t know whether Hobbs has agreed to full conformity, which would cost $1.4 billion over three years, or negotiated a more reasonable package with Republicans. While Republicans are reluctant to give her even the slightest win that could bolster her re-election campaign, this remains a major battle and the shape of a compromise remains unclear.
"Slush fund" budgeting. We’ve also heard some Republicans think last week’s higher-than-expected revenue numbers mean they should get money for "member priorities" — in other words, the "slush fund" budgeting that plagued previous sessions. Giving each Republican lawmaker a $10 or $20 million pot of money to spend at their whim (such as TV advertising for Arizona’s runaway universal ESA voucher program) is incredibly irresponsible at the best of times, but when paired with deep cuts to the programs and services Arizonans depend on, this type of horse trading is unconscionable. Any "leftover" money should go toward preventing cuts. Buying votes this way has been bad precedent and the worst type of bribery.
The data center debacle. We're being told Arizona will drop its corporate tax credit for data centers only for new projects going forward, although this could change. When you consider that Arizona is the second largest data center market in the nation thanks to all the tax credits we’ve given out already, that would be somewhat like locking the barn door after the horses have escaped. In January, Hobbs described the data center tax credit as a “$38 million corporate handout,” and given voters’ overwhelming disapproval of data centers, it should seem a no-brainer to end the credit. However, Republicans are digging in their heels because they’re loath to give Hobbs a “win,” especially in an election year. They're reportedly getting an assist from corporate lobbyists who have helped write a "compromise" that replaces the tax giveaway with other accommodations. Stay tuned on this one, the situation is still fluid.
Governor JB Pritzker
Here too, Arizona seems to be bucking the national trend for Democratic administrations.
More spaghetti on the wall. We've written before about the record number of bills introduced this session, yet fewer than half the typical number have made it to the governor’s desk. Last year, lawmakers sent Hobbs 428 bills; this year so far, out of more than 2,100 bills introduced, they've fully passed only 188. House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-29) says the House has about 125 bills left to consider; CEBV is tracking just under half of those as veto bait or bad ideas that should never be shown the light of day. This is just one more symptom of the inefficiency and extreme dysfunction of those currently in charge of our state government. Further, we shudder to think what horse-trading is being done behind closed doors in order to win votes.
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⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Contact Gov. Hobbs at 602-542-4331 or engage@az.gov. Remind her office that you oppose copying federal conformity (i.e., Trump's disastrous tax cuts for the rich) down to the Arizona level. Tell her that she can also insist on a built-in 3-year expiration date for those tax cuts, to guard against the permanent harms of eliminating necessary revenues that will never return.
⏰⏰ If you have 10 minutes: Repeat the same message to your own state representatives and senator.
⏰⏰⏰ If you have 20 minutes: Contact Republican legislative budget negotiators (below). Remind them that we expect them to build a budget that funds the services Arizonans depend on, not to slash and burn. The least we can do is annoy them; at most they’ll know how unpopular their ideas are. You can contact these lawmakers regardless of what district you live in, as they are negotiating on behalf of the entire state.
☎️ Steve Montenegro (House, R-29) • smontenegro@azleg.gov • 602-926-3635
☎️ Michael Carbone (House, R-25) • mcarbone@azleg.gov • 602-926-4038
☎️ Warren Petersen (Senate, R-14) • wpetersen@azleg.gov • 602-926-4136
⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 30 minutes: Review the list in this week's Spotlight of the most dangerous ballot referral measures, and contact your senator (for HCRs) and representatives (for SCRs) with your expectations. This is especially important if you have Republican lawmakers. We must not allow these harmful measures to get wrapped into negotiations as the price of someone’s budget vote. If you've done this recently, it's time to do it again.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 45 minutes: Choose one or more bills from the Bills on the Floor section below and reach out to your representatives, senator and/or the governor as indicated.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom for our CEBV Happy Hour conversation, packed with political analysis, conversation and community. Happy Hour meets every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of legislative session. We're looking forward to seeing you!
As Arizona inches closer to a budget, and thus to the end of the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers will begin considering in earnest which measures to place on our November ballots. Lawmakers can send any measure directly to voters with a simple majority vote of each chamber and without the governor's approval. Such measures are often negotiated alongside a budget deal as the price of someone's budget vote. These five harmful measures carry the most danger of ending up before voters in November.
Discrimination
HCR2003, sponsored by Selina Bliss (R-1), would ostracize the tiny minority of trans girls in Arizona by asking voters to ban them from youth sports, as well as banning trans youth from using the school bathrooms and changing facilities that align with their gender identities. Anti-trans hate creates a toxic environment for girls in sports, inviting harassment of girls who are “too good at the game” or have stocky builds, small breasts or short hair, and subjecting them to humiliation, verbal assault, physical attacks or even invasive genital exams meant to “prove” they are girls. The demand that female athletes conform to rigid gender norms or face the consequences is dangerous to all women, not just athletes. This measure is a close copy of a 2022 law courts have already blocked, which a federal district judge put on hold pending the outcome of a similar US Supreme Court case (a decision is expected by the end of June). OPPOSE.
HCR2044, sponsored by Steve Montenegro (R-29), would ask voters to enshrine racism in the state Constitution. This culture-war-driven measure would prevent the state from giving BIPOC-owned businesses any preference in state contracts, block teachers from discussing accurate history, ban certain content from being taught in schools, and block trainings on how to support LGBTQ+ staff and students. It would also allow the legislature to "prescribe related practices or concepts" to ban — in other words, to tack on any conceivable open-ended, misguided notion. OPPOSE.
SCR1006, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), is an anti-LGBTQ+, anti-student "bathroom ban" and "pronoun ban." It would ban teachers from using a student’s chosen pronouns without written parental permission, and would ban trans kids from using the school bathrooms, changing facilities and “sleeping quarters” that fit their gender identities. Trans kids wouldn’t be able to use any school facilities at all without undue scrutiny of their bodies, which the bill calls a "reasonable accommodation." Anyone who “encounters” a trans person in a bathroom could file suit against a public school. Such Republican-led bills are worsening LGBTQ+ Arizonans’ struggle to simply exist by creating discrimination, legal red tape, and mental and emotional distress. The governor has vetoed these concepts twice before, but this measure would evade her veto. OPPOSE.
Public Safety
SCR1004, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would ban cities across Arizona from using photo radar unless a local community votes every 10 years to approve it. Numerous studies have found both speed and red-light cameras offer many safety benefits, reducing traffic crashes and injuries by up to 35 percent. Nobody likes a ticket, but Arizona has had speed cameras since 1987 for good reason, and our state needs more, not fewer, red-light cameras. Repealing photo radar will lead to more dangerous roads and more collisions. Far-right extremists call photo radar “totalitarianism” and “mass surveillance,” and say banning it “will single-handedly stop the World Economic Forum's globalist agenda.” This measure has sadly gotten some Democratic support. OPPOSE.
HCR2040, sponsored by Justin Olson (R-10), aims to legislate away teacher's unions by creating a slew of new limits on how educators can collectively organize and bargain, something which creates better working conditions for teachers and better learning conditions for students. The measure would ban teachers from deducting their union dues directly through payroll (which only happens at a teacher's request) in a blatant attempt to shrink membership. It would also prohibit districts from using any public resources to support labor organizations, which means school facilities couldn’t be used to host union meetings — even when rented like other clubs or organizations — or even allow union members to have a presence at events like new teacher orientations. OPPOSE.
Voting Rights, Elections & Direct Democracy
HCR2001, sponsored by Alex Kolodin (R-3), and SCR1001, sponsored by Shawnna Bolick (R-2), would ax the early voting system which Arizona pioneered and require all voters (even those voting mail ballots) to somehow "show valid government-issued proof of identity." Counties would be forced to immediately tabulate mail ballots onsite, but the bill doesn't provide on-site tabulation equipment or trained personnel. Worse, the measures now allow early and mail voting only if "reasonably connected to a legitimate state interest," which gives election deniers grounds to sue at significant public expense. Arizonans already rejected the legislature's push to toughen voter ID requirements in 2022 by voting down Prop 309, which means this is also an attack on voter will. If approved by voters, this measure would make it harder to vote by mail and harder to vote generally — exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. The sponsor reportedly designed the bill to kill mail voting. OPPOSE.
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This week we have something to celebrate: Gov. Hobbs was sent some POSITIVE legislation and signed it into law.
Signed, June 5
🌟 HB2342 (Travers, D-12) will require homeowner's associations to allow residents to install reasonable shade structures in their back yards, and would allow the HOAs to adopt rules on size, placement and appearance. In our rapidly heating desert climate, shade is a necessity, helping homeowners protect their families from excessive heat, reduce energy costs, create usable outdoor living spaces, and quickly and sustainably adapt to rising temperatures. SUPPORT.
🌟 HB2641 (Liguori, D-5) will ban PFAs from being used in firefighting foam. Studies have found high levels of these "forever chemicals" in the blood of firefighters; they cause serious health problems like cancer, high cholesterol, depressed antibody response, and reproductive issues. Limiting PFAs will benefit public health and help protect our food and water from contamination. SUPPORT.
🌟 HB2673 (C Hernandez, D-21) will establish a study committee to institute basic safeguards for screening and treating mental illness in prisoners, a long-overdue move. In 2022, a federal judge ruled mental health care for incarcerated Arizonans is so bad it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. This ethically imperative bill is a small step toward reforming Arizona's prison system so it is not continually being held in contempt of court and accruing millions of dollars in fines. SUPPORT.
Unfortunately, Hobbs also signed the following harmful bill.
HB2946 (Powell, R-14) will create a host of restrictions making it difficult for cities and counties to thoughtfully plan their growth. Development (or impact) fee increases would be capped and limited to one every four years, except with unanimous approval and under specified extraordinary circumstances, and cities and counties would be banned from charging development fees for parks and libraries or from basing fees on residence size or number of bedrooms. OPPOSE.
2026 Session Timeline
Wednesday 6/24: Early voting begins for the 7/21 primary election
Tuesday 6/30: Constitutionally mandated deadline to pass a state budget
Committees & Contacts
Here's a handy list of lawmaker contact info, committee chairs and assignments.
CEBV Action Linktree
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Congratulations, you made it to the end! Please enjoy this video of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani repealing childrens' bedtime during the NBA finals.
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