March 30, 2026
Shoving brand-new bills through "trash can" committees. A partisan veto-bait budget, again. The failure of common sense.
Welcome to Week 12 of the Arizona Legislature! Monday marks day 78 of what is designed to be a 100-day legislative session, and our state lawmakers are nowhere near fulfilling their one constitutionally mandated duty, a state budget. Their days are packed with partisan, culture-war veto bait and half-cooked, ill-considered pipe dreams.
Trash can committees. Yes, the committee hearing deadline has passed, but "last call" doesn't quite mean "last call." This week, as is traditional, the Appropriations committees are getting a limited exception to last week's bill hearing deadline. This one-week extension is meant to allow lawmakers to discuss the fiscal impacts of various measures. Unfortunately, this also creates a loophole that allows the majority (who decides which bills are heard) to squeak through any random non-fiscal bill it wants. This is why many Capitol insiders call these last hearings "trash can Approps." Every year, these catch-all agendas are stuffed with appalling ideas that deserve a trash can, not the legislative light of day. We've outlined four brand-new bills (!!) which urgently need your input on Request to Speak, and marked them with a ⚠️ emoji.
Vacation time. With committees over, lawmakers will likely start taking extended breaks of a week or more at a time, as they’ve done in previous years. The official reason for this is that budget negotiations involve only a small handful of lawmakers who work behind the scenes, and there's no reason for all of them to go to the Capitol every day. This wouldn't be true if budget negotiations happened in the open with public input, but that hasn't happened since the early 2000s, when Republicans and Democrats shared control of the Senate due to a 15-15 partisan lawmaker split. It also wouldn't be true if both parties were actually working together, as is necessary to get results that actually serve the needs of Arizonans.
A partisan “practice budget.” It seems a failed, go-it-alone “practice budget” is becoming an annual exercise. Having apparently not learned from their 2023 and 2025 failures, Republican legislative leaders now say they intend to spend the next several weeks building their very own budget, without legislative Democrats or the governor. (Rumor has it Gress and Livingston are being iced out after last year's spectacular flop.) Their effort is destined for Gov. Hobbs’ veto heap. It's Budgeting 101: a budget must earn the governor's signature in order to become law.
⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Use Request to Speak to weigh in on the brand-new ballot referral being heard in committee this week (see "Ballot Referrals" below for more information).
⏰⏰ If you have 15 minutes: Also use Request to Speak to weigh in on the three other brand-new bills being heard in committees this week, marked with ⚠️ . Refer to the information, links and talking points in our bill summaries to craft your own comments to lawmakers.
⏰⏰⏰ If you have 30 minutes: Also use Request to Speak to weigh in on all other bills being heard in committees this week.
⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 35 minutes: Also contact Gov. Hobbs' office to thank her for vetoing SB1010 by calling 602-542-4331 or emailing engage@az.gov.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 45 minutes: Also contact our Worst of the Week lawmakers (see that section below) to tell them what you think.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ 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!
We're thoroughly disgusted with 👎 John Gillette (R-30), 👎 Rachel Keshel (R-17), 👎 Alexander Kolodin (R-3), and 👎 Khyl Powell (R-14) for voting NO on SB1134. In the same committee hearing, these same lawmakers attached a strike-everything amendment which would have allowed a gun used to murder someone to be destroyed (rather than forcing it to be resold) if the victim's family requested it. Despite supportive testimony from the Arizona Police Association and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, who explained that the bill is a victims'-rights issue, and heartwrenching testimony from a victim herself, these four lawmakers then went on the record and refused to allow it to move forward.
Alexis Dominguez
It gets worse. Even though our Arizona Legislature has long lacked such basics as professionalism and decorum, Republican lawmakers' behavior on this bill was extra appalling. Kolodin had the gall to label the common-sense measure “far too dangerous” to pass, shouting repeatedly from the dais that its supporters were “willing to let murderers walk free” in order to accomplish what he termed “back-door gun control.” Gillette, the committee chair, overruled objections from Oscar De Los Santos (D-11) and Aaron Marquez (D-5), and instead sat back and allowed Kolodin to spew his boorish and factually incorrect rant. Eventually, in the face of repeated objections, Gillette said they could submit a complaint in writing later — in other words, shut up.
We've already written extensively about this issue (see "Worst of the Week," February 23), so we won't repeat ourselves. Suffice it to say we've absolutely had it with backward, soulless clowns like these holding hostage the very government that's supposed to protect Arizonans. You can contact them as follows:
John Gillette (R-30) • jgillette@azleg.gov • 602-926-4100
Rachel Keshel (R-17) • rkeshel@azleg.gov • 602-926-3558
Alexander Kolodin (R-3) • akolodin@azleg.gov • 602-926-3560
Khyl Powell (R-14) • kpowell@azleg.gov • 602-926-3415
If you'd like to watch some of the committee, here is testimony from police widow Julie Erfle; here is Kolodin's unhinged rant; and here is testimony from the Arizona Police Association and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office explaining that Kolodin's abhorrent fever dream had no basis in reality.
We appreciate 👍 David Gowan (R-19), the sponsor of the underlying bill, who made a good-faith effort to try to move this issue forward. Contact him with your thanks at dgowan@azleg.gov or 602-926-5154.
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Vetoed: Friday, March 27
This past week, Gov. Hobbs exercised her power to protect Arizonans from the following harmful, CEBV-opposed legislation.
SB1010, sponsored by Warren Petersen (R-14), would have renamed Loop 202 to the “Charlie Kirk Loop 202.” This would have politicized the highway naming process, generally handled by a legislatively created state board; it's policy to not name something after anyone until at least five years after their death, to avoid political controversy and allow historical perspective. The horrific way Kirk was killed does not excuse the combative, incendiary, racist and sexist behavior around which he constructed his public work. Read Hobbs' veto letter here.
Lawmakers are advancing these measures through committees this week with the ultimate goal of placing them on our November ballot. Even though some measures have failed, we are still tracking twenty-eight potential measures. (See the full list here.) For comparison, our 2024 ballots contained eleven legislative referrals, which was at that time the most in 20 years and forced some counties to print our ballots across two sheets of paper.
All the below bills have already made it through one full chamber. Unlike regular bills, these referrals cannot be vetoed. Use RTS to weigh in; refer to the information, links and talking points here to craft your own comments to lawmakers.
⚠️ SCR1012, sponsored by David Gowan (R-19), is subject to a striker that would ask voters to give state lawmakers a huge raise. Starting in 2027, lawmakers would make 60% of the governor's salary, or $57,000; this would be more than double what they make now. While we're all for fair wages, lawmakers have advanced many other salary-related measures this session, including one in this very committee this week (see just below). The last-minute nature of this measure leaves a bad taste in our mouths, especially since they discuss giving themselves a raise every year (see last year's Weekly from around the same point in session). Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
SCR1020, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would ask voters to institute annual inflation adjustments for state lawmaker salaries. That would raise their current $24,000/year to nearly $48,000, with future increases annually. We know it doesn't feel great to give lawmakers more money considering the folks we've got in charge, but we're getting what we're paying for. Lawmakers who try to make ends meet via non-exploitative means often end up resigning, citing long hours, low salary, and a chaotic, toxic pressure-cooker environment in which not much that’s productive gets done. We wrote extensively about this issue last year. Voters must approve lawmaker salaries, but haven't approved a pay raise since 1998 (and have rejected six proposed raises since). Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. SUPPORT.
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
A strict calendar dictates that bills must be heard in committee in the opposite chamber by the end of this week. RTS will end entirely until the introduction of budget bills prompts specially scheduled committee hearings.
Affordability
HB2165, sponsored by Lupe Diaz (R-19), would make all Arizona state parks free for military and their guests. The state currently offers a 50% discount for active-duty and retired military, free admission for disabled veterans, and free admission for veterans on Veterans Day. The cost to the parks system for mandating this much more expansive discount is unknown at present, but last year, the legislature cut the State Parks budget by $1.6 million, roughly 10% of the agency's budget. Also last year, State Parks raised their fees; the cost of the cheapest annual pass jumped from $75 to $200. Free year-round admission for some is nice, but our state parks system should remain accessible for everyone. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
Discrimination
SB1457, sponsored by David Farnsworth (R-10), would expand Arizona's $2 million Advanced Air Mobility Fund (money the sponsor has been pushing to use toward the introduction of flying cars) and allow it to be used on border enforcement. How about redirecting this money to areas Arizona has been underfunding for decades, like public schools and roads? Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
HB2416, sponsored by Quang Nguyen (R-1), would take $20 million from the state general fund for "local border support." These costs are the federal government's responsibility and our general fund is already overextended. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
Energy, Water & Climate
SB1519, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), would increase the weight limit for off-highway vehicles from 2500 to 3500 pounds, at the request of Polaris Industries, an off-road vehicle company. Excessive off-road travel in Arizona is already destroying pristine habitat; heavier vehicles will do even more harm. The bill has been amended to subject these heavier vehicles to a reduced vehicle license tax instead of no tax, which basically means Arizona would be selling our desert to Polaris to be torn up in exchange for a small amount of revenue. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
Public Safety
⚠️ HB2446, sponsored by Chris Lopez (R-16), is subject to a striker that would require DPS to enforce a xenophobic Trump administration policy requiring commercial truck drivers to be proficient in English. This policy has already pulled 6,000 truckers off the road nationwide, raising prices on anything transported by truck (in other words, making groceries even more expensive). While this is being framed as a "safety measure to prevent accidents," there's no correlation between English proficiency and accidents involving commercial truck drivers. In reality, it will lead to unfair targeting of Latinos by law enforcement; nearly 1 in 5 truck drivers is Latino, making them indispensable to the industry. It also means DPS will focus on this policy in detriment to the actual needs of the state (everything from responding to collisions and monitoring for DUI to finding missing children and narcotics enforcement). The bill being completely rewritten at the last possible moment via a striker is an attempt to circumvent a warning from the legislature's nonpartisan rules attorneys that the previous version had constitutional issues. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
⚠️ HB2812, sponsored by David Livingston (R-28), is subject to a striker from John Kavanagh (R-3) that would strip Attorney General Kris Mayes of her duty to represent the Arizona Department of Public Safety. To fund this change, the bill yanks $4.75 million from the highway patrol fund, which is meant to pay troopers. The sponsor of the striker is infuriated with Mayes because she pointed out that Arizonans using a Republican-passed "stand your ground" law to protect themselves might put masked ICE agents at risk. This politically motivated bill would put Arizonans at risk by partially defunding our already underfunded state troopers to further a partisan agenda. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
HB2957, sponsored by Lisa Fink (R-27), would ban Arizona from requiring an "enhanced driver license program" such as Real ID for any government purpose, and would require ADOT to continue offering non-REAL ID-compliant driver licenses and informing applicants that REAL IDs are voluntary. This appears to be motivated by paranoia. If this bill becomes law, anyone who followed the sponsor's "suggestion" would find it very difficult to board a domestic plane or to enter a military base or federal building. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
Voting Rights, Elections & Direct Democracy
⚠️ SB1176, sponsored by Warren Petersen (R-14), is subject to a striker that would effectively ban cities and counties from hiring lobbyists to represent their interests at the legislature. The bill would strangle local government in red tape by requiring them to formally vote on each and every legislative matter in a public meeting before they could direct a lobbyist to act on it. The very timeline of this striker (which was released on March 27) demonstrates how quickly issues can arise at the state legislature; meanwhile, city councils and county boards of supervisors often go weeks between formal meetings. This bill would prevent local government from advocating for their interests before a legislature that loves to try to tell them what to do and take their funding away. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
2026 Session Timeline
Friday 4/3: End of crossover Appropriations committees, and the last day to use RTS until a budget drops
Tuesday 4/21: 100th Day of Session (the purported end goal; can be changed)
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 parody post which explores how it might have sounded if some of our world's most famous figures had chosen to compromise rather than take a principled stand.
Johnathan Appel
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