Governor Katie Hobbs speaking with attendees at the 2024 Legislative Forecast Luncheon hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs says breaking the state veto record for a second time wasn’t her goal, but she’ll continue to block bills that are bad for Arizona.
Hobbs is in her third year in office and has vetoed close to 400 bills over the course of three legislative sessions. But she says she wants to dwell on the legislation she’s signed:
“Look, I didn't come here to veto bills. I came here to deliver for Arizonans on the tough challenges we're facing — border security, lowering costs, water security — and we’ve done that,” Hobbs said. “And I've shown I've signed way more bills than I’ve vetoed: over 700.”
Arizona is currently operating under a divided government with Republicans controlling the Legislature.
Vetoes were a rarity under Republican governors in recent years. Under former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey for example, in 2022 he only vetoed four bills, but signed more than 300.
But things are different now. Nearly every piece of legislation needs bipartisan support to become law.
Almost all of the bills Hobbs has vetoed either passed on party lines or had minimal Democratic support in the Legislature.
In all of the three past legislative sessions, Hobbs has signed more bills than she’s vetoed.
Although Hobbs said she’s focused on bipartisan legislation, she’ll veto as much as is necessary.
“I also am not going to stand by while extremists in the Legislature try to attack people’s ability to cast their ballot or attack their reproductive freedom or make them unsafe and those are the things that I've vetoed and I'll continue to,” she said.
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