Arizona Gov. Hobbs vetoes three education bills, making good on moratorium pledge

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed three education-related bills, delivering the first consequences of the legislative moratorium she announced a day earlier in her escalating budget standoff with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The three measures, which would have changed ballot language for school bond elections, repealed a mental health instruction requirement in schools and altered written-form requirements for statewide student assessments, were all rejected by Hobbs.

Each veto letter carried identical language tying the action to the budget impasse. On Monday, she announced a bill moratorium and asked the legislative majority to publicly show their budget proposal.

“The legislative majority needs to put forward their budget proposal and then join me at the negotiating table so we can pass a bipartisan, balanced budget like we’ve done the past three years,” Hobbs wrote. “Until the legislative majority shows us their plans for a balanced budget that works for middle-class Arizonans, their bills will be dead on arrival.”

The moratorium started 87 days after Hobbs released her executive budget, which called for middle-class tax cuts and $1.5 billion for public schools. She said she would make exceptions only for two public safety measures: one addressing first responder death benefits and another allocating $4.75 million from the Highway Patrol Fund to the Department of Public Safety. Jeff Hawkins of the Arizona Troopers Association said Arizona highways are more dangerous without the funding.

House Speaker Steve Montenegro has accused Hobbs of walking away from budget talks.

“Governor Hobbs quit the budget talks more than three weeks ago after it became clear her numbers did not add up,” Montenegro said in a statement Monday.

Hobbs employed a similar moratorium strategy in April 2025 over disability services funding, lifting it after a week when a compromise was reached.

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