How Gov. Katie Hobbs’ plan to cut $100M in wasteful spending would work

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs plans to save Arizona taxpayers millions by reducing wasteful government spending and getting state agencies to operate as one coordinated system, a shift she says will eliminate duplicated work and unnecessary technology costs.

“We anticipate we can save $100 million over the next few years, really looking at the way the state purchases things,” Hobbs told reporters on Wednesday.

Her proposal is detailed in her state budget plan, which notes that many Arizona agencies currently function like separate minigovernments, each buying its own technology and running its own administrative processes.

According to the budget, this fragmented approach has led to duplicated work, outdated systems, higher costs and slower service.

“You have different contracts across state agencies, and if we kind of put all that purchasing power together, saving a lot of money there, and IT programs as well,” Hobbs said.

How exactly will the Arizona initiative cut down on wasteful spending?

Her solution centers on centralizing common functions, especially purchasing, so the state can leverage its full buying power instead of paying different prices for the same goods and services.

The initiative — Arizona Capacity and Efficiency (ACE) — also encourages agencies to share technology systems, standardize processes and automate tasks that are currently done manually.

“The bottom line is people are having to tighten their budgets across the state, and the state should be doing the same thing,” Hobbs said. “We should be looking at every single way possible that we can save taxpayer dollars, make government run more efficiently and invest in programs that Arizonans need.”

ACE will operate out of the Arizona Department of Administration. Amy Edwards Holmes, a former U.S. Treasury Department official who previously served as executive director of the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, will lead it.

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