Troopers union says budget fight is leaving Arizona highways dangerously understaffed

PHOENIX — An Arizona troopers union leader says public safety is being jeopardized by a political fight at the Legislature over emergency funding for the Department of Public Safety.

Jeff Hawkins of the Arizona Troopers Association told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Tuesday that DPS needs $4.75 million in emergency funding to cover overtime and other staffing-related costs as the agency deals with more than 400 vacancies.

“We’ve run out of money,” Hawkins said. “We have, currently, people in the hiring process that are waiting for an offer (but) we can’t make an offer because we don’t have the money.”

The situation has been dire for a long time. Last month, the troopers association came to the governor’s office asking for help, and she agreed to issue $1 million in emergency funding to expand overtime pay for state troopers.

It helped, but Hawkins said it wasn’t enough.

“There’s politics at play,” Hawkins said. “It’s exposing to members to not having backup, to not being able to hire folks to come in and provide additional resources needed to keep our citizens safe. It’s ridiculous.”

What are Arizona lawmakers fighting over, and how are troopers involved?

At the center of the dispute is House Bill 2993, which Hawkins said includes the emergency funding DPS needs. But he said the measure has become caught up in a broader political fight over where that money should come from.

“This is probably one of the worst cases of politics over public safety that I’ve ever seen,” Hawkins said.

Republicans behind the bill want to shift $6.4 million from the state’s Consumer Protection-Consumer Fraud Revolving Fund to DPS in fiscal year 2026 as a supplemental appropriation.

Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has instead proposed using the Highway Patrol Fund to cover the $4.75 million DPS says it needs. In her veto letter, Hobbs said diverting money from consumer protection programs would harm Arizonans.

Hawkins said he believes some Republicans have resisted sending Hobbs a bill using the Highway Patrol Fund because they do not want to give her a political win.

He also said some Democrats object to HB 2993 not only because of its funding source, but because of an added provision that would allow DPS to seek outside counsel — something he believes they see as affecting Attorney General Kris Mayes.

“There was some money attached to the bill to deal with DPS being able to get outside counsel. That’s not the bill that I’m pushing, but it was attached to it,” Hawkins said. “So the Democrats were trying to protect Kris Mayes, I believe, and did not want the $2 million for DPS to seek outside counsel.”

How does this impact public safety on Arizona freeways?

The funding shortfall means there aren’t enough troopers to address traffic emergencies — especially for those outside metro Phoenix.

“If you roll your car outside of Flagstaff, or you run into a wrong way driver or an impaired driver, we have to wake somebody up to come out and respond to the call.”

Hawkins called the situation ridiculous.

“We’re in 2026 not covering our freeways 24 hours a day to protect our citizens, and also to stop the incursion of drugs and everything else that goes on when it comes on our inner states,” Hawkins said. “It’s quite obvious that the cartels are paying attention to what’s going on.”

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