Hobbs Attacks Legislators Who Are Fixing The Mess She Created

On April 17, Hobbs issued a press release that reads in part, “Today, Governor Katie Hobbs announced a moratorium on signing legislation until Republican lawmakers end the political theater and pass a bipartisan supplemental funding bill to protect lifesaving services for Arizonans with disabilities.”

Astute readers will immediately identify two misleading comments in that statement:

1. The “political theater” she refers to was created by Hobbs because of her fetish with state funds mismanagement.
2. The bipartisan supplemental bill that she is demanding had been introduced long before her News Release, in the form of House Bill HB2945

What Hobbs has characterized as “political theater” and “political circus” is nothing more than an effort by responsible legislators to exercise their constitutional duty to oversee the behavior of the executive branch, investigate any problems that arise, and create legislation aimed at correcting those problems.

There have been several instances in which the executive branch has experienced budget shortages resulting from apparent mismanagement. The latest one involves a $122 Million shortage in the Parents Paid as Care Givers (PPCG) program within the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). As a result, on April 3, the Ad Hoc Committee on Executive Budget Mismanagement held a hearing to obtain information and formulate solutions to those shortcomings.

That hearing included a presentation by the AZ Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) about the timeline that explains how we got to the current crisis.

It also included information by Idaho state representative Megan Blanksma on how Idaho dealt with a similar situation. What was missing at this hearing was input by the Democrat side of the isle because they chose to boycott this hearing.

A video of the full hearing is available  HERE. Those who do not wish to watch the whole hearing can get a very good idea of what it entailed by watching Chairman Gress’ introduction in the first seven minutes.

A full report on what happened at this hearing may be read  HERE

The second part of Hobbs’ unjustified attack on Republican legislators is the claim that they are not addressing the issue of supplemental funding to meet the budget shortcomings in the DDD program.

The fact is that on Abril 7, a full ten days before Hobbs issued her temper tantrum, the Republicans in the legislature began work on this issue by introducing House Bill  HB2945 – developmental disabilities; appropriations; waivers

This bill contains two major provisions. It provides the requested supplemental funding and it establishes guardrails to help prevent the current crisis from occurring again.

Elsewhere in her press release, Hobbs issued the following statement, “It is shameful that Reps. Livingston, Gress and other members of the legislative majority continue to hold Arizonans with disabilities hostage to their manufactured chaos.”

In fact, it is Hobbs that is holding Arizonans with disabilities hostage and manufacturing chaos.

Rep. Gress did not manufacture chaos or hold anyone hostage. He held a committee hearing that found out what the problem was and recommended solutions for the full legislature to consider.

Rep. Livingston did not manufacture chaos or hold anyone hostage. He introduced a very important bill that provides a viable solution to the current situation and prevents a future recurrence.

The only one manufacturing chaos is Hobbs by mismanaging funds in her budget and blaming Republican members of the legislature for her misbehavior.