By Zachery Schmidt
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed numerous bills attempting to reform the state’s management of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Last year, Congress passed H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made changes to SNAP to help root out fraud, waste and abuse.
H.R. 1 said if states do not reduce their SNAP payment rate error to under 6% by fiscal year 2028, their SNAP programs will enter a cost-sharing arrangement with the federal government.
If Arizona’s SNAP payment rate error exceeds 6%, the state may have to pay between $150 million and $200 million from its general fund in fiscal year 2028.
The bills Hobbs vetoed were Senate Bill 1002, SB 1331 and SB 1334.
SB 1002 would have given the Arizona Department of Economic Security additional tools to check someone’s SNAP eligibility.
SB 1331 would have mandated a work requirement for people 60 or younger to receive SNAP benefits.
SB 1334 would have prevented DES from seeking SNAP work requirement waivers for able-bodied people without dependents.
In addition to these bills, Hobbs vetoed House Bill 2206, which would have required Arizona to reduce its SNAP payment error rate to below 3% by 2030.
Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, introduced SB 1002, SB 1331, SB 1334 and HB 2206’s state Senate companion bill, SB 1333.
Kavanagh told The Center Square on Monday that if Arizona doesn’t bring its current SNAP payment error rate, around 8%, below 6%, then Arizona could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars per year in SNAP administrative costs.
Kavanagh said he had hoped Hobbs, a Democrat, would have sign the SNAP bills to push Arizona’s payment error rate “down and free other money up for other uses rather than paying the administrative costs to Washington, D.C.”
In her letter explaining why she vetoed SB 1002, SB 1331, SB 1334 and HB 2206, Hobbs said these bills contain “yet more unfunded mandates and not a dollar to help our state agencies implement these changes now, or to modernize our systems for the future.”
“SNAP is the most robust and effective anti-hunger tool we have in Arizona – I know this firsthand. It’s also the most secure, thanks to strong anti-fraud measures and oversight. Instead of creating more needless frustration for Arizona families, I invite you to join me in actually lowering costs for them,” Hobbs said.
Kavanagh told The Center Square that Hobbs is “keeping people on” these government programs “who shouldn’t be on, and she’s not letting us take people off who should be taken off.”
The majority leader see the vetoes as obstacles to economic progress.
He noted Republican-implemented low regulations and taxation have helped Arizona’s economy grow.
Kavanagh said he expects to see the state’s economy grow in the future, but the “failure to control” abuse in these government programs is “gonna slow down that advancement.”
If a Republican becomes governor, the Legislature will pass these bills into law next session, Kavanagh said.
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