The constant theme in Governor Katie Hobbs’s third State of the State Address before a joint session of the Arizona State Legislature was the need to work together to fulfill Arizona’s Promise.
Whether invoking the legacies of Arizona political stalwarts like Sandra Day O’Connor, Bruce Babbit, Raul Castro, Barry Goldwater, and John McCain or saluting local Arizona heroes that were the Governor’s guests or praising legislative achievements from the last two sessions or calling for continued forward legislation and needed reforms in preserving the state’s water supply and eliminating waste fraud, and abuse in the states Empowerment Scholarship Program, Ms. Hobbs continually steered her remarks for the State’s Legislators to band with her to achieve the Grand Canyon States promise.
Describing Arizona’s Promise, the Governor stated:
“Resilient individuals like these and millions of other good, hard-working people built our beloved Arizona – a special place that values opportunity and freedom. A place where entrepreneurs, mom-and-pop businesses, farmers, and international companies launch their next big idea or provide the critical services and products that make our modern way of life a reality. A place where your children and grandchildren can triumph beyond our wildest imaginations. A place where the promise of tomorrow is as vast as our blue skies and luminous as the Arizona sun.”
“This, my friends, is our Arizona Promise.”
“The promise that everyday people can find opportunity … security … and freedom. The promise that through hard work and perseverance, you can build a good life for yourself and your family and leave your kids with a better tomorrow.”

While acknowledging some progress over the last two years like 200,000 new jobs, expanding KidsCare, creating paid apprenticeship programs, increasing opportunities for affordable housing, paid leave for qualifying individuals and families, helping draw vital technological industries like semiconductors to the state, committing local and state resources to help secure the border, safeguarding the water supply, and protecting women’s reproductive freedom, the Governor commented that too many Arizonans are still struggling to make ends meet.
Drawing in part from personal experience, the Governor said:
“Our promise means you shouldn’t have to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet. It means your kids should be able to go to college or trade school without taking on a lifetime of debt. It means you should be able to access the medicine and healthcare you need, at a price you can afford. It means if you work hard and save, you should be able to buy a home where you and your family can build a life. It means if you immigrate to this country, follow the law, pay taxes, and contribute to your community, the Arizona Promise can be yours, too.”
To move forward, the Governor offered a series of common sense-forward thinking initiatives, including:
- Extend the State Low Income Housing Credit.
- Going after corporate greed in the form of housing speculators, saying “Arizonans want family homes, not party houses.”
- Doubling the number of homeowners enrolled in the Arizona Is Home Program.
- Ending veteran homelessness in the next ten years, calling on everyone “to work together to ensure our veterans have a place to call home.”
- A public-private partnership called the “Working Families Child Care Act that would lower the cost of caring for your kids by two-thirds.”
- Extending Proposition 123 to fund Public K-12 Education.
- Addressing the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (all) so public school districts do not have to worry about closing during spring break.
- A five percent pay raise for frontline law enforcement.

The Governor received her biggest applause when she delved into the last three areas she called on the legislature to act on.
The first area was reproductive freedom where Ms. Hobbs said “Arizonans have spoken clearly. It’s our responsibility to deliver on their mandate.” She proposed that the legislature pass measures to:
- Permanently provide postpartum care for mothers.
- Expand access for family planning services.
- Get rid of surveillance of pregnant women.
- Give people the legal right to contraception and to “access fertility treatment.”
Preserving and protecting the states water supply was the second to last area she addressed, saying:
“One of our sacred freedoms is the right to clean water for all. We must protect Arizona’s most precious resource: water. I will never stop fighting for our water rights, because access to water is fundamental to preserving the Arizona Promise. Whether that means combatting federal overreach, out-of-state interests, or exploitation from big corporations that hurt local farmers. Securing our water future is essential to preserving our way of life.”
After discussing several actions the state has taken to protect the states water, the Governor vowed to act unilaterally if the legislature did not reach an acceptable agreement with her office to remedy the water supply situation.
Public Education and ESA-Voucher Reform was the last issue the Governor discussed in her address.
Calling K-12 Education “the Arizona Promise” because it “is the key to opportunity … security … and freedom,” Ms. Hobbs said that public school success:
“Means outstanding teachers in every classroom …
It means smaller class sizes to enable meaningful engagement and learning …
It means equipping kids with the tools to succeed …
And it means bringing overdue accountability to the ESA program that costs taxpayers nearly 1 billion dollars every year.”
Challenging the legislators to act, the Governor brilliantly framed the fiscal choices before the legislature if nothing is done, relaying:
“Do we finally put guardrails around ESAs to protect against fraud, waste and abuse – or do we continue to write a blank check with taxpayer money? Do we lower costs by investing in child care and housing – or do we continue to subsidize the rich? Do we provide lifesaving care to new mothers and their children – or do we continue paying for grand pianos to sit in multi-million-dollar homes? Do we give our police a raise and secure our border – or do we continue to pay for ski resort passes?”
Saying “it’s time to bring common sense to this program. It’s time to bring the same fiscal responsibility to ESAs that we demand from every other program in state government,” Ms. Hobbs proposed several common sense reforms to the ESA program, including::
- Institute responsible income caps.
- Ensure taxpayers know where their money is going.
- And create real accountability for taxpayer dollars.

Following the address, Democratic House Leader Oscar De Los Santos, responding to a request for comment, stated:
“House Democrats are excited about Governor Hobbs’s plans to make life more affordable. She has a big plan to cut childcare costs by two-thirds. She has a great plan to crack down on the big corporations that are jacking up housing costs. She’s bold and tough on the special interests stealing our water. And she made clear she won’t back down from protecting our freedoms.”
Later, he and Democratic Senate Leader Priya Sundareshan issued a social media video, pledging their support of the Hobbs Agenda and their commitment to fight for working and middle class Arizonans.
Beth Lewis, the Director of Save Our Schools Arizona offered her impressions of Ms. Hobb’s address outside the House of Representatives building, saying:
“We were very pleased to hear Governor Hobbs pledge to renew prop 123, which gets much needed dollars into our public schools, as well as her commitment to ending the one billion dollar boondoggle for the wealthy that is the universal ESA, Voucher Program.”
Later, her organization expanded on her thoughts in an official press release that read:
“Today, Governor Hobbs sent a clear message to Arizona lawmakers: it is far past time to bring common-sense reforms and fiscal accountability to the universal ESA voucher program. While Arizona schools are making ‘heartbreaking’ cuts, wealthy families are abusing the voucher program to purchase taxpayer-funded ninja classes, luxury car driving lessons, and grand pianos. We fully support the governor’s proposal to implement a scaled income cap on the universal ESA voucher program, which has effectively become welfare for the wealthy.
This program has acted as a blank check for too long, practically encouraging fraudsters to take advantage of the lax accountability. The billion-dollar boondoggle must end. Arizonans deserve to know how their dollars are being spent — and the peace of mind that the universal ESA voucher program their taxpayer dollars are funding isn’t being defrauded by “ghost children” and other voucher scams.

Save Our Schools Arizona Executive Director Beth Lewis voiced support for the governor’s proposal, stating, “It is time to end the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the universal ESA voucher program. We commend Governor Hobbs for championing public education and pushing for much-needed voucher reform. We sincerely hope legislators like Senate President Petersen who name ‘fiscal responsibility their top priority will bring long-overdue guardrails to this ballooning program, which now costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion annually.”
Governor Hobbs also hit on the urgent need for legislators from both sides of the aisle to come together to find a real solution to renew Prop 123 — a solution that works for educators, schools, parents, and students. Voters must support and pass this solution, meaning wrapping in Arizona’s unpopular universal ESA voucher expansion is a complete nonstarter.”
Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano wrote:

“Governor Hobbs has consistently fought for Arizona’s working families who are struggling to make ends meet and deserve a better quality of life. During her first term, Governor Hobbs has created nearly 200,000 good paying jobs, helped lower the cost of living, and fought for public education– issues important to Arizona’s families. As Donald Trump and Arizona Republicans legislate for the billionaire class, we must re-elect our incumbent Democrats like Governor Hobbs who are actually fighting for everyday people.”
Arizona Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Tom Horne took exception to the insinuation from the Governor that his agency was not doing anything to reign in ESA fraud, saying in a rather shrill and condescending statement:
“Under my leadership, the department has done a full-court press against waste and fraud. I hired both a program auditor and an investigator, which had not been done before. I require that every expenditure be for a valid educational purpose and have been attacked for doing that. The Governor needs to pay more attention to what is going on. She gets an ‘F’.”
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.