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Gov. Hobbs Fights and Wins on Bipartisan Fix for Life-Saving Disability Funding

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Gov. Hobbs Fights and Wins on Bipartisan Fix for Life-Saving Disability Funding

In the face of Republican threats to life-saving health care funding for people with disabilities, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that she would not sign a single bill until lawmakers joined her at the negotiating table and passed a bipartisan solution. The Arizona legislature restored the funding, and Governor Hobbs has now signed a bipartisan solution.

Thanks to Gov. Hobbs’ strong leadership, Republicans and Democrats agreed on a bill to fund the Division of Developmental Disabilities – a major win for caretakers, families, and Arizonans with disabilities, ensuring “the program can support the 60,000 people that use DDD services” while avoiding pay cuts to  full-time in-home caregivers.

Read more about how Gov. Katie Hobbs is delivering bipartisan results on life-saving disability funding:

  • Associated Press: “Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday lifted her blanket veto threat after Republicans and Democrats united on legislation supplying funding for a state agency that provides services for some of Arizona’s most vulnerable residents. After a standoff that lasted months and running up against an early May deadline, Hobbs announced last week she’d veto all bills not already on her desk — even policy she supports — until lawmakers in the GOP-controlled Legislature come to a supplemental funding agreement for the state’s Division of Developmental Disabilities. The division supports close to 60,000 people with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Down syndrome and other cognitive and intellectual disabilities. Hobbs celebrated the funding bill, which she signed Thursday after approval from the Legislature, noting policies it puts into law like a 40-hour cap on the number of paid hours that parents who care for their children with disabilities can receive weekly per child.”

  • Arizona Capitol Times: “With less than a week to spare before the Division of Developmental Disabilities runs out of money, Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bipartisan emergency funding measure that covers the $122 million shortfall the program is facing. DDD will run out of money on May 1 without the supplemental funding bill and lawmakers have argued for weeks about how to provide it to ensure the program can support the 60,000 people that use DDD services.”

  • Arizona House Minority Leader Oscar de los Santos to Politics Unplugged: “‘This was a huge bipartisan victory for the state of Arizona and for these families who did an incredible job advocating … Thanks to the steadfast advocacy of these families … thanks to Gov. Hobbs’ leadership issuing a bill moratorium, and House Democrats who voted no on every single bill until we got this deal done, we are now at a place where we saved that program and are going to provide life-saving critical services for people with disabilities.’”

  • KNAU: “Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday signed a breakthrough bipartisan measure to fund services for tens of thousands of disabled Arizonans that had run out of cash and led to a months-long fight between her and Republican lawmakers.”

  • 12News: “In a rare bipartisan move, lawmakers on both sides came to an agreement to pay for a $122 million shortfall. That’s the amount needed to pay for services for nearly 60,000 Arizonans with disabilities. Funding has been protected. The shortfall and the reason behind it had become a huge political battle between the GOP-controlled legislature and Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. But after a Republican plan to cut services failed, lawmakers on both sides agreed to a compromise the last two days, not in partisanship, but in partnership.”

  • KVOA: “Arizonans with disabilities are breathing a sigh of relief today. Arizona’s legislature has passed House Bill 2945, which provides emergency funding to the Division of Developmental Disabilities and avoids cuts to in-home services for Arizonans with disabilities. Governor Katie Hobbs signed the bill on Thursday, ending her self-imposed ban on signing bills until the legislation was passed. The governor emphasizing the protection of care for vulnerable Arizonans, stating in part, “this bipartisan deal prevents previously proposed 50% cuts to PPCG, adds common sense guardrails and ensures PPCG will not be held hostage by the legislature again.”

  • AZ Family: “Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed legislation that plugs a gaping budget deficit at the department that serves 60,000 people with disabilities before it runs out of money…The outcome ends months of bitter negotiations between the Democratic governor and the Republicans who control the Legislature. Hobbs had refused to sign any bills until the funding issues over the disability program were resolved. Hobbs says that moratorium has now been lifted.”

  • Fox 10 Phoenix: “Governor Katie Hobbs signed a bipartisan disability services funding bill. The bill closes the funding gap for the state’s Division of Developmental Disabilities, which provides services for nearly 60,000 disabled Arizonans. The agency was set to run out of money at the end of this month and would have had to shut down until the new budget year.”

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