For the second year in a row, Republicans flexed all of their legislative muscles to thwart Gov. Katie Hobbs’ agenda by continuing the fight against her director nominees and grilling state agencies during sunset reviews. 

Hobbs and Senate Republicans spent much of this year locked in a court battle over whether her move to pull her director nominations and appoint them “executive deputy directors” was legal. Some of her agency heads — confirmed and unconfirmed — spent the session getting heat from Republicans who wanted their agencies dismantled or put on short leashes. 

After Hobbs installed her executive deputy directors in 2023, it took her and Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, nearly nine  months to come to an agreement to send those nominees back for confirmation. During that time, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge agreed with Petersen that the move was illegal and Hobbs asked the Court of Appeals to weigh in.

Eventually, Hobbs and Petersen agreed that the governor would find new nominees to replace three of her most contested picks: David Lujan at the Department of Child Services, Karen Peters at the Department of Environmental Quality and Dana Allmond at the Department of Veterans’ Services. 

All three remain at their respective departments as deputy directors, while 16 of their peers were renominated to the Senate. One of those directors, Lisa Urias, resigned from her position after reports of a conflict of interest that she indicated would have made it difficult for her to be confirmed. 

After Republicans expanded their majorities in both chambers during the election, newly-reelected Senate President Petersen renominated Sen. Jake Hoffman as chairman of the Committee on Director Nominations. Hoffman and Petersen have indicated in press releases and social media posts that the 15 nominees Hobbs sent back will go through a process similar to the one that led Hobbs to pull them from consideration in 2023. 

“The committee invites Katie Hobbs to come to the table with sane, nonpartisan, qualified nominees, and we will approve them,” Hoffman said in a statement after being reappointed to head the committee.  “What we won’t do is rubberstamp unqualified radicals.”

Will Humble, a former director of the Department of Health Services, said the Senate is in a unique position to evaluate the nominees since they have been serving as agency heads for nearly two years.

“I hope that these [hearings] are more substantive because an important part of effective state government is making sure that these directors who have enormous authority are talented, qualified and good decision makers,” Humble said. “So we’ll see whether they go after the important stuff, or if it’s more trivial BS like it was the first time around.”

While Hobbs battled Senate Republicans in court over director nominations, some state agency heads battled legislative Republicans in hearings over how long their statutory lives should be extended. 

Typically, agencies that agree to implement recommendations from the Auditor General’s Office following a sunset review audit are continued for eight to 10 years. This past session, Republican lawmakers debated whether that was too long a period for agencies to be left alone without legislative oversight.

Members of the Republican Freedom Caucus like Sens. Anthony Kern and Hoffman, recommended that all agencies receive two-year continuations. Democrats accused them of weaponizing the sunset review process, while the Auditor General’s Office said two-year continuations would make audits difficult to complete with its current resources. 

Republicans even attempted to dismantle the Commerce Authority after a 2023 report from The Arizona Republic showed it used state funds to woo CEOs of companies looking to invest in Arizona by hosting forums at events like the Super Bowl and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. 

However, only one agency received a two year continuation. Most agencies up for sunset review this year were continued for eight years, but a few received continuations for four or five years. 

Humble said he doesn’t think the process is being weaponized, and instead calls the recent tension a byproduct of divided government.

“My bigger concern is the lack of vigor when there’s not divided government,” Humble said. “It becomes a back slapping … that’s what it was for the whole eight years of [former Gov. Doug] Ducey.” 

Humble said he also agrees with putting agencies on “shorter leashes” but said that can only be accomplished if the auditor general is given enough funding to complete more-frequent audits.

“The thing is, the shorter the leash for the agencies, the more frequently they’ll be going to the auditor general, which I think is fine, as long as you’re resourcing the Auditor General’s Office,” Humble said. “So it would be interesting to see if the Freedom Caucus puts their money where their mouth is … if they’re going to ask them to put these agencies on two-year cycles, then they need to give them the resources to be able to do that work effectively.” 

With Democrats’ losses at the ballot box in November, divided government will be here to stay for the last two years of Hobbs’ term, signalling more fights over director nominations and sunset reviews in the coming years.