As vacancies plague the state’s more than 200  boards and commissions, Republican lawmakers have set their sights on cutting them this session as a way to shrink government.

And while those Republicans see boards and commissions as government bloat, an analysis done by the Arizona Capitol Times shows that 16 of those boards cannot meet due to vacancies, and nearly 500 members of those boards are overstaying their terms.

According to a membership list of the 206 boards and commissions provided by the governor’s office, there are 2,038 board and commission seats in state government. Nearly 16% of those are vacant and nearly 22% are occupied by members whose terms have expired.

Republicans have been pushing to deregulate or even eliminate state boards and commissions for the last decade, and those efforts have only been renewed this session with lawmakers inspired by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency or “DOGE.” But Governor Katie Hobbs’ office said boards and commissions are about more than efficiency.

“The administration is committed to an efficient and effective government that delivers quality services to Arizonans,” a spokesperson for Hobbs said in an emailed statement. “It’s not just about checking boxes or filling seats. It’s about delivering meaningful work that impacts the daily lives of Arizonans.”

Boards and commissions serve many different functions in state government, whether as regulatory bodies, research arms or advisory groups for lawmakers. They are usually established by an executive order or a bill passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

A board can have anywhere from three to 30 members, depending on how lawmakers set it up. Some positions require extensive professional experience and knowledge, while others are open to members of the public with no prior experience. 

Most board and commission positions are unpaid, but some have executive directors or staff who are paid to help support the work of the members. The governor appoints a large number of board members, but other entities like the Legislature, state agencies and the courts appoint some members on some boards. 

Some board members serve fixed terms with a chance for reappointment, while others serve at the pleasure of the governor who appointed them, meaning they can serve until they are dismissed. For those boards with members on fixed terms, vacancies must be filled periodically.

The revolving door of appointments

Laddie Guy Shane served as the director of constituent engagement and appointments for Gov. Doug Ducey in 2017. He described the process of filling vacancies as a “constant revolving door.”

Shane said there are various “term cycles” staggered throughout the year during which members’ terms will expire and new members will need to be appointed. He said his office would use those cycles to help prioritize which vacancies needed to be filled.

“The team was always thinking through, ‘which ones are the ones we need to deal with now, which ones are coming up in 90 days,’” Shane said. 

Vacancies at “high profile” boards like the state retirement boards and the Arizona Board of Regents were prioritized to ensure they were filled quickly, Shane said. There are currently 97 boards without any vacancies, many of which are “high profile” like the Game and Fish Commission and the Board of Executive Clemency. 

However, 16 boards and commissions do not have a quorum, either because over half of their seats are vacant or they have no members at all. A quorum is the minimum number of members required to be present to conduct official business and is usually defined as over half of the members. 

Only five boards and commissions are completely empty, including the retirement boards for the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, the Department of Public Safety, and the State Parks, the Student Transportation Advisory Council and the Urban Land Planning Oversight Committee.

Carlos Ramos currently serves as the director of the office of constituent engagement and executive appointments in the Hobbs administration. He said his office prioritizes boards and commissions that are not able to meet a quorum when going through the appointment process.

Of the 500 members overstaying their terms, some were appointed by an entirely different governor. Ramos said some are in the process of applying for reappointment and others are serving until a replacement can be found.

“We’re not here to just clean house in any way, shape or form because of who might have made that appointment in a prior time,” Ramos said.

Spokespeople for Hobbs did not answer specific questions about these boards and why some seats have remained vacant throughout the governor’s two years in office. Shane said Ducey’s office would often consider boards without any members as “dormant.”

“On paper, we have this board or commission, but it might have no members, and as far as the governor’s office is concerned it’s dormant, or it’s a retired board,” Shane said. “And so there’s probably some cleanup to do on that.”

Shane and Ramos said it is often difficult to find people to fill more than 2,000 board and commission seats. Some seats are highly technical with many prerequisites, while some boards need a balanced number of members from each political party. 

Shane said the hardest seats to fill during his tenure were those reserved for members of the public. 

“The public members are always a challenge, because most people that are interested in the board probably have an interest [in the industry], which means they can’t be a public member,” Shane said. 

He said his office also had to make sure applicants to boards knew the commitment they would be agreeing to. Though most positions are unpaid, they often involve a decent amount of work. 

“I mean, some of these boards have eight hours of homework, binders to go through,” Shane said. “… that was a big part of the challenge too, was being really honest with them of what they were signing up for.” 

Ramos said his office has to help applicants understand that the commitment might require travel or long in person meetings.

“If somebody is really eager to serve, we will find something that is going to work with them, work with their schedules, so that they get that opportunity to voice their concerns and their opinions on behalf of the people in Arizona,” Ramos said. 

Attempts to trim the fat

Republican lawmakers have introduced several bills this session that would eliminate several boards and commissions or change their makeup.

Rep. Alex Kolodin, R-Phoenix, introduced two bills that would repeal at least nine boards and commissions that he deems “unnecessary,” including the Citrus Research Council, the Barbering and Cosmetology Board and the Acupuncture Board of Examiners. Kolodin told the Arizona Capitol Times in January that he would eliminate every state board and commission if he could. 

However, Kolodin’s bill would only eliminate one board that is vacant and nonfunctional — the Student Transportation Advisory Council. The rest of the boards he has described as unnecessary still have members and meet regularly. 

Hobbs’ office also did not answer specific questions about Kolodin’s bill or the idea of eliminating certain boards and commissions entirely. 

Kolodin’s idea isn’t new to the Arizona government, though. Former Gov. Doug Ducey made the reform and elimination of state boards and commissions one of his top priorities during his first term, with mixed results.

Ducey’s attempt at a straight repeal of a small group of boards did not make it out of the Legislature in 2016, but he found success in placing limits on the power of boards. His former chief of staff and spokesperson, Daniel Scarpinato, said he thinks that’s where today’s lawmakers could also make headway. 

“I think Governor Ducey got the ball rolling, and it’s positive to see that people are taking the ball and running with it and trying to continue to get some reform done,” Scarpinato said.

He referred to state boards and commissions as the “underbelly of state government,” and said the Ducey administration turned its attention on removing licensing responsibilities from boards covering industries like landscape architecture, geology and athletic training. However, only one of those industries, geology, saw the successful removal of licensure requirements in the state.

Scarpinato said he thinks there is bipartisan appetite for that kind of regulatory reform, and said evidence for that can be found in the tamale bill that was passed last session. That bill expanded the types of food that at-home vendors can sell with a cottage food license from the Department of Health Services.

“That wasn’t a board or commission, but it’s in this same space,” Scarpinato said. “Those are the kind of things that people out there are just like, ‘this is stupid.’”

Some lawmakers are taking a page out of the Ducey administration’s book, like Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, who has introduced a bill that would make the majority of members on health boards public rather than industry members. 

But others — Democrats and Republicans — are introducing bills that would create new state offices, boards and commissions. Last year, lawmakers created the Arizona Space Commission, which is still in the process of finding members and establishing its responsibilities.

This year, lawmakers have proposed creating at least four new boards and commissions, like the Rare Disease Advisory Council, the Broadband Service District Authority, the Office of Resiliency and the Office of Defense Innovation.

With those bills, there is a chance that lawmakers could grow the number of boards and commissions in the state this session, rather than cutting it down. Ramos acknowledged the large number of boards and commissions, but emphasized that they serve an important purpose in their respective industries and communities. 

“These boards do incredible work that impact the lives of Arizonans in every way, shape or form that you can think of,” Ramos said. “So what I want folks to know is that, while it might not sound ‘sexy’ … you can have such an impact by being a member of a board or commission.”