Key points 

• Lawmakers are taking a recess until June 1

• Gov. Katie Hobbs’ bill signing moratorium is still in effect 

• Republicans and the governor are divided over federal tax conformity 

Gov. Katie Hobbs’ moratorium on signing bills may still be in effect, but that hasn’t stopped lawmakers from taking an early summer recess from their official duties this month.

The House and Senate announced on May 5 its plans to adjourn until June 1, signaling the oncoming end of the 2026 second regular session as budget negotiations continue between the Governor’s Office and legislative leaders. The motion was approved on party lines in the House.

House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear, also said on May 5 that there aren’t any other bills the Legislature needs to address other than ones that are currently waiting for a third or final reading to be sent to Hobbs. 

The governor’s bill signing moratorium, announced in April, is still in effect, and since then Republicans have avoided transmitting legislation to her. Hobbs’ Communications Director Christian Slater said the moratorium would remain in effect until Republicans engage in “good faith” budget negotiations. 

Montenegro said: “We have completed our job to where we need to be right now. We need the governor to come back to the table. We will continue to wait for her. When she’s ready, we will be ready to have conversations so we can provide a budget for Arizona.”

Hobbs vetoed the GOP’s first budget package the same day the Legislature announced its early summer break. And while Slater said the Governor’s Office attempted to meet with legislative leaders to discuss the budget this week, the House has since informed the Governor’s Office that it could not commit to a meeting until action was taken on the budget. 

Montenegro has confirmed that the Governor’s Office did contact the House after the budget was passed with the intention of further discussing the budget.

A weeks-long recess from lawmakers in the later part of the legislative session hasn’t been unusual during Hobbs’ term. Lawmakers recessed for about a month in 2023 to negotiate a Maricopa County transportation tax renewal proposal and they took a similar recess in 2024 before passing that year’s budget. 

“After passing (a) budget stuffed with $100 million in corporate tax cuts to data centers and $100 million in cuts (to) healthcare — a budget they knew would be immediately vetoed — Republicans voted to go on vacation for a month. That is just wrong,” said House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos, D-Laveen. “We must stay here and pass a budget to make life affordable for Arizonans who are struggling to stay afloat with Donald Trump’s economic chaos and failing presidency.”

Rep. Kevin Volk, D-Tucson, also opposed Republicans’ motion to adjourn for weeks on the floor and said he didn’t think lawmakers have done enough to warrant going home. He compared the Arizona Legislature to Congress, which he said is becoming increasingly unpopular with U.S. residents. 

“We have not done enough for the Arizonans we were sent here to serve,” Volk said. “…What I look back and see is a lot of wasted time and too much partisanship. I see bills that were previously vetoed. I see bills that only had party line support. I see nonbinding resolutions. I don’t see that we’ve accomplished enough to say that we should go home for one month.”

Rep. David Livinston, R-Peoria, said last week he was hopeful that the House and Senate could adjourn sine die by May 15, but other Capitol observers are expecting difficult negotiations between the governor and Republicans on two specific issues — tax conformity and a Proposition 123 renewal. 

Barry Aarons, a lobbyist and the owner of the Aarons Company, said he isn’t expecting lawmakers to be done until late June.

“Until one of the sides blinks, we’re not going to get a budget done,” Aarons said. “The Republicans won’t do a budget unless there’s tax conformity and the governor won’t do a budget until Prop. 123 is done, and the two sides are adamantly opposed to each other’s proposals. So we’re going to be there for a while.”

Hobbs has resisted fully conforming to the federal tax policy under H.R. 1, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, out of concerns for how the state will recover the nearly $1.5 billion in revenue that the state will lose over the next three years given full conformity as desired by Republicans. 

The governor has proposed using a Prop. 123 renewal to free up general fund money that could be used to help pay for conformity, but Republicans haven’t been able to find consensus on the policy and several GOP legislators have said they don’t want to tie the budget to something that voters could reject at the ballot. 

Tax conformity has been the main priority for Republicans this session and Hobbs’ veto of the budget is her third time vetoing a Republican proposal to fully conform to H.R. 1 this session. 

“Affordability is the top issue right now and that is the issue that we are delivering on,” said Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert. “We’re putting more money in the pockets of the citizens of Arizona.”

One pressing issue lawmakers addressed early in the session was an election timeline fix bill that moved the state’s primary election one week earlier to July 21. A similar bill was enacted into law in 2024 to align the state’s timeline to the federal Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, but this year’s bill made the date change permanent. 

Hobbs also signed a bill this session to repeal the observance of March 31 as César Chávez Day after sex abuse allegations have surfaced about the late labor leader. So far this session, the governor has signed 64 bills into law and vetoed 61. Lawmakers introduced more than 2,000 measures this year.