House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos, D-Laveen, spent his second year as minority leader navigating a divided government at the Arizona Legislature. He helped negotiate a bipartisan budget that freezes new data center tax subsidies for three years and includes tax cuts aimed at middle-class Arizonans. In a recent interview with the Arizona Capitol Times, De Los Santos reflected on the session’s wins, losses and unfinished work.

The questions and answers have been edited lightly for style and clarity.

Are you happy with how this session has turned out?

By and large, yes. When we came into the session, House Democrats had one goal, and that was to fight for an Arizona we can afford. I know that the caucus went to the mat for that and went to the mat for working families and to take on corporate greed and to protect peoples’ healthcare. I think, given the political circumstances where Republicans control the Legislature, we delivered in many ways. 

How significant is it that Arizona is the only state with a three-year moratorium on data center subsidies?

It’s a huge deal and that shows the power of the House Democratic caucus. 

Is Arizona more affordable as a result of the actions of this Legislature?

Thanks to what House Democrats have fought for, Arizona will be a little more affordable for working families, but I want to be clear that there is still trouble coming from Washington. 

Democratic leaders on sine die night said they felt like being held hostage by Republicans when they moved House Concurrent Resolutions 2040 and 2048 through the Legislature. Tell me what you make of the display of legislative authority that night.

It’s shameful and the people who are really being held hostage were the people of Arizona. This was a retaliation against a state citizens’ initiative. Hundreds of thousands of everyday Arizonans trying to create change, coming together one-by-one to collect signatures to take on the waste, fraud and abuse in the voucher program. The Republican response, instead of letting democracy play out its course, was to try to hold the people of Arizona hostage by referring those additional ballot measures that are misleading, and frankly, used military families as pawns in a game. 

You had some other key budget wins. Tell me about those.

The Republican budget tried to cut 40,000 peoples’ healthcare. We saved that healthcare and stopped that from happening and for some people, that could be life-saving. Republicans also included no money for H.R 1 mitigation. These are funds that if we don’t invest them, hundreds of thousands of people could either lose Medicaid access or lose SNAP because we simply don’t have the people in place and the systems in place to help Arizona navigate the new red tape that H.R. 1 implements. One of the things that’s really overlooked is the Sun Bucks program. That is a program that helps feed hungry children and the return on investment for the state here is incredible. 

With many Arizonans concerned over the federal government’s immigration enforcement, what can you do as state legislators to keep the federal government in check?

Follow the money. If you look at the budget, there are zero dollars going to Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and zero dollars going to ICE. That is something I’m very proud of. Republicans repeatedly over the course of the session tried to pass a number of bills that would force state and local officials to cooperate with the mass deportation agenda. Those bills did not become law and I’m thankful to the governor for vetoing them. I’m thankful to the House Democrats for fighting against those proposals.

What message do you have to Arizonans about our water situation and the sustainability of our state for the generations to come?

If you want good water policy, we need to elect more Democrats. Republicans at the Legislature are blocking common sense, bipartisan groundwater reforms. Rep. Chris Mathis, the ranking member of the Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, worked with Senate Democrats, Governor Hobbs, local Republican elected officials, local farmers, local ranchers and environmentalists to craft a bipartisan, commonsense groundwater solution that everyone was on board with except one key group of people. Republican politicians at the Capitol have single handedly blocked the most important groundwater policy that the state of Arizona could enact. 

Arizona has one of the most bipartisan legislative bodies in the country as far as party alignment goes, yet there’s about a 20:1 ratio, according to the Center for Effective Lawmaking, of Republican bills being heard vs Democrat bills being heard. Is that fair to Arizona voters?

No it’s not and it’s very sad that Republicans will instantly and immediately kill bills purely because of the letter next to the name of a lawmaker. That is the sign of a corrupt and broken hyperpartisan system that is more focused on party politics than it is delivering for the working class people and middle class people in Arizona. If you look at other legislatures who have similar makeup or where Democrats hold even less power, more Democratic bills go through. When you have a shared government, it could be the opportunity to show the country what bipartisanship can look like. 

As the United States turns 250, what is the one piece of unfinished work we must finish by its 300th birthday — and what part of it is Arizona’s to take on, from where you sit?

When the founders came together to build this nation, they were imperfect in their execution, but the fundamental idea of every person in this country having an equal say in our democracy and together governing ourselves is still an ideal we should aspire to. It is one that we have never met. One of the biggest barriers there is with money and politics and the corrosive influence of large corporations that make huge campaign contributions. It is something that is a major problem now and I think it is one of the biggest barriers in building an affordable country and an affordable state. 

What was your most fun moment of the session? 

I really love negotiating the budget. It is the moment in which I think Democrats collectively have the most leverage and it’s the biggest task we have. It is the only constitutional task we have. 

Most disappointing? 

We have all of these really good bills that don’t even get the chance of a hearing. It’s very sad and it’s frustrating because in other states and in some legislatures, every bill is entitled to a hearing. That’s not the case in Arizona, so you don’t even get to make your case for why paid family and medical leave is important. You don’t even get to make the case for why holding big pharmaceutical companies accountable is important. 

Final thoughts?

To the business community, Republicans have really stabbed them in the back. The Republican budget eliminated important incentives for Rio Nuevo. It would have decimated an important business district in Tucson simply because they don’t like Tucson. It would have eliminated important tax incentives for solar and renewable energy.