Arizona budget deal appears closer as Republican lawmakers and Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs soften tone

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Could we soon be getting a state budget?

[00:00:02]Our Craig Harris, who's been covering the negotiations, reports that both sides say they're close.

[00:00:08]>> With a Republican controlled legislature and a Democrat governor, the two sides get along like, well, cats and dogs when it comes to figuring out a state spending plan, but it seems like a budget is near. How do I know? They're being nice to each other.

[00:00:22]>> The House and Senate Republicans are here today with a clear message.

[00:00:28]Arizona's responsible budget deserves a governor's signature.

[00:00:32]>> That was House Speaker Steve Montenegro three weeks ago when the Republican controlled legislature passed a 17.9 billion state budget. Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, whose budget is 18.7 billion, called the GOP plan reckless and quickly vetoed it.

[00:00:52]The legislature then went on a break, but private budget talks continued. This is what the governor said yesterday.

[00:00:59]>> I'm not going to get into the details of negotiations. Uh I put out my budget in January. We always knew that there would need to be compromise to get to a budget that would pass.

[00:01:09]>> The governor did not provide any details on what both sides gave away. The Republican budget implements more tax cuts and a 5% reduction to most state agencies. The governor wants a renewal of Prop 123, which expired last year, for more education dollars, and she wants reforms to the state's growing empowerment scholarship program. Senate Majority Leader John Kavanaaugh, one of the key budget writers, told 12 News that budget talks were going smoothly.

[00:01:39]He also said he couldn't provide details. That's because lawmakers and the governor agreed to keep talks private. Kavanaaugh, who declined to go on camera, said a final deal could be struck by next week. The governor said it could be a little longer. A deal must be done by June 30th.

[00:01:58]>> A lot of what we see in the public is political gamesmanship and we've had that before and we've gotten past that and gotten to the table and got negotiations done and I feel confident we'll do that. Reporting from the capital, I'm Craig Harris, 12 News.