CEBV Weekly: April 14, 2025
Harming vulnerable families over political games and budget cuts. Bad ideas headed for a vote. Time to write veto requests for a heap of garbage bills.
For months, Republican lawmakers have been refusing to continue funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities, which serves severely disabled Arizona families. Under massive and sustained public pressure, they finally backed off that refusal this week — only to introduce a pair of harmful bills, SB1734 and HB2945.
What is DDD? This program allows qualified vendor agencies to hire trained parents as direct care workers to provide extraordinary habilitation services and attendant care to their severely disabled children. This is happening because there aren’t enough existing direct care workers to go around. That won’t change anytime soon: not only is the field expected to add only one-fourth of the positions needed in the next eight years, but the low wages and physical and emotional stress of the job mean it has extremely high turnover.
“Reforms” harm vulnerable families. The bills’ so-called “reforms,” such as a 20-hour-per-week cap on services, would cause incalculable harm to the nearly 59,000 families across Arizona who rely on DDD. Families say slashing caregiver hours will force people into institutions, tearing children from their families and causing state costs to skyrocket. Refusal to fund needed services also likely violates people’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
DDD families aren’t having it. One must only view the comments on Republicans’ myopically self-congratulatory social media posts to find a never-ending stream of frustrated protest:
“Cutting hours in half is not the pathway. You guys are banking on the hours over 20 to go unused due to us parents never being able to find outside care workers and that is the way you’re saving a buck."
“What will you do with all that extra money? Don’t think we didn’t see mention of giving yourselves raises…lining your pockets with the blood of our disabled children.”
“Stop throwing money (500 million) at baseball fields and start actually caring about DISABLED children.”
“I have always voted the “Republican ticket”, but at 69 years old, Arizona Republicans are driving me away with this disgusting behavior… Just close your eyes, pretend it is ESA if that helps you, and FUND IT!”
Riddled with problems. These poorly conceived bills’ severe moral and financial harms are only the tip of the iceberg. SB1734 and HB2945 drain resources from other vulnerable populations, like the Housing Trust Fund. They could create legal problems by tapping money which may be already obligated to be spent elsewhere. They would tie families up in red tape by requiring legislative approval before the governor could spend any Medicaid dollars or start, end or renew any program. They would even end the DDD program entirely in 2027 unless lawmakers specifically vote to reauthorize it.
This bill is proof that families are winning. Republicans have been desperately trying to control the DDD narrative for months. Caucus leaders like David Livingston (R-28) and John Kavanagh (R-3) have blocked Democrats’ repeated efforts to advance a bill that would fully fund the program without any harms or gimmicks. They tried to use the issue to force leverage in budget negotiations with the governor. They even convened a panel to investigate Gov. Hobbs’ "executive budget mismanagement." (Nobody bought that nonsense; when one Republican called his caucus “the adults in the room,” people laughed.) The comprehensive budget negotiations they previously demanded haven't yet begun. They’ve gone from stonewalling all bills on the subject to introducing a standalone bill of their own. This is all evidence that, despite their best efforts, they’re being forced to cede ground. We must keep the pressure on.
What happens next? DDD will run out of funds as soon as the end of this month, leaving families of ultra-high-need children high and dry — and, as we all know, nothing motivates lawmakers like a deadline. SB1734 and HB2945 face hearings on Tuesday in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. These bills will likely proceed to votes of the full Senate and House this week, as Republican leadership is attempting to escape persistent negative press by fast-tracking the measures. Gov. Hobbs has signaled a veto, calling the bills "irresponsible and inhumane" and "pointless political theater." DDD families are pressing lawmakers to pass a “clean bill” — one that funds the program with no strings attached — and then work with them to build real, non-harmful DDD reform.
“The calls for a clean bill, as they've been saying, will go nowhere in this legislature.” — Matt Gress (R-4), speaking to a reporter last week
Voice your opposition to SB1734 and HB2945 via Request to Speak. Use the comments field to urge lawmakers to lay aside their partisan squabbles and advance a clean funding measure that doesn't harm vulnerable children and families. Also come to our Happy Hour conversation on Zoom this Sunday afternoon to hear directly from grassroots disability advocate and DDD parent Brandi Coon.
⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Use Request to Speak to OPPOSE SB1734 and HB2945. Use your comments to ask for a clean funding continuation of the DDD program that does not harm families. (Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez has introduced a strike-everything amendment to HB2945 which is a clean continuation.)
⏰⏰ If you have 15 minutes: Also contact your state senator and representatives directly to OPPOSE SB1734 and HB2945, as the bills will likely proceed to votes of the full Senate and House this week.
⏰⏰⏰ If you have 30 minutes: Also express your opposition on bills receiving floor votes this week by directly contacting your state senator (for bills headed to the Senate floor) or representatives (for bills headed to the House floor).
⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 45 minutes: Also choose a bill from the “On the Governor’s Desk” list in the Veto Watch section below, and write a veto request letter to Gov. Katie Hobbs. Our template for how to do that is here.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom for our next CEBV Happy Hour conversation. After our usual state legislative rundown, we’ll hear from Brandi Coon, a grassroots disability advocate and the co-founder of Raising Voices Coalition, on the manufactured crisis brewing in the Division of Departmental Disabilities. Happy Hour meets every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of legislative session. Sign up in advance here.
SB1734, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), and HB2945, sponsored by David Livingston (R-28), are identical and crushingly harmful measures that would fund the Division of Developmental Disabilities by pulling resources from other vulnerable populations like the Housing Trust Fund. The bills’ so-called “reforms,” such as a 20-hour-per-week cap, would cause incalculable harm to the nearly 59,000 families statewide who rely on this program. Disability advocate Brandi Coon and other affected families are warning that the direct care workers needed to fill the gaps the bill creates would cost the state far more than parent caregivers, and that the worker population simply doesn't exist. The bill also would hamstring executive decision-making by requiring approval from the Republican-controlled legislature for Gov. Hobbs to use Medicaid dollars to start, end or renew any program. Hobbs has signaled she will veto the bill, calling it "irresponsible and inhumane" and "pointless political theater." DDD, which has been defunded in part due to over-budget ESA vouchers, is projected to run out of funds by April 30, leaving families of ultra-high-need children high and dry. SB1734 is scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday; HB2945 is scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
SB1280, sponsored by Mark Finchem (R-1), would make the “cast vote record” (a receipt of everything scanned by a voting machine) a public record. Election deniers insist baselessly that this tedious and routine document will somehow detect fraudulent voting patterns; it’s just another example of conspiracy theorists’ endless, fruitless quest for election wrongdoing. Gov. Hobbs has already vetoed this idea. Scheduled for a House floor vote, Monday. Contact your representatives directly to OPPOSE.
SB1375, sponsored by Mark Finchem (R-1), would force county recorders to let anyone download voter registration rolls for free. Creating public, no-cost access to voter rolls enables spam and harassment, and allows bad actors to easily generate fake purge lists. This threatens the integrity of our elections. Scheduled for a House floor vote, Monday. Contact your representatives directly to OPPOSE.
SB1269, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would let district and charter school boards allow volunteer school chaplains into schools to provide support, services or programs to students, on the grounds that “Jesus is better than a psychologist.” The bill does not specify what the chaplains' roles would include, set any training or certification requirements, or require that students from a range of faith traditions be accommodated. Most credentialed chaplains are not qualified to address the needs of public school students and cannot replace trained school counselors or other student support staff. The ramifications for tracking people's religious affiliations alone are dangerous. Scheduled for a House floor vote, Monday. Contact your representatives directly to OPPOSE.
The veto machine has started up again! This past week, Gov. Hobbs exercised her power to protect Arizonans from the following harmful, CEBV-opposed legislation.
Vetoes, Monday 4/7
HB2012 (Kupper, R-25), banning employers from requiring vaccines that have an emergency use authorization - veto letter here
On the Governor’s Desk
We expect these bills to receive a veto, but it remains important to contact the governor’s office to request one. This demonstrates that her actions have strong public support. Learn how to write a veto letter by reading our guide here.
SB1164 (Petersen, R-14) would force public schools in Arizona to open their doors to ICE agents. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that all children, regardless of immigration status, have the right to a free public education. Some Arizona districts are instituting “safe zone” policies to protect their students, stating that no individual or organization that would create an educational disruption is allowed on school grounds. This bill would override those policies.
HB2007 (Gillette, R-30) would make it illegal for anyone to receive money or other compensation for registering people to vote based on the number of registrations they collect. This assumes nefarious activities and penalizes voter registration efforts. Gov. Hobbs vetoed a similar bill in 2023.
HB2058 (Fink, R-27) would extend Arizona’s “personal belief” vaccination exemption to students at Arizona’s publicly funded universities and community colleges. Students could exempt themselves from vaccine requirements simply by submitting a signed statement to the school. This reinforces a message that vaccines are a risky personal choice, rather than a risk-mitigating responsibility to your community. Arizona already has one of the highest vaccine exemption rates in the nation.
HB2060 (Fink, R-27) would require all federal elections on the Arizona ballot be run according to state election law, including voter registration requirements, proof of citizenship, proof of residency, and proof of ID. This is patently unconstitutional: Article VI, Clause 2 of the US Constitution (known as “the Supremacy Clause”) specifies that federal law takes precedence over state law.
HB2062 (Fink, R-27) would remove any reference to gender in Arizona law and replace it with “sex,” defined as the male or female label assigned to someone at birth based on their physical and reproductive characteristics. This narrow, inflexible and unscientific definition of biological sex would eliminate any legal recognition of transgender people, and raise their risk of experiencing violence (which is already much higher than average). Known as an “erasure” bill, this bill is based on model legislation from a right-wing think tank and an anti-trans hate group. Gov. Hobbs vetoed this bill last year. Passed the full Senate on party lines.
HB2063 (Fink, R-27) would require schools to tell parents about Arizona’s liberal opt-out law in all communications about vaccines. In other words, if there’s a measles outbreak, school administrators would have to tell parents that they can opt out of vaccines in the same email telling them about the importance of vaccinations to combat the measles outbreak. This would weaken Arizona’s basically meaningless mandate for children to get vaccinated against measles and negatively impact public health. Arizona is already headed in the wrong direction; vaccine exemption rates are so high, experts say they’re “a disaster waiting to happen.”
HB2126 (Willoughby, R-13) is a copy of a vetoed bill from last year that would require health care entities to give parents access to all of their minor children’s medical records, even for services that don’t require parental consent. This effectively would strip minors of their right to medical privacy and strip medical professionals of the right to exercise their professional judgment on when to divulge information. The bill is being pushed by the extreme-right evangelical lobbying group Center for Arizona Policy.
HB2203 (Griffin, R-19) increases the time frame for allowing acreage to be irrigated if it’s under the groundwater protection of an active management area. This would likely result in more destructive groundwater pumping. The bill is retroactive, so it would apply to the Douglas AMA, which voters narrowly approved in 2022. Douglas relies solely on groundwater, pumping out three times as much water as it returns to the basin; farming makes up 87% of the basin’s water demand, and some are pushing hard to be allowed to continue to drain groundwater without limit.
HB2270 (Griffin, R-19) would add stormwater recharge (the process of capturing and filtering runoff water from storms in urban areas to replenish aquifers) to the list of sources that are considered in groundwater modeling in Active Management Areas. A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Water Resources warned in committee testimony that, because state water models already account for stormwater, this bill could lead to double-counting water, resulting in overuse and potential overpumping.
2025 Session Timeline
Tuesday, 4/22 100th Day of Session (the stated end goal; can be changed) Monday, 6/30 Last day to pass a constitutionally mandated state budget
Flag this handy list of contact info, committee chairs and assignments:
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