On Thursday, members of a Senate panel conducted a sunset review on the Arizona Department of Health Services and its future. Three Democratic lawmakers voted against allowing the agency to continue to exist for another eight years.
After the Arizona auditor general found that DHS was slow to investigate reports of abuse at long-term care facilities, three democratic lawmakers said they don’t have enough information to vote in favor of allowing the agency to exist through 2028.
Sen. Rebecca Rios expressed concerns about the amount of time the panel had to ask questions members of DHS.
Democratic Rep. Kelli Butler was at the meeting.
"It was a really short hearing and that was troubling too. Usually there’s much more time allocated to have these types of hearings. But this one was for whatever reason was extremely short. Members were not given a real opportunity to ask questions of the agency," Butler said.
Committee Chairman Kate Brophy McGee said a no vote puts public health at risk. She also called the no votes counterproductive and counter-intuitive. The panel voted 4-3 to continue the agency.
