Republican lawmakers say they will pass emergency funding to keep a state program serving Arizonans with disabilities from going bankrupt, but they still won’t say when that will happen.
Republican legislators and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs have butted heads for months over funding for the Department of Economic Security’s Division of Developmental Disabilities, which administers the Medicaid program for Arizonans with disabilities who require long-term care.
The department said the program needs $122 million in emergency funding to avoid running out of money by May — a request the Hobbs’ administration argues is a routine budget procedure.
But Republicans have balked at sending the money to the department without strings attached.
“The calls for a clean bill, as they've been saying, will go nowhere in this legislature,” Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) said.
Gress and other Republicans argue the Hobbs administration has mismanaged the DDD program, leading to the budget shortfall. Specifically, they point to Hobbs’ decision to continue a program that pays parents who act as caregivers for their children.
That program began during the COVID-19 pandemic under former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, and Hobbs' administration asked the federal government for permission to make it permanent. The federal government granted that approval in 2024, but that did not include continuing to fund all of the program’s costs.
Federal dollars initially funded 100% of the parental program costs, but that runs out this month, meaning the state will have to cover around one-third of costs moving forward.
Legislative budget analysts said the parents as paid caregivers program is a major cause, though not the only factor, leading to the budget shortfall.
Gress said Republicans will approve a supplemental funding measure so the Division of Developmental Disabilities doesn’t go bankrupt next month. But he would not say when that funding will come through, and said any funding package will include measures to control costs.
“This Legislature will take up legislation that will provide the funding necessary for DDD to remain intact, and there will be guardrails placed on that,” Gress said.
But Democrats argue Republicans need to act now.
They called on GOP lawmakers to immediately approve a bill House Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez (D-Tucson) introduced in February that would send the $122 million in emergency funding to the Division of Developmental Disabilities with no strings attached. Republicans have blocked multiple attempts to pass that bill.
“This isn’t about mismanagement; this is about increased costs,” said Rep. Quantá Crews (D-Phoenix), whose son is served by the program. “This is about taking care of our own. We’re all Arizonans here. Our children and our families need our support.”
Democrats said they are not opposed to adding safeguards to the program but that those measures should be attached to next year’s budget.
The families that rely on the program are concerned that political disagreements will stretch into May, putting the program relied on by tens of thousands of Arizonans at risk.
“This isn’t just a budget issue — it’s a moral and humanitarian one,” parent Brandi Coonsaid in a statement. “You cannot pit children with disabilities against political agendas and expect families to stay silent.”
Many of those families showed up to speak at the first meeting of Arizona House’s Ad Hoc Committee on Executive Budget Mismanagement, House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) created in response to the DDD budget situation.
But Gress, who chairs the committee, did not allow for public comment at the meeting, choosing instead to hear from legislative budget analysts, Republican staff members and former Idaho lawmaker, who spoke about how that state’s legislature oversees federal expenditures.
Gress also invited members of Hobbs’ administration to the meeting to provide information about higher than anticipated enrollment increases in the DDD program, but they chose not to attend. Democratic lawmakers also skipped the committee meeting.
Gress and other Republicans said Hobbs and the Department of Economic Security have refused to meet to provide the data lawmakers need in order to put safeguards in place to control costs.
“What I'm pissed off about in one part is that we have to work on hard data. We have to work with the correct information,” said Rep. Nick Kupper (R-Surprise), who has a child served by the DDD program. “We don't make decisions based off guesses. We're not supposed to make decisions based off just emotion. We don't have the agencies here today to give us this information.”
Hobbs said she chose not to participate in the meeting, calling it a “political stunt.”
“For months, the majority has known a supplemental is necessary to protect some of our most vulnerable constituents, yet they’ve delayed, politicized, and weaponized an issue that should never have gotten to this critical point,” Hobbs said in a joint statement released with Gutierrez.
Hobbs’ office argued that the $122 million supplemental request should be routine, pointing out that Ducey, the previous Republican governor, had hundreds of millions in supplemental budget requests approved by the legislature.
Republicans argued this situation is different, though, pointing out this is the largest single supplemental request for the DDD program.
According to the Arizona Republic, Parents and advocates said they are getting tired of the political back and forth.
At one point during the committee meeting, they could be heard audibly laughing after Rep. Neal Carter (R-San Tan Valley) said “the House Republicans who are present here, the adults in the room, are ensuring …that these programs will continue next year.”
“We shouldn’t be turning our backs on our constituents, and certainly not the most vulnerable among us,” House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos (D-Laveen) said.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle later spent half an hour blaming each other for a failure to approve emergency funding for the DDD program as the May deadline looms.
