Arizona disability program avoids funding cliff after Hobbs signs compromise bill

After a monthslong stalemate, the state Legislature passed and Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday signed a breakthrough bipartisan measure to send emergency funding to a program that supports Arizonans with developmental disabilities, with just days left before the program runs out of money.

"Now, Arizonans with developmental disabilities and their families can feel some relief knowing services that allow them to maintain their independence and dignity with continue,'' the governor said in a prepared statement.

Senate Majority Leader Janae Shamp said the whole idea of the Legislature is to have both sides sit down "and come up with the best possible solutions for the citizens of Arizona."

"That's exactly what we did,'' said the Surprise Republican. "Everyone was able to come together and do what was best for some of the most vulnerable in our society."

And Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan said that while it's not everything Democrats wanted, "we are not allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good."

The Department of Economic Security’s Division of Developmental Disabilities would have run out of money in May without the compromise $122 million package.

The division administers the Medicaid program that pays for long-term care services for Arizonans with developmental disabilities.

Republicans and Democrats have butted heads for weeks over how to provide that money, with Republicans backing proposals that included new restrictions and guardrails on the money and Democrats advocating for a “clean” funding bill with no strings attached.

Initially, it looked like that stalemate would drag on another day.

Republicans in the Arizona Senate passed a bill on Wednesday to provide the needed funding with no Democratic support. Hours later, that bill died in the House when all Democrats and some Republicans voted against it.

But, rather than adjourn for the day, lawmakers in the House met for further negotiations and passed a bipartisan bill on Wednesday night that removed some of the more controversial portions of the stricter Senate bill.

“We didn't get everything that we would like to have seen in this bill … but I believe that there were some major accomplishments that ensure that what happened to DDD will never happen again,” Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) said.

The bill retained some guardrails long sought by Republicans, who argued those rules are necessary to avoid cost overruns in the future but removed some contentious provisions in the Senate version that were opposed by Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Katie Hobbs, who had promised to veto any legislation sent her way until the Legislature sent her a bipartisan funding bill.