Busy veto pen: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs nixes 88 bills

Teens won't be able to get a learner's permit at 15.

Sharia Law won't be banned in Arizona.

There won't be new restrictions on gender transition hormone therapy for minors.

Banks won't have to deny services to undocumented people. 

And grocery stores that don't go out and immediately retrieve their errant shipping carts can still be financially penalized by cities.

These are the results of just six of the 88 vetoes Friday by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs of bills approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. That brings her tally to close to 150 vetoes so far this legislative session. 

That is still short of the 174 rejections she issued last year. Whether she can break her own record is unclear. While the Legislature adjourned a week ago, an aide to the governor said she has about 40 measures still on her desk awaiting her action.

Religious law

Among the bills on Hobbs' hit list Friday were two measures designed to preclude the use of any religious law in Arizona.

One sponsored by Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, would have specifically barred the use of Sharia Law in Arizona.

Hobbs, in her veto message, noted that the measure had a list of what she called "abhorrent practices'' that it would prohibit. Those include honor killings, coerced marriages, female genital mutilation, polygamy, and domestic violence or spousal abuse "that is justified by cultural, religious or family authority.''

None of these things, the governor said, exist in Arizona and all are overruled by existing federal and state statutes. All this bill would do, she said, is result in the state defending an unconstitutional measure "that the state of Arizona will lose, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.''

Hobbs also rejected a broader measure that would make it illegal for judges to rely on any religious sectarian law to influence their decisions.

Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, built in some exceptions, saying it wouldn't apply to any law "based on Anglo-American legal tradition and principles on which the United States was founded." Courts still could have recognized "traditional marriage between a man and a woman'' performed by a member of the clergy.

"This bill is a solution in search of a problem and therefore unnecessary,'' Hobbs wrote. 

Immigration status

She also rejected several other Rogers proposals.

One would have made it illegal for banks, credit unions and check-cashing services to do business with people who are in this country without legal immigration status. It also would have barred financial institutions from sending any money from those same people to other countries, something Rogers said was designed to reduce the number of people in this country without legal status.

Hobbs didn't address any of that, saying in her veto message that it would impose "additional red tape  on Arizona financial institutions.''

The governor also vetoed a separate Rogers-sponsored measure that would have required the state and all agencies to provide the federal government with any information it wants about people in Arizona who are undocumented.

Photo enforcement

The vetoed measure on photo enforcement came from Sen. David Gowan, a Sierra Vista Republican.

Lawmakers have been unable to ban the use of cameras to catch speeders and those who run red lights, though they did put a measure on the November 2026 ballot to require communities that want to do that to get the consent of voters.

Gowan's proposal would have capped fines for speeders at $75, far short of the more than $200 penalty some cities imposed.

Potentially more significant, it would have barred the Motor Vehicle Division from informing insurance companies of those speed violations. And it also said the citations could not be used as "points'' to determine when someone has a license suspended.

The final version of the bill did carve out exceptions to the $75 cap and protected against insurance companies being informed about running red lights, speeding in school zones, and criminal speeding, which means traveling more than 20 miles an hour over a posted limit. That did not convince Hobbs to sign it.

"This bill undermines cities' ability to keep communities safe by making their own decisions about law enforcement policies,'' Hobbs wrote in rejecting it.

Driving age

Hobbs also decided that 15 is too young to get a learner's permit for driving.

Current law requires teens to wait until they are 15 1/2. Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Surprise, said the proposed change would have given teens extra time to practice, including additional required time on the road with parents. But foes said teens that age lack the required discipline to be safe drivers.

Hobbs agreed, pointing out that the state's current driving age is already below the recommendation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which suggests waiting until 16.

Shopping carts

The measure on shopping carts, also from Kupper, stems from the fact that multiple cities have programs designed to encourage grocery stores to make sure the carts don't wind up abandoned on private property. That is often backed with fees that get charged when the stores don't retrieve them themselves.

Kupper said it was unfair to make the victims of a crime — in this case, the stores whose carts were stolen — pay a penalty when cities retrieve their property.

Hobbs wrote in her veto message, "This bill delves into a truly local issue that is best resolved between businesses and their local elected leaders."

Small nuclear reactors

In vetoing another bill, she also said she does not want to override local control when it comes to placing small "modular'' nuclear reactors in rural communities.

Supporters said that there is no reason to give county supervisors the power to deny zoning, as these reactors would be going in near large industrial users, presumably data centers. They said it would provide needed economic development in the state's rural counties.

"Given record power demand growth protections, Arizona must responsibly reduce barriers to developing new energy projects quickly,'' Hobbs wrote.

But the governor said while the technology for such modular reactors is "promising,'' it is still emerging. She took a swipe at lawmakers for creating special rules for siting of nuclear reactors but not other forms of energy.

Vaccinations

Also rejected were two bills dealing with vaccinations.

One would have banned the government from requiring vaccinations, masks or other face coverings.

Hobbs said Arizona already has "robust exemptions'' to vaccination requirements. Those include allowing opting out of school requirements for medical, religious and personal reasons.

But she said there's another issue. "It's concerning diseases that were once eliminated are making a comeback in Arizona's playgrounds and classrooms because of dangerous information,'' the governor wrote.

The related bill Hobbs vetoed would have said businesses cannot refuse to employ or provide services to those who aren't vaccinated.

Gender transition

Also meeting with the governor's displeasure were three bills on gender transition.

A 2022 Arizona law, signed by Republican then-Gov. Doug Ducey, already makes gender reassignment surgery illegal for minors.

One bill this year would have enabled a minor to file a civil suit against doctors for up to 25 years after the minor turns 18 or four years after the minor undergoes detransition treatment.

Another would have extended the ban on surgery to any form of what proponents call gender-affirming care for minors, including hormone treatments.

And a third would have built on that and said health-care providers who provide any such care to minors are responsible for the costs of any detransition treatments as well as legal fees and costs.

Hobbs wrapped all three into a single veto, saying the law against gender reassignment surgery makes the bills "unnecessary.'' She did not address the fact that one of the bills would have expanded the ban to hormonal treatments.

Hobbs also rejected a proposal by Rep. Rachel Keshel, D-Tucson, to direct the state Board of Education to develop "age appropriate'' programs to teach school children about prenatal development. The governor said instructional requirements "should be left to experts, not politicians trying to force mandates on our teachers.''

Among the other vetoes  

Other bills that met with the governor's disapproval include:

• Barring the state Game and Fish Department from using public money to transport Mexican wolf pups into Arizona;
• Requiring paid petition circulators for ballot measures to disclose to would-be signers that they are not from Arizona;
• Expanding child neglect statutes to cover women who expose a fetus to prenatal drugs or if a newborn is found to have fetal alcohol syndrome;
• Mandating that ballots have some built-in fraud countermeasures like watermarks, holograms or paper that changes color under heat.