The 2025 Arizona Legislative Session has wrapped, and it brought wins for public health, protections from harmful policies (with Hobbs’ vetoes), and some investments in behavioral health, access to childcare and other one-time public health investments.
View Our PowerPoint Summarizing the 2025 Legislative Session
As always there were also missed opportunities to address pressing public health problems like firearm violence – but all in all I’d say it’s a net win for public health. Let’s dive into some of the details:
GOOD BILLS SIGNED INTO LAW
Strengthening Health Facility Oversight
SB1308 Public health licensing; sober living: Establishes better standards for sober living homes.
SB1219 Public health licensing: Requires ADHS to provide a priority matrix for complaints filed against health care institutions on its public website.
Healthcare Consumer Protections
HB2175 claims; prior auth; company conduct: Requires health insurers to individually review denials & prior authorizations.
SB1291 health insurers; provider credentialing; claims: Requires health insurers to finish provider credentialing within 60 days after they get a complete credentialing.
Behavioral Health
SB1604 licensed secure health facility; defendants: Makes clear that Title 13 (criminal) & Title 36 patients (civil commitment) Court Ordered Treatment folks can’t be stationed at the same secure behavioral health residential facility (SBHRF).
HB 2291: Ending Red Cap Rule on Opioids: Removes the outdated red-cap requirement for opioid prescriptions, reducing risk of theft and diversion.
HB 2179: Restricting Marijuana Ads Near Youth: Prevents marijuana ads from targeting youth or appearing near schools and youth events.
Tobacco, Heat Safety, Access to Care & Nutrition
SB1247 Tobacco use; minimum age: Moves the legal age to buy tobacco products (including vapes) from 18 to 21 (consistent with federal law).
HB 1182: Protecting Outdoor Workers from Extreme Heat: Allows cities to let construction start earlier (5 a.m. weekdays, 7 a.m. Saturdays from May to October), helping to reduce heat-related illnesses.
SB 1727: Boosting Access to Medical School for Arizonans: Requires Arizona’s public medical schools to interview all qualified in-state applicants during the first admissions round.
HB 2164: Cutting Ultra processed Foods from Schools: Bans ultra processed food sales during school hours at campuses taking part in the federal free/reduced lunch program starting in 2026–27.
BAD BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
HB 2679: Non-Bypassable Utility Fees: Allows monopoly utilities like APS to issue bonds and charge unavoidable fees making ratepayers pay for the bond debt. This undermines consumer protection and could lock in coal-era infrastructure.
VETOES THAT PROTECTED PUBLIC HEALTH
Governor Hobbs used her veto power to block many bills that would have harmed access to care, threatened privacy, or undermined vaccine protections:
- HB 2063: Would have required schools to notify parents about vaccine exemptions.
- HB 2257: Would have blocked foster placements based on vaccination policies.
- HB 2126: Would have granted parents automatic access to minors’ health records—eroding patient confidentiality.
- SB 1071: Sought to make it harder for families to qualify for SNAP and TANF.
- SB 1268: Would have required hospitals to inquire about patients’ immigration status.
- SB 1020: Would have allowed guns on public college and university campuses.
- SB1019: Would have forbidden the use of photo enforcement systems for both speeding and running red lights.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
Several promising public health initiatives did not pass including SB 1612, which would have made state government procurements more transparent, state agencies more accountable and would have finally required AHCCCS to actually follow the state procurement code (they have been exempt since 1982).
FINAL BUDGET OUTCOME
The FY 2026 budget was signed on June 27. Here’s what it delivers in terms of new one-time funding:
- $45M for childcare aid
- $5M for ibogaine clinical research grants
- $5M for capital expenses for secure residential behavioral health facilities
- $4M for graduate medical education
- $2M for the Produce Incentive Program
- $1.5M for nursing education at community colleges
- $750K for a dementia awareness campaign
- $500K for AEDs for public high school athletics
- $160K for isolation valves, $695K for anti-ligature renovations, $83K for perimeter detection systems, $3.3M for this year’s funding shortfall for Arizona State Hospital operations.
There was good news about the development of secure residential behavioral health facilities. After several years of constant work, AHCCCS was finally appropriated $5M for secure behavioral health residential facilities.
One warning is that someone added passive aggressive session law to the feed bill and some of that language looks like it’s designed to tee up excuses for AHCCCS not to issue the RFP for the facilities, but we’ll see.
The Senate budget also requires AHCCCS to offer one-year AHCCCS complete care contract extensions to all managed care entities and RBHAs through September 30, 2028.
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