HR1 Guts Clean Energy & EV Incentives: Arizonans Need to Act Now to Get Tax Credits

If you’re a homeowner in Arizona thinking about going solar or buying an EV, you’ll need to get on the stick. Same thing for businesses and utilities.

While many of HR1’s cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food assistance won’t kick in until after the 2026 midterm elections congress made sure the elimination of clean energy incentives is immediate.

HR1 rapidly ends federal tax credits that have helped ordinary homeowners (like us, when I installed rooftop solar two years ago) afford clean energy upgrades.

We Installed a Solar Power System at Our House: This is Our Story – AZ Public Health Association

That includes a soon to expire 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit, which helped thousands of Arizonans install solar panels, batteries, and other home efficiency improvements.

That tax credit will be eliminated on December 31, 2025, with no phase-out and no grace period. To qualify for a tax credit systems must be fully installed & connected to the grid before the deadline New Years Day 2026 (not just contracted).

The timeline is even tighter for EVs. The $7,500 new EV tax credit and $4,000 used EV credit both expire on September 30, 2025.

And for businesses and utilities?

The bill strips away the long-term certainty they’d counted on as many businesses, community health centers (like Chiricahua), and utilities made plans to convert to a bigger renewable portfolio. To qualify for the Investment Tax Credit, business and utility projects must begin construction by July 4, 2026, and be connected and in service by the end of 2027.

HR1’s elimination of tax incentives to invest in clean energy will slow down but not end the conversion to renewables as the ROI for clean energy projects is rapidly becoming the least expensive way to boost power generation even without the tax credits. In addition, new solar components in panels that source less and less expensive, improving the ROI.

Note: Tariffs on solar panels from China are also impeding conversion to solar as China is a global leader in production of inexpensive solar panels. Same goes for electric vehicles – which have a 100% tariff imposed on them.

If you’ve been thinking about solar or an EV the time to act is now. With the coming ‘gold rush’ of solar installation that’ll be created by the impending end of the credits, permitting delays, installer backlogs, and supply chain snags…  you better get started NOW.

The Republican majority in Congress may have delayed politically sensitive cuts to healthcare and nutrition assistance but they’ve fast-tracked the end of clean energy support.

For Arizona households and businesses, that means making big decisions fast or losing out for who knows how long.

Kennedy Kicks Immigrants & Asylees in the Teeth

In a heartless & cruel (but not unexpected) policy shift, Secretary Kennedy declared an end to long-standing interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 – cutting off access to the already limited health and social services for immigrants and even most asylum seekers.

HHS Bans Illegal Aliens from Accessing its Taxpayer-Funded Programs | HHS.gov

The 1998 interpretation of PRWORA (crafted under the Clinton administration) had allowed for limited access to some essential services like community health centers, Head Start, and certain mental health and addiction recovery programs.

Kennedy is ending access to any and all of the already limited benefits, undercutting public health practice grounded in compassion, prevention, and pragmatism.

Denying people access to basic healthcare services, behavioral health programs, early childhood education, and family planning care is morally indefensible and harmful to our entire society.

History of Considering Public Benefits – AZ Public Health Association

His ban impacts access to Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, Community Mental Health Services Block Grants, Head Start, Title X Family Planning services, SAMHSA programs for substance use disorder treatment and prevention, homeless transition services, and even support for foster care and kinship placements.

These programs are lifelines not just for immigrants but for the public health system as a whole.

For example, community health centers treat infectious diseases, manage chronic illness, and ensure people (regardless of status) aren’t left to suffer or deteriorate in silence. Restricting access doesn’t make health needs disappear; it just increases suffering and shifts costs elsewhere like to emergency rooms and jails.

Immigration Status, Public Benefits, Health & Access to Care: A Primer – AZ Public Health Association

Secretary Kennedy is using the narrowest and harshest possible reading of the law.

PRWORA allowed flexibility in defining who could be served under specific exceptions for programs addressing public health emergencies, immunizations, and short-term, non-cash disaster relief.

Asylum seekers fleeing persecution are being told they can’t get mental health support or even basic health services.

Parents trying to keep their families healthy are being locked out of family planning and Head Start.

The long-term consequences? Higher rates of untreated mental illness, addiction, and preventable disease, and more children entering emergency foster placements and driving up government spending in other areas. Because undocumented folks will no longer be able to access community health centers, they’ll be stuck going to emergency departments instead, driving up expensive uncompensated care.

Note: Because Kennedy doesn’t have the authority to tell hospital emergency departments to turn away undocumented people (protected under a different law called EMTALA) he didn’t do that today… but he would have if he could have.

When some people are excluded from care, the entire community suffers. Diseases don’t ask for a green card. Addiction doesn’t care about immigration status. Denying care won’t stop people from needing it… it will only make it harder and more expensive to address later.

In short, this is yet another intentional harm from Kennedy… one that APHA will shortly be challenging in court.

Note: There’s no information yet about the details about how programs like FQHCs might implement the requirement for status verification. The policy becomes effective upon official publication in the Federal Register, expected July 11, 2025. A 30-day comment period on the notice will begin upon publication, followed by Kennedy’s rubber stamp.

AzPHA Supports Prop 409: An Important Investment in Maricopa County’s Public Health System

This fall, voters in Maricopa County will have a rare opportunity to strengthen our community’s health infrastructure by voting YES on Proposition 409.

The Arizona Public Health Association Board of Directors has already endorsed the measure, and we’re encouraging our members to join us in individually supporting this critical investment.

Valleywise Health Proposition 409 Voter Guide

Valleywise Health is Maricopa County’s only public teaching hospital and safety-net health system. Every day, it delivers trauma, burn, and behavioral health care to thousands of Arizonans, especially those with nowhere else to turn. But with our county’s population growing quickly and the need for care rising even faster, Valleywise’s aging facilities are struggling to keep up.

Proposition 409 will authorize $898M in bonds to modernize and expand the Valleywise Health system, ensuring it can continue delivering life-saving care to our most vulnerable neighbors. Specifically, Prop 409 would:

  • Double inpatient and observation capacity
  • Modernize emergency and trauma departments
  • Rebuild outdated care facilities, including the Phoenix Comprehensive Health Center
  • Expand behavioral health treatment areas
  • Upgrade training environments for tomorrow’s healthcare workforce
  • Improve access to care in underserved neighborhoods

Importantly, this bond will ensure Valleywise can continue meeting its legal obligation to conduct court-ordered mental health evaluations… an important gateway to timely behavioral health treatment.

This is a mail-in only election for Maricopa County voters, and we need strong, early engagement from the public health community. As a member of AzPHA, your individual endorsement can help elevate this once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen Arizona’s health system.

 Sign Up In Support of Prop 409 Here

Learn More About Prop 409

Together, we can help ensure that Valleywise Health has the tools and space it needs to keep our communities healthy, safe, and cared for.

PS: AzPHA will be submitting an argument in favor of Prop 409 in the voter publicity pamphlet – the final language of our support letter is still being revised.

See AzPHA’s Ballot Argument in Favor of Prop 409

Submit your ballot argument here

Congress Passes Budget with Huge Deficit Spending & Large Cuts to Social and Health Services

By now of course all of you know that Congress passed HR1 – the large tax break bill for wealthy people along with some cuts to social and healthcare spending – along with very large deficit spending.

In general, the reductions to revenue (tax cuts for wealthy people and people who put in overtime and collect tips) happen right away while the cuts to social services like Medicaid and SNAP don’t happen for a few years – in most cases not until after the 2026 mid-term elections.

Here’s what the bill does in a nutshell/The Senate passed bill includes:

Medicaid Work Requirements

Require childless adults and parents of children older than 13 to work, volunteer or attend school for 80 hours a month as a condition of enrollment, unless they qualify for an exception –$317 bil.

AZ will already be implementing this as a result of a bill Ducey signed in 2015. AZ will need to expand the required populations up to 64 from 56.

The main way people get knocked off Medicaid with this approach is due to failure or inability to report the work/school attendance rather than not qualifying. How good a job the state does making it easy for people to report compliance is a HUGE part of this.

Provider Taxes that Pay State Match

Freeze current state taxes on most providers in states that have not expanded Medicaid and slowly lower the allowed rates in expansion states from 6% to 3.5% 

AZ pays the state part of the match with a provider (hospital) tax for 550,000 AHCCCS enrollees. AZ will be able to collect less from that assessment starting in 2028 making the legislature find a different funding source to keep them enrolled. Will they do that? I think not.

Hospitals will need to work under the assumption that 550,000 Medicaid members will be disenrolled in 2029 because the legislature is unlikely to pick up the tab for the reduction in the hospital assessment – making them way less likely to expand (especially in rural AZ)

Note: these impacts are worse in rural AZ because while about 17% of urban Arizonans are on Medicaid – 38% of rural people are on AHCCCS.

The reduction schedule begins in FY 2028 and gradually reduces the current 6 % cap by 0.5 percentage point per year, reaching 3.5 % in FY 2032.

So, the schedule is:

  • FY 2028  5.5%
  • FY 2029  5.0%
  • FY 2030  4.5%
  • FY 2031  4.0%
  • FY 2032 (and beyond)  3.5%

–$183 bil.

Limit Provider Directed Payments

Prevent expansion states from using special funding to pay Medicaid providers higher prices than Medicare would pay. Limit non-expansion states to slightly higher prices. –$149 bil.

This will mean the Healthy AZ payments will need to go down and doctors and other providers will leave the Medicaid network because of bad reimbursement. That will hurt rural AZ hospitals the most.

More Medicaid Eligibility Checks

Require states to check eligibility of people in the Medicaid expansion every six months instead of once a year –$58 bil.

AZ Medicaid members will need to get redetermined every 6 months vs once per year – that doubles the chances for people to get knocked off because they didn’t reply to the RFI on time etc.

Rural Health Fund

The bill has a ‘rural health fund’ with $50B in it to help states support rural health care providers

Important Note: the final bill did not change the percentage rate at which the federal government pays for Medicaid in states (aka the FMAP rate). 

Requires SNAP State Matching Funds

SNAP cost-shift to States with a payment error rate of 6% or higher. Requires states (except for Alaska) to pay a share of benefits currently funded in full by the federal government. Increases the share of state costs to administer the SNAP program from 50% to 75%

Clean Energy Incentives Eliminated

Ends Residential clean energy credit

Terminates the tax credit for rooftop solar, geothermal heat pumps and other home devices by Dec. 31, 2025 (-77B)

Way fewer people will install rooftop solar.

Ends Clean vehicle credit

Terminate the $7,500 consumer rebate for electric vehicles by Sept. 30, 2025 (-78B)

Fewer people will buy EV – and it’s not just the tax credit ending it’s the enormous tariffs being charged on Chinese EV’s (which are the best and most affordable). tariff is 100%

Ends Qualified commercial clean vehicles credit

Terminate the credit for companies that buy electric cars or trucks, including businesses that lease the vehicles to consumers, by Sept. 30, 2025 (-105B)

Business will stop or really slow down buying EV’s

Ends Clean energy electricity investment credit

Quickly ending tax credits for investments in zero emissions electricity sources. Wind and solar projects to claim the credit as long as they begin construction by July 2026 or come online before the end of 2027.

Nuclear projects would have more time. It is unclear how the changes will affect the provision’s savings. (-178B). 

This will make electricity more costly as a main incentive to expand with good solar ends because the tax credits are ending. 

_________________ 

I’m at a loss for words on a final editorial comment on all this. It’s just sad and discouraging that millions of people in this country are good with all this stuff including the 300% increase in spending for ICE agents who abduct, incarcerate, and deport asylem seekers (and other migrants) and the 265% increase in funding for new immigration detention centers.

What’s in the Senate Version of Trump’s Big Policy Bill? – The New York Times

Free Webinar: 2025 Arizona Legislative Session Wrap – A Public Health Perspective

July 8, 2025 12:00 PM

Join Vitalyst and Will Humble, Executive Director of the Arizona Public Health Association, for an overview of this year’s legislative session. We will discuss the wins and the challenges for community health and Arizona as a state.

Arizona’s 2025 Legislative Session:
What Passed, What Didn’t, and What It Means for Public Health

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. We’ll dive into the details at this free webinar.

Register Here!

 

Arizona’s 2025 Legislative Session: What Passed, What Didn’t, and What It Means for Public Health

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.

 

📬 Not a member yet? Join here: Individual Membership – AZ Public Health Association
🌐 More resources: www.azpha.org
📣 Follow us on Twitter/X: @willhumble_az 

2025 AzPHA Public Health Awards

We’re proud to announce that our 2025 award program will be held:


Thursday, October 23, 2025
5:30 – 8:30pm
435 Collective

435 S 3rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85003

Each year AzPHA recognizes public health professionals, health professionals and community members across Arizona who are performing extraordinary services to our community at our annual awards event. Many of our awards go back decades.

Register Today: Only $45

Includes complimentary beer, wine, soft drinks & taco bar!

Now Accepting Nominations

for:

  • Policy Maker of the Year 
  • Senator Andy Nichols Honor Award 
  • Pete Wertheim Public Health Leadership Award 
  • Public Health Research Award 
  • Alida Montiel Indigenous Health & Advocacy Award 
  • Rising Public Health Champion 

Nominate Here: Deadline September 1, 2025

A Historic $7.4 Billion Opioid Settlement: What It Means for Arizona’s Public Health

Last week all 55 U.S. states and territories including Attorney General Kris Mayes signed on to a landmark $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. The agreement marks the largest to date with individuals held responsible for the opioid epidemic.

It removes Sackler control over Purdue and bans them from selling opioids in the U.S. – something that was very important to the plaintiffs.

Arizona is poised to receive up to $108 million over the next 15 years for opioid interventions like 1) Addiction treatment & recovery services; 2) Prevention & public awareness; and 3) Infrastructure and workforce development.

For example, Maricopa County has already channeled opioid settlement money into staffing, tools, and community grants to serve local organizations.

More than half of the money is slated for payment during the first three years including a first infusion of $1.5 billion from the Sacklers and $900 million from Purdue.  This front-loaded structure means Arizona (and other states) can quickly ramp up interventions while keeping the momentum going over time.

What’s next for Arizona?

  • Local agreements: County and city governments across Arizona will be invited to formally take part once the settlement receives final approval from the bankruptcy court
  • Strategic investment planning: Agencies like Maricopa County Public Health and Pima County are already mapping out targeted use of these funds—from peer counseling to naloxone distribution and school prevention efforts.
  • Tracking outcomes: Jurisdictions will have to report annually on their impact and expenditures.

State Budget Finished: Modest Wins for Public Health

The Senate passed a $17.6B state budget after midnight last Thursday which includes some of Hobbs’ priorities and some priorities on both Senate Dems and Republicans.

The House then threw a temper tantrum protesting their lack of involvement with the negotiations (even they themselves decided not to take part.

After passing a budget on Thursday am that was sure to be vetoed (and it was), the House then made a few tweaks to the previously passed Senate budget late Thursday night. That amended bill passed and was sent back to the Senate this morning. Because it’s been tweaked from the version – the Senate still needs to vote on it one last time before it gets sent to the governor.

Here’s a link to the main (amended) appropriations bill and the health budget reconciliation bill that the Senate will not take up one last time before sending the package to the Governor.

The Senate had originally included speech therapy and cochlear implants as a covered service for adults but that was stripped by the House last night.  Funds for traditional healing practices for tribal members survived the House amendments.

The House and Senate eventually agreed on the following increases in 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.

APS Rate Hikes & the Corporation Commission’s Industry Capture are Undermining Health

Electricity is already the 2nd second-highest expense for many households, trailing only rent and surpassing even food. Constant rate hikes from our monopoly utilities like APS is making electricity more and more expensive and is seriously damaging the social determinants of health in Arizona.

Last week APS filed yet another rate increase request along with a proposal to make their return on equity even higher for their stock shareholders – proposing to raise residential rates by 14% and boosting their Return on Equity (ROE) entitlement to an eye-popping 10.7%.

Just last year APS asked for (and of course got) an 8% rate increase. True to form, the ACC also rubber-stamped their ROE entitlement to 9.55% the previous year’s 8.7%.

Their current unreasonably high return on equity level of 9.55% is already one of the highest in the country for a ‘regulated’ monopoly.

 APS’ argument that these rate increases are needed for infrastructure development are disingenuous. The ONLY reason to raise the ROE entitlement is to be able to make even more profit for their wealthy Pinnacle West/APS stock and bond investors.

Attorney General Mayes to Vigorously Oppose APS Rate Hike, Seek to Intervene to Protect Consumers | Arizona Attorney General

Meanwhile, APS’s parent company, Pinnacle West and their stock shareholders are on easy street – with $609M in profits in 2024, up from $502M in 2023.

Shareholders are celebrating the fact they know the Corporation Commission is captured by APS and will almost certainly give APS everything their hearts desire.

Make no mistake, this new rate hike and especially the increase in the return on equity are about Pinnacle West shareholder expectations and APS/Pinnacle West CEO Jeffrey B. Guldner’s compensation.

Electricity & the Social Determinants of Health

Public health isn’t just about access to care doctors and hospitals like many people think. It’s shaped by a range of social determinants like housing, food security, financial stability, and access to utilities.

When electricity costs continue to go up because a monopoly like APS can do whatever they like as they’re being overseen by a captured Commission the social determinants of health crumble.

High utility bills push people to the brink especially in the summer. Many families are forced to choose to keep the A/C on or pay rent. Miss a payment, and eviction or disconnection could follow… especially since our landlord and tenant act makes eviction super easy.

Updating Arizona’s Landlord-Tenant Act: A Crucial Step to Prevent Evictions and Save Lives – AZ Public Health Association

When electricity bills eat up more of a family’s limited income than food it causes emotional stress too. Parents worry about their kids’ safety and whether they’ll make it through another month. Chronic stress is a known driver of heart disease, depression, and poor developmental outcomes in children.

APS doesn’t have any competition. It’s a monopoly that’s supposed to be regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission. Yet the ACC keeps greenlighting higher rates and richer shareholder returns, like the 9.55% return on equity it approved of last year.

That’s money being drained from Arizona households into the hands of Pinnacle West investors.

When the ACC rubber-stamps rate hikes and continually allows the company to collect more return on equity and higher rates they’re undermining the very conditions families need to survive. In a state where electricity can cost more than food, where there’s little affordable housing and where evictions are super streamlined – that’s unacceptable.

It’s time to stop putting stock investor profits over people. That means electing people to the AZ Corporation Commission who care about you more than monopoly utilities. Until we do, APS will continue to take us to the cleaners.

Vote carefully.