Will Humble State Legislature, Wills Blog

Arizona’s 2026 Legislative Session: A Summary (& PowerPoint)

2026 AZ Legislative Session: A Public Health Perspective (ppt)

2026 AZ Ballot Propositions: A Public Health Perspective (ppt)

Arizona’s 2026 legislative session is in the books. From a public health perspective, there were some important wins, several bad things were stopped or vetoed, and of course there were lots of missed opportunities. They also out some bad stuff on the November ballot.

The Bills

There were a few bills that passed and were signed that will (or should) improve health-care facility licensing and nursing-home and assisted living oversight.

Several behavioral health bills also made it through. County jails will now be required to screen people for mental health needs and provide further assessment and treatment.  Other new laws will improve the court-ordered evaluation and treatment process. That’s important because better COE and COT can prevent people with serious mental illness end up cycling through jails, emergency rooms, and the courts instead of getting the care they need.

Other good bills restored AHCCCS waiver requests for tribal members, required state-agency chief medical officers to hold an active Arizona medical license, and removed health insurance co-pays for breast-cancer screening.

The governor also vetoed a lot of bad stuff.

She vetoed bills that would have interfered with vaccination, limited basic infection-control options for employers and health-care facilities. She also vetoed proposals that would have added unnecessary red tape to food assistance or required hospitals to collect immigration-status information from patients.

The Budget

The final state budget also included about $21M for new eligibility staff at AHCCCS and DES, plus $12.9M to improve the Health-e-Arizona Plus computer system. That money is badly needed as new federal Medicaid work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks approach.

The State Budget Was the First Step Now Comes the Hard Part

The Propositions

Finally, they sent at least 3 bad propositions to the ballot. 1) Restrictions on voting by mail; 2) A measure that undercuts the ESA accountability voter initiative; and 3) A ban on photo-enforcement systems that would also threaten red-light cameras.

One of the biggest public health victories may be what didn’t pass. HCR 2056, the so-called “right to refuse medical mandates” constitutional amendment died. It would have weakened school vaccination requirements and made it much harder to control outbreaks of infectious disease. 

Will Humble Public Health, Wills Blog

Rural Health Transformation Funds & Bids  to be Announced this Week?

Rural AZ will be facing the hardest effects of the federal Medicaid cuts included in H.R. 1. Over the next few years.

The new law will make it harder for many people to stay enrolled in Medicaid. Starting in January about 500,000 people in the “Medicaid expansion” population will need to prove they’re meeting work or community-engagement requirements.

Congress’ Proposed Medicaid Cuts & Kennedy’s Separate IED: How Arizona Could Lose AHCCCS Coverage for 600,000 Residents – AZ Public Health Association

Expansion members will also need to renew their eligibility every six months instead of once a year. On top of that, changes to provider assessments and state-directed payments will reduce the money Arizona can use to support its Medicaid system in coming years.

Medicaid plays a much larger role in rural communities than in metro Phoenix and Tucson. Rural hospitals, clinics, nursing facilities, behavioral health providers, ambulance services, and maternity care programs depend heavily on Medicaid revenue.

In some parts of rural Arizona more than 40% of residents are covered by AHCCCS. Rural hospitals often have fewer privately insured patients to help make up for Medicaid losses.

That matters because rural health care is already under strain. Rural residents often live far from hospitals, specialists, labor and delivery services, and behavioral health providers. Nearly half of rural Arizona women must travel more than 30 minutes for maternal care. Some rural areas have only one behavioral health provider for every 50,000 residents.

Congress created the Rural Health Transformation Program partly because they knew their Medicaid cuts will hurt rural communities (often their ‘base’ supporters).  So, they created the Rural Health Transformation Program to distribute $50M over the next 5 years for rural healthcare ‘transformation’.

Arizona got $167M for this first year. It’s supposed to help rural communities strengthen their health care systems, workforce, technology, and access to care.

Arizona’s program is being administered by AHCCCS, collaborating with the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and the Arizona Department of Health Services to a lesser extent.

Workforce Development

About $43M per year is planned for rural workforce development. This includes rural education and training, residency support, financial incentives for health professionals who work in rural areas, and stronger pipelines beginning in high school and continuing through colleges, universities, and clinical training programs.

Health Initiatives

About $31M per year is planned for priority health initiatives like behavioral health and substance-use services, maternal and fetal health, chronic disease prevention, community health workers, community health representatives, and rural EMS workforce development.

ADHS has identified maternal emergency readiness, perinatal mental health, congenital syphilis prevention, rural chronic disease screening, CPR and AED access, and rural EMS training as key priorities.

Health Care Accessibility

$38M per year is planned to make rural health care more accessible via telehealth hubs, remote patient monitoring, mobile clinics, satellite care sites, digital infrastructure, and better care coordination. T

Health Care Systems

About $38 million per year is planned for medical equipment, technology upgrades, electronic health records, data sharing, shared-service models, and technical help for rural providers trying to improve their operations and financial stability.

Getting the Money in the Field

Earlier timelines suggested that funding opportunities would begin in April or May. In early June, AHCCCS issued an updated timeline saying funding opportunities would begin in June and continue through the fall.

Awards are supposed to begin on a rolling basis. All first-year money must be obligated by October 30, 2026, and awardees will have until September 30, 2027, to spend it.

As I write this on June 25 the state’s public RHTP websites still don’t list the expected notices of funding opportunity or requests for proposals. The sites continue to say grant opportunities are coming in spring, and awards will be finalized by summer.

AHCCCS AZ Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP)

Gov’s Office of Economic Opportunity (general website – no RHTP web page is available

The state has a lot of work to do before it can responsibly distribute that much money – and getting it right is more important that doing it fast.

Nevertheless, tribal health programs, community health centers, local health departments, colleges, universities, nonprofits, and other community partners are all chomping at the bit to get more info so they can plan for their responses to the grant notices.

Will the awards and notices come out next week as promised?

Will Humble Professional Development, Public Health, Social Determinants, Wills Blog

Free Webinar: Saving Lives Through Heat Relief: Arizona’s Novel Approach

Saving Lives Through Heat Relief: Arizona’s Novel Approach

Friday July 10, 12:00pm – 1:00pm AZ-MST (PST)

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather threat in the Southwest — but Arizona is proving those deaths are preventable. Join the Arizona Public Health Association and the Health Insights Hub by Hess III Consulting for this free virtual Power Hour on July 10, 2026, featuring Maricopa County and Pima County Departments of Public Health, for a closer look at their novel, coordinated approaches to heat relief.

This session shows public health leaders, health and human services organizations, and community partners how cross-sector coordination saves lives — and how to adapt these strategies in your own community.

Register: Saving Lives Through Heat Relief, Arizona’s Novel Approach
Will Humble Vaccination, Wills Blog

FDA Panel Backs New mRNA Flu Vaccine Despite Kennedy’s War on Vaccine Science

Given Kennedy’s unfounded hostility toward mRNA technology and his work to undermine objective vaccine review at CDC, ACIP and FDA… this week’s FDA advisory committee meeting was a surprise.

FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted unanimously that the benefits of Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine, called mFlusiva, outweigh its risks for adults 50 and older.

Most influenza vaccines are still made using eggs. The egg process works but it’s real slow and when strains change in the Northern Hemisphere summer (S Hemisphere Winter) there’s not enough time to adjust the vaccine antigens.

mRNA vaccines use a different method which makes it a lot faster and also offers a chance to update influenza vaccine makeup for new late arriving strains.

At first, I was shocked at the news that VRBPAC was objective in their review. But then it made more sense when I found out that Kennedy hasn’t (yet) completely stacked the makeup of VRBPAC (yet).

Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee June 18, 2026 Meeting Announcement – 06/18/2026 | FDA

FDA reviewers looked at effectiveness, immune response and safety of the new mRNA influenza vaccine in the clinical trials.

In adults over 50 it worked better than a standard-dose flu vaccine. In people 65 and over it had a better immune response than even the high-dose Egg technology) vaccine.

The side effects were sore arms, fatigue and similar short-term reactions to comparison vaccines. Most were mild to moderate and lasted about two days.

FDA reviewers found no clear safety signal in the larger safety database. Serious adverse events, deaths and adverse events of special interest were balanced between the mRNA vaccine and comparison groups.

What Happens Next

Under normal circumstances, FDA would now finish its review and decide whether to approve the vaccine. The expected decision date is in early August.

If FDA approves it, the next normal step would be for CDC’s ACIP to review the vaccine and decide how it should be recommended. ACIP would consider who should get it, whether it should be preferred for any age group, and how it fits with other flu vaccines. Once adopted by CDC leadership, that recommendation becomes official CDC policy.

That’s the rub then. Kennedy’s chokepoint for the vaccine will likely be at the ACIP which is now largely stacked with anti-vaccine zealots.

With the Country Distracted, Kennedy Advances his Agenda to Undermine Vaccine Access – AZ Public Health Association

Will Humble Medicaid, Public Health, Wills Blog

The State Budget Was the First Step Now Comes the Hard Part for AHCCCS & ADES

Last week I wrote a review of this year’s legislative session. One of the biggest public health wins in the final budget was that AHCCCS and DES received real resources to prepare for the huge new eligibility workload that is coming because of H.R. 1.

Divided State Government Produces a Decent Public Health Budget

That includes $10.2M for AHCCCS eligibility staffing, $10.8M for DES eligibility staffing, and $12.9M for AHCCCS Medicaid Enterprise System (computer system) modernization.

Now comes the harder part: turning those dollars into results before January.

Starting in January 2027, most AHCCCS expansion population adults (about 450,000 people) will need to meet new work or community engagement requirements to keep their coverage.

Many of those same members will also need to renew their eligibility every 6 months instead of once per year. That means AHCCCS and DES are headed toward a big increase in eligibility work, notices, documentation, member questions, appeals, and case processing.

Hiring eligibility workers sounds simple, but it’s not. AHCCCS & ADES first need to get positions classified, posted, screened, interviewed, and filled. Then new staff need background checks, onboarding, training, supervision, and enough practice to make correct eligibility decisions.

Eligibility work is detailed, rule-driven, and high-stakes. A small mistake can mean an eligible person loses health coverage, food aid, or cash assistance. It needs a lot of training for folks to be able to do all that.

People looking for state jobs should keep an eye on the Arizona State Jobs website. AHCCCS openings can be found here:

https://www.azstatejobs.gov/jobs/search?page=1&query=&department_uids%5B%5D=ff4b734bc7d6e22f5d026e543c965320

DES openings can be found here:

https://www.azstatejobs.gov/jobs/search?page=1&query=&department_uids%5B%5D=36c8911227a6772ebc3db58e61df7cd3

The other major piece is the computer system.

Arizona’s Health-e-Arizona Plus system is the front door for many people applying for AHCCCS, Nutrition Assistance, and Cash Assistance. It’s also where people send stuff and track their applications. When H.R. 1 implementation begins, that system will need to create a much more complicated eligibility environment.

The system needs to be usable for members, eligibility workers, community assistors, health plans, and call centers. Members will need clear notices, simple instructions, easy ways to upload proof, and reliable ways to know whether AHCCCS received what they sent.

Eligibility workers will need dashboards, automation, clean data matches, and workflows that reduce manual processing instead of adding to it.

The Legislature did its job by providing resources. AHCCCS and DES now need to move (very) quickly and carefully to hire, train, test, communicate, and simplify. Community organizations, health plans, providers, and advocates should also be ready to help members understand what is coming.

The budget win was important. But the real measure of success will be whether eligible Arizonans keep their coverage when the new rules arrive.

Will Humble Family Planning, Maternal Health, Prevention, Public Health, Social Determinants, Wills Blog

Kennedy’s Title X Edict Takes Aim at  Arizona’s Family Planning (& Poverty Prevention) Efforts

For more than 50 years, one of our most successful anti-poverty & public health programs has been the federal Title X Family Planning Program.

Title X was signed into law in 1970 with support from both political parties. President Nixon said at the time that family planning services should be available to all people who want them but cannot afford them.

The objective of Title X and has remained until this week to help people plan and space pregnancies so they can decide when to start or grow their families.

Title X is the only federal program focused only on family planning. The program provides funding to states, health departments, community health centers, and nonprofit organizations. They use the funding to provide family planning services and reproductive health care to people who otherwise might not be able to afford them.

From a public health point of view, the program has been a big success.

Title X Helped Cut Teen Births

Title X improves health in lots of ways. One of its most important successes has been helping reduce unintended pregnancies and teen births. That matters because early and unintended pregnancies are among the strongest predictors of long-term poverty.

The U.S. teen birth rate dropped 78% from 1991 to 2021. More recently, the birth rate among teens ages 15 to 19 dropped 71% between 2000 and 2022.

That progress happened because of better access to birth control, better family planning services, and more young people getting the tools they need to make informed decisions.

Preventing Teen Births Helps Break the Poverty Cycle

Teen moms are way less likely to finish high school and more likely to live in poverty than young people who delay having children. Their children are more likely to grow up poor, have worse health outcomes and face more barriers in school and later in life.

So preventing teen births isn’t just about preventing pregnancy. It’s about helping interrupt the cycle of poverty from one generation to the next. It helps people space pregnancies in healthier ways and helps young people stay in school, enter the workforce, and build stability before starting a family.

That’s why Title X has always been such an important public health program. It helps people decide when they’re ready to have kids and gives them the tools and resources they need to act on that.

The evidence is clear that helping people plan and space pregnancies improves maternal health, child health, education, work opportunities, and family income.

Basically, Title X is one of the U.S.’ most effective poverty prevention programs.

 Title X in Arizona

For many people in Arizona, a Title X clinic is their only regular source of health care. These clinics provide birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, pregnancy testing and counseling, and basic infertility services.

Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health is a 52-year-old Arizona nonprofit that has administered the Title X grant in Arizona for 26 years. Through a statewide network of service sites, Title X serves about 30,000 unique clients in Arizona each year.

Kennedy’s Edict

This week, Kennedy announced that next year’s Title X funding will stop their long-standing focus on family planning and pregnancy prevention.

Instead, he wants Title X to focus on fertility awareness and family formation.

Fertility awareness can help people who are trying to become pregnant. But it doesn’t prevent unintended pregnancy. In other words, it doesn’t work as a family planning strategy.

Title X wasn’t designed by Congress to increase births. It was designed to help people decide when they’re ready to have children and how to space those pregnancies in ways that improve health and economic outcomes for families.

Note: Kennedy’s decision is aligned with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint, which calls for ending federal family planning policy and making it about fertility awareness & family formation.

The New Grant Rules Change the Mission

Kennedy’s edict was first published as a draft back in April 2026 and was made official this week.

The new guidance downplays birth control while focusing on fertility awareness and natural family planning.

The word “contraception” appears once in the 67-page funding announcement. The document is peppered with the word “fertility”.

2027_Title_X_Services_Notice HHS

Kennedy is even creating a political review before applications are scored on merit. Applications will first be screened for alignment with his values before they’re judged on whether they can actually provide family planning services.

Arizona Services Are Still Open — For Now

For Arizonans right now, nothing has changed (yet). Affirm’s clinics are open and clients are receiving services. Their current Title X grant runs through March 31, 2027 (and hasn’t been canceled yet).

Affirm — High-quality Health Services in AZ

Affirm is preparing a competitive application for the next grant cycle. Applications are due in January, 2027. But if the new federal funding rules stand as written, highly qualified and experienced providers will be excluded from the program before their applications are ever reviewed on merit.

Now the Courts May Decide (again)

As has been the case for this whole administration, the judicial branch is the only backstop we have to prevent the decimation of a host of public health programs — at least until the mid-term elections or until Congress starts doing its job and providing checks and balances.

The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association and the Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania filed as case this week with support from the ACLU and ACLU of Pennsylvania, in federal court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania challenging Kennedy’s new approach.

The lawsuit challenges the funding announcement itself. It argues that Kennedy is trying to reshape Title X (using the Project 2025 model) through the federal grant process in a way that conflicts with the law Congress passed.

The lawsuit also argues that the new funding announcement conflicts with the 2021 Title X rules, which require grantees to provide inclusive, patient-centered care to all clients regardless of gender identity, race, or national origin.

View the Lawsuit: NFPRHA v. Kennedy

In the coming days or weeks, we’ll see whether a federal judge places a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order on this most recent Kennedy edict.

I think she or he will.

Will Humble State Legislature, Wills Blog

List of Ballot Propositions Taking Shape: Our Positions

2026 AZ Ballot Measures – A Public Health Perspective (ppt)

Now that session is over, we turn our advocacy attention toward taking positions on the various ballot measures in order to educate voters about the public health policy implications of each. There will likely be 5 ballot measures we’ll be taking public positions on by writing arguments in the voter publicity pamphlet.

It looks like there will be 11 or so propositions on the ballot. More detail on this in the coming weeks and months – but here’s a short summary of those we expect to take positions on in the voter publicity pamphlet:

SCR1004 — Photo-Enforcement Systems: Vote No

SCR1004 would make it much harder for Arizona cities and towns to use photo-enforcement systems. Communities without an existing contract by the end of 2026 would be barred from adopting the technology. Cities that already use it would need voter approval to keep their programs and would have to return to voters every 10 years.

There’s a reasonable debate about the overuse of speed cameras, especially when cities place them on roads with artificially low speed limits. But SCR1004 also covers red-light cameras. That goes too far. Properly placed red-light cameras can discourage drivers from running red lights and reduce dangerous T-bone crashes, serious injuries and deaths. Local communities should keep the ability to use this tool at high-risk intersections.

HCR2001 — AZ Secure Elections Act: Vote No

HCR2001 would make major changes to Arizona’s early- and mail-voting systems. It would require voters to provide government-issued identification when casting a ballot, including when voting by mail. It would end most early voting by 7 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day and require voters to confirm a specific mailing address before each biennial general election to continue receiving mail ballots.

Arizona’s existing mail-voting system is widely used and familiar to voters. Adding new paperwork and identification requirements would create avoidable barriers, especially for older adults, people with disabilities, rural residents and people with limited transportation options. Voting access affects whose voices are heard when elected officials make decisions about health care, education, housing and other conditions that shape community health.

Free, Fair and Secure Elections Act: Vote Yes

The Free, Fair and Secure Elections Act is a citizen initiative designed to protect access to voting in the Arizona Constitution. It would preserve voting by mail, early in-person voting and Election Day voting at county voting centers. It would also allow voters to sign up to automatically receive a ballot for each election.

The initiative would keep voter-identification requirements and specify that elections are decided only by eligible U.S. citizens. At the same time, it would prevent the Legislature from ending mail-in voting or sharply reducing the early-voting period.

Arizona voters have relied on early and mail voting for decades. Protecting that access matters from a public-health perspective because communities are healthier when eligible voters can take part in decisions affecting schools, health systems, transportation and local services.

Protect Education Act: Vote Yes

Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program has expanded rapidly, but the basic accountability rules haven’t kept pace. The Protect Education Act would add reasonable guardrails while preserving access for students with disabilities and others who qualified before the program’s 2022 expansion.

The measure would limit newer eligibility to families earning $150,000 or less, adjusted annually for inflation. It would prohibit the use of ESA funds for luxury and other noneducational purchases, require stronger financial transparency and establish basic safety standards. Schools and service providers receiving public money would face added oversight, including background-check requirements. Unused funds sitting in private accounts would be returned to support public education.

Education policy is health policy. Safe schools, effective education and responsible use of public resources all contribute to healthier communities.

HCR 2048 Poison Pill for Protect Education Act

On its face, HCR2048 would amend the Arizona Constitution to prohibit the state from sweeping unused ESA funds held for children of military families at the end of the year.

Although its title focuses on military families, the measure is really designed to nullify the Protect Education Act if it passes.

Current Arizona Department of Education policy already allows unused ESA funds to roll over from one fiscal year to the next for everybody who gets them.

The real reason for HCR2048 has nothing to do with military families. Its real purpose is to void the entire Protect Education Act if it passes.

Because there’s no targeted exemption for military families to keep left over ESA money, the Protect Education Act would be in conflict with HCR2048 if they both pass. At that point, the protect Education Act (which we support) would then be void

Will Humble State Legislature, Wills Blog

Gritty Summary of the 2026 Legislative Session: Public Health Wins, Vetoes and Bills Still on the Governor’s Desk

View Our PowerPoint Summarizing the 2026 Legislative Session

There were some meaningful public health wins this year. Several bills we supported made it through the Legislature and have already been signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs. A few other good bills are still sitting on her desk.

The governor also vetoed several bad bills, and we’re urging her to veto five more that passed during the final weeks of the session.

Several proposals we opposed died before they could reach the finish line. That includes HCR2056, the sweeping constitutional amendment that would have undermined school vaccine requirements and many other basic disease-control tools. That one was a major threat, and its failure is a public health victory.

Republican lawmakers did send three other measures we oppose directly to voters. Because ballot referrals bypass the governor, those fights will move to the November election.

Here’s the final rundown.

Ballot Referrals We Oppose — Headed to Voters in November

HCR2001 — Voting Restrictions

Makes early voting and voting by mail much more difficult. Among other changes, it would end the longstanding practice of using a voter’s signature as the primary method of verifying a mailed ballot and adding new identification hurdles. Status: On the November ballot

HCR2048 — ESA Expansion Disguised as a Military-Family Measure

The title makes this sound like a narrow proposal allowing children of former military service members to save unused Empowerment Scholarship Account funds for college. But the broader effect would be to block important ESA accountability reforms, including key provisions of the Protect Education Act if voters approve that citizen initiative. Status: On the November ballot

SCR1004 — Photo-Enforcement Ban

It would prohibit cities and towns from installing new photo-enforcement systems and make it difficult for communities with existing programs to keep them. The measure covers red-light cameras, not just speed cameras. Well-placed red-light cameras can prevent serious and deadly crashes at dangerous intersections. Status: On the November ballot

Good Bills We Supported — Passed & Signed

HB2176 — ADHS Licensing Reform

Prevents health-care facilities from evading accountability through “license swapping.” It also improves notice requirements and creates a clearer informal dispute-resolution process.

HB2177 — AHCCCS Services for Tribal Members

Restores AHCCCS waiver requests that it could provide more services to tribal members. Those requests were dropped in 2010.

HB2178 — State-Agency Chief Medical Officers

Requires chief medical officers working for state agencies to hold an active Arizona MD or DO license.

HB2195 — Skilled-Nursing Facility Oversight

Improves nursing-home licensing and oversight. It gives ADHS access to certain personnel records, requires faster delivery of statements of deficiencies and aligns complaint investigations with federal standards.

HB2673 — Mental-Health Screening in County Jails

Requires county jails to provide mental-health screening and ensure that people receive more assessments and treatment when called for.

HB2923 — Court-Ordered Treatment Judicial Review

Improves the judicial-review process for court-ordered treatment cases and creates clearer standards for courts and petitioners.

________________________ 

Good Bills That Passed — We Hope the Governor Signs Them

HB2244 — Evictions and Satisfaction of Judgments

Makes a modest but useful improvement to the landlord-tenant system by addressing court-fee relief and the handling of satisfied eviction judgments.

SB1113 — Service of Process for Evaluation Agencies

Allow an evaluation agency to serve certain court documents when authorized by a judge. This should improve the administration of the court-ordered evaluation process.

SB1162 — Health-Care Licensing and Inspection Coordination

Directs ADHS and AHCCCS to coordinate oversight work and reduce duplicative inspections. It also allows ADHS to resolve some complaints and self-reports through off-site review. That should improve efficiency, but implementation will need to be monitored to ensure that off-site reviews don’t become superficial “windshield inspections.”

SB1165 — Breast-Cancer Screening Cost Sharing

Prohibits insurers from imposing cost-sharing requirements for preventive breast-cancer screening and more services needed to complete the screening process.

SB1247 — Assisted-Living Occupants

Allows a person who isn’t receiving services to live with someone in an assisted-living facility or assisted-living home when the facility agrees.

SB1564 — Electronic Monitoring in Long-Term Care

Requires assisted-living and skilled-nursing facilities to publicly disclose whether they allow residents, patients or families to install video-monitoring devices in rooms with the consent of the people living there.

Bad Bills We Opposed — Vetoed by the Governor

SB1051 — Hospital Immigration-Status Reporting

Would have required hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status, keep the information and report aggregate data. The measure risked discouraging people from seeking needed medical care.

HB2206 — SNAP Error-Rate Mandate

Would have required the Arizona Department of Economic Security to reduce its SNAP payment error rate to no more than 3% by 2030 and imposed additional audit and reporting requirements. The measure focused on punitive oversight at a time when ADES already faces major administrative burdens.

HB2396 — SNAP Waiver Request

Would have required ADES to request a federal waiver related to allowable SNAP purchases. The measure was poorly designed and would have added administrative work without a clear public-health benefit.

Bad Bills That Passed — We’re Urging the Governor to Veto Them

HB2086 — Vaccination and Mask Requirements

Would prohibit businesses and government entities from requiring masks or proof of vaccination in many circumstances. The bill is broad and unclear, and it could interfere with basic infection-control measures during outbreaks.

Status: On the governor’s desk — veto urged

HB2248 — Medical-Intervention Restrictions

Would prevent private businesses and other organizations from adopting vaccine requirements, including in some health-care settings. The Legislature shouldn’t be micromanaging the infection-control policies of private employers and medical facilities.

Status: On the governor’s desk — veto urged

HB2448 — SNAP Work-Requirement Waivers

Would prohibit ADES from requesting certain federal SNAP work-requirement waivers unless they are required by federal law or specifically authorized by state law. That would limit Arizona’s flexibility to respond to economic conditions and protect food access.

Status: On the governor’s desk — veto urged

SB1011 — Vaccination Status on Infant Death Certificates

Would require medical examiners investigating sudden infant deaths to check vaccination status and include that information on death certificates. The measure appears designed to fuel misinformation rather than improve the scientific investigation of infant deaths.

Status: On the governor’s desk — veto urged

SB1212 — Vaccine Reimbursement Restrictions

Would prevent health insurers from offering different vaccine-administration reimbursement rates based on whether providers meet vaccination benchmarks. That would interfere with incentive programs designed to improve vaccination rates.

Status: On the governor’s desk — veto urged

Good Bills We Supported — But They Died

HB2051 — AHCCCS Breastfeeding and Lactation Coverage

Would have improved AHCCCS coverage of inpatient and outpatient lactation services and addressed reimbursement gaps.

HB2064 — Vulnerable Pedestrian Safety

Would have strengthened protections for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

HB2194 — Prior-Authorization and Claim Denial Transparency

Would have required insurers to provide clear contact information explaining how patients and providers can appeal denied claims and prior-authorization decisions.

HB2214 — Skin-Cancer Prevention License Plate

Would have created a specialty license plate supporting nonprofit sun-safety education.

HB2224 — Produce Incentive Program

Would have proposed $2 million per year for produce incentives administered through ADES, helping families afford healthier food.

HB2228 — Elder-Abuse Registry Accountability

Would have strengthened accountability for reporting elder-abuse information from Adult Protective Services to the Attorney General’s Office.

HB2252 — Midwives and Ambulance Transport

Would have allowed midwives to go with patients in ambulances during hospital transfers when approved by the emergency medical services medical director.

HB2542 — Preventive Dental Care in AHCCCS

Would have allowed Arizona’s limited AHCCCS adult dental benefit to cover preventive services, not just emergencies.

HB2617 — Prostate-Cancer Screening

Would have required health plans to cover PSA screening without cost sharing for higher-risk men over age 40.

HB2683 — SNAP Contingency Funding

Would have provided $5 million to help keep SNAP benefits during a federal government shutdown.

HB2914 — Electronic Monitoring in Long-Term Care

Would have authorized families to install monitoring devices in assisted-living and skilled-nursing facilities when all residents of the room consented. AHCA kills this every year.

HB2958 — AHCCCS Dental Coverage During Pregnancy

Would have required AHCCCS to cover dental care for pregnant members, using prescription-drug rebate funds for the state match.

SB1082 — Petting-Zoo Hygiene

Would have required basic handwashing and supervision standards at petting zoos. Simple infection-control measures like these prevent avoidable illnesses.

SB1112 — Witnesses in Mental-Health Hearings

Would have allowed people familiar with a patient’s behavior to provide information during court-ordered evaluation proceedings.

SB1169 — Graduate Medical Education

Would have provided $18 million in funding and expenditure authority to expand medical-residency slots in Arizona.

SB1574 — School Immunization-Rate Disclosure

Would have required schools to make school-specific vaccination rates available upon request.

SB1716 — Clozapine Access

Would have reduced dangerous interruptions in access to clozapine for some people with serious mental illness.

SB1813 — Arizona State Hospital Bed Access

Would have based future admissions to the Arizona State Hospital on clinical need rather than geography. It also would have removed the outdated 55-bed limit for Maricopa County patients.

Bad Bills We Opposed — And Are Glad Died

HB2005 — Clinical Decisions Involving Unvaccinated Patients

HB2007 — Over-the-Counter Ivermectin

HCR2056 — Constitutional Right to Refuse Medical Mandates

HB2059 — Interstate 8 Speed Limit

HB2060 — University Health Centers and Abortion Care

HB2061 — Health-Care Services and Patient Rights

HB2107 — SNAP Purchase Restrictions

HB2148 — Legislative Appropriation of Federal Grants

HB2154 — Public Funding and Abortion Services

HB2267 — Renewable-Energy Projects as Public Nuisances

HB2331 — Reliable Energy Standard

HB2364 — Mailing Abortion Medication

HB2797 — SNAP and TANF Eligibility Red Tape

SB1016 — Religious Exemptions for Medical Products

SB1019 — Fluoridation Ban

SB1070 — “Trump Derangement Syndrome” Study

SB1194 — Clinical Decisions Involving Unvaccinated Patients

SB1236 — AHCCCS Eligibility Verification

SB1368 — SNAP Food Restrictions

The Bottom Line

The 2026 legislative session produced a mixed result. Several solid public-health measures became law, particularly bills improving health-care licensing, nursing-home oversight, mental-health screening in jails and court-ordered treatment procedures. Gov. Hobbs also vetoed several harmful measures.

At the same time, several useful bills died, including proposals addressing dental care during pregnancy, preventive dental services in AHCCCS, Arizona State Hospital access, lactation services and the physician workforce.

The immediate priority is clear: Gov. Hobbs should sign the good bills still on her desk and veto the remaining bills that would interfere with vaccination programs, disease-control measures and food aid.

Then the focus shifts to November. Voters will decide the fate of three legislative ballot referrals that could make it harder to vote, weaken ESA accountability and effectively end red-light cameras in Arizona.

Will Humble State Legislature, Wills Blog

The Healthcare Budget Reconciliation Bill: More State Level Eligibility Checks

The budget is not just a list of appropriations. It also includes budget reconciliation bills, or BRBs. These bills amend state law that are connected to the budget.

The healthcare BRB has a long list of AHCCCS eligibility directives. Some are reasonable efforts to improve accuracy. Others will just create more administrative barriers for eligible members.

Here’s the condensed version of AHCCCS’ new responsibilities in the Health BRB. AHCCCS must:

  • check lottery and gambling winnings, including online gambling winnings, when deciding eligibility.
  • review death records, wage changes, employment information, unemployment benefits and evidence that a member may have moved out of state.
  • review a member’s eligibility whenever it receives information suggesting that the person’s circumstances may have changed.
  • not accept a person’s statement that they live in Arizona without independently verifying residency.
  • may accept eligibility assessments from the federal health-insurance marketplace, but it must independently verify the information and make its own eligibility decision.
  • may enter into agreements with other state agencies and contract with outside vendors to obtain more eligibility information.
  • submit any necessary federal waiver requests to CMS by April 1, 2027.

Some of these data checks make sense. AHCCCS shouldn’t enroll someone who died, moved out of state or won the lottery.  But… every added verification requirement creates another opportunity for an eligible person to fall through the cracks, especially the provision that they can’t accept a person’s statement that they live in Arizona without independently verifying residency.

Hospital Presumptive Eligibility Narrows

The healthcare BRB also directs AHCCCS to ask the federal government for permission to narrow hospital presumptive eligibility.

Presumptive eligibility allows hospitals to temporarily enroll patients who appear eligible for AHCCCS while their full application is being processed. The BRB would limit that pathway primarily to only kids and pregnant women.

Dementia Planning and Newborn Screening

ADHS also got $700K for an Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia initiative. ADHS would become the lead state agency for dementia planning, coordinate programs across state agencies, engage stakeholders and regularly update Arizona’s Alzheimer’s Disease State Plan. There are a lot of details but $700K looks stingy for what they’re expected to do.

The budget also gives the state lab $755K in new money to add Duchenne muscular dystrophy to Arizona’s newborn screening panel (without needing to raise the newborn screening fees).

If you want to get more details, you can look at the following links:

Will Humble State Legislature, Wills Blog

Divided State Government Produces a Decent Public Health Budget

Arizona finally has a state budget agreement. Gov. Hobbs & Republican leaders from the Arizona House and Senate negotiated a compromise budget of nearly $18.3 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1. In the end it passed with a coalition of some Dems and some Republicans.

Nobody got everything they wanted. From a public health perspective, the most important things to know are that AHCCCS and ADES got the funding and increased personnel counts to be in a better position to meet the enormous administrative challenges they and their members (AHCCCS and SNAP) face because of H.R. 1.

AHCCCS and ADES will be getting about $21M more in state funds to hire more eligibility workers (who are essential to handing the avalanche of incoming H.R.1 red tape). The budget also funds for critical computer upgrades for both ADES and AHCCCS (essential for managing the paperwork burden members will face because of H.R.1. ADOA even got some money to help with the AHCCCS/ADES systems.

Most state agencies got a 2.5% reduction in their general fund operating line items – but ADHS, AHCCCS and ADES were exempt from those cuts.

The end of the session early Saturday morning was raucous. The session Saturday morning at 4:45 a.m. after a long night of rapid-fire voting. Republican lawmakers used the final hours to advance a series of conservative ballot referrals that will bypass Gov. Katie Hobbs and go directly to voters in November.

The measures include proposals affecting voting rules, red-light cameras, and passing a ballot referral that, if it passes, would negate the voter initiative that will put some financial guardrails on the ESA voucher giveaway. They also put a measure on the ballot that will make it a lot harder for people to vote by mail because they’d have to go in and prove who they are rather than using signature verification on the mail in ballot.

While the legislative session is over, many of the year’s most consequential policy debates have simply shifted to the November ballot.

AZ Legislature ends 2026 session after late-night GOP push to send conservative agenda to voters

AHCCCS: More Eligibility Staff & Better Computer Systems

H.R. 1 creates a barrage of new paperwork requirements for Medicaid agencies and their members. Beginning with renewals that start 1/1/27, most adults enrolled through the Medicaid expansion population will need to renew their eligibility every six months instead of once per year. That doubles the workload among those 500,000 members and AHCCCS eligibility workers.

On top of that, the same group (about 500,000 people) will need to document that they’re meeting the new federal work and community-engagement requirements or qualify for an exemption. Better software and hardware will be needed in order for people to be able to report their compliance and ADES and AHCCCS will need well over 100 more eligibility staff to process the redetermination applications.

You can read more about the federal requirements in our earlier post:
https://azpha.org/2026/06/08/cms-finally-defines-what-counts-toward-their-new-work-requirements/

AHCCCS will be getting $10.2M to help implement the H.R. 1 eligibility changes. Of that amount, $4M is specifically designated for information-technology upgrades. The budget also provides $12.9M to ADOA to continue replacing the AHCCCS mainframe system.

That investment is badly needed. AHCCCS will be expected to process more eligibility checks and help members navigate more complicated rules (work requirements). Trying to do that with outdated computer systems would be a recipe for failure. The biggest risk is not that large numbers of people will intentionally refuse to follow the new rules. The bigger risk is that eligible people will lose their health insurance because the paperwork is confusing, the notices are unclear or the computer systems do not work well enough.

I don’t really know whether this is enough money… but I do know it’s a big improvement from where we are today. Of course – it’ll be super critical for both ADES and AHCCCS to use this money wisely, be clear to IT contractors about what they want- and to hold them strictly accountable for timelines and quality testing. Now, on to ADES.

ADES: An Ancient Computer System & the Coming Paperwork Avalanche

ADES also got important resources in the compromise budget. They play a big role in processing eligibility for AHCCCS and SNAP.  They’re already under strain and will face more work when federal benefit rules become more complicated in January.

The budget provides ADES with $10.8M for SNAP error-rate reduction workload and $6.1M  for costs related to its “legacy” mainframe systems. “Legacy” is an unusually generous word choice. “Ancient” would be more accurate.

Arizona is asking ADES employees to administer increasingly complicated programs using computer systems that were designed in a different era. The new funding will not solve every problem, but it should help ADES hire more staff and begin addressing some of its most serious technology limitations.

1 2 3