Governor Katie Hobbs has consented to submit nominations for state agency heads to the state Senate for approval once more. The settlement would put an end to a case that has been pending since December; a judge must yet sign it. The Democratic governor used a workaround to avoid nomination hearings, which Republican Senate President Warren Petersen sued because she deemed them to be a “political circus.”
Enraged by the treatment of her nominees in a newly established screening committee, Hobbs named “executive deputy directors” to oversee 13 state departments in September 2023. Petersen referred to the compromise reached between Hobbs and Senate Republicans on Monday as “a win all the way around.”
Just two days before an Aug. 14 court hearing where both sides were scheduled to submit oral arguments before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney, Hobbs and Petersen worked out the agreement. The judge then had the option to mandate that Hobbs submit her nominees for directors to the state Senate. According to the statute, Hobbs would have to submit the names of the nominees to the state Senate “by the first week of the next Legislative session,” if the agreement is reached. That is slated at the beginning of January.
The unsigned agreement supports Blaney’s June decision by stating, “The Court finds that the Governor did not comply with these requirements for the agency director positions at issue.” However, nothing in either legal document “may be construed as ruling on the validity or legality” of Hobbs’ manoeuvre, and the finding would replace the June decision. The persons Hobbs appointed to lead the agencies would continue in their positions until the next legislative session convened.
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