By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
If the Hobbs administration has proven itself to be uniquely skilled at anything over the past two years, it’s incompetence and negligence. But now, Arizona’s governor has taken the next step toward outright fraud.
As a part of her recent budget proposal, Hobbs has asked for a supplemental appropriation to the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) to cover a shortfall in the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). Without the additional funding, the DDD could run out of money by May, affecting many people under a program that provides services to Arizonans with disabilities.
For weeks, Hobbs has been trying to push the blame onto the legislature, but the reality is, she has no one to blame but herself.
The problem stems from a COVID-era program funded entirely by the federal government that would pay parents who operate as caregivers for their children with disabilities—the Parents as Paid Caregivers program. The program was intended to be temporary, but Hobbs received approval from the federal government in February 2024 to make it permanent.
That approval came with a catch. Beginning on April 1, the State of Arizona would have to cover 32% of the costs, which Hobbs attempted to get funding for in last year’s budget. Her proposal was not approved by the legislature, which she mutually agreed to as part of the budget process. But she continued funding the program anyway—likely believing that she would be able to flip the legislature in November’s election or bully lawmakers into giving her the money. She failed on both counts and now has created a shortfall in the DDD program that has exceeded $100 million…
