by Staff Reporter | Feb 6, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Republican lawmakers in the Arizona House are continuing their investigation into Gov. Katie Hobbs over an alleged pay-to-play scheme.
On Monday, House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) announced the House advisory team obtained outside counsel from out of state to investigate the connection between Hobbs and a Glendale group home, Sunshine Residential Homes, independently.
Montenegro said in a statement that the connection between the governor and the group home constituted special treatment derived directly from political donations. The lawmaker said that the addition of outside counsel was necessary to achieve the full independence an investigation of this significance needed.
“The advisory team has done serious, disciplined work, and their recommendation to bring in independent counsel is the right next step,” said Montenegro. “The House will not look the other way when taxpayer dollars and vulnerable children may have been used as leverage in a political scheme. We will follow the facts, consider the findings, and ensure transparency and accountability in state government. Arizonans deserve nothing less.”
The outside counsel is Justin Smith with the Missouri-based James Otis Law Group. The law group was founded by Trump’s solicitor general, D. John Sauer.
Smith is the listed counsel in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against a woman, E. Jean Carroll, alleging battery and defamation. Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he publicly denied her 2019 claims of him sexually assaulting her in the 1990s.
That petition is before the Supreme Court.
According to Montenegro, Smith will conduct records review and interviews. All findings will go directly to the advisory team and House leadership.
Advisory team members are State Reps. Selina Bliss (R-LD1), David Livingston (R-LD28), Matt Gress (R-LD4), Quang Nguyen (R-LD1), and Neal Carter (R-LD15).
Last November, that advisory team was created to follow up on 2024 media reporting alleging the pay-to-play scheme within the Arizona Department of Child Safety under Hobbs’ direction.
In the summer of 2024, the Arizona Republic reported that Sunshine Residential Homes received a unique 30% rate increase following a donation exceeding $400,000 to Hobbs and the Arizona Democratic Party.
Much of 2024 was spent attempting to determine who, if anyone, was fit to conduct an investigation into the allegations against the governor.
One of the earliest requests came from Republican State Sen. T.J. Shope, who asked Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate. Mayes complied initially, but was immediately hit with other Republican lawmakers and state leaders asking her to recuse herself due to an alleged conflict of interest.
State Rep. Matt Gress asked Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and Auditor General Lindsey Perry to investigate.
All three leaders are investigating. Mitchell and Perry are coordinating on one investigation, while Mayes will conduct her own investigation.
As reported last November, the work of the House’s advisory team will coordinate with these parallel investigations by the auditor general and county attorney, and the attorney general.
In February 2024, Sunshine Residential Homes owners Elizabeth and Simon Kottoor maxed out their donations to Hobbs’ reelection campaign. Each gave the maximum $5,400 contribution amount.
In October 2022, the Kottoors gave Hobbs’ initial gubernatorial campaign $10,000.
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by Staff Reporter | Feb 5, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) released an improved grade for the state’s largest charter school operator.
Last month, ASBE awarded Primavera Online School a letter grade of “B” for the 2024-2025 school year.
The threat of closure of the state’s largest charter school operator attracted the attention of President Donald Trump allies and school choice advocates.
The corrected grading follows nearly a year of efforts by the charter school to overturn a charter revocation from the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools (ASBCS).
In a statement, Primavera Online School stated that ASBE’s latest determination validated their year-long defense of their performance.
“These findings confirm that Primavera’s academic performance has always been within the state’s definition of a performing school and is currently a highly performing school, consistent with its long-standing mission of serving at-risk and non-traditional students across Arizona,” said the school in a press release.
School choice proponents petitioned Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne to intervene in the threat against Primavera Online School.
However, Horne clarified last spring that he had no power or influence over charter school revocation decisions, even with having a seat on ASBCS.
“The legislature chose to divide jurisdiction regarding charter schools between the Arizona Department of Education and the Charter Board. The current issue is within the jurisdiction of the Charter Board. I have no power or influence over that. If I were to try to influence it, the Charter Board would resent the trespass on their turf, and it would do more harm than good,” said Horne at the time. “There is likely to be an appeal to an administrative law judge, and the school needs to marshal its evidence to present to the administrative law judge. If I am asked for any data or other information that the department has, I will of course immediately provide it regardless of which side requests it.”
Without intervention, ASBCS revoked Primavera Online School’s charter last summer.
Primavera Online School leadership publicly fought the revocation, accusing ASBCS of incorrectly redesignating their school as traditional rather than its historical designation as alternative.
The school did receive approval for alternative status for the 2025 fiscal year, and its application for the 2026 fiscal year was pending before the Arizona Department of Education at the time of the revocation.
Its founder and CEO, Damian Creamer, failed to convince ASBCS that they had improperly redesignated his school.
The board cited three years of low academic results as the basis for its decision.
However, a retrospective review by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) recently conducted focusing on the online charter school’s academic standing over the three scrutinized school years (2022, 2023, and 2024) determined that the charter school would have warranted a passing grade of “at least C” under an alternative school status.
Primavera Online School was founded in 2001 to assist students with a high risk of not graduating from conventional schools. Since opening, the school has had over 250,000 students. Approximately 8,000 students attend the school annually.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Feb 2, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Republican majority at the Arizona House and Senate are advancing legislation to ensure full income tax conformity.
The state remains without conformity since Gov. Katie Hobbs rejected a solution by the Republican-led legislature amounting to $1.1 billion. Republicans are trying to bring another solution to the table with HB 2785. It’s unclear if Hobbs will pull up a seat for it.
Earlier this month, Hobbs vetoed legislation that would have aligned Arizona tax code with many of the congressional changes passed last summer under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The governor accused Republicans of giving tax breaks to special interests and increasing taxes on working senior citizens. Hobbs said she would only agree to the Democratic minority’s Middle Class Tax Cuts Package.
“I urge you to rethink your partisan political theater and send the Middle Class Tax Cuts Package to my desk,” said Hobbs. “We should not hold tax cuts for over 88 percent of Arizonans hostage in order to force through tax breaks for special interests. Other questions of tax conformity must be decided through budget negotiations, following the precedent set by Governor Ducey.”
Unfortunately for the governor, the Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR) had already advised Arizonans on how to file under federal tax law changes.
Several days before the governor issued her veto, ADOR notified lawmakers of the impossibility of altering their forms during the filing season. This latest bill from Republicans would codify ADOR’s instructions to taxpayers. Senate Finance Committee Chairman J.D. Mesnard (R-LD13) said the bill wasn’t the preferred approach since it wouldn’t provide as much relief to working families.
“The Department of Revenue has already told taxpayers how to file, and we are compelled to make sure the law and that guidance align, especially since the Department has publicly advised taxpayers not to wait to file,” said Mesnard. “Doing nothing would only guarantee more confusion and force families and businesses to fix the government’s mistakes later. We will never support a plan that requires taxpayers to amend their returns because state leaders failed to act when it mattered. It would be completely unjust.”
Without conformity, Arizonans have no way of knowing the accuracy of their filings. It’s likely taxpayers will need to refile, and even possibly pay more than they are prepared to pay.
House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) said Hobbs was to blame for the present burden of impossible compliance facing Arizona taxpayers. The speaker said the governor has refused to communicate further with Republican leadership on conformity.
“Arizona taxpayers are being asked to file on forms that do not clearly match state law, while the Governor offers no answers and no alternative plan,” said Montenegro. “We asked for clarification privately. We asked publicly. We sent a detailed letter. We received silence. With tax season underway, waiting is not an option. This legislation exists because executive inaction left taxpayers exposed, and the Legislature has a responsibility to step in and restore clarity.”
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14) said it was Hobbs’ agency that introduced the deductive provisions for wealthier filers to which she objected.
“It’s unfortunate the Governor has chosen not to work with us. The Legislature is stepping in to provide certainty by conforming state law to the tax forms her DOR has already released, including the State and Local Tax Deduction,” said Petersen. “The Governor would call that provision a tax break for the rich. We do not support the SALT deduction, but her agency has already included it on the forms, leaving the Legislature no choice but to address it. Tax reform was meant to make filing simpler and more predictable, not create confusion, anger, and frustration for Arizona taxpayers.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Feb 2, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller again refused to drop his agreement to assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with deportations.
Miller joined the agreement to team up with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through a 287(g) Task Force Model last August. The county attorney said this agreement would allow his office to “stop sitting on the sidelines” as illegal immigration and its consequences victimize more Pinal County residents.
The 287(g) Program authorizes state and local law enforcement to exercise certain federal immigration enforcement powers. The number of these agreements has grown exponentially under the Trump administration.
Miller said in a Friday press release that he would not yield to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors demand that he end the agreement to assist ICE.
“While the Pinal County Attorney will always discuss a compromise, he will never compromise on prosecuting dangerous criminals,” said Miller. “[T]his agreement will enable us to assist ICE to go after known criminals acting in our communities.”
The Phoenix ICE Field Office said the agreement with Pinal County Attorney’s Office could only be suspended or terminated by either the county attorney or DHS.
DHS reported in a year-end review published last week that it secured over 1,200 agreements through the 287(g) program in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
This latest statement from the county attorney was a response to the most recent development in the ongoing conflict between himself and the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. In a special session on Friday, the board authorized outside counsel to take civil action to void or enjoin Miller’s agreement.
The county’s outside counsel argued in a letter issued earlier this month that the agreement between the county attorney and DHS was unlawful for multiple reasons.
That legal analysis argued that Miller lacked the constitutional or statutory authority to enter into agreements on behalf of the county. That analysis claimed the agreement between the county attorney’s office and federal immigration agents was not only impractical, but lacking any existing laws to justify county attorney authority to arrest individuals.
“This is inconsistent with the traditional separation of enforcement and prosecution, potentially eviscerates prosecutorial immunity, and impairs prosecutorial discretion,” stated the analysis.
The letter prompted the supervisors to vote to void the agreement, which Miller has since stated carried no weight.
Earlier this month DHS reported that nearly three million illegal aliens left the country in 2025, a majority of which were self-deportations (over two million) and the remainder deportations (nearly 700,000).
The greater incentive to self-deport was likely due in large part to the administration’s financial incentive. Illegal aliens were paid $1,000 last year and given a flight out of the country to self-deport. DHS disclosed the cost of a single enforced deportation was over $18,000.
The administration raised the self-deport financial incentive to $2,600. With the flight home, self-deportation costs just over $5,000. The self-deport option allows illegal immigrants forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties for violating immigration law. Even with this raise, the net taxpayer savings per deportation totals over $13,000 according to DHS.
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by Staff Reporter | Feb 2, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A proposed bill making its way through the Arizona Senate promises to increase the number of police by relying on certain military veterans.
Senate Bill 1107 seeks to provide veterans with an alternative pathway for officer certification. This pathway would be limited to honorably discharged military veterans who served as military police. The Senate Public Safety Committee passed the bill unanimously on Wednesday.
The initial version of the bill extended the alternative pathway to all honorably discharged veterans. An amendment adopted by the Senate Public Safety Committee during Wednesday’s hearing modified the bill to limit the pathway to former military police.
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14) authored the bill. Petersen said in a press release that this bill cut “unnecessary red tape” for those veterans with law enforcement training and experience, while remedying ongoing officer shortages.
“The law enforcement shortages we’re seeing around the state are affecting our officers’ abilities to respond to and stop illegal and criminal activities, hurting the morale of our brave men and women in blue and jeopardizing the freedoms of law-abiding Arizonans,” said Petersen. “Government’s first responsibility is to protect our citizens, which is what my bill does by giving an alternative to hire qualified officers. It’s time to have a surplus of officers in every community across our great state.”
Jeannette Garcia, a councilwoman for the city of Avondale and former military police officer, testified military police were more than qualified to enter the force without undergoing regular certification. Garcia said she may have become a police officer in Arizona herself had state laws not required her to start over in her law enforcement career.
“We operate under strict rules of engagement, high standards, and real consequences. We protect community, maintain order, and lead under pressure,” said Garcia. “This is not about making it easier to wear the badge. This is about making it possible for experienced veterans to continue serving without being forced to repeat training that they mastered.”
The bill would require the state to establish an alternative pathway for peace officer certification. That pathway would factor an applicant’s existing military police training and allow applicants to complete an abbreviated police standards and training program focusing on Arizona laws, procedures, and community policing requirements.
“Military police veterans possess substantial training, discipline, and law enforcement experience gained through active-duty service,” stated the bill’s legislative intent. “Transitioning veterans into civilian policing strengthens public safety while honoring their service.”
Applicants would still be required to pass a certification examination approved by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board on Arizona’s police procedures and laws, as well as maintain statutory requirements relating to moral character, medical and physiological fitness, and background investigations.
As of this report, the bill only has individuals registered in support of the bill and none against.
Multiple states have adopted similar laws enabling veterans to have an expedited pathway for joining law enforcement, including Texas, Florida, and North Carolina.
If passed and approved by the governor, the bill would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
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