by Ethan Faverino | Jan 8, 2026 | Economy, News
By Ethan Faverino |
As Arizona lawmakers prepare to convene for the 2026 legislative session, a leading nonpartisan think tank is warning of a demanding agenda driven by fiscal discipline, persistent housing shortages, and critical water policy decisions.
Katie Ratlief, Executive Director of the Common Sense Institute (CSI), emphasized the need for urgent action from the Legislature and Governor Katie Hobbs to address these issues. In a recent report by The Center Square, Ratlief highlighted that the session will require decisive leadership to tackle spending trends, affordability barriers, and the state’s long-term water security.
Arizona’s budget has expanded significantly over the past decade, rising from approximately $10 billion to nearly $18 billion, with $6 billion of that increase occurring in just the last five years. Ratlief urged policymakers to rein in spending increases and reassess recent commitments to determine whether they remain necessary, warning against expenditures outpacing economic growth.
Housing affordability remains a top concern for CSI Arizona, with the latest quarterly report underscoring ongoing challenges despite some cooling in the market. The average home price stands at $426,164—$53,400 more expensive than pre-pandemic trends—leaving households facing high costs amid elevated mortgage rates.
According to CSI Senior Economist and Research Analyst Zachary Milne, Arizonans now need to work more than 64 hours per month, at the average wage, just to afford a typical home payment, significantly up from the historical average of 45 hours.
Real-time estimates show an instantaneous housing shortfall of 52,846 units in Q2 2025, a 6.9% improvement from the revised 56,812 units in 2024. Arizona faces a cumulative housing deficit of 121,334 units, as of 2024, reflecting years of inadequate construction relative to population growth.
Ratlief believes the housing shortfall is not the result of state policy but of holdups originating within cities, noting that local governments control permitting, building codes, and enforcement—factors that can significantly slow housing development.
CSI revealed that most Arizona counties—including Maricopa, with a projected deficit of 34,737 units—are falling behind demand. Even with recent improvements in permitting, Maricopa County is still building thousands of units short of what is needed annually.
Water policy will also dominate discussions this legislative session, as ongoing negotiations over the Colorado River allocations approach a pivotal February 14, 2026, deadline set by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
This is viewed as likely the final opportunity for the seven basin states to reach a consensus agreement on sharing the river’s water before current operating guidelines expire at the end of the year. With Arizona’s unique constitutional requirement, any agreement reached will require legislative approval, setting the stage for intense debate in the 2026 session. Ratlief indicated that if states finalize a deal, the Legislature will debate and vote on authorizing the Department of Water Resources to sign on, potentially shaping Arizona’s water future for decades.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Warren Petersen | Dec 16, 2025 | Opinion
By Sen. Warren Petersen |
For years, Arizona has been an emerging bastion of conservative leadership. Recently the AZ Republic called the Legislature the “most conservative” ever. Over the last decade it has passed landmark policies and defended critical laws around the country, setting an example for the rest of the nation to emulate.
This conservative advantage was threatened a few short years ago, when Katie Hobbs and Kris Mayes assumed their positions as Arizona governor and attorney general, respectively, after an extremely volatile election cycle. These two have stopped at nothing to insert their radical agenda as they seek to transform our state into a liberal utopia to please their friends in California and New York.
While Hobbs has sought to remake Arizona’s policies from her perch as the state’s chief executive, Mayes has been busy on the legal side. Throughout her tenure in office, Mayes has either done the bare minimum or nothing at all to defend key Arizona or national laws. Instead, she has spearheaded the left’s efforts to undermine President Trump’s work to make America great again.
Thankfully, however, the Arizona Legislature, under my leadership as Senate President, has stepped in the gap to uphold laws of great importance to our citizens. Despite our state’s top prosecutor missing in action as she seeks affirmation from her colleagues in New York and California, we have led or joined dozens of lawsuits and legal briefs to preserve conservative laws across our state and nation. These efforts have largely been unprecedented, as legislatures typically defer to their state attorneys general or other government prosecutors on the legal fronts. From early on, though, in Arizona’s divided government, I determined that our state could not afford to sit on the sidelines as Mayes hijacked our legal apparatus for her extremist ways. As a result, Arizona has again asserted itself as a national example, showing other states how to maintain the rule of law in the face of divided governments.
Here are some of the highlights of the cases:
Protecting Election Integrity
In the absence of the state’s attorney general taking action, the Arizona Legislature has been engaged in a prolonged legal battle to protect the integrity of our state’s elections, defending two laws that restrict voters who do not provide documentation that confirm their American citizenship. After I filed an emergency stay application at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justices affirmed Arizona’s right to reject state form registrations that do not include proof of citizenship. This case is ongoing because of activist judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals who are attempting to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling. Arizona will continue to defend our own law, and we will come to the aid of any state working to require proof of citizenship.
Protecting the Integrity of Women’s Sports
Over half the states in America have enacted legislation to preserve fairness in sports, including Arizona, which passed the Save Women’s Sports Act, to ensure that girls’ athletic events at public schools are reserved for biological females. Arizona’s law, like most other states, remains tied up in federal litigation, with the Legislature itself stepping in to defend the statute after Mayes declined to do so. We defended Arizona’s law up to the U.S. Supreme Court, in addition to filing briefs of support for other states’ fights. We cannot allow activist judges and radical groups to erase protections that women and girls have fought for generations to secure.
Protecting Children
The Arizona Legislature defended the state’s lifetime registration and reporting requirements for convicted sex offenders, giving families and law enforcement greater abilities to track high-risk offenders. Despite the importance of the protections, Mayes failed to defend the law, abandoning the state’s responsibility to safeguard communities. However, we refused to allow the safety of our children to be jeopardized, and we recently won in federal court. The judge’s ruling in this case was a victory for every parent in Arizona.
Protecting the Second Amendment
The Arizona Legislature joined a national coalition to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to end Mexico’s frivolous lawsuit against U.S. firearm manufacturers for crimes committed by Mexican cartels in that country. Earlier this year, the Court agreed with our position, ruling that the lawsuit infringes on U.S. sovereignty by trying to impose restrictions on Second Amendment rights and to control how the American firearms industry is regulated. We were proud to work with other states to uphold our nation’s sovereignty, protect Americans’ right to bear arms, and safeguard lawful gun manufacturers from those attempting to destroy this industry. I will always engage in legal battles to protect our Second Amendment rights when Mayes refuses to do so.
Protecting Against Federal Land Grabs
Two years ago, the Biden-Harris administration confiscated nearly a million acres of land in northern Arizona, designating this space as a “national monument.” This unlawful designation will result in fewer jobs, diminished state trust land values, and billions in lost tax revenues. I sought to overturn this action in federal court to free our state from the grasp radical environmentalists had over the previous administration. As we argued throughout this case, Biden’s maneuver had nothing to do with protecting actual artifacts, but halting all mining, ranching, and other local uses of federal lands that are critical to our independence from adversary foreign nations, our food supply, and the strength of our economy.
Protecting America’s Energy
After the Arizona Legislature joined a national coalition to challenge a radical and costly rule imposed by California requiring trucking companies to retire their diesel-fueled models, the state agreed to repeal its ‘Advanced Clean Fleets’ mandate. This rule would have created dire impacts to the supply chain, raising costs for local trucking companies and their customers. For years, California has operated with near impunity as its leaders passed unconstitutional regulations that brought great harms to Arizona consumers. In the absence of our attorney general holding California accountable to the rule of law, the state Legislature gladly stepped up to protect our citizens from this egregious abuse of power and emerged victorious.
Warren Petersen is the President of the Arizona State Senate and represents Legislative District 14.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 1, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has filed a motion in a federal appeals court to vacate a Biden-era rule on fine particulate matter air quality standards, which was set to affect air quality regulations in Arizona.
In the motion filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Department of Justice attorneys representing the EPA told the D.C. Circuit that the agency’s 2024 rule change on fine particulate pollution standards is both legally and scientifically flawed and must be vacated. The motion noted that the “supplement” to the EPA’s 2019 Assessment of the NAAQS, or National Ambient Air Quality Standards, for particulate matter, “did not represent [a] full multidisciplinary evaluation of evidence’ for the underlying air quality criteria.” It added that the agency “lacks statutory authority to revise standards absent a thorough review.”
The PM 2.5 rule, finalized on December 15, 2024, was purported to strengthen protections against fine particulate matter pollution, which the EPA stated was linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health risks. Implementation was set to begin in 2025, with full compliance deadlines extending to 2031. The final rule revising the NAAQS lowered the annual primary PM 2.5 standard from 12.0 micrograms per cubic meter to 9.0 micrograms per cubic meter. The rule also established a new 24-hour PM 2.5 standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter. The rule remains in effect until the court comes to a decision.
The consolidated lawsuits involved petitioners including the Commonwealth of Kentucky, et al., the Arizona Legislature, and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, along with 21 other states and business groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, et al. The states and business groups challenged the rule, arguing it would impose billions in compliance costs on states like Arizona, potentially halting construction projects and job growth in areas struggling to meet the stricter standards.
The petitioners contended that the new limits would classify more areas as being in a state of nonattainment, leading to economic restrictions under the Clean Air Act. Oral arguments in the case were heard on December 16, 2024.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen hailed the EPA’s motion on X on November 26, 2025, crediting EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin with what he called a “BIG WIN FOR ARIZONA!” He added that the EPA, “just filed a motion in federal court to throw out Biden’s unlawful PM 2.5 rule that made it nearly impossible for parts of Arizona to ever meet clean-air standards — a rule that would have crushed jobs, construction, and our economy with billions in costs. The AZ Legislature & the AZ Chamber sued the Biden admin to stop this job-killing regulation. Our lawsuit helped bring about this reversal. Thank you, President Trump, for keeping your promise to cut red tape and protect Arizona families!”
Adam R.F. Gustafson, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and Sarah I. Zafar, Trial Attorney in the DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division, filed the EPA’s motion for vacatur. They wrote in part, “Implementation of the NAAQS is a complex process, which generates significant costs and reliance interests among States, local governments, and regulated parties.”
The DOJ attorneys also argued that the EPA, “should at least have considered the distinct costs associated with revising the NAAQS mid-cycle. EPA’s disregard of this relevant factor was arbitrary and capricious because it was unreasonable for EPA to read an exercise of discretionary authority as an invitation to ignore a relevant factor like cost.”
The case remains ongoing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Oct 6, 2025 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
The idea to extend light rail to the State Capitol has occupied the dusty shelves of bureaucratic transit plans for ages. Phoenix first floated it in their 2000 “Transit 2000” plan, their 2015 Transportation 2050 initiative, and the concept has taken up space in every MAG and regional planning cycle since 2004. The idea’s longevity is not a testament to how good ideas endure; rather how bureaucrats remain unaffected regardless of light rail’s failure; unwilling to change course despite low ridership, high costs, high crime, or changing travel patterns. The world changes but a transit plan apparently never dies.
In fact, it turns out it can’t be stopped from destroying the Capitol corridor even when lawmakers pass a law to stop it.
In 2023, Republican legislators negotiated Proposition 479, Maricopa County’s half cent sales tax for transportation, which included a clause prohibiting the use of any public resources for light rail coming within 150 feet of the State Capitol. The goal of the provision was to insulate lawmakers from the disruption and destruction caused by light rail. This neat trick of making the “Capitol Line” someone else’s problem would likely backfire.
Well, it turns out we were right, and what Phoenix has in store for the Capitol corridor is worse than anyone could have imagined.
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Matthew Holloway | Sep 8, 2025 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
With the tragic murder of a Maryvale High School student and the brutal attack against the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, MN, still fresh in public memory, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne submitted a legislative budget request for $180 million to continue and expand state funding to put more armed officers on campuses throughout Arizona.
Existing funding for school safety, by initial appropriation and carryover, totals $128 million. Federal funding also provides an additional $20 million. According to the Arizona Department of Education, both are scheduled to expire in 2026. To address this, Horne has reportedly submitted the request for $180 million, which, if approved, “would ensure the current level of funding will continue and the added $32 million will allow for expanding the program for more officers and training.”
In a statement released Thursday, Horne said, “Over the past several weeks, our nation has witnessed terrible school tragedies. This problem is not going away, and we need to address it aggressively. Therefore, I am now making a budget request of the legislature to appropriate at least $180 million to make sure we have no gap in providing funding for armed officers on campuses. This request adds dollars to hire and train officers for more schools statewide to protect students, educators, and classified staff.”
Horne referred back to the successful intervention of a heroic Tucson Police Officer William Bonanno, who thwarted an attempted attack on Legacy Traditional School-East Tucson in January.
“The value of having armed officers on campuses is beyond dispute. One of the best examples occurred earlier this year when a heroic Tucson police officer arrested an armed intruder on a school campus during class hours.
“This criminal was armed with a gun and a knife and told the officer he was there to kill children and make them famous. The officer was on that campus because of funding through the department’s School Safety Program. In fact, he had been hired less than a month earlier using supplemental dollars my department made available. This program works and deserves more funding so it can be expanded. Every parent should want an officer on their child’s campus.”
Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Shelli Boggs issued a concurring statement saying, “I will continue to advocate for school safety programs. This is about ensuring that every student, in every school, in every neighborhood, has the peace of mind that comes from knowing they are safe.”
Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan offered his support as well, stating, “As Sheriff of Maricopa County, I strongly support Superintendent Horne’s efforts to fully fund our school safety program to ensure all schools have these resources to protect our kids. There is no greater responsibility for society than to do everything possible to keep children safe, especially in a place of learning and growing. To that end, we currently have dozens of MCSO deputies participating in this program, and additional funding will allow us to expand our services.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
