Journalists’ Roundtable: Hobbs’ veto pledge, national and Arizona politics

It’s Friday, which means it is time for another edition of Journalists’ Roundtable. This week, “Arizona Horizon” host Ted Simons was joined by Jim Small of Arizona Mirror, Camryn Sanchez of KJZZ and Wayne Schutsky of KJZZ.

This week’s topics:

• Governor Katie Hobbs’ veto pledge
• Hobbs vetoes soda ban on Snap benefits
• Other vetoes and signings
• Hobbs open to President Donald Trump’s border plan
• Kari Lake update

Hobbs veto pledge

Jim Small: “The Governor issued a moratorium on signing bills this week, but she did tell lawmakers, ‘Look, don’t send me anything else until we get this disability funding crisis under control and that money and legislation to make sure this program doesn’t go bankrupt in two weeks, week and a half, until that’s done. I’m not going to act on any bills so don’t send me anything else.'”

Camryn Sanchez: “The Governor’s office basically said that the lawmakers could’ve handled this themselves, and it was a part of not this year’s budget but the one that they did last year, and they basically have the potential for this money to run out if they don’t take action before I think sometime next month. The lawmakers are accusing her of making this a problem for not accounting for it in the budget essentially, and she’s accusing them of not wanting to work with her.”

Wayne Schutsky: “It’s definitely kind of the nuclear option that they have at their disposal because ultimately at the end of the day, these lawmakers, their job is to get their bills passed, and she’s the one who can stand in the way of that.”

Hobbs vetoes soda ban on Snap benefits

Sanchez: “The bill that went to her desk says that using these benefits and programs, you wouldn’t be able to buy things like soda that are really not good for you, not healthy, and the argument to that is it’s not good for families, to make sure people are getting nutrition with this program.”

Sanchez: “When the Governor vetoed it, she said, ‘I don’t want to create a different class of citizens and tell people when they’re buying groceries what they are and are not allowed to buy.”

Schutsky: “This is what the other portion of the Governor’s veto letter said: ‘Let’s focus more on food access because a lot of these folks that rely on Snap benefits also live in food deserts where they don’t have a lot of access to fresh food so let’s focus more on bringing that food and giving them that option than taking away their options that they have.'”

Other vetoes and signings

Sanchez: “In the same week anyway, she signed a bill that said with school lunches, they can’t give kids certain things, like red dye 40 is one of them, but basically ingredients that are harmful or that in foods that are not very good for you, like flavorings and dyes in candies and stuff like that, and that one passed and had support, and some critiques of her critiques are kind of saying they’re scratching their heads because they’re conflating these two things and saying, ‘Why is she supporting one and not the other?'”

Small: “Just last month, the Trump Administration cancelled a whole billion dollars in grants, in money that went to states for two things: For food banks, to help food banks buy local produce from local farmers, and for schools to do that. I think Arizona lost $21 million total, $13 or $14 million of that was for schools to be able to buy fresh produce.”

Water bill veto

Sanchez: “She [Gail Griffin] is notorious for being at odds with the Governor on that; Hobbs vetoed all of her bills, and said ‘These are doing absolutely nothing,’ basically that they are just minuscule changes to legislation and/ or go against water protections.”

Cell phones in schools

Schutsky: “There’s a couple bills going through with cell phones in schools, trying to stop students from using them, restrict students from using them. I believe the Governor did sign one that allowed not a complete ban in schools but will require schools to start cracking down on the use so basically limiting student-use and some exceptions for emergency situations.”

Vaccines in schools

Small: “One of them would have required schools to basically tell parents, proactively give them information that says, ‘Hey, here’s what you can say or here are the reasons you cannot vaccinate your kids and still be able to send them to school.’ The Governor vetoed that, and basically said, ‘This is about public health; we want kids to be vaccinated,’ and we already have exceptions that exist in state law.”

Hobbs open to President Trump’s border plan

Schutsky: “The Governor has said for a long time now that she is willing to work with the Trump Administration when it comes to border security and keeping Arizona safe. She’s done her won policies in terms of like sending money down there for law enforcement to deal with some negative effects dealing with border security, drug trafficking, human trafficking, that kind of thing. When it comes to complying with what Donald Trump wants to do, I haven’t seen much of that cooperation beyond what she’s saying.”

Kari Lake update

Sanchez: “There was always speculation since the Senate race about whether she would run again in Arizona or Iowa because that’s where she’s from.”

Sanchez: “Kari Lake’s spokesperson said it’s not happening; she’s not running for office right now in Iowa or Arizona. She’s committed to helping Trump where she is.”