Gov. Katie Hobbs delivers her State of the State address on Jan. 13, 2025, on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
A bill that would require the governor to submit to televised questioning from lawmakers each month took its first step toward becoming law on Wednesday.
The proposal would mandate that the governor show up at the Legislature every month during the annual legislative session so lawmakers could personally question her. The idea for House Bill 2051, said its sponsor, Scottsdale Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin, comes from the United Kingdom’s practice in which the prime minister faces questions from the House of Commons.
Kolodin said that one of the two goals of the bill is to increase civic engagement. A publicly broadcast question-and-answer session between the legislative and executive branch would facilitate that, he said, adding that it would be “really fun for kids” who come and visit the Capitol to see.
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The other aim, Kolodin said, is to facilitate better communication between the two branches in order to “make the machinery of the government function better.”
The Legislature and the Governor’s Office have often butted heads, even in years where Republicans controlled both branches. But tensions between the two branches have been higher since 2023, when Katie Hobbs became the first Democrat to serve as governor since 2009.
Hobbs has vetoed a record number of bills, while Republicans have stymied her administration by refusing to confirm the people she’s chosen to run state agencies.
Despite that, Kolodin told the House Government Committee that he believes the televised event would help foster better communication between them, as there is a “lack of face to face communication” currently.
As it’s currently written, the law would not go into effect until 2027. Beginning that year, on the third Wednesday of each month, the governor would have to appear for questions before the House of Representatives and Senate on alternating months.
The governor would have to answer two questions from the majority leader and their designee, two questions from the minority leader and their designee, one question from four members of the body chosen at random and one follow-up question to each question asked.
The bill passed out of committee on a party-line vote, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats opposing. The bill heads next to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
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