(The Center Square) – A national security expert is paying close attention to how Gov. Katie Hobbs will handle a series of bills aimed at deterring China’s influence in Arizona, after shifting her rhetoric toward the Communist country.
In 2024 and 2025, Hobbs vetoed numerous bills aimed at curbing China’s influence.
The bills ranged from preventing public funds from being used for genetic sequencing procedures performed with devices produced by companies associated with foreign adversaries as well as stopping the Arizona state government from investing in or contracting with foreign adversaries.
When Hobbs vetoed the bill that would have prevented Arizona from investing in foreign adversaries, she said the bill “would be detrimental to the economic growth Arizona is experiencing as well as the State’s investment portfolio.”
In 2025, Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have prevented foreign adversaries from buying land near Arizona’s military bases and critical infrastructure. The governor called the bill “weak and spineless legislation that would let the People’s Republic of China own land in Arizona for three years.”
This year, despite taking a tougher stance on China, Hobbs again vetoed a genetic sequencing bill. In her letter rejecting the bill, she said she had concerns about how this bill would impact the state’s “strained healthcare system.”
Despite vetoing this bill, Hobbs still has a chance to sign up to seven new bills aimed at curbing China’s influence in Arizona.
They range from protecting the state’s critical infrastructure and land to protecting higher education and procurement laws from foreign adversaries.
Another bill would require lobbyists to register and disclose their activities to foreign adversaries. And there’s a bill that would go after foreign-adversary entities that violate consumer laws.
Josh Hodges, a former senior director at the National Security Council under President Donald Trump, told The Center Square that the China-related bills that could make their way to Hobbs’ desk are “massively impactful.”
Hodges, who is a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said it is important these bills are passed collectively to “really address the full scope” of the Chinese threat.
Hodges, who was a national security adviser to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Shreveport, said he hoped Hobbs’ shift in rhetoric would allow her to sign these Chinese-related bills into law.
The Center Square reached out to Hobbs’ office for comment, but did not receive a response before press time.
If the governor does veto these China-related bills, Hodges said Arizonans “will find out quickly whether their interests are being chosen over politics.”
“The only reason someone would veto these pieces of legislation is if they’re trying to play friendly with the [Chinese Communist Party] or there’s active lobbying campaigns that aren’t being disclosed,” the national security expert said.
He added that if Hobbs is giving China “major carve-outs to these bills or requiring them to do major restructuring that’s gonna allow the [Chinese Communist Party] to continue operating, then [she is] not putting Arizonans first.”
Hodges said in the past, Hobbs has nearly vetoed every major piece of bipartisan legislation related to China for “specious reasons,” such as the bills being too “vague or broad.”
The national security expert said these bills were broad for good reason, citing the numerous federal government entities that have “identified an active and ongoing effort at a sub-national level across the United States to embed Chinese Communist Party operations in key assets across the United States, including Arizona.”
“Most Americans, including Arizonans, understand that they don’t want the Chinese increasing their leverage over the United States’ national, economic, state or regional security,” Hodges said.
He said over the last decade there have been numerous warnings about China’s strategy to flood American markets with its subsidized goods and “dominate key industries.”
“Given everything Arizona’s doing in key sectors, I think it’s really important for Arizona to understand the Chinese are going to try to embed themselves both in and around critical infrastructure.”
Besides the energy sector, Hodges said the Chinese will try to embed themselves in Arizona telecommunications, investment and gene-sequencing companies.
The threat China poses to America is not a partisan issue, Hodges said,
To counter China’s influence in America, Hodges told The Center Square that states nationwide need to coordinate.
“The Chinese are always looking to exploit the nuance from one state to another,” he said.
The national security expert said states across America “are starting to wake up to the reality” of China’s influence in America.
He cited bipartisan bills in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Florida that were passed to deter Chinese influence. “They’re starting to take steps to address it.”
