(The Center Square) – Arizona House Republicans have passed a series of bills aimed at enacting federal reforms outlined in H.R. 1.
Last July, President Donald Trump signed into law H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act , which made changes to how the federal government operates programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
Glenn Farley, Common Sense Institute Arizona’s director of policy and research, previously told The Center Square that the government made changes to these areas to “get its budget under control.”
Changes made at the federal level affect how states will administer these programs, especially SNAP.
An adjustment made in H.R. 1 concerns the state’s SNAP payment error rate. Farley noted that if Arizona does not get its payment error rate below 6% by fiscal year 2028, the state may need to pay between $150 million and $200 million.
To help address concerns about SNAP, Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, told The Center Square this week that the state House passed four mirror bills, the same ones the state Senate passed last week.
Kavanagh’s SNAP reform bills range from giving the Arizona Department of Economic Security more tools to verify SNAP eligibility to adding a work requirement for people 60 or younger.
His bill proposals are also attempting to reduce the SNAP payment error rate to less than 3% by 2030 and preventing DES from obtaining work waivers for able-bodied adults without dependents without the Arizona Legislature’s approval.
Kavanagh told The Center Square that the state House and state Senate have passed identical bills regarding H.R. 1 reforms.
Besides SNAP reform, the state House has also passed reforms surrounding Medicaid, rural healthcare and reducing fraud.
“This is House Republicans delivering results,” said House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Surprise. “This package enforces the law, protects taxpayers and keeps vital programs focused on the people they are meant to serve.”
“That is our Majority Plan in action, and it is exactly what voters sent us here to do,” he added.
House Majority Leader Michael Carbone, R-Buckeye, said the state House is “enforcing eligibility rules, protecting safety net programs from abuse, and making sure help goes to people who actually qualify.”
If these bills are vetoed, Carbone said Medicaid costs would “continue to spiral,” and rural hospitals would “lose out on critical funding.”
“The governor should sign this legislation and protect Arizona taxpayers,” he noted.
Kavanagh said he is hopeful that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs will sign some of these reform bills because the state can’t “afford to lose money” amid a “very tight budget year.” While Republicans hold majorities in the Senate and House, they lack enough seats to override Hobbs’ vetoes.
A clue of how Hobbs will handle these bills may come from how state Democrats voted on them. Every Democratic state senator voted against all of Kavanagh’s SNAP reform bills.
“The fact that all Democrats voted against these bills suggests that the Democrats may have no problem tolerating errors in entitlement programs,” Kavanagh said.
“They clearly don’t have the same concern about errors in these programs” compared to the state’s school voucher program, the majority leader noted, calling it “hypocritical.”
He said Arizona’s entitlement programs have fraud concerns, noting the state needs to “root it out because people who don’t deserve public benefits shouldn’t get them.”
Kavanagh added that Arizona taxpayers “should not be paying” for these people.
