Governor Katie Hobbs Unveils Largest Ethics Reform Package in Modern Arizona History

Phoenix, AZ – Today, Governor Katie Hobbs announced a sweeping transparency and ethics reform proposal. The proposal is a comprehensive package to strengthen transparency and restore Arizonans’ trust in government. The proposal applies broadly across state government, ensuring consistent standards for legislative and statewide officials, their campaigns, and affiliated political committees.

The Governor’s proposal is built around three pillars:

Public Transparency and Disclosure Database
Independent and Fair Contracting Reforms
Comprehensive Lobbyist Gift Ban

“Arizonans deserve complete confidence that their government is working for them—not for lobbyists or special interests,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “This is one of the most comprehensive transparency and ethics reform efforts our state has seen in decades. It protects taxpayer dollars, cracks down on conflicts of interest, and makes clear that public service is a public trust. I call on the Legislature to put aside partisanship and pass these reforms immediately so we can protect taxpayer dollars, improve transparency, and tackle corruption head-on.”

Governor Hobbs’ proposal has three pillars:

Public Transparency and Disclosure Database

For the first time, Arizona taxpayers would have clear, accessible visibility into who is receiving state contracts and who ultimately benefits.

The Governor’s proposal would:

Modernize the state’s procurement portal to create a searchable, publicly accessible database of state contractors by requiring disclosure of every individual who owns at least 5% of a state contractor’s business.
Standardize and expand reporting requirements to enable taxpayers to easily track how public dollars are awarded and spent.

Unlike proposals that rely solely on companies to self-disclose past political donations, this reform creates a permanent, searchable ownership record that allows Arizonans to independently see who owns state contracts and how public dollars are awarded.

This reform strengthens public oversight of a routine but critical function of state government.

2. Independent and Fair Contracting Reforms

To prevent conflicts of interest and remove political influence from the bidding process, the Governor’s proposal would:

Prohibit state contractors from making campaign contributions of more than $50 between the time a bid is submitted and the time a contract is awarded. This prohibition applies to statewide and legislative candidates, candidate committees, and PACs.
Make contractors who violate this prohibition ineligible for state contracts for up to three years and impose a civil penalty of $500 or up to two times the amount of the contribution (whichever is greater).

Rather than merely requiring disclosure of past donations, this proposal freezes political giving during the active bidding window and prevents potential conflicts before a contract is awarded. This helps ensure that contracts are awarded based on merit, not political connections.

3. Comprehensive Lobbyist Gift Ban

In 2022 alone, lobbyists and their principals spent nearly $2 million on gifts for public officials, including meals and drinks, luxury travel and lodging, event tickets, speaking engagements, and even flowers. Because this is self-reported data, the actual total is likely higher. The Governor’s proposal would:

Prohibit lobbyists from paying for food and beverages, speaking engagements, travel and lodging, and flowers for legislators, state officials, and state employees.

Unlike approaches that focus only on reporting gifts after they are given, this reform establishes clear, enforceable boundaries that eliminate the practice altogether. Similar to reforms adopted in Florida and Missouri, the proposal demonstrates that strengthening transparency and ethics standards is not partisan; it’s common sense.

Collectively, these reforms will help ensure that public officials serve the public, not special interests.

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