Proposal would force Arizona Gov. Hobbs to disclose campaign finances sooner

PHOENIX — If a GOP lawmaker gets his way, Arizonans won’t have to wait until January 2026 to find out who Gov. Katie Hobbs has been hitting up for money and how much is in her war chest for her reelection and bid to put Democrats in charge of the Legislature.

Legislation awaiting House action would fix what Phoenix Republican Rep. Matt Gress says is a “loophole” in state campaign finance law. It allows anyone who serves a four-year term to file the required annual reports once after they get elected — and then not until January of the year they are on the ballot again.

The issue arose after it was revealed that Hobbs, first elected governor in 2022, did not file reports this January on who gave her money and how she spent it, as was required of the Legislature’s members.

That’s not illegal. It was part of a series of changes enacted by lawmakers in 2022. That law spells out that the governor’s next report — and that of anyone in the middle of a four-year term — is due in January 2026, Gress said.

But Hobbs, in running for governor, promised to “bring transparency and accountability” to the office.

Actively raising money

Hobbs has been actively raising money since her last report was filed in January 2023, not just for her own reelection but in a bid to get more Democrats elected to the Legislature later this year.

Just Thursday, for example, the governor’s campaign committee, Elect Katie Hobbs, sent out a request for donations, citing what she said are efforts by Glendale Republican Sen. Anthony Kern “to override Democracy as we know it.”

“Can you pitch in before tonight’s mid-quarter fundraising deadline to help Katie fight back?” the campaign email states. “It’s clear that the fight for our democracy starts in Arizona. Election deniers like Anthony Kern pose a real threat to our future, and we need to do everything we can to defend our democracy.”

And two weeks ago there was a request for $2 donations “to help support Katie’s work to flip the Arizona state legislature blue.’’

Gress said the way the law is worded, who is aiding that effort — and by how much — won’t be available to the public for nearly two years. By contrast, state lawmakers, who are elected every two years, must file not just annual but quarterly campaign finance reports.

House Bill 2403, crafted by Gress, would require all four-year officeholders to file quarterly reports beginning two years before the next election. In the case of Hobbs and others, the public would get a look at her donors and expenditures this coming January and every three months after that until just after the 2026 election.

“I do believe that every elected official should be disclosing at some point in their tenure of who’s donated to them,” Gress told Capitol Media Services. Gress, who was chief financial adviser to Republican former Gov. Doug Ducey, said this information is important to voters — and not just in the year someone is seeking reelection.

“I think it’s relevant to not only running but governing,” he said. “People should know if someone’s influencing your decisions.”

Gress said he has not reached out to Hobbs, who would have to sign the legislation if it reaches her desk.

“They’re more than happy to reach out to me and explain why disclosing campaign contributors sooner than 12 months before running for reelection would be problematic,’’ he said.

Law’s wording created an issue

It hasn’t been a problem for the other statewide officials who were elected, like Hobbs, in 2022.

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Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes filed a report in January saying he collected $97,536 during all of 2023.

Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes reported she took in $119,957, and Republican state Treasurer Kimberly Yee disclosed $1,905 in 2023 donations. Republican Tom Horne, the state schools chief, said he got no contributions in 2023.

All four, like Hobbs, are eligible to run for reelection in 2026.

Nicole DeMont, the chief political strategist for the governor’s campaign, said this wasn’t a question of Hobbs not wanting to provide the information.

She said that by this January, Hobbs already had closed the campaign account she used for the 2022 race and set up a new one for the 2026 cycle. That made it impossible for her to file a report in January as Arizona law allows a candidate to have only one committee at a time.

“There is no mechanism to file when you’re a candidate for 2026,” she said, citing an email the governor’s committee received from the Secretary of State’s Office. A spokesman for Fontes agreed that the wording of the law created a vacuum in that particular situation.

“As we always have and always will, we follow the laws in place that dictate our deadlines for campaign finance reports to ensure we file every report on time and with all the necessary information,’’ DeMont said in a prepared statement. “Gov. Hobbs’ reelection is during the 2026 election cycle, so her next campaign financial report is due in January 2026.”

As to Fontes, Mayes and Horne filing last month, the Secretary of State’s Office says that is because they had not yet created a 2026 campaign account. That is perfectly legal for the time being, the office said.

All that would change, however, if Gress gets his measure through the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by the Democratic governor. Hobbs’ press aide Christian Slater said he had no comment on the proposal.

Voters want disclosure

Tom Collins, executive director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, agreed that what Hobbs is doing is technically legal. But he said keeping that information from the public until January 2026 is contrary to the spirit of the law and what voters have said, repeatedly, they want.

That starts, he said, with the 1998 voter-approved law that created the commission.

Much of that law is designed to provide public funds for candidates for statewide and legislative office who don’t take private donations. But it also empowers the commission to enforce other campaign finance laws and disclosure requirements, with fines for delays.

Collins said the public’s desire for transparency was reinforced in 2022 when voters, by a 3-1 margin, approved Proposition 211. It expanded reporting requirements to force disclosure of not just the name of the group that made the donation but which other companies, organizations and individuals had contributed to that group.

“The Prop. 211 vote results show that, given the choice, voters would prefer to know more about who is in a position to potentially influence a candidate’s action,” he said.

Collins also agreed with Gress that it’s not just in an election year that the public needs to know about campaign contributions. He said that information is valuable in evaluating whether the decisions a public official is making while in office are being influenced by donations.

There was nothing partisan about the 2022 change in law that created the vacuum in campaign filing. While it was proposed by Rep. David Livingston, R- Peoria, it was approved unanimously by the House and Senate.