PHOENIX — The Republican nominee for governor, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, is blaming Gov. Katie Hobbs for longstanding state trooper funding issues that date back years.
Biggs said he would work on Department of Public Safety recruitment, training and retention if elected. He also promised to give the agency, which patrols only two Arizona counties 24/7, full resources.
“Katie Hobbs has failed our state on public safety,” he said Tuesday.
Hobbs, who has been governor for just under four years, was preceded by a Republican governor, Doug Ducey. And the Legislature, which negotiates the state budget with the governor, has been controlled by Republicans for decades.
When asked what he would do differently as governor, Biggs told ABC15: “So you want me to contest what governors before Katie Hobbs did? I'm not going to go there. I'm going to go with what Katie Hobbs has done. Katie Hobbs has not helped the men and women of law enforcement.”
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Hobbs’ office and campaign pushed back on Biggs’ criticism. Both told ABC15 in statements that she has worked to support law enforcement at the state and local level.
“She fought for and delivered $6 million for trooper and dispatcher pay raises, increased uniform allowances, directed over $215 million to local law enforcement to secure the border, launched Operation Desert Guardian to coordinate state and local law enforcement on border security operations and has taken action to improve recruitment with Paid Parental Leave and mental health initiatives for troopers,” press secretary Liliana Soto told ABC15.
Jeff Hawkins, the president of the Arizona State Troopers Association, which endorsed Biggs on Tuesday, said DPS has 400 vacancies and hasn’t seen a staffing increase since the mid-1990s.
“We need a multi-year plan,” he said at a press conference to announce the endorsement. “We need an investment in our salaries.”
Hawkins said troopers need a comprehensive plan, not single pay increases.
“I've introduced plans for the last seven years I've been president to deal with pay,” he said. “It seems to be for us that we get some and then not enough.”
Hawkins also said the agency needs new facilities, saying the only new DPS building in 30 years was a K-9 facility.
“We need to have jail cells and bathrooms for our prisoners to use,” he said.
At a public-safety forum in August, Hobbs said DPS troopers have also benefited from her 12-week paid family leave policy. Earlier this year, she also announced additional funding for trooper overtime pay.
“We need to do more, and I'm committed to continuing to do more,” she said.
Biggs on Tuesday also criticized Hobbs for vetoing a 2025 bill that would have withheld state shared revenue from a municipality if it reduced funding for law enforcement.
"I'm running against Katie Hobbs, the person who has a record of not standing with law enforcement," he said.
The Arizona Police Association, Fraternal Order of Police and Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police opposed the legislation.
In her veto letter, Hobbs wrote that she has consistently advocated for increased law-enforcement funding but said House Bill 2221 undermines the local decision-making agencies need to operate effectively.
Earlier this year, Biggs threw his support behind a Republican budget proposal that Hobbs said would have cut take-home pay for firefighters and troopers by $600 a year and made changes to health insurance premiums that would have resulted in a $7,400 to $10,000 pay cut for state troopers.
"While Katie Hobbs has made backing law enforcement and state troopers a top priority by investing over $215 million in law enforcement and giving state troopers a well-deserved pay raise, Andy Biggs praised a budget that cut state troopers' pay as ‘common sense,’ ” said Michael Beyer, her campaign spokesperson.
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