PHOENIX — If U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs wins the Arizona governor’s race next month, you can expect him to move to quickly enact “dozens, if not hundreds” of the bills Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed.
Biggs, the Republican nominee, recently sat down with ABC15 to discuss his top priorities and his plans for his first week in office if elected. He vowed to get to work long before he’s sworn in.
“Well, I will have already spent 60 days working with the Legislature to get dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of bills in,” he said.
He said he wants lawmakers to push them through in the first week of the session.
"And so by the end of that first week, I'll be sitting in my office ... with the lieutenant governor, and we'll be signing all of these bills – bills that Katie Hobbs has vetoed,” he said.
Hobbs has vetoed a record 541 bills. Republicans, who have controlled the Legislature for decades, sent some of the legislation to Hobbs multiple times.
Hobbs' campaign has not accepted ABC15's requests for a sit-down interview.
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Biggs said he would also start work on increasing government transparency, such putting online a breakdown of the funds the Governor’s Office gets from the federal government.
“Right now, you don't know, and I don't know,” he said.
Biggs, a former president of the Arizona Senate, said state lawmakers try to make educated guesses, but even they don’t know how much money goes to the governor and how it’s spent.
He also wants more transparency around state contractors who donate to candidates, saying they should have to disclose how much money they have given and to whom.
“We want to stop that appearance of corruption,” he said.
Biggs and other Republicans have slammed Hobbs over pay-for-play allegations involving Hobbs and a state contractor. Sunshine Residential, a group-home operator, received a 30% rate hike following donations to the governor’s inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party. The company later donated another $150,000 to Hobbs’ legal fund.
Hobbs has said she was not involved in the rate-hike decision, and Attorney General Kris Mayes said the evidence in the case did not support bribery charges.
What Biggs would do about affordability
Biggs, who has a wide-ranging campaign platform, said affordability and the economy are the top concerns of Arizona voters.
“That means things like taxes, regulation,” he said. “How do we get gas prices down, and how do we get jobs coming back to the state?”
He has proposed phasing out Arizona’s state income tax, saying it will put more money in people’s pockets.
Biggs said he’s also concerned about high gas prices, which have spiked since the war in Iran. He has said he doesn’t support the war, but he has also voted in Congress against measures to end it.
For example, he voted against a measure in March directing President Donald Trump to remove the U.S. military from hostilities in Iran, saying it undermined the president’s authority.
“I will always support the constitutional balance of powers, but I will also support a President who is acting lawfully and within his constitutional authority to decisively keep Americans safe,” he said in a statement then.
To lower gas prices, Biggs said Arizona should ask the federal to suspend fuel standards – something Hobbs has done. He said he also supports Trump’s executive order to expand the availability of “red-dye” diesel, which generally are used for farm vehicles.
“That would help diesel prices come down,” Biggs said. “Hopefully, it would stabilize food prices a little bit and bring those down as well.”
Industry groups warn that selling it as regular fuel isn’t an easy fix.
Last week, Hobbs issued an executive order of her own allowing red-dye diesel to be used on highways for agricultural operations and raising the weight limit on trucks transporting agricultural goods on state highways.
Biggs said he also wants to speed up a pipeline from Texas. The Western Gateway Pipeline Project, which is slated for completion in 2029, will transport gas, diesel and jet fuel from Texas, the Gulf Coast and the Midwest to Arizona and California.
“Being too dependent on California is really a problem for us,” he said.
How Biggs would lower housing prices
Biggs said he would end Hobbs’ moratorium on homebuilding in Buckeye and Queen Creek, two of the fast-growing parts of the Valley. Hobbs, who put the policy in place over concerns about the groundwater supply in those areas, is appealing a judge’s ruling that the regulations weren’t created in accordance with state law.
“What that would do is that would allow builders to start building those single-family homes again,” he said.
Biggs said the three-year freeze on building created “artificial” scarcity.
But the state's housing shortage predates Hobbs’ tenure as governor. According to the Common Sense Institute, Arizona hasn’t built enough homes since the Great Recession, resulting in higher prices for homes.
Biggs said he hopes to jump-start the housing market by lowering permitting requirements and selling state trust land to developers for housing.
"We want to make sure that our local jurisdictions bring down the permitting,” he said, adding that it could be as much as 40% of a home’s cost.
“So if you bring that down, that's going to substantially lower the cost,” he said. “And if you lower the cost of the underground, of the space underneath the home, the land itself, that will also bring homes down. That's what we're going to do.”
Biggs said a builder who specializes in single-family homes for low-income families told him his jurisdiction requires him to install a $50,000 electric vehicle battery charger in every home.
“Well, those are the those are the types of things that we need to really take a look at and get those out of the way, so people can actually afford to get in those homes,” he said.
You can watch an extended cut of the interview below:
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