The Arizona Senate Republican Caucus said a meeting last week between Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs to discuss her recent abortion-related crimes executive order “went well.”
According to a session update emailed to reporters by the caucus after the meeting, Petersen (pictured above, right) was optimistic that the discussion between him and the Arizona Governor benefited the state.
“Following President Petersen’s meeting request, he met with Governor Hobbs on Friday and the meeting went well,” The Caucus said in the email.
Last month, Hobbs signed a sweeping executive order to protect anyone involved with a “legally obtained” abortion from prosecution.
The order forbids state agencies from assisting in any criminal investigations without a court order and prohibits local prosecutors from filing charges relating to abortion. Furthermore, Arizona will not comply with any extradition demands for individuals sought for requesting, providing, or helping in an abortion.
Only Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes of Arizona has the authority to supervise cases involving abortion.
A 2022 law permits abortions in Arizona during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Arizona Court of Appeals said last year that abortion providers cannot be charged under an 1864 law that criminalizes almost all abortions. Because of Roe v. Wade, that pre-statehood statute has already been prohibited from being applied for many years.
Following the executive order, an Arizona state senator canceled a meeting due to Hobbs’ “blatant disregard for the separation of powers.”
The chair of the Arizona Senate committee, created this year to hear all of the governor’s nominees to lead state agencies, State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), canceled the meeting, putting a pause on all further nominations until they get a meeting with the governor’s administration to talk about her blatant disregard for the law.
Petersen wrote to Hobbs to arrange a meeting and mediate a resolution to the state’s impasse over consideration of her remaining nominations.
Petersen said that Hobbs’ recent administrative action was troubling and her “questionable actions” were “worth discussion.”
The senate president requested a meeting with Hobbs, saying, “While I believe it would have been productive for you to meet with my colleagues on the nominations committee who requested a meeting, I think a conversation between the two of us would be productive. Let’s see if we can find a way to move forward in a bipartisan manner that benefits all of Arizona.”
According to Petersen in the session update, although Hobbs needs to face the consequences for her recent actions following their meeting, he is optimistic that they can move forwards from here.
“While there must be consequences for overreaching executive action, we are optimistic on finding a way to move forward in a bipartisan manner that benefits all of Arizona,” Petersen said in the e-mail.
According to AZ Free News, the state senate had received 21 director nominations from Hobbs, with 12 awaiting their confirmation hearings before this meeting.
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to the Republican caucus for comment if the nomination meetings will continue or resume paused following this meeting but did not receive an answer before press time.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Warren Petersen” by Warren Petersen. Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
