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PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs began the 2024 legislative session saying she was "optimistic'' about working with the Legislature.

When it all ended five months later, the Democratic governor, in her second year in office, wielded her veto stamp 73 times to kill ideas from the Republican majority. That was second only to the record of 143 vetoes — set by Hobbs herself the year before.

But Hobbs, in an interview ahead of the 2025 session that begins Monday, said she's hanging on to the hope of bipartisan cooperation — even as she sends a warning to a Legislature that is even more Republican than last year: She won't be shy about inking up the stamp.

"I'm always optimistic,'' Hobbs said about achieving some of her goals this year.

"From Day One I have approached this role as someone who needs to bring people together to solve problems,'' she said in the interview with Capitol Media Services. "We've done that. And I'm going to continue to do that.''

She faces a changing political reality, however. 

The 2024 election was a major setback for Democrats. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns who rejected Donald Trump in 2020 by more than 10,000 votes gave the once-and-future president a 187,382-vote victory this time.

Democrats not only failed to pick up seats in competitive legislative districts, but lost two seats in the House and one in the Senate. That enables GOP leaders to send more controversial issues to the governor, bills that in prior years were killed perhaps because a single Republican lawmaker refused to go along.

And ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ voters made it clear they didn't accept the governor's position on the state's role in border security. Hobbs vetoed legislation last year to give state and local police more authority to enforce federal immigration laws.

GOP lawmakers came back and put Proposition 314 on the ballot. Its key provision allows state and local police to arrest people who are not U.S. citizens if they enter the country at other than a port of entry.

Voters approved it by a nearly 2-1 margin in November.

Hobbs has now broken with many legislative Democrats in acknowledging many ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns want the government detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.

In fact, she gave her endorsement last week to the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally.  

The bill, which passed the U.S. House and now awaits Senate action, would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take into custody undocumented immigrants who commit theft-related crimes. 

"I think that's the right approach,'' Hobbs said. "And I think ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns, regardless of immigration status, want violent criminals off of our streets.''

Housing not partisan, she says

Hobbs said she also believes there are other areas of "common ground,'' such as resolving questions about water supply and affordable housing.

"Those are not Democratic or Republican issues,'' she said. "Those are ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ issues.''

But Hobbs insisted that, entering her third year as the state's chief executive, she will be no more inclined to accept what she has rejected before. More to the point, Hobbs said none of what she has nixed should have come as a surprise.

"With those vetoes, I said exactly what I said I was going to do,'' she said. "I said I was going to focus on the challenges that we face that ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns are going to need solutions to. And we've done that. I vetoed stuff that attacked people's freedoms, that aren't the right solutions, that aren't bipartisan, that don't focus on the right issues.''

Among the bills vetoed were two that would have put restrictions on who can use which bathrooms at schools and on teachers addressing students by their preferred pronouns. 

"Anything that takes away ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns' freedoms will continue to be vetoed,'' Hobbs said.

But Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, the sponsor of both bills, told Capitol Media Services he already is teeing up to take those issues directly to voters in 2026 — the year Hobbs hopes to get reelected — after her anticipated veto.

Hobbs said she has a definite idea of the "right issues'' on which she and GOP lawmakers can find common ground. One of them is affordable housing.

Last year the governor got her Department of Housing to set aside $13 million for a new "ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is Home'' program. It provides money that eligible first-time homebuyers can use, either for down-payment assistance or to "buy down'' the interest rate, in both cases making the monthly payments more affordable.

But it provides enough for only 500 homebuyers. Hobbs wants to finance enough to double that figure.

That will require a legislative appropriation in a year when there will be other demands for the available cash. Hobbs was a bit vague about where she's going to find the money for that and other programs on her wish list.

"You'll see the priorities laid out in our budget,'' she said, which will be released Friday.

"But our budget prioritizes this,'' Hobbs continued. "And if we want housing affordability as a priority, which I think ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns have been loud and clear about, we can do this.''

Fighting for "ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥'s fair share" of water

The other big focus is water.

On a macro basis, that starts with working to minimize cuts the federal Bureau of Reclamation is expected to demand in withdrawals from the Colorado River.

The simplest solution would be if all the users agree, including the seven states that draw water from the river, various tribes and federal agencies. But the Upper Basin  states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are pushing a plan for the Lower Basin states of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, California and Nevada to bear the brunt of reductions.

Hobbs is financially preparing for a legal war.

"We are going to signal that we are going to fight for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥'s fair share,'' she said. "And that means setting aside a sum of funding for litigation if that is necessary.''

There are other, internal fights over water that have so far defied resolution, including what limits to place on groundwater pumping in rural areas. That has been hung up on several questions, including whether the Legislature makes the rules or the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Department of Water Resources.

In both cases, the governor already is looking for allies in the business community to pressure recalcitrant Republicans to go along with what she's proposing. She is using the magic word: economy.

"If we have more affordable housing, that's going to help the economy,'' Hobbs said in a presentation Friday at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "If we are protecting our water future, that is helping our economy.''

One thing the governor has working in her favor is that the state GOP is not a unilateral monolith.

There is a split between the traditional business-backed Republicans and members of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Freedom Caucus who advocate for smaller state government. Put simply, there are not enough Republicans to put through a package of their own without at least some Democratic support.

That's exactly what happened last year.

The only reason there continues to be a state Commerce Authority — a favorite of business-backed Republicans because of the grants and loans it gives out to attract new business and allow others to expand — is because of bipartisan support. That helped supporters, including Hobbs, quash a bid by Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, to abolish the authority, divide its duties among other state agencies and repeal some of the tax credits that have been used as incentives.

The same situation played out as lawmakers debated whether to give Maricopa County the authority to ask voters to extend a half-cent sales for road and transit projects. Here, too, more conservative Republicans balked at funding mass transit. But a bipartisan coalition gave the go-ahead and voters approved the extension in November.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ guardsmen on the border

That still leaves the issue of border security.

Republicans see this as a matter of having the state play a more active role in dealing with illegal immigration. That means funding law enforcement to take an active role.

Hobbs continues to take the position that the state is doing all it can — and should — and should focus on the issue of drug smuggling.

"With Task Force SAFE we have 40 guardsmen down (at the border) right now assisting with vehicle inspection and tear down,'' she said, saying those efforts have resulted in seizure of 8 million fentanyl pills and 1,700 pounds of other "dangerous substances.''

"Those are the kinds of things we should continue,'' Hobbs said.

But this isn't just about what the Legislature might approve.

Hobbs was vague about what actions she might take, as the person who controls both the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ National Guard and the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Department of Public Safety, if President-elect Trump follows through with his pledge to order mass roundups and deportations.

"Look, I'm not going to 'what if' because there's no clear details on what exactly he's going to do or how he's going to carry that out,'' Hobbs said. "But I will work with anyone who wants to put in place real solutions on border security to keep communities safe.''

Hobbs said she will not use state resources to "participate in misguided efforts that harm our communities,'' a phrase she did not define.

Scaling back school vouchers

There's one other fight Hobbs is going to pick with the Republican-controlled Legislature: vouchers.

The program started in 2011 originally was designed to provide state dollars to the parents of children with special needs to be able to put them in private schools. Since then there has been a step-by-step expansion. 

Lawmakers eventually removed all constraints under Republican former Gov. Doug Ducey, a move that resulted in many children who were already going to private schools on their parents' dime now getting state aid of $7,000 or more a year.

Hobbs asked in each of the last two sessions for the Legislature to scale back the expansion which, by some estimates, has ballooned the cost of the program to close to $900 million a year.

She said her prior unsuccessful efforts to rein in vouchers have not deterred her.

"That ship has not sailed.'' she said. "It remains a priority. As far as details, you will have to come in Monday to see the specifics.'' 

Hobbs' State of the State speech is scheduled to start about 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 13, at the Capitol in Phoenix. It will be livestreamed at .