Kris Mayes told the Commerce Authority that its lavish spending violates the state’s ban on gifts to corporations
JEROD MACDONALD-EVOY
Arizona Mirror
Arizona’s program to woo CEOs to bring business to the state violates the state’s constitution, Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote Tuesday in a letter to the Arizona Commerce Authority.
“As they currently exist, the CEO Forums violate the Gift Clause of the Arizona Constitution,” Mayes wrote in her letter to the ACA, which came under fire last year after an audit questioned whether its efforts to lure businesses to Arizona violated the state constitution. “The current structure of the CEO Forums confers significant value on invited private executives and their guests without obtaining any value cognizable under the Gift Clause.”
The legal opinion by the AG comes after state auditors investigated how the ACA was spending on “CEO forums.” Auditors found that the ACA spent $2.4 million on travel, luxury hotel rooms, alcohol and tickets to events such as Super Bowl LVII and the Waste Management Phoenix open.
The ACA deems the spending on the private “CEO Forums” as “central” to its purpose, which is to help attract and retain businesses in the state. It primarily does that by overseeing a number of grant and incentive programs aimed at attracting corporate investment.
State auditors looked at the ACA’s spending as part of a regular evaluation known as a “sunset audit,” during which legislators decide whether an agency should be reauthorized for up to 10 years. As part of the audit, they looked at five CEO Forums between 2018 and 2023.
The ACA spent more than $2.4 million hosting the events, which the ACA characterized as “marketing campaigns.” After their review, state auditors asked the AG to determine if the forums violated the state’s constitution.
Auditors noted that the ACA does not follow the same rules for its spending as other state agencies.
