By Caitlin Sievers | AZ Mirror
A judge on Tuesday signed off on an agreement between Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republican legislative leaders, in which she consented to nominate directors for several state agencies early next year.
The agreement followed a lawsuit filed in December by Senate President Warren Petersen, a Queen Creek Republican, who accused Hobbs of violating state law by circumventing legislative approval hearings for 13 of her appointees to head state agencies.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney agreed with Petersen in a June 5 ruling, confirming that Hobbs had illegally circumvented the Senate approval process, and ordered them to work out an agreement for new director nominations.
Hobbs sidestepped the Senate approval process after she struggled to get many of her director nominees through a newly created Republican-led Senate approval committee last year. Prior to the creation of that committee, Senate confirmations occurred with little fanfare following brief interviews with relevant legislative committees.
The Senate voted not to approve several of her nominees after the committee questioned them about culture-war issues that did not directly relate to their jobs, Andy Gaona, an attorney for Hobbs, wrote earlier this year in a failed request to dismiss the lawsuit.
