By Reagan Priest | Arizona Capitol Times
Most of Arizona’s state agencies are hoping to claw back funding cuts from their budgets earlier this year, according to agency budget requests submitted for fiscal year 2026.
Though lawmakers just wrapped up the fiscal year 2025 budget in June, planning for fiscal year 2026, which begins next July 1, has already begun now that agencies have submitted their budget requests to the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting. Of the budget requests that are available online, a majority seek millions of dollars in increases to support agency objectives.
The requests are the first step in the lengthy budget process. Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office will use them to create her proposal for the fiscal year 2026 budget that she will present to the Legislature at the beginning of next year to start negotiations. What agencies request now will likely not be anywhere near what they receive.
