Gov. Hobbs’ administration submitted a report to the Arizona Legislature in January estimating that state agencies would need an additional $339 million to maintain operations or programs. These supplemental appropriations—a routine part of the budgeting process—cover costs not initially accounted for when the current state budget was approved by the Legislature and governor in June.
Agencies often request supplemental funds in September as they are able to calculate more accurate projections of their expenses for that fiscal year. This is especially common for large state programs, which can have caseload numbers vary by year.
Exactly how much supplement funding state agencies are awarded is negotiated by the Legislature and the Governor’s Office in the spring as they prepare the budget for the following fiscal year, based on requests submitted by the agencies themselves.
This brief responds to conversations such as this one.