Katie Hobbs Delivers Solutions For Arizona’s Toughest Challenges at Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Forum

Hobbs highlights her plans to lower costs, increase law enforcement resources, and create new economic opportunities for Arizona’s Latino and Hispanic communities

PHOENIX — This week, Secretary of State and Democratic nominee for governor Katie Hobbs participated in the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Forum, which aired this evening. She took the stage to share her track record of working across the aisle for Arizona and her plan to deliver for Latino and Hispanic communities.

Throughout her campaign, Hobbs has traveled around the state and prioritized listening to what Arizonans need from their next governor and offering comprehensive plans to tackle these issues. At the forum Hobbs drew on those experiences, detailing her plans to improve our schools, secure our border, and address our water crisis.  

While discussing Arizona’s education system, Hobbs pointed out how many students are struggling because our leaders refuse to invest much-needed resources into our communities — especially communities of color and low income and rural communities. “We are facing a crisis, across the board, because our leaders have failed to invest in public education,” Hobbs stated. “And they’re failing our students. They’re failing all of our students. But we know that there are disparities when it comes to minority students, particularly Latinos. And the more we divert resources from our public schools, the more we’re harming those students. And every single student, no matter where they live in our state, deserves to get high quality public education, and we aren’t doing that right now.” 

Hobbs’ Prepared Arizona plan invests in teachers, students, and families so every Arizonan has an opportunity to build a brighter future. As governor, Hobbs will make sure teachers get an average raise of $14,000 to bring Arizona closer to the national average. She will also expand access to universal pre-k and kindergarten, which has shown to increase children’s short- and long-term academic outcomes, especially children from low-income families. Hobbs also plans to create better opportunities by lowering the cost to pursue higher education like state universities, technical education programs and community college. 

During the forum, Hobbs acknowledged that for too long, the federal government has failed to provide the necessary leadership to effectively reform our immigration system or provide real border security measures — and Arizona’s border communities have paid the price. 

Hobbs highlighted the importance of supporting border communities and law enforcement, while reforming our immigration system to create fair pathways to citizenship for DREAMers. “Nobody wants to have criminals coming into our country bringing drugs, trafficking guns. And we need more border security. And I have a border security plan that’s been endorsed by two border sheriffs who’ve also endorsed my campaign.” Hobbs continued, “Because they see it as a way to bring real relief to their communities and address the issues that they’re seeing from immigration. My plan will work with our border leaders to provide the resources and support they need for meaningful relief for Arizonans who have borne the brunt of decades of inaction.”

Hobbs also emphasized Arizona’s looming water crisis as a top priority and addressed the unrealistic plans her opponent, Kari Lake, has cited as possible solutions. Hobbs pointed out that desalination alone will not be enough to meet the immediate needs of Arizonans, and we must do more to protect and expand water sources. 

“Desalination is one answer, but it’s not the only answer. The bottom line is that addressing this crisis is going to require partnership with all of the stakeholders. And talking about how we can aggressively conserve, protect existing resources and augment those resources. And desalination is one way to augment those resources. But we have more immediate needs, and there are more immediate answers. Like focusing on innovative ways to recycle water.” Hobbs said. “My Resilient Arizona plan talks about that, but also addresses building a clean–a 21st century clean–energy economy so that we are addressing the effects of climate change that are leading to increased drought and wildfires in our state.”