Hi there,

UNBELIEVEABLE.

Arizona almost had a new food freedom bill (HB 2509).

But then Arizona's governor said no. Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill a couple weeks ago.

It's the first time I've seen it happen in the cottage food world.

It's particularly shocking because the bill passed both houses with a bipartisan supermajority. And that almost always means that the governor will sign and approve it.

But not this time. It was so shocking that it made national news. So what happened?

Well, for one, Gov. Hobbs has now set a record for most vetoes in Arizona history. She's already vetoed 63 bills in her first legislative session as governor.

And to understand why she's vetoing so many bills, it's important to know that she's a Democratic governor in a state with a Republican-controlled legislature.

While that helps explain the record number of vetoes, it doesn't fully explain a veto on a bipartisan bill. In this case, it might have been her own personal beliefs about food safety (which is the reason she cited), or perhaps a concern with competition with existing food businesses (which we've seen before), or the bill simply strayed too far from her political agenda. It's hard to know for sure.

But whatever the case may be, she's clearly not afraid to veto bills, and she vetoed it.

BUT even with a governor veto, a bill can still become law if the House & Senate override the veto.

And it almost happened. It would have been the first time to happen in Arizona since 1981.

To override the veto, the House needed a two-thirds vote, or 40 votes in this case. The bill got 35 votes, falling 5 votes short (and then would have gone on to the Senate for a vote).

But wait. How does a bill that passed with a bipartisan supermajority not get enough votes to override the veto?

And the answer to that, I'm afraid, is politics.

Basically, some of the Democrats that previously voted to approve the bill decided to change their votes in order to support their new Democratic governor.

But not all of them did. Some clearly frustrated Democrats strayed from party lines and voted to override the Governor's veto.

All in all, it's stirred up quite the controversy and people are still talking about it weeks later.

In some ways, it's brought a huge spotlight to food freedom in the state, similar to how New Jersey's issues caused massive support for a cottage food law in their state.

In other ways, it's hard to know what the future holds for Arizona. Will Arizona have to wait at least 4 years to get a food freedom bill, with Gov. Hobbs at the helm?

Sorry this was such a long email! I tried to dissect it as simply (and objectively) as possible, but, you know, when it comes to politics -- it's complicated! :)

Until next week,
David