Katie Hobbs also vetoed a bill that would have tried to bar using food stamps for soda.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed legislation banning ultra-processed foods in schools, while vetoing another bill supported by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Hobbs, a Democrat, on April 14
signed the legislation that prohibits schools that receive federal funding from serving certain ultra-processed foods, including foods containing artificial dyes such as Red Dye 40.
The bill says that “ultraprocessed, industrially manufactured, nutrient-depleted food with synthetic additives is undernourishing minors at public schools and contributing to childhood obesity,” and that “any taxpayer-funded meal or snack program offered to minors at public schools in this state should be nutritious and made primarily of whole, minimally processed plant or animal products.”
Hobbs did not comment on the bill.
“Republicans and Democrats are united in making sure our school children are eating foods without toxic dyes and chemicals!” state Rep. Leo Biasiucci, a Republican who co-sponsored the legislation,
wrote on the social media platform X.
Kennedy recently met with executives from some of the leading food companies and
instructed them to remove artificial dyes.
Hobbs on Monday also signed legislation that compels school districts to enforce policies limiting student use of cell phones.
A day later, the governor vetoed 15 bills, including legislation that said Arizona officials would ask the Department of Agriculture for a waiver to allow the state to bar the purchase of soda using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dollars or food stamps. “I appreciate your intent to improve the health outcomes of Arizonans. Yet, this legislation unnecessarily deprives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants of their purchasing power and relegates them to a new underclass of grocery shoppers,” Hobbs
wrote in her veto message.
Biasiucci, who also co-sponsored that legislation, wrote on X that the veto was disappointing.
“Food stamps should be used for essential foods, not items that provide zero nutritional value,” he said.
Kennedy, who recently traveled to Arizona to celebrate the Legislature’s passage of the bills,
wrote on X that Hobbs signed one and vetoed the other.
He described the bills as being part of the Make America Health Again, or MAHA, movement.
“I urge all governors to support MAHA legislation to Make America Healthy Again,” he said.
Republicans hold majorities in both Arizona legislative chambers.
On April 17, Hobbs announced that she would not be signing any legislation that had not already been transmitted to her until state Republican lawmakers pass a supplemental funding bill. “In the coming days, I will continue working towards real solutions, starting with the serious proposals already put forward, and exploring funding sources like the Prescription Drug Rebate Fund,” Hobbs said in a statement. “But the inaction of a few, extreme Republican lawmakers is unacceptable, and business as usual cannot continue until Arizonans with developmental disabilities and their caretakers have the certainty they need.”
Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro decried the move,
saying in a statement that “Governor Hobbs’ decision to hold every bill hostage because she didn’t get her way on a blank check is not leadership—it’s political blackmail.”
