President Petersen Sets Record Straight on Senate Committee for Director Nominations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                         

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

President Petersen Sets Record Straight on

Senate Committee for Director Nominations

PHOENIX, ARIZONA— Senate President Warren Petersen is providing an update today on work being conducted on behalf of the citizens of Arizona to thoroughly vet and confirm director nominees for the state's critical agencies.

"In an effort to establish a clear system of checks and balances over state agency directors, I created the bipartisan Senate Committee on Director Nominations (DINO) in February of 2023," said President Petersen. "This committee is currently comprised of Chairman Hoffman and Senators Shope, Kavanagh, Ortiz, and Bravo. They are tasked with gathering information and evaluating qualifications on the Governor's executive appointments in order to recommend a course of action for the Senate to take on each individual. Arizona Revised Statute 38-211 requires the Senate to confirm the Governor's appointments, and we are doing just that, while also weeding out unqualified, highly partisan, incompetent, or corrupt individuals who should not be holding any sort of leadership roles within the State of Arizona."

"Since its inception, the DINO Committee has held hearings for a total of 20 nominees. Of those, 14 were confirmed by the Senate body and two were rejected. Three nominees are awaiting their vote before the Senate body. Seven directors were withdrawn by the Governor's office before they could receive a hearing. We currently have four nominees awaiting their confirmation hearings, and we are continuing to schedule those hearings on a weekly basis," said President Petersen. "We are also waiting for the Governor to nominate two more individuals to replace the two she withdrew last week. The DINO Committee is working as I intended it to, and as a result, we are receiving better quality candidates from the Executive Branch to lead these state agencies. We will continue to fairly, thoroughly, honestly, and accurately vet director nominees and only approve those who are qualified for these important positions."

"While some enjoy focusing on those who were rejected and colorful bantering between the Executive and the Senate, the fact is we have confirmed the vast majority of the nominees and now have just a handful of unconfirmed nominees. The process is simple. If the Governor sends us qualified, non-partisan nominees, they will be confirmed by a bipartisan group of Senators," said President Petersen.

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For more information, contact:

Kim Quintero

Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

kquintero@azleg.gov