Arizona Senate confirms DPS director on final day, leaves other Hobbs nominees in limbo

The Arizona Senate on Monday confirmed Jeffrey Glover to lead the state Department of Public Safety in one of its final acts of the year.

The body adjourned sine die — meaning it has wrapped up its work for the session — without getting to a long list of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs' nominees to lead state agencies, a to-do list that leaves those leaders in limbo for the foreseeable future.

Nominees can serve for up to a year without confirmation, and two key Senate Republicans on Monday offered conflicting views on the path ahead for the nominees who have not yet been confirmed.

Glover is the first Black leader of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a 2,050-employee agency with an annual budget of about $490 million. The agency is in charge of patrolling highways, conducting complex criminal investigations and coordinating special regional or statewide task forces.

The Senate confirmed him with a voice vote, meaning there is no record of how each individual lawmaker voted. Lawmakers shouted their votes in favor, and none of the 26 in attendance Monday could be heard voting no.

Glover, the former Tempe police chief, was nominated in January by Hobbs and began work in February. He worked in the Tempe Police Department for two decades before retiring, but then returning as chief.

"With more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement, Director Glover is well suited to lead the Department of Public Safety," Hobbs' spokesperson Christian Slater said. "The Legislature was right to confirm him and Gov. Hobbs looks forward to working closely with Director Glover and DPS to guarantee public safety for all Arizonans."

Glover sailed through the often-contentious Senate Committee on Director Nominations on March 20, winning a unanimous 5-0 recommendation for confirmation. During the committee hearing, Glover praised the staff of DPS and pledged to rebuild the ranks, which have faced staff shortages for years. He fielded questions about de-escalation training and systemic racism in policing, and said he would work to reduce traffic deaths, tackle the fentanyl crisis and combat human trafficking.

The committee created earlier this year by GOP lawmakers, who hold the majority in the Senate, consolidated a key part of the confirmation process with a group of five lawmakers, three of them Republicans. Previously, committees organized by topic area would consider a related state agency; for example, a Senate health committee would vet the governor's pick to lead the Department of Health Services.

The new committee pledged to give Hobbs' nominees a thorough vetting, and it has stood in the way of several nominees who later withdrew their names from consideration.

But its prosecutorial process allowed Hobbs to accuse the GOP majority of putting politics in the way of work that Arizonans elected her to do. The committee is led by Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, a frequent critic of the governor and head of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, the farthest-right members of the Legislature.

What's next for Hobbs' nominees?

Hoffman and Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, offered differing views on what will happen next for Hobbs' agency leaders.

"We're going to continue nominations," Petersen said. "The committee will continue meeting soon. That'll occur shortly."

He said there was a possibility of a special session to confirm nominees, and said some could be confirmed next year when the Legislature returns to work. Petersen said Hobbs was aware those avenues were possible.

But Hoffman, who has sought to strongarm Hobbs into rescinding recent executive orders by withholding committee review of her nominees, doubled down on Monday, calling the orders a "tyrannical use of executive authority."

Legislative limbo: Here's where Gov. Hobbs' nominees stand

Hoffman and the Freedom Caucus threatened to sue Hobbs on the Legislature's first day back in January over an anti-discrimination executive order, but that lawsuit was never filed. The threat to stall agency nominees first came after Hobbs in June issued an executive order seeking to pre-empt county attorneys from prosecuting abortion cases.

"The Committee on Director Nominations can meet whether we're in session or whether we're not," Hoffman said. "I'm confident that at some point after Katie Hobbs has realized that she's gone off the reservation in terms of her executive authority that we will resume confirmation hearings."

Hobbs previously has hinted at other options to keep her nominees in place for longer than a year while the Senate has delayed formal confirmation votes, but declined to provide details. Slater didn't elaborate on next steps Monday.

One nominee has been recommended by the committee but has not yet gotten a full Senate vote. That is Angie Rodgers at the Department of Economic Security. Hoffman has previously said the Senate would take a wait-and-see approach to observe policies in place in the department before voting on whether to confirm Rodgers.

The six confirmed agency leaders are: Glover; Ben Henry, Department of Liquor Licenses and Control; Susan Nicolson, Department of Real Estate; Ryan Thornell, Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry; Thomas Torres, Department of Forestry and Fire Management; and Jennifer Toth, Department of Transportation.

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ Senate confirms DPS director on final day, leaves other nominees in limbo