budget unit; vacant positions; reporting.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text includes a provision stating 'Notwithstanding any other law,' which suggests it overrides conflicting rules, but does not specify what those are.

HB2688: Rules for Reporting and Eliminating Long-Term Vacant State Jobs

This bill requires state agencies to report job openings empty for at least 150 days and mandates the elimination of those positions from their budgets, though it was vetoed by the Governor.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) to collect a list of all full-time equivalent jobs vacant for at least 150 days.
• Mandates that each budget unit eliminate any job position within its agency that has been empty for more than 150 days every fiscal year.
• Requires the total number of allowed staff positions (FTEs) to be reduced to match the elimination of these vacant jobs.
• Includes information about long-term vacancies in the annual report sent to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Governor's office.

Who It Names or Affects

• State departments, commissions, boards, institutions, or agencies that spend state money
• The Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA)
• Excludes the Arizona Board of Regents, universities under its control, and community college districts
• Excludes the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, and the Department of Public Safety

Terms To Know

Budget unit

A state agency or department that receives, spends, or manages state money.

Full-time equivalent (FTE)

A measure used to count the number of full-time jobs an agency is allowed to have in its budget.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill was vetoed by the Governor on February 20, 2026.
• The text does not list specific exceptions for when a vacant position can be kept without elimination.
• Because of the veto, the effective date is uncertain unless the Legislature overrides it.

Official Summary Text

HB2688 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet

Assigned to
ATT������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ AS
VETOED

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Fifty-Seventh
Legislature, Second Regular Session

VETOED

FACT SHEET FOR
S.B. 1056/h.b. 2688

budget unit;
vacant positions; reporting

Purpose

Requires the
Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) to collect a list of all vacant
full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) that have been vacant for at least 150
days and requires each budget unit to eliminate the vacant positions each
fiscal year, with outlined exceptions.

Background

By October 1 of
each year, ADOA must collect from each budget unit and submit to the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee and Governor's Office of Strategic Planning and
Budgeting a report containing the number of FTEs and the total amount of
salaries for each budget unit for the prior fiscal year (
A.R.S.
� 41-708
).

In 2025, the
Joint Legislative Budget Committee issued a fiscal note on an identical
measure, S.B. 1510, which estimated a significant reduction in FTEs and stated
that the legislation would not itself reduce an agency's ongoing spending
authority. The spending reduction would only occur through further legislative
action in the annual general appropriations act (
JLBC
fiscal note
).

Provisions

1.

Requires ADOA to collect a list from each budget unit of all vacant FTEs
that have been vacant for at least 150 days and include the information in the
annual FTEs report.

2.

Requires a budget unit, each fiscal year, to eliminate any positions
within the budget unit that have been vacant for more than 150 days.

3.

Requires the budget unit's allocated FTEs to be adjusted to reflect the
elimination of any vacant positions.

4.

Defines
budget unit
as a department, commission, board,
institution or other agency of the state that receives, spends or disburses
state monies or incurs obligations of the state, excluding the Arizona
Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, Department of Public
Safety, Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR), universities under the jurisdiction of
ABOR and community college districts.

5.

Makes conforming changes.

6.

Becomes effective on the general effective date.

Governor's
Veto Message

����������� The
Governor indicates in her
veto message

that S.B. 1056 does not accurately reflect the
state's merit-based hiring processes and would deprive state agencies of their
ability to best serve Arizonans.

Senate Action
���������������������������������������������������������
House
Action

ATT���������������� 2/3/26������� DP������ 4-3-3������������������ RO����������������� 1/27/26����� DP������������� 3-2-0-0����������������������

3
rd

Read��������� 2/16/26����������������� 17-12-1�������������� 3
rd

Read��������� 2/16/26������������������������� 33-25-2

(S.B. 1056 was substituted for H.B.
2688 on 3rd Read)

Vetoed by
the Governor 2/20/26

Prepared by Senate Research

February 27, 2026

LMM/ci

Current Bill Text

HB2688 - 572R - H Ver

House Engrossed

budget unit; vacant
positions; reporting.

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HOUSE BILL 2688

AN
ACT

AMENDING SECTION 41-708, ARIZONA REVISED
STATUTES; AMENDING TITLE 41, CHAPTER 4, ARTICLE 1, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, BY
ADDING SECTION 41-710.04; RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 41-708, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
41-708.

Annual report; state employee salaries; full-time equivalent
positions; vacant positions; applicability; definitions

A. On or before October 1 of each year, the
department shall collect from each budget unit and shall submit to the joint
legislative budget committee and the governor's office of strategic planning
and budgeting a report containing the number of full-time equivalent positions

and the total amount of salaries for each budget unit for the
prior fiscal year, delineated by:

1. Retirement system.

2. Employee tier.

3. Fund source.

B. the department shall also collect
a list from each budget unit of all vacant, full-time EQUIVALENT positions that
have been vacant for at least one hundred fifty days to include in the report
submitted PURSUANT to subsection A of this section.

B.

C.
For
the purposes of this section:

1. "Budget unit":

(a) Means a department, commission, board,
institution or other agency of this state that receives, expends or disburses
state monies or incurs obligations of this state.

(b) Does not include the Arizona board of regents,
universities under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents and
community college districts.

2. "Employee tier" means a class of
employees in a retirement system in which each employee is subject to the same
employer contribution rate pursuant to title 38, chapter 5.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Title 41, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona
Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-710.04, to read:

START_STATUTE
41-710.04.

Agency vacancies; elimination; full-time equivalent
positions; adjustment; definition

A. Notwithstanding any other law,
each fiscal year A budget unit shall eliminate any positions within the budget
unit that have been vacant for more than one hundred fifty days. The budget
unit's allocated
FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT POSITIONS
shall
be adjusted to reflect the elimination of any vacant positions.

B. For the purposes of this section,
"Budget unit":

1. Means
a department, commission, board, institution or other agency of this state that
receives, spends or disburses state monies or incurs obligations of this state.

2. Does
not include THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC
SAFETY, the Arizona board of regents, universities under the jurisdiction of
the Arizona board of regents and community college districts.
END_STATUTE