A QPQ Tracker study · Arizona · 2023–2026
Arizona: who paid for the data centers and what the state decided
Arizona’s payer money goes mostly to parties and caucus funds. Pinnacle West’s PAC gave $741,850, Google’s PAC $185,000, all of Google’s to party and PAC accounts. Gov. Katie Hobbs took $48,200 from the payer PACs. Corporation Commission candidates run on Clean Elections public funding and took $220 from the payer set.
Tucson rejected Project Blue 7-0 on August 6, 2025. In June 2026 the Legislature passed HB 4168, which pauses new applications for the data center exemption for three years: House 47-11, Senate 23-5, signed June 13. The exemption was worth about $38.5M a year. 113 applications were filed in the two weeks before the pause took hold.
The legislators’ votes on HB 4168 are loaded member by member. The sponsors’ payer money ranges from $7,750 to $12,500.
Who paid
Each company's direct giving from its treasury and employee PAC, as filed in Arizona. Executives' personal cheques, super PAC spending and lobbying are different kinds of money and are not added here.
| Payer | Class | Direct giving in Arizona | Filings (every state the payer files in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| APS / Pinnacle West | Utility | $1,104,297 | |
| Salt River Project | Utility | $305,750 | Filings and recipients → |
| Oracle | Hyperscaler | $300 |
Who took it
The Arizona officeholders and candidates who received the most from the payer set, and what each did on the state's data center measures: the votes they cast, the bills they authored, the orders they signed. A yea is a vote for the measure as titled.
1 action on a measure
- shapedHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on · 1 action on a measure
- advocated forHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- NayHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
1 measure voted on
- YeaHB 4168: taxation omnibus pausing new data center tax-exemption applications, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029Enacted
The 12 largest recipients of any kind, committees included
| # | Recipient | Kind | From the payer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona Democratic Party | PAC or committee | $147,000 |
| 2 | Republican Party of Arizona, LLC | PAC or committee | $130,000 |
| 3 | House Victory Fund | PAC or committee | $111,250 |
| 4 | MARICOPA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY | PAC or committee | $90,300 |
| 5 | Arizona Senate Victory Fund PAC | PAC or committee | $86,250 |
| 6 | Arizona Values Fund | PAC or committee | $50,000 |
| 7 | Katie Hobbs | person | $37,800 |
| 8 | Arizona Chamber Political Action Committee | PAC or committee | $37,000 |
| 9 | Elevate Maricopa | PAC or committee | $30,000 |
| 10 | Arizona PAC | PAC or committee | $29,500 |
| 11 | Arizonans Protecting Freedom | PAC or committee | $25,000 |
| 12 | GREATER PHOENIX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE | PAC or committee | $22,000 |
What they decided
Every Arizona bill, regulator's order, executive action and election the study tracks, with its result, its recorded vote and the people and companies on the record for it. Each links to the official document.
Arizona2 measures
- BillEnactedJun 13, 2026House last roll 47–11 among 60 loaded members, Jun 11, 2026Senate last roll 23–5 among 30 loaded members, Jun 11, 202690 votes loadedMichael Carbone advocated for; Steve Montenegro advocated for; Julie Willoughby advocated for; David Farnsworth (Arizona) advocated for; Neal Carter advocated for; David Livingston (Arizona) advocated for
- BillFailedAug 6, 2025Tucson Mayor and Council shaped
How to read this page
The money is corporate-treasury and employee-PAC giving reported in Arizona’s own filing system, the Secretary of State's See The Money, from January 2023 to the latest filing loaded (732 contributions, January 2023 to September 2026). Transfers between a politician’s own committees, conduit memo lines and gifts from the opposing side are left out. Executives’ personal cheques, super PAC spending, 527 transfers and lobbying are different kinds of money. The report keeps them apart, and the written part of this page names them as such. Nothing on this page adds across kinds.
The votes are the legislature’s own roll calls, loaded for the members the study follows. A yea is a vote for the measure as titled. The measures are the bills, commission orders, executive actions and elections the study identified; each links to its official record.
Every payer total was reconciled against the payer’s own reports where the state publishes them. The checks are in the report’s verification log. Figures on this page were last recomputed on October 31, 2026. Correlation is not proof of causation; the record shows what was paid and what was decided.