This budget-related human services law raises the maximum payments to mobile home owners forced to move from $12,500 to $22,500 (single-section) and from $20,000 to $30,000 (multisection), replaces the 100-mile limit with a limit to moves within Arizona, extends the military family relief fund and its tax credit through 2031, widens an after-school grant program to children up to age 18, moves early speech and hearing services for deaf infants to the Department of Economic Security, and adds temporary food-aid and cash-aid eligibility checks.
Official title: human services; 2026-2027
- September 12, 2026
- By November 1, 2026: Transfer of early childhood listening and spoken language contracts to the Department of Economic Security
- Beginning July 1, 2027: Department of Economic Security contracts for speech and audition services, subject to available appropriations
- During fiscal year 2026-2027: Drug screening and testing of TANF cash benefit recipients
- Through June 30, 2027: SNAP fund, SNAP eligibility checks and reports, the SNAP quality report deadline, and the rural out-of-school time capital spending rule
- Extended through December 31, 2031: Military family relief fund and related income tax credit
An automatic check couldn't match part of this summary to the law's text.
The text of the law is the only authority. What this label means
What changes
BeforeMobile home owners who must move because a park changes use, raises rent above the legal threshold or drops its age restriction could get up to $12,500 (single-section) or $20,000 (multisection) in moving costs, only for moves within 100 miles of the park.
NowThe caps are $22,500 (single-section) and $30,000 (multisection), and the 100-mile limit is replaced by a limit to moves within Arizona. For owners displaced when a park drops its age restriction, covered moves must still be to another age-restricted community, now anywhere in Arizona. Payments are still the lesser of actual costs or the cap.
BeforeThe military family relief fund and the state income tax credit for donating to it ($200 single or head of household, $400 married filing jointly) were set to end after December 31, 2026.
NowBoth are extended through December 31, 2031. The law also spells out that a service member has established Arizona residency by having an Arizona driver license or nonoperating identification license, registering a vehicle in Arizona, or getting a community service organization's verification of homeless status and Arizona residency.
BeforeThe out-of-school time grant program covered children ages 5 to 12, and one of its goals was to cut child care costs for families by at least two-thirds.
NowIt covers school-age children from age 5 who are eligible for or enrolled in kindergarten up to age 18, from households earning $150,000 or less. The cost goal now reads: reduce costs or expand care at no cost to families. Grantees must also mainly operate before or after school or in the summer, serve only eligible pupils, and promote learning, enrichment or youth development activities.
BeforeThe Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind held contracts for supplemental early childhood listening and spoken language services.
NowThose contracts move to the Department of Economic Security by November 1, 2026, with an agreement meant to avoid any lapse in services. Beginning July 1, 2027, and subject to available appropriations, the department must contract with providers for speech and audition services for infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing. It must refer eligible families to both those providers and the state schools for the deaf and the blind.
-
NowThrough June 30, 2027, the Department of Economic Security must check SNAP (food assistance) eligibility against lottery and gambling winnings, health, prison, wage and federal data. It may not rely only on a person's own statement to confirm residency except in unusual circumstances allowed by federal law, and it must file several reports. During fiscal year 2026-2027, adult TANF cash aid recipients whom the department has reasonable cause to believe use illegal drugs must be screened and tested. A positive test for a drug not prescribed to them makes them ineligible for benefits for 1 year.
Who it affects
- Mobile home owners who rent spaces in mobile home parks and must move
- Veterans, service members and their families seeking military family relief aid
- Taxpayers who donate to the military family relief fund
- School-age children up to 18 and their families using out-of-school time programs
- Families of infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing
- SNAP and TANF recipients and applicants
- Mobile home park landlords
- Department of Economic Security
- Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind
- Arizona Department of Housing
What you need to do
Nothing new. Mobile home owners seeking relocation money still follow the existing contract approval steps.
What the law doesn't answer
- The dollar amounts appropriated, if any, for these programs
- Where the money for the higher mobile home relocation payments will come from, or whether landlord payments into the fund change
- How the department decides there is 'reasonable cause' to drug test a TANF recipient
- What counts as 'unusual circumstances' for accepting a person's own statement of residency for SNAP
- How many families or children the new speech and audition contracts will serve
This summary describes the law as enacted. Later laws, court rulings or referendum petitions can change the picture. Check the official text for the current wording.