Rep. Matt Gress missed House stopgap budget vote while in Italy for his wedding
Based on reporting by Nicole Ludden and Hank Stephenson for Arizona Agenda, published June 25, 2025.
Republican Rep. Matt Gress, described by the Arizona Agenda as chief budget negotiator, was in Italy for his wedding when the Arizona House voted on a stopgap state budget on June 24, 2025.
House Republicans passed what the Agenda called a "skinny" continuation budget, which funds baseline government functions for the next year without the new spending lawmakers had spent months negotiating. Gov. Katie Hobbs had already announced she would veto it, and the state faced a government shutdown the following Tuesday without a budget she would sign.
Four House members skipped the vote: Gress, Republican Rep. Laurin Hendrix and Democratic Reps. Seth Blattman and Lupe Contreras. The two Republican absences left House Republicans with 31 members present, the minimum needed to pass a budget on a party line vote. They reached that number only after Republican Rep. Nick Kupper flew home to vote.
The Agenda reported that the underlying dispute was a budget battle between House and Senate Republicans, who largely still backed their separate spending plans. The Senate had passed a budget the previous week with Hobbs on board, and the skinny budget was meant as a stopgap while negotiations continued.
The measure next went to the Senate, where 16 of the 17 Republicans are needed to pass a budget. Republican Sen. T.J. Shope told the Agenda he was catching a flight that Thursday to attend the Gress wedding and had paid his own way to Italy. "(I've got) too much personal dollars in this one to cancel or alter plans," Shope said.