Michael Carbone, House Majority Leader in the Arizona House of Representatives, said on April 8 that Governor Katie Hobbs’ recently released energy plan prioritizes renewable energy development over addressing Arizona’s housing shortage and rising costs for families.
Carbone’s comments come in response to the Arizona Energy Promise Task Force report, which was made public on April 2 after months of working group meetings. The task force operated under the Governor’s Office of Resiliency and produced recommendations focused on energy affordability, reliability, and resilience, according to an official Arizona House GOP press release issued April 8, 2026.
“Hobbs is calling this an all-of-the-above energy plan. It’s not. It’s a solar-heavy political plan that puts green industry insiders ahead of taxpayers. Housing is in short supply, prices are too high, and families are being pushed into denser and denser housing areas. Arizonans don’t want their tax dollars turned into a funding stream for green energy insiders,” Carbone said according to the official press release.
The task force report includes 31 consensus-driven recommendations calling for expanded utility-scale wind and solar development on state land, new solar installations on public buildings, and enrollment of public assets into virtual power plant programs. The report addresses projected peak demand growth of up to 40 percent over the next 15 years driven by data centers and population increases. The plan emphasizes renewable sources while remaining silent on gasoline prices, boutique fuel blends and additional oil and gas infrastructure, according to the Governor’s Office.
Approximately 276,000 acres of state trust land located within 10 miles of incorporated cities and towns in Arizona could support up to 200,000 new housing units according to the Common Sense Institute. State land policy has directed many parcels toward utility-scale solar leases with restrictive bidder qualifications that produced only one bidder in nine of the last ten solar leases since January 2023. This pattern limits competitive bidding and reduces potential revenue for K-12 education and other trust beneficiaries, according to the Common Sense Institute.
Carbone is a Republican member representing Legislative District 25—which includes portions of Yuma, Maricopa, and La Paz counties—and was elected as House Majority Leader after joining the legislature in 2022. He has focused legislative efforts on education funding, economic development, government accountability, housing supply policies, and energy reliability for Arizona families, according to his legislative biography.
