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“Their negligence is jeopardizing the health, independence and lives of more than 50,000 Arizonans with disabilities and autism, intellectual disability and cerebral palsy who depend on DDD (Division of Developmental Disabilities) for health services and support for independent living,’’ Hobbs told the Arizona Disability Advocacy Council at a Capitol meeting.

She said the program immediately needs $122 million or it will not be able to pay providers by May.

“Funding for DDD is under threat because the legislative majority has decided that they want to use the people in this room as political pawns rather than serve you and do their job,’’ the Democratic governor said.

But Republican Rep. David Livingston, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, said there’s a simple reason the program is running out of funds: the governor overspent what she was authorized.

“The Legislature was never consulted before these funds were spent,’’ he said this week in an open letter to Hobbs. “Yet now taxpayers are being asked to cover the consequences.’’

The program provides funds for parents who serve as caregivers for their children.

It did not exist until 2020 when federal officials agreed to finance it entirely with Medicaid dollars. That was designed to help deal with the fact it became difficult for some families to find caregivers during COVID.

Most of the federal funding is ending, but Hobbs has continued the program anyway.

She insists it was always understood by all — including the Republican-controlled Legislature when it adopted a new budget for this year — that the state would pick up the difference.

Hobbs acknowledged there is a shortfall. But she said it’s due entirely to unanticipated growth in the entire developmental disabilities program.

That has led to the current stalemate and war of words. Hobbs is hoping to build public support by calling this an emergency and speaking publicly, with TV cameras present, to an audience including children with disabilities.

“It does not matter how many times they (GOP lawmakers) try to spin it,’’ the governor said. “They are trying to put the blame for this on me and it is squarely on them.’’

She said the solution is simple: allocate more money right now. In fact, Hobbs said, she sent the Legislature a proposed budget in January not just for the new fiscal year that begins July 1 but also to provide the needed funds for the balance of this budget year.

“If they have other ideas, they should give me a budget instead,’’ Hobbs said. “If you don’t like the budget I presented, then send me your budget.’’

Livingston said that simply providing more money because, as he puts it, the governor overspent is not an option. What is needed, he said, is “serious, responsible discussions.’’

“Rather than engaging with the Legislature in good faith, you and your staff have chosen to issue public statements, assign blame, and demand more taxpayer dollars — without addressing the broken system that led us here,’’ he wrote to Hobbs.

Hobbs, for her part, said now that she has sent them her proposal, the next move is up to the Legislature.

“I haven’t seen one plan from them,’’ she said. “Why would I negotiate with them if I don’t even know what they want?’’

She rejected the idea that there’s something unusual in a governor asking for supplemental funding in the middle of a budget year. She pointed out that such requests are not only routine but also granted, as happened two years ago when funding fell short for the universal voucher program, which provides tax dollars for parents to send their children to private and parochial schools or to home school.

“The same legislators who rubber stamped supplemental funding year after year, who haven’t batted an eye at the blank checks being written for pet projects, today are refusing to fund critical services for Arizona’s most vulnerable population,’’ Hobbs said.

The dispute over funding for disabilities programs is likely just the warm-up act for a larger battle over what happens in Arizona if Medicaid funds are sharply cut.

The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program, provides care for those making up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $35,100 for a family of three. The feds pick up about three-fourths of the cost.

More than 2 million Arizonans currently receive care from one or more of the AHCCCS programs.

But the Republican-controlled Congress is moving to make cuts in Medicaid funding, which would leave the state holding the financial bag for what, even with federal funding, is the largest single item, at $2.6 billion, in the $17 billion state budget.

“It is something that is looming,’’ Hobbs said Wednesday.

“The hospitals and everyone are sounding the alarm,’’ she said, particularly rural hospitals which might have to close because they could not bear the cost of uncompensated health care.