PRESS RELEASE: Rep. Peshlakai Celebrates Wins for Tribal Communities in Bipartisan State Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE July 2, 2025

PHOENIX – The newly signed bipartisan state budget contains one of the Arizona's largest-ever investments in Indigenous Tribal healthcare, leveraging $100,000 from the state to bring in over $222 million in federal matching funds to cover culturally relevant traditional healing practices. Representative Mae Peshlakai said that securing those healthcare funds for Tribal communities around the state -- along with $3 million for a dialysis center for Sage Memorial Hospital on the Navajo Nation – were keys to earning her support for the plan. The budget also includes resources to help fight and prevent wildland fires in rural Arizona like the one currently burning near Window Rock. Those investments include $30 million for fire suppression, a 15 percent pay raise for state firefighters and $4 million for a Northern Arizona fire training facility in Flagstaff. 

"As a Tribal elder and a traditional Navajo woman, I am proud to have fought for the most significant investment in traditional healing and Tribal healthcare I have seen in my lifetime. This budget shows care, concern, respect, and resources for our people," Peshlakai said. "I am grateful to all 22 Tribal nations in Arizona for their support for this budget, and to Governor Hobbs and our leaders who negotiated, and to my colleagues who voted yes, for holding strong and delivering for our communities."  

Peshlakai added that the budget also helps rural communities, including the town of Winslow in her district, which needed $2 million to keep its hospital and other critical services running until the town can send a continuation of an expired sales tax for capital needs to voters for approval in the next election. And seniors in Tribal communities will benefit from a $7 million boost to the Area Agencies on Aging, including one operated by the Navajo Nation and another by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.    

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