Laura Huber

As a candidate with a background in biochemistry and mental health counseling, I understand that sound legislation depends on rigorous evidence. If elected to the Arizona State Senate, I will support the creation of a nonpartisan scientific advisory council, modeled on similar structures used in other states, made up of researchers from Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University, along with representatives from Arizona’s tribal nations, agricultural sector, and public health agencies. This council would review proposed legislation with clear scientific dimensions, such as water management, public health, and environmental regulation, and provide written findings before final votes. I will also commit to holding regular public briefings, similar to the ballot measures briefing I co-presented earlier this year, so that constituents can understand the evidence behind policy decisions. I will prioritize direct relationships with the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, and the Arizona Department of Water Resources, requesting data and testimony before votes on relevant bills rather than after concerns have already surfaced. I will support transparency requirements that require legislative committees to disclose the sources and methodology behind any scientific claims used to justify a bill, so that both lawmakers and the public can evaluate the underlying evidence. My own professional experience relies on evidence based practice, and I intend to bring that same discipline to policymaking in the State Senate.

As a state senator, I would not control federal appropriations directly, but I can use the office to advocate for Arizona’s research institutions and to protect state level investments that complement federal funding. In fiscal year 2026, Congress rejected the White House’s proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, instead increasing NIH funding by 415 million dollars and reducing the NSF budget by only 310 million dollars rather than the proposed 5 billion dollar cut. I will use my position to formally communicate with Arizona’s congressional delegation, urging them to continue rejecting deep cuts to NIH, NSF, NASA, and Department of Energy Office of Science budgets in future appropriations cycles, since Arizona’s universities and hospitals rely heavily on these grants for research jobs and student training. At the state level, I will support increased funding for the Arizona Board of Regents research initiatives, including efforts like the University of Arizona’s Tailings Center, which is using a 3.6 million dollar ABOR funded grant to study whether the state’s mine waste can be reprocessed for critical minerals. I will also support state matching grant programs that help Arizona institutions compete for federal research dollars and workforce development funding tied to STEM fields. Protecting graduate fellowship and research assistant pipelines matters directly to Arizona’s economy, since our universities depend on a stable federal and state funding relationship to retain talent and remain competitive nationally.

Arizona is facing a genuine convergence of environmental pressures, and I support policies grounded in current data rather than assumptions. On water, Arizona is currently under a Bureau of Reclamation Level 1 Shortage Condition on the Colorado River, requiring the state to cut 512,000 acre feet of water for 2026, while Lake Mead sits around 32 percent full and Lake Powell around 24 percent full. At the same time, data center water use in the Phoenix area is projected to grow substantially in the coming years. I support requiring new data centers to disclose projected water and energy usage before receiving state incentives, and I support local ordinances, similar to those already adopted in Mesa, Avondale, and Phoenix, that cap industrial water use and require developers to secure supplemental water supplies rather than depleting local aquifers. Arizona currently relies on groundwater for 41 percent of its total water use, so protecting that resource is essential. On mining waste, I support continued state investment in research, such as the University of Arizona’s ongoing work assessing whether the state’s billions of tons of historic copper tailings can be safely reprocessed to reduce environmental risk while recovering critical minerals. On extreme heat, I support expanding funding for the Arizona Department of Health Services heat surveillance program and investing in shaded infrastructure and cooling centers in the districts most affected, particularly for outdoor workers and older residents.

As a licensed mental health counselor with an academic background in biochemistry, I understand how quickly public trust in health guidance can erode, and how much that trust affects outcomes. The current measles outbreak, concentrated along the Arizona Utah border and centered on Colorado City and Hildale, has made Arizona one of the largest outbreaks in the nation. I support policies that strengthen the Arizona Department of Health Services ability to track and respond to outbreaks in real time, including sustained funding for school based vaccination reporting and rapid public communication when exposure events occur, similar to the alert issued after a Phoenix concert exposure in November 2025. I support protecting access to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, which is roughly 97 percent effective after two doses, and ensuring that primary care and public health clinics in rural and underserved areas of Legislative District 25 have adequate staffing and vaccine supply. I also support funding community health outreach that respects local communities while providing clear, accurate information, since national data show that the vast majority of this year’s measles cases involve unvaccinated individuals. Given my professional background, I recognize the role of accurate health communication in reducing vaccine hesitancy, and I support funding public health messaging campaigns developed in partnership with medical professionals and communication researchers rather than relying on assumptions about what the public will respond to.

I support policies that protect young people online while respecting family decision making and personal privacy. Arizona House Bill 2991, introduced in 2026, would require social media platforms to obtain parental consent before allowing account holders under 14 to create accounts, require parental approval for 14 and 15 year old users, and give parents a clear process to request that a minor’s account be terminated. As of this year, the bill had passed a House Committee of the Whole vote and was under consideration with a Senate strike everything amendment. I support the core protections in this kind of legislation, including account termination rights for parents and permanent deletion of a minor’s personal data upon termination. As a licensed mental health counselor, I am concerned about the documented relationship between heavy social media use and youth mental health outcomes, and I support requiring platforms to disclose algorithmic design features, such as infinite scrolling and autoplay video, that are associated with compulsive use among minors. I also support Arizona’s existing age verification requirements for websites where a substantial portion of content is sexual material harmful to minors, while ensuring that any verification method used does not require platforms to retain or transmit a minor’s identifying information to government agencies, which protects both child safety and family privacy. Any legislation I support must be paired with independent research on effectiveness and unintended consequences before permanent adoption.

Arizona’s public school funding crisis is well documented, and I take it seriously both as a candidate and as someone who values evidence based decision making. According to a 2025 Consumer Affairs analysis, Arizona ranked dead last in the nation for public school funding and 49th for student performance, with an average student to teacher ratio of 23 to 1, the highest in the country, and a high school graduation rate around 78 percent, also the lowest nationally. State data show Arizona spent about 12,371 dollars per student in fiscal year 2024, well below the national average and far below top spending states like New York. I believe adequate, sustained public school funding is a prerequisite for improving outcomes, and I support increasing per pupil funding, addressing teacher shortages through competitive pay, and reversing the trend of expanding voucher spending, which reached roughly 1 billion dollars last year, without a corresponding increase in public school investment. On science education specifically, my own background in biochemistry has shown me how early exposure to hands on, inquiry based science instruction shapes whether students pursue STEM fields later in life. I support restoring and expanding funding for K through 12 science lab equipment, teacher training in science curriculum, and partnerships between public schools and Arizona’s research universities, so that students in Legislative District 25 have access to quality science education comparable to better funded districts elsewhere in the state.