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JLBC hears A to Z Arizona portal briefing; favorable review given to item 1C
Summary
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee reviewed ADOA's A to Z Arizona portal, including prior and proposed funding and planned agency integrations, and gave a favorable review of agenda item 1C, while noting total long-term project costs remain unclear.
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Nov. 10 reviewed the state's A to Z Arizona portal and gave a favorable review to agenda item 1C, which brings $3,370,000 in FY2026 funding for continued development and agency integrations.
Dustin Moss of JLBC staff told the committee the portal was initially funded in FY2025 to create a single access platform to authenticate applicants for health and human services programs and to reduce fraud, waste and abuse. He said some FY2024 appropriations totaled about $6.7 million, with roughly $6.0 million spent on core development and $700,000 used by the Department of Health Services to prepare data for integration. The FY2026 appropriation under review was $3,370,000.
JR Sloan, assistant director and state chief information officer at the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA), described the portal as a "front door" that provides a common identity: "The key thing that we're bringing here is a common identity," he said, explaining the plan to leverage verified credentials such as an Arizona driver's license or state ID to reduce fraud and allow users to be passed through to agency systems.
Committee members asked about total project cost estimates, phases and how the portal will interact with existing sites such as Business 1 Stop and DES's client portal. Sloan said phase accounting is still evolving and that some reports indicate phase 1 development is complete, while other appropriations have funded modernization efforts for specific DES applications. He said the portal will generally not rewrite agency systems but instead pass authenticated users to existing applications, noting that some agencies will require integration work.
Sloan also confirmed the administration used about $1.8 million in ARPA funds to stand up program operations and initial task orders and said the current staff working on the portal is four full-time people, with a potential need for one or two additional contractor or staff roles. He projected the current appropriation would carry through FY2027.
The committee moved to give favorable review to item 1C with a verbal vote; the motion was adopted. The transcript records committee approval but does not include a roll-call tally for the vote.
What remains unclear in the public record is a consolidated estimate of total project costs for all agency integrations. Sloan and JLBC staff said that total costs are not yet specified and that future investments would be evaluated against demonstrable value for the state.
