New hiring laws in Arizona for 2027: the $15.65 minimum wage, fingerprint card limits, record sealing and what employers do next

As of November 2026, the Arizona hiring changes that matter most are a higher minimum wage and narrower screening rules. The state minimum wage rises to $15.65 an hour on January 1, 2027. Laws from the 2026 session took effect on the general effective date, September 12, 2026: HB 2916 stops agencies without statutory authority from requiring a fingerprint clearance card for a job or license, HB 2198 lets petty offense records be sealed right away, HB 2749 lets courts redesignate some first-time felonies as misdemeanors, and HB 2663 updates military leave. From July 1, 2027, SB 1428 adds attestation and notice rules for "zero exposure" workers' compensation policies that matter when a small contractor starts hiring.

Arizona added no pay transparency, salary history, AI hiring or non-compete statute in 2026. Every item below is a 2026 chapter law linked to its chaptered text on the Arizona Legislature's site, which lists the general effective date as 09/12/2026, or an Industrial Commission page. The standing checklist (unemployment and withholding accounts, the A-4, new-hire reports, E-Verify) is in our Arizona hiring hub; this page is the dated list of what is new.

Which Arizona hiring laws changed in 2026, and what changes in 2027?

Arizona laws and the federal rules that apply to Arizona employers, sorted by date.

How much is Arizona's minimum wage in 2027?

The Industrial Commission of Arizona's 2027 poster says that "Effective January 1, 2027, Arizona's Minimum Wage Is: $15.65 per hour," up from $15.15 in 2026 on the Commission's Labor Department page. An employer may pay a tipped employee "a maximum of $3.00 per hour less than the minimum wage" only if its records show that tips plus wages reached the minimum wage for every hour worked each week. Update pay ranges in Arizona postings, offer templates and staffing bill rates before the first January payroll, and check whether the city where the work is done sets its own higher rate.

What changed about fingerprint clearance cards?

Many Arizona jobs with children and vulnerable adults need a Department of Public Safety fingerprint clearance card, as our Arizona background check guide explains. HB 2916 (Chapter 119, approved June 4, 2026) adds A.R.S. 41-1758.09, effective September 12, 2026. Its first rule: "An agency in this state without statutory authority to require a fingerprint clearance card may not require a person to obtain a fingerprint clearance card as a condition of licensure, certification, registration or employment." Agencies include boards and commissions.

Its second rule helps new hires start sooner. For occupations "pending approval for a federal criminal records check," the relevant agency may grant temporary work authorization while the card application is processed, if the person shows the application is pending and certifies on a notarized form that they are not awaiting trial on, and have never been convicted of, the disqualifying offenses and are not required to register as a sex offender. The authorization ends if the card is denied. Separately, from the start of 2027 every instructor employed by or under contract with a traffic survival school must hold a valid card.

What changed about criminal records in background checks?

• Petty offenses. HB 2198 (Chapter 86) adds "immediately for a petty offense" to the waiting periods in A.R.S. 13-911, so a person can petition to seal a petty offense record as soon as the nonmonetary terms of the sentence are complete, rather than waiting years as for misdemeanors and felonies.
• Felony redesignation. HB 2749 (Chapter 109) adds A.R.S. 13-604.01: for a class 4, 5 or 6 felony not involving a dangerous offense, a court may enter judgment for a class 1 misdemeanor if the person has no earlier felony, the offense had no victim, all terms including payments are complete, at least five years have passed with no new felony or victim misdemeanor, and the change is in the interest of justice. The section is repealed after September 30, 2028.

Expect more reports to show a sealed record or a misdemeanor where a felony once appeared, and word application questions accordingly. The federal EEOC rescinded its 2012 arrest and conviction records guidance on October 28, 2026 (EEOC release); Title VII still applies, and a job-related review using the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it and the nature of the job) remains a sound way to decide and document. State-employer timing rules are in Arizona ban-the-box rules.

What changed for military leave, contractors and staffing offices?

• Military leave. HB 2663 (Chapter 104) rewrites A.R.S. 26-168 so an employer "may not refuse to allow members of the national guard of this state or any other state or the United States armed forces reserves to take leaves of absence" to comply with orders "for active duty or to attend" training, replacing the older list of camps, maneuvers, formations and drills. A violation is a class 1 misdemeanor.
• App-based contractors. HB 2310 (Chapter 55) changes the termination term a qualified marketplace contract must contain for the worker to be treated as an independent contractor under A.R.S. 23-1603, for contracts entered into from the act's effective date.
• Employment offices. SB 1254 (Chapter 73) deletes the Industrial Commission's power to "license and supervise the work of private employment offices" from A.R.S. 23-107, matching the 2017 repeal described in our Arizona staffing agency guide.
• Zero exposure policies. SB 1428 (Chapter 228) requires a business buying a workers' compensation policy with zero estimated exposure to sign an attestation that it has no employees and will notify the insurer "within sixty days" if it hires one. A construction business with such a policy must give each entity it contracts with a copy and a written notice, which the recipient keeps for three years. This applies to policies and certificates from July 1, 2027.

What did Arizona not change in 2026?

• No pay range or salary history law; see Arizona pay transparency.
• No non-compete statute. Bills to ban non-competes were held in committee; see Arizona non-compete law.
• E-Verify rules did not change; see E-Verify requirements in Arizona.
• Recording interviews still needs one party's consent; see Arizona recording consent for interviews.

What should Arizona employers do before January 1, 2027?

1. Reprice offers and postings to $15.65 an hour, any higher city rate, and tipped cash wages that respect the $3.00 limit.
2. Drop card requirements that lack a statute if you are a public agency or board, and ask licensing agencies about temporary work authorization for hires waiting on a card.
3. Update application questions for sealed records and redesignated convictions, and remove references to the 2012 EEOC guidance from your procedures.
4. Refresh the military leave policy to cover active duty and training orders and members of other states' National Guard.
5. Check Form I-9 editions and work permit dates under the federal changes in the table.
6. Plan for July 1, 2027 if you subcontract construction work to businesses with zero exposure policies: collect and keep their notices.

What does this mean for staffing agencies in Arizona?

Agencies feel the minimum wage first: bill rates for Arizona assignments need to cover $15.65 an hour from January 2027. Agencies placing caregivers, school staff or behavioral health workers should watch for temporary work authorization while fingerprint cards are pending, and agencies supplying construction labor should note the 2027 zero exposure notice rules. Arizona still licenses no staffing agencies; see our employer of record in Arizona guide for co-employment questions and new hiring laws for 2027 for other states.