The monsoon will bring added moisture which could be helpful, but the accompanying winds are a major concern for Arizona fire officials, they said.

And the cost to go from a stacked-cage system to cage-free is expensive, averaging around $40 per hen; in August 2022, the U.S. averaged 371 million egg-laying hens, according to the USDA.

Hobbs said Friday she was directing the Arizona Department of Agriculture to put the cage-free requirement on hold until 2034. The rule had been scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.