AZ Legislative Update 04-01-2022
The legislature wrapped up the last of its regularly scheduled committee hearings this week and has reached a lull in the pace of the legislative session. There is still work to do – more than 400 bills await final floor debates and votes – but there’s little reason to act quickly when closed-door negotiations show no sign of leading to a state budget anytime soon. The legislature’s one constitutionally required duty – a financial plan for the state – is usually among the last things to get done during the legislative session.
It was not, however, a quiet week. Arizona grabbed national headlines when Governor Ducey signed bills that add new identification requirements for voting, limit transgender surgeries and school sports participation, and ban abortions after 15 weeks. These high-profile laws will likely lead to lawsuits, adding Arizona to the growing list of states hoping to change national policies through litigation on state laws.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved bills to create a tax exemption for some gun sales, change the standards for mobile sports gambling, add new evaluations for police use of force,
The House Appropriations Committee passed bills to allow some elected officials to retire early, try to bring baseball back to Tucson, expand requirements for classroom curriculum, and revamp funding for schools. The Committee failed to pass a proposal to increase legislative salaries.
During floor votes, Republicans narrowly advanced bills to reduce business property taxes and alter the role religious beliefs play in adoption and foster care processes.
Bipartisan coalitions voted to establish legal liability for someone who knowingly distributes or threatens to release intimate images, prohibit some individuals convicted of animal abuse to have a pet, waive strict limits on opioid prescriptions for patients with specific conditions, and ask the federal government to add more Farm Service Agency offices to serve Arizona farmers and ranchers.
The House quietly processed an effort to force the legislature to investigate or impeach the Secretary of State, using a procedural motion to avoid debate on the request.
What’s Next?
There’s no sign that the legislative session will end soon. April 19th marks the 100th day of the session – the point at which House and Senate rules say lawmakers should go home – but legislators frequently extend that timeline and are likely to do so this year. There are no more scheduled hearings on bills in policy committees, so legislators will spend their time in floor sessions debating bills that have already received committee approvals.
In the Elections
The Senate Government Committee cancelled its hearing on Maricopa County’s election operations. Arizonans made news in a documentary about efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A new audit from the Arizona Auditor General says election officials properly used private funding designated for elections. Arizona’s not the only state to outlaw private funding for future elections. Attorney General Mark Brnovitch (R) wants the Cochise County Attorney to carry forward his assertion that Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) is breaking the law in her handling of the state’s online signature collection system. (Both Brnovitch and Hobbs are running for higher office this year.)
In the Courts
Arizona joined a multi-state effort to oppose the CDC’s mask mandate for public transportation. There’s a settlement in environmental groups’ lawsuit about the border wall. A political fight about how the Attorney General represents state entities may lead to new ethics rules at the Arizona Supreme Court.
In the News
A growing number of college students want to move to Phoenix after graduation. Arizona’s Silver Alert law helps bring people home. The legislature isn’t considering a bill to split Maricopa County. Teenagers are talking to legislators. There’s new data on how sports betting is affecting state revenues. has a new voice on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities and the White House Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.