State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) said squatters are a “real problem” in Arizona and explained how her bill, SB 1129, returns power to homeowners. An amended version of the legislation passed in a House vote (39-19) recently and is awaiting further action since its return to the Senate.
“Squatters in homes in Arizona is becoming a real problem,” Rogers said.
Citing the trouble as a national issue, Rogers thanked Florida lawmakers in a press conference Thursday, last week for their previous legislation, which served as a model in crafting the bill.
“[W]e’re grateful that Florida has led on this,” she stated, “and so we have incorporated a lot of Florida’s language to add teeth to this squatter bill.”
If you find a squatter in your home, the state senator added, “… you call law enforcement, and they say, ‘This is a trespass.’ And you might say to me, ‘Well, Rogers, we have trespass laws.’ Yes, we do. But right now, the way the situation is … you have to go to court to get these people out of your home. And in the meantime, they can destroy your home.”
Additionally, Rogers (pictured above) discussed property rights and how SB 1129 would empower law enforcement.
“We’re Westerners. We’re Arizonans,” she said. “We value property rights as really the Holy Grail of being Westerners and owning that property. So what this bill does is this puts the power back in the people’s hands. This gives law enforcement the expedience to be able to remove these people right then and there.”
Specifically, SB 1129 states, “A transient occupant of a residential dwelling is an unlawful occupant of the property after receiving a written direction to leave the premises from the person who is entitled to possession of the property. If the transient occupant fails to leave the premises after receiving written direction, the transient occupant is subject to removal by a law enforcement officer.”
The Flagstaff-area state senator acknowledged critics of the measure who raised concerns about the bill being used as a tool to remove domestic partners from homes. “And there’s been one worry that this could be used against domestic partners. It would not…this bill, and hopefully, this law, cannot be used and weaponized to get rid of a domestic partner,” she said.
Joining Rogers at the press conference were Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu), Senators John Kavanagh (R-Maricopa), Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson), Ken Bennett (Prescott), and House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu).
Previously, Rogers reacted to an X video purportedly showing New York City homeowners describing the extreme financial burdens squatters have caused and commented, “My SB 1129 Squatter bill will not allow this in Arizona.”
In a hearing in early March, State Representative David Marshall (R-Snowflake), a House Judiciary Committee member, voiced his support for SB 1129. “…[O]ne of the biggest victims in this crime are military,” he said, and added, “those who are deployed overseas that are there for a year, year and a half, some of them, two years. I’ve seen stories, many stories, in the past year, year and a half, of military families returning home and not having a home….”
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Debra McClure is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Debra on X / Twitter.
