Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) revealed another batch of legislative actions Monday, including ten passages and four more vetoes for Republican-led legislation.
“Katie Hobbs just vetoed my bill that would have affirmed that courts are to interpret election laws in the interests of transparency – insane,” shared State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale).
Katie Hobbs just vetoed my bill that would have affirmed that courts are to interpret election laws in the interests of transparency – insane! https://t.co/Bu1miVSiEN
— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) April 18, 2023
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to the House Majority Team for a comment but did not hear back before press time.
HB 2319 – Election Law Transparency
Kolodin’s bill was HB 2319, which stated the state Legislature’s intent to maximize the understanding of election laws by providing a rule of consideration for implementing statutes. If there happened to be any “competing interpretations” of Arizona’s election laws, then the statutes must be “liberally constructed in favor of the reading that provides greater transparency.” The bill would have also applied to the Elections Procedures Manuel created by the Arizona Secretary of State.
However, Hobbs did not see value in the bill, stating that it “adds unnecessary language into statute” and does not “solve any of the real challenges facing election administration.”
HB 2319 is the second election clarity bill from Kolodin that Hobbs has vetoed recently.
HB 2332 & SB 1331 – Guns and Schools
The following two bills, HB 2332 by State Representative Selina Bliss (R-Prescott) and SB 1331 by State Senator Janae Shamp, both relate to guns on school campuses. Bliss’s bill would have required public and charter schools to provide an “age-appropriate” firearm safety training session at least once to students in grades 6-12 starting in July 2024. Schools can already request similar training sessions from the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) under Arizona law.
The teacher overseeing the training would not have needed to be a certified firearms safety instructor, but the school could have also used police officers or other state educators. The school would have been required to notify parents at least two weeks before the training, and students could have been excused upon request.
Moreover, Shamp’s bill would have prevented schools from restricting parents of a student from bringing a concealed firearm onto campus. The parent must have a valid concealed carry permit, but the bill would have ensured that bringing the weapon to a school would not constitute weapon misconduct.
Hobbs responded to both bills simultaneously, giving a longer message than usual. She argued that neither of these bills poses a solution to gun violence because allowing more “guns on campus will not make a campus safer.” Hobbs said the violence prevention legislation she wants to sign includes gun storage regulations and “trauma-informed emergency planning” policies.
Moreover, Hobbs expressed her disappointment with Republicans who pushed these bills but not HB 2192. This bill, sponsored by State Representative Jennifer Longdon (D-Maricopa), died in the House and would have required all guns in the state to be stored in a locked container that requires a key or combination to open. The bill was known as “Christian’s Law,” which was pushed by the family of Christian Petillo, who died after being accidentally shot at a friend’s house.
HB 2297 – Fraudulent Schemes
The final bill to get axed was HB 2297 by State Representative Neal Carter (R-Casa Grande). If the bill became law, it would have stipulated that when someone is prosecuted for a fraudulent scheme, the state is not required to establish that all acts constituting the offense occurred in Arizona.
In response, Hobbs said state laws already outline punishments for fraud, so this bill would only add confusion where there was none.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
