Arizona State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tuscon) is preparing for the next legislative session by outlining her priorities and beginning to craft legislation for introduction in the State Senate.
Arizona’s regular legislative sessions begin on the second Monday in January and typically conclude after 100 days. However, the House and Senate can mutually vote to extend the regular session beyond 100 days. This happens regularly. It will run as long as lawmakers need it to.
Although lawmakers finished voting on legislation last month, they pushed this year’s regular session into the second week of August to continue reviewing Governor Katie Hobbs‘ executive nominees making this year’s regular session one of the longest in state history.
According to Wadsack, she plans to focus on the issues of human trafficking, the homeless population, the fentanyl crisis, and mental illness in Arizona during the next legislative session.
“My focus will be on human trafficking, our state’s homeless and fentanyl crisis, as well as our population with severe mental illness. Pima County is in desperate need of a state mental hospital,” Wadsack said.
Wadsack said that these priorities for the next legislative session and her drive to improve the state of Arizona are why she became a state senator.
“I am doing what I came here to do. These issues along with fixing state agencies are the reasons that I am at the Capital. I want to make Arizona better and help people along the way,” Wadsack said.
According to the freshman state senator, she has already begun crafting legislation to address these priorities in preparation for the next legislative session.
“I’ve already started working on crafting legislation to improve these heartbreaking issues,” Wadsack said.
Voters elected Wadsack in 2022 to serve in the Arizona State Senate, representing District 17 as a member of the Republican Party. Wadsack defeated incumbent State Senator Vince Leach in the Republican primary.
Before running for office, Wadsack was a real estate agent and political activist. She first filed to run for office in 2019, and in 2020 unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Congress and Arizona State Senate.
During this legislative session, Wadsack advocated to dismantle the State Bar of Arizona through Senate Bill (SB) 1435 to provide greater protections to children with disabilities through SB 1411, to ensure students enrolled in noncredit workforce training are counted in a community college districts’ state aid and expenditure limitation through SB 1400, and to protect children from being exposed to sexually explicit adult performances through SB 1698.
Wadsack noted that she had a very successful legislative session passing over 30 bills out of the State Senate with 10 going to the governor’s desk and the governor signing 4 into law.
According to Wadsack, she is “so proud to be part of a Republican caucus that is so connected and strong.”
The Arizona Sun Times contacted Wadsack for comment but did not receive one before press time.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Justine Wadsack” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 3.0. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
