By Daniel Stefanski |
Earlier this week, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs continued her effort to break Arizona governors’ veto record, vetoing five bills sent to her from the state legislature.
The bills that Hobbs vetoed were HB 2552, HB 2675, HB 2754, SB 1236, and SB 1251.
Former Gov. Janet Napolitano set the record with 58 vetoes.
HB 2552, sponsored by Representative Austin Smith, would have prohibited “certain entities from using a voting method or nomination process that includes the ranking of candidates or allows candidates to be eliminated through multiple rounds of tabulation.” It also would have required “the person who receives the highest number of legal votes in an election to be declared elected.” Hobbs explained that “ranked choice voting is an election process that is used successfully elsewhere in the country.”
HB 2675, sponsored by Representative Steve Montenegro, would have declared “that drug cartels are terrorist organizations and required the Arizona Department of Homeland Security to do everything within its authority to address the threat that drug cartels pose.” Governor Hobbs justified her veto of this bill by saying, “Labeling drug cartels as terrorist organizations to deploy state resources is not a real solution and is not a state function.”
HB 2754, sponsored by Representative Rachel Jones, would have included “nongovernmental organizations in the definition of an enterprise for purposes of criminal liability and subjected an enterprise to criminal liability for the offense of participating in a human smuggling organization.” In announcing her veto of this proposal, Hobbs said, “This bill has unintended consequences for organizations that support immigrants.”
SB 1236, sponsored by Senator Wendy Rogers, would have declared “the regulation of the imposition of a tax or fee on a person or entity running a node on block chain technology to be a matter of statewide concern and preempted further regulation by a city, town or county.” The Governor stated that “this bill broadly defines ‘blockchain technology’ and prevents local policymaking concerning an emergent and potentially energy-intensive economic activity.”
After Hobbs’ action, Senator Rogers tweeted: “Of course Hobbs blocked my bill…anything that encourages the free markets gets torpedoed.”
SB 1251, sponsored by Senator Janae Shamp, would have prohibited “a city, town or county from enacting any ordinance, resolution or policy that prohibits or restricts a person from using a working animal in lawful commerce or for an animal enterprise.” Hobbs wrote that “SB 1251 is a solution in search of a problem. As the bill sponsor stated, no Arizona city, town, or county restricts rodeos or the use of working animals for agricultural or ranching operations. There are also no pending policy proposals to do so anywhere in Arizona.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
