By Staff Reporter |

A series of public safety reforms will go into effect after Gov. Katie Hobbs signed them into law over the past week.  

State Sen. Kevin Payne (R-LD27), chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, sponsored the bills. Payne’s press release announcing the reforms said the state’s approach to public safety should be proactive, not just reactive.

“Public safety is about more than responding after a crime has occurred,” said Payne. “It’s about stopping criminal organizations before they victimize more people and making sure the men and women who protect our communities have the support they need to do their jobs.”

The bills in this bipartisan public safety reform package — Senate Bills 1215, 1400, 1452, and 1493 — represent changes to cargo theft investigations and prosecutions, wellness and crisis response for first responder employees, and workers’ compensation claims for cancer-stricken firefighters.

SB 1215 represented a fix to something Payne called a “drafting error” in the state’s presumptive cancer law which enabled challenges to workers’ compensation claims filed by first responders diagnosed with certain cancers contracted while in the line of duty. 

Workers’ compensation providers have reportedly denied claims based on what critics of the original legislation called a “punctuation problem” with missing commas that created ambiguous meaning and purportedly allowed providers to reject certain claims. 

These latest legislative fixes are retroactive to July 1, 2021.

“Firefighters put their lives on the line for complete strangers every day,” said Payne. “When they develop cancer linked to years of service, they shouldn’t have to fight insurance companies over a misplaced comma in state law.”

SB 1400 permits first responder entities to establish wellness and crisis response programs for those employees exposed to traumatic events in the line of duty. Programs would offer employees access to certain resources including counseling, peer support, and crisis intervention services. Part of that legislation, Payne noted, created confidentiality protections for participating employees’ communications.

“Our firefighters, police officers, dispatchers, and public safety professionals witness things most people will never experience,” said Payne. “Too often, the culture of these professions tells them to carry those burdens alone.”

SB 1452 creates the Cargo Theft Task Force under the attorney general, dedicated specifically to investigating and prosecuting organized cargo theft operations: the theft, diversion, embezzlement, unlawful taking, or fraudulent acquisition of cargo or freight. 

The bill requires the attorney general to invite federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to participate in the task force. 

Task force membership will include one full-time prosecutor, one full-time paralegal, one full-time support staff member, six investigators, and any additional law enforcement personnel designated by the attorney general. 

In addition to their investigatory duties, the task force will be required to meet regularly to review investigations and intelligence and share case updates, and to coordinate with local, state, or federal law enforcement on case referrals and the latest developments in the illicit cargo theft industry. 

The attorney general will be required to submit an annual report on the task force’s activities, intelligence gathered, and any recommendations for legislative or policy action. 

“Organized cargo theft has become a sophisticated criminal enterprise that impacts far more than warehouses and trucking companies,” said Payne. When criminals steal products moving through the supply chain, Arizona families ultimately pay the price at the checkout counter.”

SB1493 would require employers of wrongfully terminated law enforcement officers to cover any appeal costs and fees. 

“When an officer is wrongly terminated and later proven right, justice shouldn’t stop at reinstatement,” said Payne. “No one should have to drain their savings or jeopardize their family’s financial future simply to clear their name.”

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