by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 13, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona legislative Republicans are calling on their leadership to send a border-related measure to the voters in November.
On March 28, a group of Arizona House Republicans signed a letter, requesting that Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen “convene a special committee hearing, whereby Texas-style border security legislation can be promptly advanced and placed on the ballot.”
The members wrote that they “stand united with our brothers and sisters in the Senate in this body’s ongoing efforts to curb crimes against our citizens and prevent the ongoing invasion of this state.” They stated their resolve to “no longer allow continued cooperation with criminal international cartels, foreign countries, NGO’s, and the immigration industrial complex to make Arizona their staging ground and open-door funnel to destroy our Republic.”
According to the letter, the Republicans asserted their knowledge that “this Governor will not take action,” adding that Hobbs “has already vetoed several common-sense border security measures,” prompting the desire to act.
The next day, Representative Alexander Kolodin posted an update on his “X” account, sharing that he was “informed that the legislature will be having a ‘border day’ to introduce and hear ballot referrals before the end of session.”
Last month, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1231, the Arizona Border Invasion Act, which was sponsored by Senator Janae Shamp. The bill would have “ma[de] it unlawful for a person who is an alien (unlawful immigrant) to enter Arizona from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry and outline[d] penalties for violations of illegally entering Arizona and provide[d] immunity from civil liability and indemnification for state and local government officials, employees and contractors who enforce this prohibition” – according to the purpose from the state Senate.
In her veto letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, Hobbs said, “This bill does not secure our border, will be harmful for communities and businesses in our state, and burdensome for law enforcement personnel and the state judicial system. Further, this bill presents significant constitutional concerns and would be certain to mire the State in costly and protracted litigation.”
Shamp vowed that members of her party would continue to push forward solutions to combat the border crisis, saying, “The Republican-controlled Legislature will continue to prioritize closing our border and providing law enforcement with the tools they need. This veto is a slap in the face to them, Arizona’s victims of border-related crimes, and other citizens who will inevitably feel the wrath of this border invasion in one way, shape, or form at the hands of Hobbs and Biden.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 13, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A Mexican national was sentenced to prison for leading a human smuggling operation.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Scott H. Rash sentenced Martin Garcia-Velazquez to 90 months in federal prison “for his leadership role in a criminal conspiracy to transport and harbor at least 1,000 undocumented noncitizens over several years.” On September 20, 2023, Garcia-Velazquez pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Illegal Aliens for Profit.
According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Arizona, Garcia-Velazquez “admitted that he organized the transportation of undocumented noncitizens from the Mexico border to houses in and around Phoenix.” The announcement also revealed that Homeland Security Investigations agents “seized and forfeited from organization members over $1 million” – in addition to firearms, ammunition, and vehicles.
Garcia-Velazquez is 42 years-old. He comes from San Antonio, Michoacan, Mexico.
Other co-conspirators of the operation have been sentenced in federal court.
The investigation and prosecution resulted from an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation and Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA). The news bulletin from the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that OCDETF “identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.” The Office also shared that JTFA “was established to marshal the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, to enhance U.S. enforcement efforts against the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 12, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A bipartisan bill to expand health care opportunities in Arizona was signed into law.
Last week, Governor Katie Hobbs signed SB 1021, which would “remove the requirement that health professional groups proposing to increase the scope of practice of a state-regulated health profession must complete a statutory sunrise review” – according to the overview from the Arizona House of Representatives.
The bill was sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope, who released a statement to mark the occasion after the governor’s action. He wrote, “Thank you Governor Hobbs for signing my SB 1021! When President Warren Petersen named me his Chair of the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services, I set out to bring more health care options to underserved communities and this bill will help by eliminating an unnecessary process that only served to enable a protectionist and non-free market point of view in healthcare delivery. Together, with over two-thirds of my colleagues in both chambers, we have broken that barrier!”
Shope thanked his colleagues who had assisted in supporting the proposal – Senators Shamp and Burch and Representatives Montenegro and Hernandez. He said that “we made a great team on this!”
Shamp responded to Shope’s post on “X,” saying, “Honored to be your Vice Chair and to work on good policy for the betterment of Arizonans!”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Arizona Chiropractic Defense Federation, Arizona Retailers Association, Arizona Dental Hygienists’ Association, Arizona Association of Nurse Anesthetists, Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy, Arizona Pharmacy Association, Arizona Optometric Association, Arizona Oral Health Coalition, and Collision Chiropractic, all endorsed the bill. Representatives from the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association, Arizona Society of Anesthesiologists, Maricopa County Medical Society, Arizona Ophthalmological Society, Arizona Medical Association, And the Arizona Chapter American College Emergency Physicians indicated their opposition to the bill.
The Arizona Medical Association had asked Governor Hobbs to veto the bill after it was sent to her desk. In a letter from almost two dozen health care organizations, the coalition informed Hobbs that “approving SB 1021 has the potential to endanger patient safety and will not advance the delivery of healthcare in Arizona.” They added that “this bill will further complicate healthcare licensing decisions by removing transparency and replacing it with lobbyist influence.”
In February, the Arizona Senate had approved the legislation with a 24-4 vote (with two members not voting). After the bill was transmitted to the Arizona House, it was passed at the end of March with a 40-13 vote (with six members not voting and one seat vacant).
Jenna Bentley with the Goldwater Institute cheered on the governor’s signature. She said, “With SB 1021 now law, Arizona has removed an unnecessary burden on healthcare professionals wishing to practice at the top of their training, while still ensuring that bills are vetted by the full legislature.”
SB 1021 will go into effect 90 days after the Arizona Legislature adjourns for the session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 11, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona Republicans and Democrats traded insults over the status of a legislative proposal that would increase restrictions on firearms across the state.
Earlier this month, Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes expressed her outrage over the Legislature’s failure to consider HB 2791, which would have regulated guns in the hands of certain Arizonans. The bill was sponsored by Democrat State Representative Stacey Travers and co-sponsored by a bipartisan duo: Republican Kevin Payne and Democrat Laura Terech.
Mayes said, “I’m disappointed, and I’m angry that even narrowly-tailored gun violence prevention bills like the one we worked to introduce this session don’t stand a chance with our current legislature.”
She added, “Our bill that would’ve given us more tools to address threats of violence at our schools is not moving forward this legislative session. But we’re committed to Arizonans to keep on trying in order to protect public safety.”
The bill laid out the process by which an education protection order is filed, adjudicated, and executed in the state of Arizona. Such an order would “prohibit the defendant from possessing, controlling, using, manufacturing, or receiving a firearm for the duration of the order, [or] order the transfer of any firearm in the defendant’s possession or control, including any license or permit that allows the defendant to possess or acquire a firearm, to the appropriate law enforcement agency for the duration of the order,” or both.
Republicans disagreed with the attorney general’s sentiments about the bill. Senate President Warren Petersen wrote, “I’m extremely proud that we blocked legislation that would make it harder for you to defend yourself from criminals and harm.”
Representative Alexander Kolodin also weighed in, saying, “Let Kris Mayes take your guns away? That would be a hard NO from me!”
Travers, the bill sponsor, took umbrage with Kolodin’s attack on her proposal. She argued that HB 2791 has the “same due process as current orders of protection and constitutional rights. Higher threshold to issue order, and (existing) discretionary firearm restrictions. Includes mental health component. Protects LEO, Schools, Kinds. Not reinventing the wheel. Just saving lives.”
The Democrat State Representative promised to re-introduce the bill in 2025, calling it “a great bill with huge bipartisan and community support.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 10, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A judicial decision from Arizona’s high court may have significant political ramifications in the swing state for the 2024 election.
On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court issued its opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Mayes, finding that the state’s near ban on abortion, which was established in 1864 and reaffirmed several times since, was, in fact, the guiding law on the controversial issue. The vote in the State Supreme Court was 4-2, with one justice recusing himself.
The four prevailing justices wrote that they “merely follow[ed] our limited constitutional role and duty to interpret the law as written…. The legislature has demonstrated its consistent design to restrict elective abortion to the degree permitted by the Supremacy Clause and an unwavering intent since 1864 to proscribe elective abortions absent a federal constitutional right – precisely what it intended and accomplished in 36-2322.”
They added, “To date, our legislature has never affirmatively created a right to, or independently authorized, elective abortion. We defer, as we are constitutionally obligated to do, to the legislature’s judgment, which is accountable to, and thus reflects, the mutable will of our citizens.”
The decision from the Arizona Supreme Court ended one chapter of the state’s abortion saga and confirmed the legal theory of former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, who, soon after the Roe v. Wade reversal from the Supreme Court of the United States, issued a statement about Arizona’s abortion status. In a statement made on June 29, 2022, Brnovich said, “Our office has concluded the Arizona Legislature has made its intentions clear regarding abortion laws. ARS 13-3603 is back in effect and will not be repealed in 90 days by SB 1164. We will soon be asking the court to vacate the injunction which was put in place following Roe v Wade in light of the Dobbs decision earlier this month.”
Brnovich went to court in Pima County Superior Court to lift the injunction on the abortion law in question and was successful.
However, the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed the ruling from the Superior Court, leading to the consideration from the state’s Supreme Court.
The outraged reaction from Democrats was swift, while the responses from Republicans were mixed.
Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs said, “It is a dark day in Arizona. We are just fourteen days away from of one the most extreme abortion bans in the country. But my message to Arizona women is this: I won’t rest, and I won’t stop fighting until we have secured the right to abortion. That is my promise to you.”
Attorney General Kris Mayes, also a Democrat stated, “This is far from the end of the debate on reproductive freedom, and I look forward to the people of Arizona having their say in the matter. And let me be completely clear, as long as I am Attorney General, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state.”
Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma, both Republicans, issued a joint statement, saying, “During this [60-day waiting period], we will be closely reviewing the court’s ruling, talking to our members, and listening to our constituents to determine the best course of action for the legislature.”
The conservative Arizona Freedom Caucus cheered on the Court’s opinion, posting, “Today, the Supreme Court of Arizona made the correct ruling, upheld the intent of the legislature, and preserved the rule of law today by ruling that the pre-Roe law will remain effective. … As Republicans, we should be proud of the fact that today the lives of the preborn are more protected than they have been since SCOTUS’ fatally flawed Roe decision more than a half century ago. As Republicans, we should be unashamed in proclaiming the value of life.”
Republican Senator Wendy Rogers also weighed in on the news of the day. She wrote, “Then, as now, LIFE must be upheld in the laws of the land. I will vote against any laws that would dimmish life in Arizona, including any laws that would dilute our existing statutes. Defending life is the right thing to do.”
The Senate Democratic Leadership released a statement after the announcement from the Court, writing, “The Republican-appointed Arizona Supreme Court has decided to criminalize abortion in Arizona by upholding the 1864 territorial abortion ban and end legal abortion in all cases unless necessary to save the life of the mother. It’s a worse-case scenario Democrats predicted and have been preparing for, working to see the future of reproductive freedom in the hands of Arizonans.”
Arizona for Abortion Access, the group working to plant a constitutional amendment on abortion on the November ballot, expressed its anger over the judicial opinion. It said, “Today, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled to uphold a devasting near-total ban on abortion from 1864, a territorial law in place before Arizona became a state. This means Arizona now has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the nation.”
The group revealed that it had over 500,000 signatures from Arizona voters – well over the threshold needed to qualify for the ballot.
Last year, one of Arizona’s top pro-life leaders, Cathi Herrod from the Center for Arizona Policy, came out in fierce opposition to these efforts from pro-abortion interests, alerting her followers that this measure “would tear down virtually all pro-life precautions and make it nearly impossible to regulate abortion.” Herrod also explained how, if passed, the constitutional amendment would likely allow the likelihood of abortion at all stages of life in the womb, stating, “The broad exemption of ‘mental health’ of the mother after viability is widely understood, even in the courts, to mean virtually anything the abortion provider wants it to mean, including stress or anxiety. Even barbaric partial-birth abortion is legal under this exemption.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
