Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, House Speaker Steve Montenegro, and State Treasure Kimberly Yee are continuing a legal battle against the administration of former President Joe Biden and his surrogate, Attorney General Kris Mayes to defeat what they say is an “unlawful, dictator-style land grab in northern Arizona.”
The lawsuit, currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, centers around the confiscation of a massive tract of Arizona land in Coconino and Mohave Counties which bans “the productive use of almost 1 million acres in northern Arizona,” and “permanently entombs one of the nation’s largest and highest-grade uranium deposits,” in addition to forbidding any road or infrastructure development in “an area the size of Rhode Island,” according to a legal brief submitted Wednesday.
The Biden White House, via Presidential Proclamation launched this audacious expropriation of Arizona land in August 2023 under the color of the Antiquities Act, creating “the Ancestral Footprints Monument.” In February 2024, Petersen launched a lawsuit to stop him.
“Former President Joe Biden and his army of radical bureaucrats abused their constitutional authority on countless levels during his failed administration. Their infatuation with locking up federal lands from productive uses is a prime example of the harm inflicted on states like Arizona,” said Petersen. “As we have argued throughout this case, Biden’s maneuver had nothing to do with protecting actual artifacts. This was an attempt to halt all mining, ranching, and other local uses of federal lands that are critical to our energy independence from adversary foreign nations, our food supply, and the strength of our economy. Republicans in the Arizona Legislature will continue to fight these actions to free our state from the grasp radical environmentalists had over the previous administration. Thankfully, we now have President Donald J. Trump in office, who has a consistent track record of safeguarding state sovereignty and promoting common-sense uses of federal land. I am continuing to work with his administration in an effort to end this legal battle.”
As Petersen and his legal team point out to the court, the unlawful seizure by the Biden administration stood in direct violation of the 1909 Antiquities Act. It uses as a basis given that a president is only empowered to reserve “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.”
In a press release, the Republican group said the coalition assembled to oppose Biden’s act of illegal seizure asserts that Biden failed to follow the law, “and the guardrails Congress established to create a check on the president’s power were violated.”
Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed HB 2700 on Monday which would have compelled the Arizona State Board of Education to include Geography in its prescribed competency requirements for graduation from high school and defined that instruction to include instruction accurately referring to the Gulf of America.
In her veto letter to Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro, Hobbs chose to adopt an adversarial, scolding tone toward Republican leaders.
Hobbs wrote, “Today, I vetoed House Bill 2700. Arizonans want us to work together to lower costs, secure the border, create jobs, and protect public education. Instead of joining with me to do that, this Legislature has chosen to attempt to dictate how teachers refer to geographic features. I encourage you to refocus your time and energy on solving real problems for Arizonans.”
State Rep. Teresa Martinez (R-LD16) held a different view however and emphasized the importance of accurate and patriotic instruction for Arizona students: “It’s important to start teaching pro-America to our students. What better way to promote a patriotic country and teach children about patriotism than to start calling it Gulf of America and taking pride in that?”
While making her disapproval of the bill clear, Hobbs called upon Republican legislators to “work together to lower costs, secure the border, create jobs, and protect public education,” despite her recent vetoes, which have thrown aside meaningful reforms in all four policies.
In 2023, Hobbs infamously vetoed SB 1184 which would have eliminated rental taxes that drive up the monthly rent of millions of Arizonans, and SB 1063 which would have banned sales taxes on groceries. The sponsor of SB 1063, Senator Sonny Borrelli, said that Hobbs “would rather have windfall taxes go to cities on the backs of people that need to survive on essential items like groceries consumed at home.”
On Border Security, Hobbs vetoed the Arizona Immigration Cooperation and Enforcement (ICE) Act, SB 1164 this April, and SB 1610 earlier this month, which would have required county detention facilities to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by providing access to data on illegal aliens arrested for serious crimes.
On the subject of Jobs, Hobbs drew severe criticism from Senate Majority Leader Janae Shamp (R-LD29) when she vetoed SB 1584.
“The Governor despicably vetoing this bill demonstrates her support for discrimination and a lack of leadership for refusing to push back against fellow Democrats who support these unethical hiring practices,” Shamp said at the time. ” I am extremely disappointed, yet not surprised, that Hobbs continues to appeal to the radical left with her tone-deaf veto decisions, rather than support legislation to reform workplace policies that prioritize anything other than talent and hard work. It’s truly petrifying that we have a governor who can, without shame, prioritize discrimination and favoritism, over unity and respect for every Arizonan.”
Hobbs also vetoed another school related bill, SB 1050, sponsored by Senator Vince Leach (R-LD17) in April. The bipartisan measure would have directed tax dollars from Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) to schools by prohibiting the abatement of school district-designated tax revenues. “This was a missed opportunity by the Governor,” Leach told AZ Free News. “She says she supports education funding, but her veto suggests otherwise.”
A recent report has identified the five safest cities in Arizona and also noted a significant drop in violent crime experiences as well as a slight decrease in property crime experiences.
The report from Safewise found the ten safest cities in Arizona are (ranked order): Oro Valley, Queen Creek, Gilbert, Sahuarita, Surprise, Buckeye, Maricopa, Marana, Chandler, and Prescott Valley. Twenty-five cities in total were ranked.
The five lowest ranked were Apache Junction, Avondale, Casa Grande, Glendale, and Tempe. For comparison: the violent crime reported per 1,000 people in Oro Valley was 0.55 and property crimes per 1,000 people were 11.51. Tempe with over quadruple the population has 5.2 violent crimes per 1,000 people and 36.13 property crimes per 1,000 people.
Zeroing in on the reports findings, SafeWise found that the five safest cities collective violent crime rate is 1.0 incidents per 1,000 people while property crime was 10.4 incidents per 1,000 people. The report also found that the number of Arizonans surveyed who said they feel safe jumped up 5% from 36% to 41%.
SafeWise Managing Editor and Safety Expert, Rebecca Edwards said in a statement, “Violent crime experiences are trending down across Arizona, and mass shootings dropped by more than 60% year over year—from eight in 2023 to just three in 2024. Cities like Queen Creek and Surprise saw decreases in both violent and property crime, showing that safety is improving for many Arizona communities.”
According to the report, although 63% of Arizonans surveyed were concerned about property crime on a daily basis, personal experiences with property crime dropped year over year with just 26% of respondents reporting a personal experience with property crime in the past year.
Arizonans are also ranked third for adopting the use of security cameras for their homes, following Delaware and Louisiana. As a matter of preference most Arizonans surveyed, 59%, preferred security cameras or guard dogs, 44%.
Overall, Arizona respondents were most concerned over violent crime, although violent crime experiences fell from 19% to 11% year over year.
Approximately 14% of Arizonans polled reported carrying a firearm for personal protection and 33% reportedly own one for property protection. Incongruently, the number concerned about gun violence increased from 58% to 67% despite a decrease in mass-shootings.
According to SafeWise, the report was generated from “voluntary, self-reported information that cities and jurisdictions across the country report through the FBI Summary Reporting System (SRS) and National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). For our 2025 reporting year, the most recent FBI data was released in October 2024 for crimes reported in 2023.” The company’s full report and methodology is available here.
While states like Florida and Louisiana have forged ahead with crypto currency legislation, Governor Katie Hobbs, who has vetoed a total of 304 bills since taking office in 2023, vetoed three cryptocurrency bills in a matter of days.
Hobbs did sign HB2387, creating stricter regulations on Bitcoin ATMs. And she also signed HB2749 into law, allowing the state to hold cryptocurrency as unclaimed property. Hobbs vetoed SB1025 on May 3rd and then followed with vetoes against SB1024 and SB1373 on Monday.
The three bills would have respectively, allowed “the State Treasurer, the Arizona State Retirement System and the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (public funds) to invest up to 10 percent of the public monies under its control in virtual currency holdings,” “authorize(d) a state agency to enter into an agreement with a cryptocurrency service provider to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method,” and “Establishe(d) the Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund (Fund), administered by the State Treasurer…consisting of monies appropriated by the Legislature and digital assets seized by the state.”
JUST IN: 🇺🇲 ARIZONA Governor Katie Hobbs has VETOED the state's 2nd Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill.
"Current volatility in the cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars." pic.twitter.com/iGSKwAWLaT
In the Governor’s letters to Senate President Warren Petersen explaining her vetoes, Hobbs repeatedly phrased the cryptocurrency-related laws as “risk(s),” “untested,” and suggested that her previous actions on cryptocurrency were “responsible.”
Senate Bill 1373: “Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1373. Current volatility in cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars. I have already signed legislation this session which allows the state to utilize cryptocurrency without placing general fund dollars at risk, which is the responsible path to take.”
Senate Bill 1025: “Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1025. The Arizona State Retirement System is one of the strongest in the nation because it makes sound and informed investments. Arizonans’ retirement funds are not the place for the state to try untested investments like virtual currency.”
Senate Bill 1024- “Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1024. While this bill would allow State agencies to enter into agreements to protect the State from risks associated with cryptocurrency, legislators on both sides of the aisle acknowledged it still leaves the door open for too much risk.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, HB2387, introduced by Rep. David Marshall (R-LD7), is designed to crack down on Crypto ATM fraud by imposing a $2,000 daily transaction limit on the devices, increased to $10,500 for return customers after ten days, requiring state operator licensing, and requiring refund policy options as well.
Arizona Ranchers are sounding the alarm and appealing to Cochise County Supervisors for help as the successful program to reintroduce Mexican wolves to the wild in Southern Arizona has begun to have consequences. The increasing number is creating problems for the ranchers, leading to calls to change their conservation status. As reported by KOLD-TV, Cochise County rancher Mike Wear, the owner of the Wear Ranch which covers an 18 square-mile area south of Willcox, told reporters, “Every cow that I lose hurts my bottom line. Immensely.”
Wear went on to explain that the wolves near his ranch have taken two cows in recent days as the 30-year effort to reintroduce the Mexican wolf to Southern Arizona has progressed. The rancher is not alone in Cochise County, and the County Supervisors have launched a dialogue to address potential changes in the federal listing of the species this week.
“It’s clearly, this deal, this wolf, Mexican wolf experimental population is on a definite runaway. They’ve had an immense amount of growth and in doing so, their primary prey base is our cattle,” Wear told KOLD.
“It’s very hard to find them. It’s created labor intensity on our ranches. I’d say ten-fold. We have to watch and check our cattle that much more because we only learn about the wolves after the kill,” Wear said.
According to Citizen Portal, during a recent meeting, the county outlined a series of requirements that must be met before delisting the Mexican wolf from the Endangered Species List would be considered.
Ranchers in Cochise County urged local officials to seek changes to federal protections for the endangered Mexican gray wolf due to livestock deaths.
— The Arizona Flyover (@TheAZFlyover) May 12, 2025
A slide from the Cochise County Supervisors Meeting obtained by Citizen Portal entitled “Compliant delisting” stated:
“The Mexican wolf will be considered for delisting when:
1) A minimum of two populations meet all abundance and genetic criteria as follows: United States
a) The population average over an 8-year period is greater than or equal to 320 wolves;
b) The population must exceed 320 wolves each of the last 3 years of the 8-year period;
c) The annual population growth rate averaged over the 8-year period is stable or increasing; and
d) Gene diversity available from the captive population has been incorporated into the United States population through scheduled releases of a sufficient number of wolves to result in 22 released Mexican wolves surviving to breeding age in the United States population. ‘Surviving to breeding age’ means a pup that lives 2 years to the age of breeding or an adult or subadult that lives for a year following its release.”
The outlet reported that the present U.S. population stands at 286 individuals just 34 shy of the cutoff. Furthermore, 21 of 22 successful gene insertions have already been achieved.
Arizona Game & Fish reported in March that the 2024 minimum count of Mexican wolves revealed an 11% increase over the minimum of 257 wolves counted in 2023. The new survey found that the population was distributed with a minimum of 162 wolves in New Mexico and 124 in Arizona. The wolves were spread across sixty packs at the end of 2024, 37 in New Mexico and 23 in Arizona with 164 pups born in 2024 and 79 surviving their first year for a 48% survival rate. At the reported rate, it appears likely the population will exceed the delisting criteria within two years.
“Each year, the wild Mexican wolf population numbers increase, and the areas they occupy expands. Genetic management using pups from captivity is also showing results. In total, 126 pups carefully selected for their genetic value have been placed in 48 wild dens throughout the recovery area since 2016 and some of these fosters have produced litters of their own,” Chief of Wildlife for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Stewart Liley said in a statement. “As we evaluate Mexican wolf recovery efforts, examining the last decade of data certainly provides confidence that recovery will be achieved.”
Clay Crowder, Assistant Director for the Arizona Game and Fish Department indicated that the 2022 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan is exceeding expectations. He said, “The results of this year’s count reflect the hard work of many people and agencies that lead recovery. It also supports the recovery strategies in the 2022 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan as we see both demographic and genetic objectives being exceeded this year.” He noted that the program has seen the ninth consecutive year of population growth saying the wolves are “knocking on the door of recovery.”
Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project told KOLD, “Wolves inhabited this area until about 70 years ago when they were eradicated at the behest of the livestock industry by the federal government. So this is wolf habitat,. This is where wolves belong. This is their native wildlife in this area, and it’s really the humans that are the interlopers here.”
She added, “Livestock depredations that have occurred have all been pretty recent so this is kind of a new problem, but these wolves are not new.”
Anderson continued, pointing out that ranchers have options under the current conservancy status. “They’re allowed to lethally remove animals that are in the act, so to the extent that there’s already a difference in what you’re allowed to do on public and private land and I think one could say they have more flexibility because it is private land.”
