The Arizona Senate passed legislation mandating expedited reporting for human trafficking on Monday.
SB 1416 sponsored by Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R-LD2) passed with total bipartisan support.
“When a child goes missing, time matters. Delays cost lives,” said Bolick in a press release. “SB1416 ensures that law enforcement has clear, enforceable requirements to act immediately, share information quickly, and engage the public right away. This is about urgency, accountability, and giving families the best possible chance to bring their child home safely.”
SB 1416 would require law enforcement agencies to submit reports of missing, kidnapped, or runaway children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), media outlets, and social media platforms within 24 hours.
Reports to the NCMEC would have to include a recent photo; name, birth date, sex, race, height, weight, eye color, and hair color; and category under which the child was reported missing. Reports to the media outlets and social media would have to include law enforcement agency phone number and the child’s physical description, last known location, clothing last known to be worn, and current photographs.
Within 30 days after receiving the report, law enforcement would also be required to enter a report into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
The bill also would require law enforcement agencies to develop and conduct training once every two years on the mandatory reporting requirements for a missing, kidnapped, or runaway child, and on the Seek and Find Alert Notification System.
Last week the Arizona Senate passed another key piece of legislation addressing human trafficking, SB 1077. The bill would make it a felony to knowingly profit from online operations trafficking minors.
Sen. Mark Finchem (R-LD1), the bill sponsor, stated in Monday’s press release that the legislation reflects the shift in how traffickers operate.
“This bill closes loopholes that predators rely on and sends a strong message that Arizona will not tolerate profiting off the exploitation of children,” said Finchem.
Unlike SB 1416, Finchem’s bill didn’t receive any support from Senate Democrats. Only one Senate Democrat rose to explain their vote on the floor.
Sen. Analise Ortiz (D-LD24) said the bill was “overly broad and vague,” and claimed it would punish individuals who weren’t aware they were communicating with a minor online and had ceased communications immediately after they became aware.
Both bills were the result of findings by the Human and Sex Trafficking Task Force convened during the 2025 interim session by Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14).
Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes, former president of the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association, said in Monday’s press release that both bills would greatly assist law enforcement operations.
“President Petersen’s human trafficking task force led to the development of these laws which will give better tools to law enforcement in the fight to protect our children from these monsters who are profiteering off of their vulnerability,” said Rhodes. “I am grateful and fully support these needed changes in the law.”
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A top professor at the University of Arizona (U of A) accused the lawmaker behind legislation effectively banning vaccine mandates of being a “Nazi.”
Elizabeth “Beth” Jacobs, professor emeritus in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at U of A, posted the accusation against Rep. Nick Kupper (R-LD25) on Bluesky.
“‘Just because I am at risk doesn’t mean I can invade your body because of my risk factor. That’s not okay,’” quoted Jacobs. “These are the words of AZ state rep Nick Kupper (R, Nazi Germany) in sharing his belief that immunocompromised people don’t deserve to be protected by vaccine requirements for school entry.”
In response, Kupper mocked the idea that his opposition to state-imposed medical mandates was akin to the tactics of a dictatorship notorious for its state mandates.
Prof Jacobs from @uarizona says I represent Nazi Germany because I want Arizonans to have the opportunity to decide whether they want the State mandating what goes in their bodies.
If that’s the case though then I think I deserve a raise because I must represent a huge district. pic.twitter.com/i6fxGX5exq
The bill, HCR 2056, goes beyond vaccines. The resolution would allow voters to decide whether Arizonans should have a new constitutional right to refuse medical mandates imposed by government entities.
The resolution did provide carveouts for court-ordered mental health or substance use disorder treatments, evidence collection by law enforcement and probation officers, medical decisions by parents, and reporting and tracking medical products or treatments by health care providers.
The Arizona House passed the bill last week along party lines, with all Democrats against the resolution and all Republicans in favor of it.
On the House floor, Kupper described the resolution as the fullest realization of bodily autonomy. The representative said the resolution wouldn’t stop the refusal of admission to those who are actively sick or infected.
“No state in this nation has ever asked its voters whether they want the ability to make their own medical decisions or whether they want the state to make medical decisions for them, and that’s a travesty,” said Kupper. “It just doesn’t allow the state to prescribe the method in which you want to better yourself.”
My ballot referral HCR2056 is very simple. It lets the people of AZ to decide if the state should be allowed to continue mandating their medical decisions or if they want to finally have their own bodily autonomy.
On Monday, Jacobs and visiting U of A professor James Alwine issued an opinion article accusing Kupper and other Republican lawmakers of regressing healthcare in the state.
The two professors argued that an increase in the unvaccinated population would cause vaccines to be less effective due to increased viral and bacterial mutations. Jacobs and Alwine claimed the number of dead and permanently disabled children would increase.
Ultimately, Jacobs and Alwine declared that medical freedom had no place in civilized society.
“This is the disastrous consequence of ‘medical freedom,’ where the right to life and liberty is ignored in order to boost a selfish agenda,” said Jacobs and Alwine. “‘Medical freedom’ is the antithesis of community, but Arizona Republicans do not seem to care about that.”
Jacobs indicates from her other online postings that she generally believes those who lean right politically have criminal behaviors.
In a more recent repost, Jacobs advocated for ICE agents accused of placing bets on detainees most likely to die by suicide to be sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which imposes punishments on individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
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The Scottsdale Police Department (SPD) says they won’t be posting the mugshots of recently arrested child sex traffickers under the claim that Arizona law prohibits the posting of mugshots.
“It is currently against the law in Arizona to post mugshots and names on social media related to arrests,” said SPD.
However, it’s not Arizona law that prohibits the posting of mugshots. SPD based their claim on the 2024 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Houston v. Maricopa. The agency involved in that ruling, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), modified their mugshot posting practice in order to comply with that ruling.
It is currently against the law in AZ to post mugshots and names on social media related to arrests. There are exceptions for emergency community notifications, such as wanted armed and dangerous suspects. Most of the cases from our anti-trafficking are DECOY BASED. Meaning an…
SPD issued the statement in response to criticisms that they failed to post the mugshots identifying around 200 individuals arrested in a weeks-long sex trafficking sting by SPD’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit from the end of January through mid-February.
Charges included child sex trafficking, attempted sexual conduct with a minor, luring a minor for sexual exploitation, prostitution and pandering, and weapons misconduct. Some of those individuals arrested had outstanding felony warrants.
MCSO resumed their posting of mugshots in a manner they claim achieves compliance with the court ruling last August.
— Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (@MCSOAZ) August 21, 2025
An MCSO spokesperson, William Jinks, indicated at the time that the court ruling didn’t make it “illegal” to post mugshots. Rather, the judgment established guidelines for posting.
“The changes made to the mug shot page are in accordance with the opinion of the appellate court,” said Jinks.
The 2024 ruling found specifically that MCSO’s policy of posting mugshots was unconstitutional — not the entire practice of posting mugshots.
The court took issue with MCSO’s policy of posting personally identifying information with the mugshot (birth date, sex, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and arresting charges), removing the online posting after three days, and failing to identify the arresting agency.
Ninth Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon ruled that governmental transparency wasn’t a valid justification for MCSO’s mugshot posting policy.
“Governmental actions that harmfully affect arrestees pretrial can violate due process if impermissibly punitive, whether a condition of pretrial detention or not,” stated Berzon. “What is the public interest, for example, in publicly disclosing [the arrestee’s] weight? So, too, with other personal information including his birthdate, height, eye color, and hair color. The County nowhere purports to show, much less succeeds in showing, why this level of granular detail about [the arrestee’s] body and personal identity rationally furthers an interest in government transparency.”
MCSO adapted its policy to resolve those contentions by the court. The new mugshots page lists far less information: booking number, first and last name, and charges. Mugshots also have watermarks identifying MCSO as the arresting agency. The page also has a disclaimer posted at the top: “All individuals are innocent until proven guilty.” The page only includes the 100 most recent mugshots.
Houston v. Maricopa is currently under civil appeal within the Arizona District One Court of Appeals. The latest development in that case was the court’s approval last month for oral arguments.
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A child sex trafficking victim reunited with the son she gave up for adoption in Arizona nearly 30 years ago.
The moment Phoenix native Jess Levinson and her son, born 1997, were reunited was featured in a short documentary by Live Action, a pro-life organization. Levinson now lives in New York.
Levinson recounted in the mini documentary that she was first sexually abused at nine years old, and was first sex trafficked when she was 12 years old. Levinson gave birth to a son at 14 years old. She was trafficked by her mother in exchange for drugs to her friend’s father, who manufactured drugs.
Levinson’s mother was an exotic dancer addicted to drugs, namely methamphetamine. According to Levinson’s nonprofit page, her mother was also victimized as a child and her father, a cocaine dealer, was not in her life. Levinson was almost the victim of abortion as well.
Levinson said she refused to go to a state-run group home for fear of them aborting her baby. She ran away from home and lived on the run until her child was 24 weeks old in the womb. Levinson said her case worker and staff members at the group home at the time criticized her constantly for not coming to the group home sooner so they could abort her son.
“When your entire body changes to support this life inside of you, it was very instantaneous for me. My job was to protect this life that I was nurturing,” said Levinson. “I just remember thinking, ‘This is not the end of my life having him, it’s the beginning of his. And I might not have everything I need to make a good life for him, but there’s no reason why that needs to terminate his existence before it even starts.’”
Levinson was able to spend three months with her son prior to giving him up for adoption. For years after adopting out her son, Levinson shared that she also struggled with substance abuse and continued to be trafficked prior to receiving help. It wasn’t until years later Levinson would get the help she needed. From there, Levinson met her husband and had other children.
The last time Levinson saw her son was when he was eight years old.
“Watching him grow up into who he is now has also been such a gift, such a blessing,” said Levinson.
Levinson now runs a safe housing project for at-risk mothers, Leah’s Place. Their goal is to provide an expansion of residential services for mothers victimized by trafficking. Levinson explained those types of current or expectant mothers don’t have much in the way of resources in her area, unless those mothers are willing to give up their children. Levinson said she wants to prevent the type of separation that she had to endure.
“Our goal and our aim is to provide that support to moms that they need to give to their little people in order to thrive. I want them to see the possibilities of what life could be like for their children in the future,” said Levinson.
At the end of the mini documentary, Levinson’s son said he was grateful his mother chose life for him.
“It’s been wonderful, it’s been a great life. It’s been more of a life than I can ask for. I’ve seen a really decent amount of this planet. Life is beautiful,” said Kale. “Bravery is choosing a really, really difficult path like that.”
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Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed legislation to establish a memorial license plate honoring the late Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder, Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was assassinated last September while speaking at Utah Valley University. Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, was motivated by Kirk’s Christianity and conservatism. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the ongoing case.
Hobbs said license plates should remain nonpartisan, though she said she condemned the political violence that killed Kirk.
Gubernatorial candidate, Congressman Andy Biggs blasted Hobbs’ veto.
“Charlie Kirk was one of America’s most influential voices and leaders. He made his home in Arizona, building a company and raising a family in this state before he was assassinated because of his political beliefs,” said Biggs. “Katie Hobbs had a chance to honor Charlie and she vetoed it. A simple license plate for Arizonans to show they stand with Charlie for freedom and Katie Hobbs vetoed it. We should not forget this petty and callous act.”
“Charlie Kirk’s assassination is tragic and a horrifying act of violence. In America, we resolve our political differences at the ballot box. No matter who it targets, political violence puts us all in harm’s way and damages our sacred democratic institutions,” said Hobbs. “I will continue working toward solutions that bring people together, but this bill falls short of that standard by inserting politics into a function of government that should remain nonpartisan.”
The state does offer at least one other license plate that could be considered partisan: Arizona Life Coalition has a “Choose Life” license plate.
Hobbs has exhibited zero tolerance for advocacy for political violence in her office. Months into office, Hobbs’ press secretary at the time, Josselyn Berry-Barker, resigned after promoting the shooting of those opposed to transgenderism.
Several months after her resignation, Berry posted on Threads that she wasn’t “sorry for sh*t,” and bragged about her immediate hiring by the progressive nonprofit, ProgressNow, which reportedly hired her on with a six-figure salary. According to her social media and LinkedIn posts, Berry no longer lives in Arizona, is no longer employed with that nonprofit, and has been out of work since early 2025.
Sen. Jake Hoffman, the bill sponsor, issued a response calling Hobbs “hypocritical” and partisan for her veto. Hoffman said Hobbs’ reduction of Kirk’s legacy to partisanship was an inappropriate diminishment of his impact on civic education and voter turnout.
“Even in the wake of a global civil rights leader — an Arizona resident and her own constituent — being assassinated in broad daylight for his defense of the First Amendment, Hobbs couldn’t find the human decency to put her far-left extremism aside simply to allow those who wish to honor him to do so,” said Hoffman.
Hoffman cited other cases of the memorialization of individuals that could be said to invoke partisanship, such as the freeway named after Democratic Congressman Ed Pastor.
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