A superior court has halted a case to determine whether utilities may use an annual rate adjustment mechanism to determine utility rates.
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) adopted the policy in December 2024. According to the ACC, the goal was to allow electric, water, wastewater, and gas companies to determine utility rates in a manner that would reduce costs, regulatory lag, and potentially rate shock for ratepayers.
Major utilities have integrated the mechanism into their rate case applications, including Arizona Public Service (APS), Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP), UniSource Energy Services, Southwest Gas, Arizona Water Company, and EPCOR Arizona.
The Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO) filed a lawsuit in the Maricopa County Superior Court last year challenging the ACC over its adoption of the policy.
RUCO advocates for residential utility ratepayers before the ACC, which includes court intervention — though only in the largest utility rate cases which impact the most utility customers in the state, as RUCO director Cynthia Zwick advised lawmakers last year.
RUCO maintains that the ACC should have adhered to the formal rulemaking process outlined in the Administrative Procedure Act instead of adopting the annual rate adjustment mechanism as a policy statement.
The superior court dismissed the lawsuit last summer. However, RUCO appealed, and the Arizona Court of Appeals sided with the agency last November. The appeals court remanded the case back to the superior court to determine whether the policy should have been adopted as a rule.
Now, the Maricopa County Superior Court has issued a stay pending the decision of the appeals court. The superior court ruled that their handling of the case at this point would be a waste of judicial time and resources. It will now be up to the appeals court to make a decision.
ACC Chairman Nick Myers said in a statement that the commission is still in support of the challenged policy and would continue to defend it in court.
“The use of adjustments, including the ARAM, is an important policy in reducing rate shock to consumers and reducing regulatory lag,” said Myers. “We will continue to utilize this mechanism and defend it in court.”
“ARAM” refers to “annual rate adjustment mechanism.”
Attorney General Kris Mayes has also recently entered the fight against the ACC’s contested policy, but on the basis of the policy itself and not whether the ACC should have gone through the formal rulemaking process. In March, Mayes filed a challenge against the ACC’s approval of the mechanism for UNS Gas. Mayes argued that the mechanism would result in “unjust and unreasonable rates.”
Myers responded the next month in an Arizona Capitol Times guest column arguing that the Arizona Constitution grants the ACC authority to decide on their preferred rate design. Myers questioned whether Mayes was targeting the ACC to bolster her reelection campaign.
“No one is suggesting that the attorney general should remain silent. Legal challenges, when grounded in clear violations of law, are appropriate,” said Myers. “But a pattern of selective, high-profile litigation combined with public messaging that mirrors campaign rhetoric raises legitimate questions about whether that line is being crossed. There is little doubt the lawsuits amount to lawfare, not advocacy for consumers or utilities.”
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The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is advising residents opposed to data centers to go offline to prove their commitment.
The chamber issued a press release on Tuesday advising that those who wish to see a data center moratorium should “take that position to its logical conclusion” by entering its newly launched Arizona Offline Pledge.
The pledge requires participants to give up all technologies and services which rely on data centers, including social media, artificial intelligence, streaming services, online banking and digital payments, cloud storage, GPS navigation, video conferencing, and telehealth.
The chamber said data center expansion is necessary for modern life.
“Arizona can address legitimate concerns about data center growth without hitting pause on the infrastructure modern life depends on,” said the chamber.
For anyone ready to put a moratorium on new data centers, here’s your chance to really commit.
Take the Arizona Offline Pledge and give up the everyday benefits digital infrastructure makes possible: smartphones and social media, streaming and GPS, telehealth and online… pic.twitter.com/idU6D6PVUb
Courtney Coolidge, chamber executive vice president, said that halting in the face of opposition wasn’t an option.
“Concerns from communities shouldn’t be dismissed, and we aren’t suggesting a data center belongs on every corner,” said Coolidge. “But Arizona has never responded to difficult growth challenges by simply stopping. We solve problems.”
Among those leading on the call for a moratorium are Attorney General Kris Mayes, who called it “the only sane thing to do.” Mayes said Arizona was guilty of “excessive data center development” and was vulnerable to some of the most negative impacts from it.
“The Colorado River is in serious distress, and Wall Street firms are seeking to ship La Paz County’s groundwater to Phoenix to fuel the Valley’s growth — against the wishes of the county’s residents and leaders,” said Mayes. “We owe it to our communities, homeowners, and future generations of Arizonans to better manage our water and power needs before any new data center approvals are issued.”
The only sane thing to do is to pause the approval of new data centers.
Data centers are power- and water-intensive, and Arizona is challenged on both fronts right now.
Arizona may be one of the most exposed states in the country to the negative impacts of excessive data…
Earlier this summer, Gov. Katie Hobbs approved the budget passed by the Republican-led state legislature which included a three-year freeze on tax breaks for new data centers, but which did allow the construction of new data centers to continue.
Hobbs has also advocated for a water usage fee for new data centers — one cent for every gallon used, on par with what the average Arizona family pays — and the money collected would go into the Colorado River Protection Fund.
When we put people over data centers, the change isn’t just a line item—it’s felt at every kitchen table. I signed a 3-year pause on new data center tax breaks and invested that money into making childcare affordable and protecting healthcare and food assistance for Arizonans. pic.twitter.com/IRHTr3ehWg
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) July 7, 2026
President Donald Trump issued a statement on Monday criticizing those opposed to data centers as desirous of “end[ing] up being backwards and poor,” and that these developments would result in “far lower” taxes and a greater number of jobs.
“If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame,” said Trump. “China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!”
Questions are being raised after records revealed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes paid out nearly $250,000 in a no-bid government contract to a close political ally for consulting work.
Senate President Warren Petersen (LD14), who is the Republican nominee running against Mayes, released the records. Petersen said taxpayers “deserve” to know her rationale for awarding a no-bid contract to her campaign communications strategist, Stacey Champion.
“After taking office, Mayes gave her close friend a sweetheart deal at taxpayers’ expense to help advance the same costly energy agenda she pursued on the Corporation Commission: higher rates and expensive mandates for Arizona families,” said Petersen.
Petersen also questioned why Mayes allowed Champion to use a private email address instead of a government one while conducting attorney general business.
Press release: Kris Mayes gave close friend and political consultant Stacey Champion nearly $250,000 of taxpayer money in no-bid contract. Taxpayers deserve to know why. pic.twitter.com/7RH6MEkKlu
According to the records published by the Petersen campaign, Mayes gave the contract to Champion shortly after taking office in 2023. For a minimum of 80 hours of work per month to start, Champion was awarded $10,000 per month for independent consulting services to include research, advice, and written reports.
Champion would work under this contract within the attorney general’s executive office until about two years later, in January 2025. She also received a pay bump to her contract in 2024, from $10,000 to $15,000 per month.
Email records revealed that Champion would conduct attorney general’s office business using her personal email, forwarding contact requests from Mayes’ campaign page to Mayes and attorney general staff.
And while maintaining her other role within Mayes’ campaign, Champion worked on what Petersen called “politically sensitive” issues overseen by the attorney general’s office. Records of several email exchanges indicated Champion had advance knowledge of grand jury proceedings in the 2020 fake electors case.
“A great opportunity, but I agree that the timing would just put AG in the firing line for questions about you know what,” said Champion concerning a request from PBS to interview Mayes.
Six days after that email exchange, Mayes announced grand jury indictments for the electors.
After formally ending her contract in January 2025, Mayes and Champion entered another contract in which Champion agreed to be paid on a project-by-project basis from February 26 to August 31, 2025.
One record reflects that Champion received $5,000 for event and consultation services provided from February through March 6, 2025.
In addition to Champion’s use of personal email while working for the attorney general’s office, questions have arisen regarding the timing of payments from Mayes’ campaign to Champion while Champion was still contracted with the attorney general’s office.
Mayes’ campaign paid Champion $18,000 for consulting on March 10, 2023, one month after Champion signed the contract to work with Mayes for the attorney general’s office.
The campaign then paid Champion $18,240 in April 2025 and $5,724 in July 2025, during the contract period for the project-by-project agreement. Altogether, Champion’s firm received more than $23,500 from the Mayes campaign in 2025.
Champion served as a communications consultant for Mayes during her attorney general campaign in 2022. Champion’s public relations firm, Champion PR + Consulting, created Mayes’ campaign website which included a link which directed press inquiries to Champion’s firm email.
Champion made it clear at the time that she was not a spokeswoman for the campaign.
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The head of the Arizona Republican Party is predicting that Attorney General Kris Mayes will face an investigation of her own for her alleged lack of investigation into Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Sergio Arellano stated in an interview with the “Conservative Circus” on Monday that Arizona Democrats should be “terrified” over the continued inquiries into Mayes.
“Kris Mayes didn’t just make Sunshine Residential Homes disappear; she may have just moved the spotlight directly onto herself,” said Arellano.
The Arizona Republican Party issued a statement accusing Hobbs of leading a “culture of corruption,” and endorsing the Republican nominee for governor, Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05).
Arizonans deserve better than Katie Hobbs’s Culture of Corruption.
Arellano also urged Republicans to issue the transcripts from their investigation into Mayes and Hobbs.
More than two years after launching an investigation based on media reports connecting Hobbs with an unusual rate increase for one of her major donors, Mayes released a short memorandum clearing Hobbs of pay-to-play corruption.
Sunshine Residential Homes, a major group home operator in the state, and its CEO, Simon Kottoor, are among the top donors to Hobbs’ campaign, legal fund, and inaugural fund. The company received substantial rate increases in 2023 and 2024 following years of denials before Hobbs took office.
The most recent denial occurred a month after Hobbs was sworn in. Several months later, following a dinner attended by Hobbs and her campaign chief at Kottoor’s residence, Sunshine Residential Homes received the rate increase it had sought — while other group home operators were denied increases or had their contracts cut entirely.
Mayes’ seven-page memorandum clearing Hobbs was criticized across the board not only for its length but for it allegedly revealing oversights concerning apparent evidence that some corruption had occurred.
Mayes maintained that the scope of her investigation was thorough; it included more than 100,000 documents. The attorney general suggested that the legislature was to blame for the perceived pay-to-play issues, and advocated for improved transparency laws.
Earlier this summer, Hobbs vetoed the sort of legislation Mayes suggested to ensure greater transparency. Hobbs claimed that because the legislation would also bring transparency to the Sunshine Residential Homes debacle, it was a “political stunt.”
Most recently, House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) sent Mayes a letter demanding she provide answers to five questions indicating key contradictions and omissions in her investigation. Montenegro cited evidence from Department of Child Safety employee testimonies and contracting requirements as support for the scope of questioning.
“The Memorandum suggests your Office failed to pursue critical issues and reached conclusions that directly conflict with reliable evidence — including information provided by the very witnesses your Office claims to have interviewed,” said Montenegro. “Those failures raise the specter that your Memorandum was intended to influence the November election by attempting to inoculate the Governor from a perceived political vulnerability.”
Montenegro gave Mayes until Friday, September 4, to answer.
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14) — who is the Republican nominee for attorney general — has also called on Mayes to release the records that informed her decision to clear Hobbs of wrongdoing. Petersen called Mayes’ memorandum a “cliffs notes report” that withheld critical information from the public.
An Arizona House special advisory team and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office are still investigating the pay-to-play allegations against Hobbs, despite an initial order from Mayes to stand down as her office conducted its investigation.
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The U.S. House passed legislation mandating victims of certain sexual or violent crimes have lifetime protections against their abusers.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) sponsored the Kayleigh’s Law Act of 2026, or Kayleigh’s Law, named after Arizona native and survivor advocate Kayleigh Kozak. Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06), and David Schweikert (R-AZ-01) were among the bill’s original cosponsors.
The legislation passed via unanimous voice vote on Monday.
In an address on the House floor, Hamadeh said that the bill would ensure that the criminal justice system would no longer prioritize the desires of abusers over the safety of victims.
In a press release, Hamadeh stated that Kayleigh’s Law would “eliminate the ‘legal tug-of-war’” requiring survivors to face their abusers in court.
“This bill is simple. When a predator is convicted, federal courts must issue a lifelong no-contact injunction. Not until probation ends. Not until some judge decides the offender has ‘moved on.’ For life,” said Hamadeh. “Victims should never again have to fill out another form, sit across from their abuser, or look over their shoulder because the sentence ran out and the system shrugged.”
Kozak has attested in many interviews in recent years that she was victimized by her middle school P.E. teacher who was also her soccer coach. Her abuser requested an end to probation in 2020, 13 years after his conviction, and Kozak was given three weeks’ notice.
“Two times as an adult she was hauled back to look at the man who destroyed her childhood just to keep him away. No victim should ever have to do that,” said Hamadeh.
🇺🇸WATCH🇺🇸
"Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a former prosecutor and as an Arizonan who has seen what happens when the system prioritizes a criminal over the victim."
Congressman Hamadeh takes the House floor to champion his bill, H.R. 8481, the Kayleigh’s Law Act of 2026. pic.twitter.com/Yq4fy8PuHH
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) August 31, 2026
Arizona law already requires courts to issue a lifelong no-contact injunction for sex offenders. This federal version would expand that no-contact mandate to certain violent felons.
“Contact” was defined to mean all direct or indirect communication, transmission, or physical interaction, including written, oral, electronic, digital, or physical means and communications executed through an intermediary or technological systems.
The Arizona version of this legislation was enacted in 2022, and is also named Kayleigh’s Law.
Biggs’ running mate for Arizona Governor, Sine Kerr, was the sponsor that led passage of the Arizona version of Kayleigh’s Law.
Today, the U.S. House unanimously passed Kayleigh’s Law by voice vote.
This victim-centered, public safety-focused legislation ensures that victims of violent crime have meaningful protections at the federal level while also serving as a model for states seeking to better… pic.twitter.com/XgJyXsdM8B
According to Hamadeh’s office, more than 1,000 child sex abuse survivors in Arizona benefited from the state’s lifetime no-contact protections within the first year of the law’s enactment.
“Kayleigh’s Law would give every American victim of a federal sex crime or a violent felony that same shield,” said Hamadeh. “Healing cannot begin if the abuser can show up again the day after release. Justice is not complete if the victim still lives in fear. Arizona already closed that gap; it is time the federal government did the same, so no American, no matter which state they live in, is left unprotected after a federal conviction.”
Three of Kozak’s five children were present with her for the passage of the bill.
A related bill, also titled Kayleigh’s Law Act of 2026, is making its way through the Senate under sponsorship from Utah Sen. Mike Lee. It was read twice and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.
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