An Arizona Republican lawmaker is elated after Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs signed one of her bills this legislative session.
On Tuesday, Representative Barbara Parker issued a press release, announcing that the Arizona Governor had signed one of her bills, HB 2607, earlier this month. Parker’s release describes this action as “a major win for property rights” and writes that this bill “empowers homeowners to hold non-compliant boards more accountable to those they are supposed to serve.”
✅FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE✅
State Representative Barbara Parker Protects Basic Constitutional Rights with Bill to Hold Homeowner Associations Accountable.
— Arizona House Republicans (@AZHouseGOP) May 23, 2023
According to the release, “Under the new law, if the board of a condominium unit owners’ association, or a planned community association, fails to call a special meeting to remove a board member after the requirements are met, then the members of the board are deemed removed from office effective midnight of the 31st day. It further deems the board members removed from office if the board fails to call, notice, and hold a special meeting after the requirements for calling a meeting to remove a board member are met.”
Parker explained her motivation for introducing this legislation, stating, “The purpose of homeowner associations (HOA) was to bring together an association of neighbors to protect and preserve the people’s property and build a sense of community spirit. However, some bad actors have swung the pendulum back to the days of 12th century fiefdoms when overlords punished and abused their citizens. Homeowners had no recourse, other than try to sue deep pocketed Goliaths who can use the people’s own HOA dues against them and even foreclose! HOA boards and property managers need to serve the homeowners they represent, follow the law, and do their jobs.”
She also took a victory lap on the bill being signed into law, writing, “It is no accident that a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to justice for all protects property rights. America’s Founders understood clearly that private property is the foundation not only of prosperity but of freedom itself and included these protections in the due process clauses of both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. This timely bill was entirely constituent driven, and it was an honor working with the true stakeholders, the homeowners themselves. State law was failing a resident’s ability to fight back against rogue boards. It has become a true ‘We the People’ victory and I could not be more honored to serve Arizona citizens. Now they can exercise their constitutional liberties to hold unresponsive boards and complicit property management associations accountable when they fail to comply with the law.”
Representative Parker’s bill first passed the House Appropriations Committee on February 20 with a 14-0 vote, and then the full chamber on March 1, 31-28. After the bill was transmitted to the Senate, the Government Committee approved of it on March 29 with an 8-0 tally, and then the full Senate on April 11, 28-0. Because it was amended in the Senate Government Committee, the House ratified the changes on April 26 with a 50-8 vote. HB 2607 was then ferried to the Governor’s Office that day, and it was signed into law on May 1.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
An Arizona legislative attempt to prohibit photo radar has been sent to the Governor’s Office.
Last week, the Arizona House of Representatives passed SB 1234, sponsored by Senator Wendy Rogers, with a vote of 32-26 (with one member not voting and one seat vacant). The bill would “forbid the use of photo radar systems to enforce traffic law.”
Stopping photo radar has long been a focus of Senator Rogers, who forecasted her plans to introduce this legislation last summer. Rogers said, “The photo radar industry made its home base in Arizona. And that ends next year. We’re no longer going to allow government to spy on Arizonans for profit and trample due process rights.”
"The photo radar industry made its home base in Arizona," Rogers told TheNewspaper. "And that ends next year. We're no longer going to allow government to spy on Arizonans for profit and trample due process rights."" /2
After the House approved the proposal, Republican lawmakers cheered its success on social media. Representative Rachel Jones tweeted, “This week, we passed SB 1234 to ban photo radar. These cameras are the biggest scam of all time, and completely unconstitutional. This was a huge win for freedom!!!”
This week, we passed SB1234 to ban photo radar. These cameras are the biggest scam of all time, and completely unconstitutional. This was a huge win for freedom!!!https://t.co/8bbjCpambnpic.twitter.com/DWE9VS3bHh
— AZ Representative Rachel Jones (@RJ4arizona) May 20, 2023
Representative Joseph Chaplik wrote, “Photo radar is a corrupting scheme in our state and it needs to end now. I proudly voted yes for SB 1234 yesterday to ban it completely, just like 16 other states did.”
Photo radar is a corrupting scheme in our state and it needs to end now.
— Rep. Joseph Chaplik 🇺🇸 (@JosephChaplik) May 16, 2023
And Representative Austin Smith posted, “Photo radar is a racket and abuse of our 4th, 5th and 6th amendment rights. How politicians before approved this is shameful. I proudly voted yes to ban photo radar in Arizona. Good bill, Wendy Rogers!
Photo radar is a racket and abuse of our 4th, 5th and 6th amendment rights. How politicians before approved this is shameful. I proudly voted yes to ban photo radar in Arizona. Good bill, @WendyRogersAZ! pic.twitter.com/7HeCevgssL
Before passing the House last this month, this legislation had languished in the legislative process. The House Military Affairs & Public Safety Committee had considered the bill back on March 6, passing it with an 8-7 vote. Earlier in the session, the Senate Government Committee had cleared the measure with a 5-3 vote; and then the full Senate giving the green light with a 16-13 tally (with one member not voting).
Rogers had a dozen co-sponsors for the bill – all Republicans. Senators Ken Bennett, Sonny Borrelli, David Farnsworth, David Gowan, Jake Hoffman, Steve Kaiser, John Kavanagh, Anthony Kern, Sine Kerr, JD Mesnard, (President) Warren Petersen, and Janae Wadsack were the co-sponsors.
Representatives from the City of Chandler, the City of Avondale, the Town of Paradise Valley, the City of Mesa, the Arizona Chapter National Safety Council, the Arizona Public Health Association, and the League of Arizona Cities & Towns noted their opposition to the bill as it moved through the two legislative chambers.
Governor Hobbs is expected to veto this piece of legislation.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On Monday, the Maricopa County Superior Court dismissed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s case. Tuesday, Lake announced the launch of the “largest ballot chasing operation” in state history, which she clarified was a voter registration initiative for the upcoming election year.
Leading the initiative, backed financially with the Save Arizona Fund, will be longtime grassroots activist Merissa Hamilton.
Lake asserted that her team had proven “beyond a shadow of a doubt” to the Maricopa County Superior Court the brokenness of the state’s election system. However, despite her court loss, Lake pledged to continue to fight for election wins. Lake said that left-wing political actors shouldn’t be the only ones that conduct voter registration.
“We’ve got to work in this rigged, corrupt system, and we can do it,” said Lake.
Lake said that while she opposes mail-in ballots, she believes that the current election system requires participation to win. She claimed that about 500,000 Republican and independent voters combined were sent a mail-in ballot that they didn’t return.
“If this is the game we have to play, if this is their rigged system, we’ll work in their rigged system,” said Lake.
The Arizona Supreme Court granted a review of Lake’s challenge in March.
In Monday’s ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson explained that Lake failed to prove that election officials engaged in misconduct that affected the results of the gubernatorial election. Thompson ruled that Lake’s presentation of evidence that the signature review process was unlawful didn’t provide certainty that a specific number of ballots were impacted by the allegedly quick review.
Thompson cited several testimonies presented by Lake’s witnesses, who reported a preference for a more hasty and thorough signature review process but admitted that the multiple signature reviews required by law were completed. He said it was Lake’s own witnesses that confirmed the counties had abided by election law concerning signature processes, and rejected Lake’s argument based on Reyes v. Cuming that proper elections administration wasn’t adhered to and therefore hindered their ability to argue on a specific number of affected ballots.
“[T]his review was done hastily and possibly not as thoroughly as [complainants] would have liked — but it was done,” wrote Thompson. “This evidence is, in its own right, clear indicia that the comparative process was undertaken in compliance with the statute, putting us outside the scope of Reyes. There is clear and convincing evidence that the elections process for the November 8, 2022, General Election did comply with A.R.S. § 16-550 and that there was no misconduct in the process to support a claim under A.R.S. § 16-672.”
Lake’s team argued that the ballot signatures were processed much too quickly — under one second — to be in compliance with the spirit of the law. Thompson dismissed this argument, saying that time constraints weren’t outlined in the Election Procedures Manual (EPM) and therefore weren’t a standard that could be held against the counties.
“Plaintiff argues that this is so deficient for signature comparison that it amounts to no process at all. Accepting that argument would require the Court to rewrite not only the EPM but Arizona law to insert a minimum time for signature verification and specify the variables to be considered in the process,” stated Thompson. “Plaintiff asks the Court to interpret the word ‘compare’ in A.R.S. § 16-550(A) to require the Court to engage in a substantive weighing of whether Maricopa County’s signature verification process, as implemented, met some analytical baseline. But there are several problems with this. First, no such baseline appears in Section 16-550. Not one second, not three seconds, and not six seconds: no standard appears in the plain text of the statute. No reviewer is required by statute or the EPM to spend any specific length of time on any particular signature.”
Thompson stated the Lake’s witnesses were truthful in their testimonies.
“The Court makes no finding of dishonesty by any witness — and commends those signature reviewers who stepped forward to critique the process as they understood it,” said Thompson.
Thompson declared that no further matters remained on the case, save costs sought by the state and county election officials. Thompson issued a 5:00 pm Tuesday deadline for proposed form of judgment from the defendants, with a 5:00 pm Wednesday deadline for objection to those proposals by Lake’s team.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The state of our republic is the foremost concern for Abe Hamadeh. Arizona is in a position to define it, specifically based on the outcome of Hamadeh’s election challenge.
“The idea of America, whether we are a nation that is ruled and governed by ‘we the people’ is threatened,” said Hamadeh in an interview with AZ Free News. “It’s the idea that Americans have lost faith in the idea that our elections are fair and honest. Once you lose confidence in that, you lose confidence in other aspects of America — like the rule of law.”
Hamadeh said that the recently released Durham report epitomized these concerns. The Department of Justice’s 306-page findings on the weaponization of the federal government against former President Donald Trump shined a clear light on the current nature of government and media, and the vital importance of an honest judiciary to hold them accountable.
“I sit back, and in its plainest terms: it was an attempted coup on President Trump. How there’s no accountability for that, how Hillary can collude with Russia to create a fake dossier, and this is what Durham has reported. That’s frightening,” said Hamadeh. “I recognize the power of the media, and it’s something I never thought I had a good grasp on. I thought they were generally biased but trying to be factual. But now I’ve discovered that the fourth estate has been totally corrupted, and there’s nobody holding the government accountable. The only thing we’ve got left to hold it accountable is the independent judiciary, which has been threatened by the left.”
It’s his deep concern for the direction of our nation, starting with the state of our elections, that affords him the boundless energy to continue his challenge of the 2022 attorney general election. Hamadeh engaged in oral arguments last week to argue for a new trial, based on the evidence they’ve found of disenfranchised voters.
“I think it goes much deeper than me winning. I’m fighting because I’m fighting for the truth, the people’s voice, and their votes to be honored. I think that’s a noble cause. Whether we succeed or fail, the government’s incompetence, the media’s hypocrisy, and the truth. And the truth is I won,” said Hamadeh. “How can we survive as a country when we no longer have faith in our elections or rule of law? What is the government at this point?”
Mayes was declared the winner initially with a 511-vote lead. The recount slashed that lead to 280. Yet, there are thousands of provisional votes — over 9,000, an increase from the estimated 8,000 reported in April — that weren’t included in the final count. About 70 percent of Election Day voters were for Hamadeh. Hamadeh said these additional provisional votes took as long as they did to discover because of the delay in response from the counties.
“We have to get information from 15 different government agencies, and it’s complicated,” said Hamadeh. “I wish we had access to the information that the government has. That’s why we’re asking for a new trial.”
“Statutes don’t trump the Arizona Constitution.”
Arguments from his opponents — Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes — focused mainly on how much time has passed since the election, the recount, and Mayes taking office. Hamadeh said that didn’t matter, asserting that Hunt v. Campbell ruled that the Arizona Constitution made immutably clear that the person with the most votes is deemed the legitimate officeholder.
“Even with a recount provision, even with a statutory timeline, none of that trumps the Arizona Constitution. All that allows is a statutory tool to make a process to determine who has the most votes and who is the legitimate officeholder,” said Hamadeh.
Hunt v. Campbell concerned the last major election challenge in a close race: over 100 years ago, in the 1916 gubernatorial election. Mayes’ counsel argued that the precedent was inapplicable since the ruling came before statutory timelines for elections were established. However, the judge rebutted in closing that there was a recount provision in place at the time of the Hunt v. Campbell decision.
Of all that the attorney general’s counsel did argue, they never claimed that Mayes obtained the most votes. Hamadeh’s team presented evidence of existing votes not counted, claims which went uncontested by the opposition. When given their turn to speak, Maricopa County didn’t offer any arguments of their own.
Based on what he’d witnessed, Hamadeh said he didn’t believe Mayes’ team came prepared. He believed it evinced a troubling, baseless confidence that the case was over before it had even begun, speculating that the consistency of favorable media coverage played a role as well.
“I think they were trying to treat our case the same as that of Mark Finchem or Kari Lake, or some of these cases with a larger margin,” said Hamadeh. “When they control the media and the government, they feel really emboldened to – it’s almost this hubris where they don’t think this judge will do something.”
Before Hamadeh had the complete voter data handed over from the counties to argue his case fully, The Washington Post editorial board wrote in a post-New Year’s piece that his defeat symbolized an end to election denialism.
“It brings me a lot of joy when we keep discovering the truth.”
Hamadeh pointed out that the media has trotted out the phrase “count all the votes” on repeat since 2020 — which he says is exactly what his case is all about. I’m fighting for the truth. I’m actually scared that these people are running our government and controlling our media.
“The government hasn’t counted all legitimate ballots,” said Hamadeh. “The media always argues, you have to count every single vote. I intend to show their hypocrisy. I have a lot of fun. I’m basically doing what I said I was doing as attorney general, which is exposing corruption, incompetence, and hypocrisy for the truth. I’m enjoying it.”
Hamadeh shared that he asked a group of about 100 attendees at a recent Republican Federation for Women event how many of them knew of someone who had lost faith in their elections and would no longer vote because of what happened last November. According to Hamadeh, every single hand went up.
“It breaks my heart that they’ve lost faith and confidence, and their solution — it’s not a solution — is ‘why vote?’”
It is my greatest honor fighting for democracy, fighting for the voters of Arizona, fighting for the integrity of our elections, and fighting for the rule of law.
Hamadeh claims that the 280 margin isn’t that unreasonable to question considering the myriad hiccups throughout last year’s election season. Last October, Gov. Katie Hobbs in her former capacity as secretary of state revealed that there were 6,000 Arizonans mistakenly registered as federal-only voters.
“This is 280 votes, and the government has already admitted to making these big mistakes,” said Hamadeh. “Why would Katie Hobbs not have done the right thing by telling the court and us if they didn’t have anything to gain?”
Hobbs neglected to disclose the undervotes in the attorney general race until after the December hearing. She claimed that the Maricopa County Superior Court order to prevent disclosure of the recount results prevented her from disclosing the undervotes, but Hamadeh said that wasn’t the case.
“Their actions speak louder than anything I have to say,” said Hamadeh. “We were in court arguing about undervote issues, and they [Hobbs’ team] didn’t say anything. They should not be the ones that take a side in an election contest. They should be the ones doing their jobs as government officials.”
It’s telling that criticism is focused on ad hominem attacks — in fact, no one has argued that if the ballots are counted, @krismayes prevails.https://t.co/wz6Y06xpA4
“I wish Republicans had as much a desire to save the country as Democrats have in destroying it.”
Hamadeh said that losing this case would close the door to challenging elections in the future.
“If we don’t prevail, the idea that you can’t question elections and election officials and the government itself regarding elections, is going to only get worse,” said Hamadeh. “My family came from Syria. I know from their experience what it’s like to not live in a democracy, to not be able to question your government. That’s exactly what the media, ironically, and the Democrats are leading us to right now.”
Hamadeh characterized his fight as a natural extension of a uniquely American duty: to serve as a check and balance on the government by questioning it.
“It’s not only our right to question the government, it’s also our duty. Especially when there are this many errors, this much incompetence regarding our elections,” said Hamadeh. “I’m fighting because I think questioning our government is the foundation of what being an American is; if we lose that, we basically lose our country.”
After last week’s oral arguments concluded, Mayes issued a fundraising email asking for campaign and legal fund donations.
“With regard to the never-ending lawsuit… it was more ‘we think’ drama, without factual evidence,” wrote Mayes.
Hamadeh says he hasn’t issued any similar fundraising emails.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced over the weekend her intent to investigate parents participating in the state’s school choice program.
The attorney general issued the announcement exclusively in an interview on “The Sunday Special” by 12 News. Mayes claimed that audits done in the past by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) proved the prevalence of fraud, waste, and abuse in the ESA Program. The current administration has been in office less than a year.
“Clearly, there’s evidence of [fraud, waste, and abuse] already in audits that have been done in the past by the Department of Education,” said Mayes.
The last audit from the auditor general was issued in 2020. It found that former Superintendent Kathy Hoffman’s administration was slow to answer customer service phone calls and emails, provided poor quality information to ESA families, exceeded the 45-day statutory deadline for 55 percent of applicants, and releasing families’ personal information when fulfilling public records requests.
The last quarterly report was issued by ADE in September 2022 for fiscal year 2023.
Mayes accused the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) of not holding Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program parents accountable, and of wasting millions in taxpayer funding.
“There are no controls on this program. There’s no accountability, and they’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money,” said Mayes. “That needs to be looked at. I’m the state’s top law enforcement officer, and I think it’s my responsibility to do that.”
Mayes’ announcement followed Gov. Katie Hobbs’ approval of the budget, which Mayes and other legislative Democrats opposed.
Mayes pointed out that funding for the ESA Program sits at over $300 million. As of Monday, there were just over 56,900 students enrolled in the ESA Program. Since the ESA Program gives families up to $7,000 in school choice funding for alternative schooling options, such as private and home schools, the current cost to the state sits at just under $400 million.
In public schools, the cost per student is about double the cost per ESA student — about $15 billion annually.
The attorney general also claimed earlier this month that the universalized ESA Program would be a “catastrophic drain” on state resources.
“This is taxpayer money that is now going to private schools like Brophy, Xavier, and Phoenix Country Day School, and All Saints. This money is being used by wealthy parents for their kids to go to private schools. That’s not what it was designed to do,” said Mayes.
In response to Mayes’ plan, ADE Superintendent Tom Horne noted that his predecessor, Kathy Hoffman, had intentionally attempted to undermine the ESA Program through improper administration.
“Under my predecessor, who was unfriendly to universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs), the laws were not strictly enforced, and therefore funds were used for non-educational purposes, including restaurants and clothing stores,” stated Horne. “Because I am the defender of the ESA program, I want the laws to be strictly adhered to. I want to ensure that not one penny is used for a non-educational expense. Arizona is the first in the nation, and a model for the rest of the country. I am determined that all laws be strictly enforced, and all funds be used only for valid educational purposes. I’m disappointed that Attorney General Mayes has chosen, at every single opportunity, politics over the law.”
In March, Horne asked the State Board of Education to make four major changes to ESA Program administration to ensure better compliance with state law. The requested changes concerned modification of allowable education-related expenditures, accreditation for tutors and teaching services, access to ESA funds and debit card use, and a vendor change from ClassWallet.
As AZ Free News reported in January, the Horne administration inherited a severely understaffed ESA Program with nearly 171,600 unfulfilled expenditure requests. Of the approved expenditure requests, the administration discovered the approval list of expenditures had grown to include things like espresso machines. Hoffman inherited nearly 37,000 unfulfilled expenditure requests.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
After a period of relative peace between Arizona Legislative Republicans and Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, her veto pen has again enflamed the political division between the two sides.
On Monday, Arizona Senator John Kavanagh announced that Governor Hobbs had vetoed SB 1001, relating to school policies about pronouns and biological sex. According to Kavanagh’s release, his bill “would have prohibited a school district or charter school from knowingly referring to students under the age of 18 by a pronoun that differs from the child’s biological sex, or a first name that is not listed in school records;” and it “would have also prevented schools from requiring their staff to use a pronoun that differs from a person’s biological sex, if doing so is contrary to their own personal convictions.”
Kavanagh blasted Hobbs for her veto, saying, “Parents have a right to know if their children are in psychological turmoil. Parents also need to know if their children are confused, depressed, anxious, isolating themselves, having suicidal thoughts or are in need of mental health care because of gender dysphoria. Parents can’t get their children the counseling or therapy needed if their school is hiding this information from them. Additionally, if a child is receiving mental health care and that child’s physician advises not to treat the child as a different gender, then a school going against the doctor’s wishes without the parent’s permission would create reason for a lawsuit. This is a dangerous situation for children who are struggling with mental health issues. For the Governor to turn a blind eye to what’s happening is reckless and irresponsible. I would expect more from a former social worker.”
Last week, Hobbs transmitted a veto letter to the Arizona Senate, explaining her justification, writing, “As politicians across the country continue to pass harmful legislation directed at transgender youth, I have a clear message to the people of Arizona: I will veto every bill that aims to attack and harm children. I want to thank the young people that bravely testified against SB 1001 at the Legislature. To you, I promise to be an ally and to uplift your stories. Additionally, I would like to thank Representative Lorena Austin for telling their story and speaking their truth. I would like to reemphasize their words to all the young people of the state, ‘You have every right to be who you are.’”
Today, I proudly vetoed SB1001, which was an attack on transgender youth. Instead of coming up with new ways to target and isolate our children, we should be working together to create an Arizona where everyone has the freedom to be who they are without fear of harassment or…
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) May 22, 2023
After the Arizona House of Representatives passed the bill last week, Janae Stracke from Heritage Action issued a statement in support of the Legislature’s efforts, writing, “As the Left continues to push radical gender ideology in schools and strip parents of their right to know what their children are learning, it’s time for parents and legislators in Arizona to start fighting back with common sense. By passing SB 1001, legislation that ensures school systems obtain parental consent before changing a student’s name and pronouns and protects school employees from violations of their religious or deeply-held beliefs, the Arizona Legislature upheld parental rights across the Grand Canyon State.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
