Arizona House Minority Whip Stacey Travers (D-LD12) is pledging to renew her effort to require clergy to report suspected ongoing or future child abuse disclosed through confidential religious communications. Her legislation failed to advance this year, while the Arizona Supreme Court recently issued a ruling defining the scope of the state’s clergy reporting exemption.
Travers introduced HB 2039 in December. The bill would have amended Arizona’s clergy reporting exemption to require members of the clergy, Christian Science practitioners, and priests to report when there is reasonable suspicion that abuse is ongoing, will continue, or may threaten other minors.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Quang Nguyen (R-LD1) has opposed Travers’ proposals and has said he will not give the measure a hearing while he remains chairman. Nguyen, who is Catholic, said that Travers would have to wait until 2029, when he is no longer a legislator, for the bill to receive a hearing.
“I’m going to be very frank about this,” he said, “this bill has absolutely zero to do with reporting crimes because duty to report already exists in the state of Arizona, just not in the confessional booth,” Nguyen previously told LifeSiteNews. “That is all.… This is a way to go out and destroy our Church. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Congressman and GOP gubernatorial nominee Andy Biggs described the bill at the time as “a terrible attack on Catholics in Arizona by, of course, a Democrat. This bill should never see the light of day.”
A terrible attack on Catholics in Arizona by, of course, a Democrat. This bill should never see the light of day.
Current Arizona law requires specified mandatory reporters who reasonably believe a minor has been abused or neglected to report that information. Clergy may currently withhold a confession or confidential communication when they determine that maintaining confidentiality is “reasonable and necessary within the concepts of the religion.” The exemption applies to the confidential communication itself and does not cover a clergy member’s independent observations of a minor.
HB 2039 would have narrowed that exemption. Under the proposed language, clergy could withhold information concerning abuse that had already occurred unless there was reasonable suspicion that the abuse remained ongoing, would continue, or could threaten other minors. It also would have amended Arizona’s civil clergy-penitent privilege to permit examination of a priest or clergyman concerning a confession when the clergy member determined it involved ongoing abuse.
Under the state’s existing reporting statute, failure to make a required report is generally a class 1 misdemeanor. Failure to report a statutorily defined “reportable offense,” which includes several sexual offenses involving minors, is a class 6 felony.
HB 2039 was assigned to the House Judiciary and Rules committees and received its second reading in January. It did not advance before the Legislature adjourned.
Travers said that she distinguishes between protected religious confession and circumstances in which someone discloses continuing abuse.
“There is a special case when you’re confessing to somebody in your religious organization,” Travers said, describing a confession involving a search for “absolution and contrition.”
She described an admission of ongoing child abuse made with the expectation that clergy will not report it as a “conditional” confession and said she intends to continue pursuing legislation addressing those circumstances.
Nguyen also blocked a similar proposal by Travers in 2023. At the time, Travers said the legislation grew out of the case involving Paul Adams, a Bisbee man, after he disclosed abuse to leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
That case eventually reached the Arizona Supreme Court.
According to the court, Adams disclosed sexual abuse to Bishop John Herrod around 2011 and later repeated the disclosure during a meeting involving his wife. Herrod subsequently informed Bishop Robert Mauzy, who convened a church disciplinary council. Adams again disclosed the abuse during that proceeding and was excommunicated.
The abuse came to the attention of federal authorities in 2017 after the Department of Homeland Security discovered a video online. Adams and his wife were subsequently indicted. Adams died by suicide in jail before trial, while his wife pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison, according to the Supreme Court’s opinion.
Three of the children later sued the church and several church officials, alleging in part that they failed to comply with Arizona’s reporting law.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment generally prevents courts and juries from deciding whether clergy correctly applied religious doctrine when determining that withholding a report was reasonable and necessary under their religion, absent fraud or collusion for a secular purpose.
The court also held that religious institutions are entitled to substantial deference in defining what constitutes a “confession,” a “confidential communication,” and who qualifies as clergy. The justices vacated a Court of Appeals decision and affirmed summary judgment for the church defendants.
The court emphasized that its decision concerned interpretation of Arizona law and federal constitutional protections rather than the factual merits of the children’s abuse allegations.
A separate unanimous Arizona Supreme Court ruling issued Aug. 12 further defined the limits of clergy privilege.
In Rodriguez-Ramirez v. State of Arizona, the court held that a communication between a Phoenix pastor accused of sexually abusing his co-pastor’s teenage niece and the co-pastor did not qualify as a protected “confession” under Arizona’s criminal clergy-penitent privilege.
The justices defined a confession as a confidential admission of a crime, sin, or fault to clergy for the purpose of seeking spiritual absolution, consolation, or guidance. Because the communication in that case did not meet the court’s standard, the justices affirmed the superior court’s decision allowing a secretly recorded conversation to be used in the criminal case.
The dispute over Travers’ proposal has particular implications for Catholic priests because Catholic canon law declares the sacramental seal of confession inviolable and prohibits a confessor from disclosing what a penitent reveals during the sacrament.
The Arizona Legislature is scheduled to begin its next regular session in January, when Travers said she intends to renew the proposal.
The United States has surpassed $40 trillion in national debt, marking another record for the federal government and prompting renewed criticism from Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) over Washington’s continued spending and borrowing.
According to the Joint Economic Committee’s Debt Monitor, the national debt has increased by approximately $90,257.73 every second over the past year. That amounts to roughly $5.42 million per minute, $324.93 million per hour, and $7.8 billion per day.
The national debt crossed the $40 trillion threshold on August 18, 2026, according to U.S. Treasury data.
The milestone came less than five months after the national debt surpassed $39 trillion in March, highlighting the accelerating pace at which the federal government is adding to its debt burden.
The Treasury Department also reported a federal budget deficit of more than $432 billion in July, adding to concerns about the government’s fiscal trajectory.
Biggs, the Republican candidate for Arizona Governor, said the latest debt milestone demonstrates what he characterized as decades of congressional unwillingness to impose meaningful limits on federal spending.
“It was fitting that America reached this grim debt milestone while legislators were absent from our nation’s capital,” stated Congressman Biggs.“For decades, Members of Congress have shown catastrophic unseriousness about reining in government spending and leaving a better future for the next generation.”
“Regardless of which party controls Congress, I have sounded the alarm on this fiscal cliff since I entered the U.S. House of Representatives and have introduced legislation to help solve this crisis,” added Biggs. “Our children and grandchildren will be forced to suffer the immense consequences of this inaction and fear of making tough decisions. No one should be surprised when that time arrives for our great nation.”
The $40 trillion milestone represents a doubling of the nation’s debt in less than a decade. Treasury data shows that approximately $32.3 trillion is held by the public, while another $7.8 trillion consists of intergovernmental holdings.
Biggs has repeatedly made federal spending and the national debt a central focus of his legislative work in Congress. His office points to several measures he has introduced aimed at addressing the nation’s long-term fiscal problems.
Among them is a proposed constitutional amendment, H. J. Res. 139, that would require the federal government to operate under a balanced budget by permanently prohibiting deficit spending. The proposal would also establish a two-thirds supermajority requirement for any legislation creating a new federal tax.
Biggs has also introduced, H. Res. 631, a resolution formally recognizing America’s debt as a threat to national security, as well as hundreds of bills aimed at reducing non defense discretionary spending.
The latest debt milestone comes as the federal government continues to run deficits approaching $2 trillion annually. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that federal revenues in FY26 will total roughly $5.6 trillion, compared with approximately $7.4 trillion in federal spending.
The rapid increase in federal debt has also raised concerns over the growing cost of servicing that debt. Interest payments have climbed to more than $1 trillion annually, adding another significant expense to the federal budget.
For Biggs, the latest milestone represents another warning that Congress will eventually have to confront the consequences of continued deficit spending.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The University of Arizona and Gila River Health Care have announced a long-term partnership to establish what the university says will be the nation’s first MD-granting medical school branch located on the lands of a sovereign Tribal Nation.
The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Regional Medical Branch will operate in Sacaton within the Gila River Indian Community and place medical students inside the community’s tribally operated healthcare system for part of their training.
Beginning in July 2027, the branch will admit 10 students each year to the College of Medicine – Phoenix’s three-year Primary Care Accelerated Program. Students will complete the first 18 months of their medical education in Phoenix before moving to Sacaton for another 18 months of clinical education.
Gila River Health Care will provide full-tuition scholarships to participating students and has committed more than $25 million through 2034 for scholarships, faculty positions, and educational infrastructure supporting the branch.
U.S. Reps. Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) and Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04) joined Gila River Indian Community, university, and healthcare officials at Tuesday’s announcement.
Crane praised the agreement Wednesday, saying the partnership would strengthen healthcare in his district.
“It was great to visit the Gila River Indian Community yesterday with @RepGregStanton to celebrate an important agreement between @uarizona and @Gilariverhealth,” Crane wrote. “This partnership will strengthen healthcare in #AZ02 for years to come.”
It was great to visit the Gila River Indian Community yesterday with @RepGregStanton to celebrate an important agreement between @uarizona and @Gilariverhealth.
This partnership will strengthen healthcare in #AZ02 for years to come.
The program is intended to increase the number of physicians working in tribal, rural, and medically underserved communities, where officials say recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals has remained difficult. The University of Arizona said Arizona ranks 42nd nationally for primary care access and cited projections from the Association of American Medical Colleges that the United States could face a shortage of as many as 86,000 physicians by 2036.
University President Suresh Garimella said the program combines accelerated medical education, scholarships, and potential residency opportunities aimed at keeping physicians in the communities where they train.
“Tribal and rural communities have some of the nation’s greatest unmet primary care needs,” Garimella said. “This partnership to establish the country’s first medical school branch within a Tribal Nation will train physicians through an accelerated three-year MD program, support them with full scholarships to free them of debt burden and provide residency opportunities that anchor them to the places and patients they know. That is how you build a physician workforce that remains in the communities that need them most.”
Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said the program could allow members of the community interested in medicine to pursue careers closer to home.
“For too long, many of our young people who dreamed of becoming doctors had to leave home to pursue that goal,” Lewis said. “This partnership with the University of Arizona changes that. It gives them the opportunity to learn, train and build their careers right here in the Community, where they can make a real difference for the people they serve.”
Students will work under faculty supervision across multiple clinical settings within Gila River Health Care while learning about historical, cultural, and social factors affecting healthcare in Native communities. Officials are also exploring the development of primary care residency programs within Gila River Health Care in an effort to retain graduates in underserved communities.
Dr. Fredric Wondisford, dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, told Arizona’s Family that patients in some rural communities can face drives of two to three hours to obtain healthcare.
“The tribal community has unique ways of viewing Western medicine, all of which requires students to be in that community to learn about the community,” Wondisford said. “If they don’t learn about the community, they’re not really going to reach their patients, and they’re not really going to deliver good healthcare.”
Gila River Health Care Board Chairman Robert Pablo said rural healthcare facilities continue to face difficulties attracting trained medical professionals.
“There’s a real challenge for rural health hospitals to recruit trained professionals to come and work in their communities,” Pablo said. “We are very fortunate to launch this first-of-its-kind partnership between Gila River Health Care and the University of Arizona, which will establish a starting ground for these young doctors to jumpstart their careers.”
The Gila River initiative follows another community-based medical education partnership announced by the University of Arizona with Onvida Health in Yuma last year.
The Gila River medical school branch is scheduled to enroll its first 10 students in July 2027.
One candidate’s voting records are resurfacing amid a heated race for the 1st Congressional District seat.
Democratic nominee Amish Shah, while a state representative, voted against a measure banning sex change surgeries for minors.
Shah took the vote in 2022 while representing the 24th Legislative District. He did not explain his vote during the House floor decision on the bill.
Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, sponsored the legislation.
Shah also voted against bills perceived as noninclusive of transgender individuals, including a ban on males from participating in female sports, and a requirement for students to use bathrooms in accordance with their biological sex.
This resurfaced voting record provides a context of continuity with Shah’s approach as a lawmaker, considering his promises to voters in recent months to represent a further-left faction of the Democratic Party.
Publicly, Shah has styled himself as an independent that works beyond political party.
His platform proposes advancing socialized medicine, codifying abortion, ending tariffs, and increasing public school funding. When Shah first announced his candidacy last May, he pledged to defend abortion access, namely for the abortion drug mifepristone.
I believe in universal healthcare. The system is broken. #LD5#ShahForAZ
During his time in the state legislature, Shah balanced his public commitment to bipartisanship by introducing legislation that aligned with a more progressive arc, such as a bill to expand anti-discrimination laws by affording protections for gender identity and sexual orientation, and another bill to redefine marriage within the state constitution.
That anti-discrimination expansion bill has been included within Shah’s bipartisanship count, since Shah cosponsored the bill alongside former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican.
Shah played an active role in the 2020 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Shah headlined a town hall for the Sanders campaign and endorsed his approach to socializing healthcare. In one town hall, Shah proposed replacing capitalism with socialism.
It was prior to his unsuccessful 2024 campaign for this same seat that Shah openly situated himself within the socialist camp of the Democratic Party. Shah lost that 2024 race despite outspending his opponent by several million, Rep. David Schweikert.
Shah also signed onto a compact to make Washington, D.C., into the 51st state. Shah was among 33 Democratic lawmakers from Arizona to sign the 2021 letter. In 2023, Shah followed up on that letter by cosponsoring a 2023 resolution to support D.C. statehood.
Shah has declined to sign onto other compacts. Shah is not among the signatories on board with Promise to America, a commitment for Democratic elected officials and candidates to oppose socialism.
Shah’s primary election opponent, Marlene Galan-Woods, did sign onto the pledge.
Apart from himself, among Shah’s biggest single donors have been the IA Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee based out of D.C., and 314 Action Impact Slate, a hybrid PAC based out of D.C.
Shah has raised more than $1.8 million this reporting period, per Federal Election Commission data.
The Republican nominee in the race, Jay Feely, has raised more than $2.5 million. As with Shah, apart from himself Feely’s top donors include Grow the Majority, a Virginia-based PAC, and Emmer Majority Builders, a Georgia-based PAC.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
Arizona’s state-sponsored education savings program has reached a record $3.2 billion in managed assets, with the Arizona Treasurer’s Office reporting a 96.9 percent increase since Treasurer Kimberly Yee assumed administration of the plan in October 2020.
The Arizona Treasurer’s Office announced Tuesday that the AZ529 Education Savings Plan has also added 74,995 new accounts during the 69 months it has operated under Yee’s administration.
The latest figures represent continued growth from the beginning of the year. In January, the Treasurer’s Office reported that the plan held $2.87 billion in assets and had added 63,586 accounts since its transfer to the office. The new figures represent approximately $330 million in additional assets and another 11,409 accounts compared with those totals.
Under the leadership of Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, the @AZ_529 Education Savings Plan has increased assets under management by 96.9% to a new record high of $3.2 billion after 69 months of operation with 74,995 new accounts. | @AZTreasurerYeepic.twitter.com/mPXFB7rDQJ
— Office of the Arizona State Treasurer (@AZTreasury) August 18, 2026
AZ529 came under the administration of the Treasurer’s Office on Oct. 1, 2020, after then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1528, transferring administration of the program from the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education to the State Treasurer and establishing the State Board of Investment as trustee. The plan itself was created by the Legislature in 1997 and launched in 1999.
Two years after the transfer, the Treasurer’s Office reported that the plan had added 22,326 accounts and held approximately $1.67 billion in assets. At that time, assets had increased 3.1 percent since the Treasury took control of the program.
By January 2026, assets had risen 76.7 percent from the October 2020 level to $2.87 billion. The Treasurer’s Office said at the time that 63,586 new accounts had been opened during the first 63 months of Treasury administration.
The program allows parents, grandparents, and other account owners to invest money for a beneficiary’s education through tax-advantaged accounts. Funds may be used for qualified expenses including college and university costs, community college, vocational and trade programs, registered apprenticeships, and certain other educational expenses.
Arizona taxpayers may deduct contributions made to any qualifying state 529 plan from state taxable income, up to $2,000 per beneficiary for single filers and heads of household and $4,000 per beneficiary for married couples filing jointly. Earnings grow tax-free, while qualified withdrawals are exempt from federal and Arizona income taxes.
Families can begin saving with as little as $15 per month, depending on the plan provider. The program currently offers a direct-sold plan through Fidelity Investments and an advisor-sold plan through Goldman Sachs.
Federal changes have also expanded the ways some unused 529 funds can be handled. AZ529 beneficiaries may roll qualifying unused funds into the beneficiary’s Roth IRA, subject to federal requirements and a $35,000 lifetime limit.
The plan has received national recognition during its growth. In January, the Treasurer’s Office announced that Forbes named AZ529 one of six plans selected from 70 evaluated for its 2026 list. The program has also received a Silver rating from Morningstar for 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Yee, who is running for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and serving her final year as state treasurer, has made expansion of the 529 program and financial-literacy outreach part of her office’s priorities. In her 2025 accomplishments report, the Treasurer’s Office said its outreach included communities across Arizona’s 15 counties, along with Spanish and Navajo-language materials promoting the education savings program.
Maricopa County taxpayers will pay up to two months of rent for those facing eviction for nonpayment.
Maricopa County has partnered with the city of Phoenix to launch a pilot program aimed at preventing evictions. The county allocated $800,000 from its fiscal year 2027 budget to pay for the pilot program, and the board of supervisors approved it in May.
Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee said the program was modeled after the Texas Eviction Diversion Program, a pandemic-era relief program established via emergency order by the Texas Supreme Court which ended in 2023.
“For three straight years, Maricopa County Justice Courts have processed more than 80,000 eviction filings. That’s 80,000 individuals or families on the brink of homelessness each year, at a time when that population is already high,” said Chair Kate Brophy McGee, District 3. “This pilot, modeled after a successful program in Texas, aims to address our eviction crisis head-on with interventions that are sustainable and effective. They are a hand up, not a hand out.”
Eligible residents may receive as much as $3,000 to cover two months of rental arrears; those with rental arrears exceeding three months past due and those with rental arrears exceeding $3,000 don’t qualify. Should every program participant qualify for the maximum relief amount, approximately 265 individuals would receive rental assistance.
Residents must reside in zip codes 85008, 85040, 85041, 85042; have citizenship or lawful permanent residency; have experienced a temporary emergency or financial setback; and can demonstrate ability to pay monthly rent moving forward.
Proof of ability to pay rent in the future includes an individual’s last two pay stubs, employment verification letter, Social Security income verification letter, a job offer letter, “other income verification,” or self-attestation.
The program also accepts on self-attestation from a resident to indicate financial hardship impacting their ability to make future rental payments. Verifiable evidence of the nature of the professed temporary hardship must be provided: terminated employment, reduced work hours, business closure, short-term illness or disability, medical bills, funeral expenses, car repairs, natural or manmade disaster, victimization by crime or domestic violence, or a self-attestation describing the temporary hardship.
Further, the program requires property owner participation. Property owners must provide documentation of the rental agreement, a tenant ledger, and other forms to include a W9.
“A key condition of receiving financial assistance includes the property owner agreeing that the amounts paid by the program fully satisfy the covered rental arrears and eligible charges,” stated the county press release.
The county’s application link sends users to an email with a domain name for HOM, an Arizona-based housing assistance and social services organization with operations in Colorado and Los Angeles, California.
On its website, HOM advertises as having assisted with the distribution of more than $9 million in monthly housing assistance, provision of monthly assistance to more than 6,900 households, and provision of housing subsidies for more than 3,000 properties.
AZ Free News reported earlier this month that the city of Phoenix is also considering the continuation of eviction legal services. That pilot program began in January 2025 with $1.2 million sourced from interest accrued from American Rescue Plan Act funds. City leaders say they would like to continue the program beyond its scheduled end date in June 2027.
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