by Jonathan Eberle | Oct 31, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
The Arizona Freedom Caucus announced that Representative Alexander Kolodin will lead a special hearing on “The Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Democratic Governance and How to Preserve Meaningful Elections” on Friday, November 14, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4 at the Arizona State Capitol.
The hearing, open to the public and livestreamed through the Arizona Legislature’s website, will focus on how the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping democratic institutions and the electoral process. Lawmakers plan to explore both the opportunities AI presents for improving government efficiency and the potential threats it poses to election security, voter confidence, and public trust.
Representative Kolodin, who chairs the House Ad Hoc Committee on Election Integrity and Florida-style Voting Systems, will be joined by four other Arizona House members, including fellow Freedom Caucus member Representative Rachel Keshel.
“The states cannot be complacent when it comes to the rapid development of AI,” Kolodin said in a statement. “The risk of insufficient oversight of AI is literally what dystopian nightmares are made of. Although it is reasonable to be excited about the prospects of AI to improve human life and society, it is equally critical to be vigilant about the ways it can be abused to erode our freedoms, including threatening democratic governance and our elections.”
The Arizona Freedom Caucus said it views the hearing as a proactive step toward crafting policy that anticipates how AI could be weaponized to undermine democratic processes. The group emphasized that while AI offers enormous benefits, its misuse could have far-reaching consequences for liberty, privacy, and electoral integrity.
“There is perhaps no greater concern than how AI will impact our elections,” the caucus said in its release. “We believe the best way to prevent destructive scenarios is to address AI’s prospective impacts and uses on the frontend.”
The November 14 session is expected to feature expert testimony and legislative discussion on strategies to safeguard Arizona’s electoral systems while responsibly integrating emerging technologies.
Members of the public can view the livestream of the hearing here.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Jonathan Eberle | Oct 22, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Arizona House Republicans have taken legal action to defend a decades-old state law governing birth-certificate amendments after Attorney General Kris Mayes failed to confirm whether her office would appeal a recent federal ruling striking the statute down.
Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro announced Monday that the Arizona House Republican Caucus, alongside Senate President Warren Petersen, filed a motion in U.S. District Court seeking to intervene as defendants for the purpose of appealing the decision and requesting a stay pending appeal.
The move follows U.S. District Judge James Soto’s September 30 ruling, which permanently enjoined enforcement of A.R.S. § 36-337, the provision requiring proof of a “sex change operation” before the state can amend the sex marker on a birth certificate. The injunction orders the Arizona Department of Health Services to revise its regulations within 120 days and to allow amendments based on a doctor’s attestation of a “sex change.”
“Arizona’s laws are not optional,” Montenegro said in a statement. “When a federal court rewrites a statute, the Legislature has a duty to defend it. If the Attorney General won’t defend Arizona’s laws, we will. The ruling now opens the door for anyone to change the sex marker on a birth certificate with just a doctor’s note, erasing decades of statute and undermining the integrity of vital records.”
According to the motion, Republican leaders made repeated inquiries to the Attorney General’s Office beginning October 1 about whether the state would appeal. After more than two weeks without a definitive answer, House and Senate leaders moved to intervene to ensure that the state’s position would be represented before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The legislative leaders argue that Arizona law gives them authority to defend state statutes when their constitutionality is challenged and that the Attorney General’s inaction effectively leaves the law undefended. Their filing asserts that the federal court’s ruling misapplies equal protection principles and conflicts with recent Supreme Court guidance in United States v. Skrmetti—a 2025 case addressing gender-related classifications under the Constitution.
The lawmakers also requested an immediate stay of the injunction, warning that allowing it to take effect could cause “irreparable harm” to the state by forcing the issuance of amended birth certificates that could later be invalidated if the appeal succeeds.
This legal dispute comes months after Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed HB 2438, a bill sponsored by Rep. Rachel Keshel (R-LD17) that would have barred any changes to the sex marker on birth certificates, reinforcing the same policy now at issue in court.
If granted, the intervention would allow the Arizona Legislature’s top Republicans to pursue an appeal directly to the Ninth Circuit in defense of the statute—marking a rare instance of state lawmakers stepping into a role traditionally held by the Attorney General.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | May 6, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Under the direction of Governor Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Department of Administration (ADA) sold the state’s first private prison rather than repurposing it for illegal alien detainment.
The State House overwhelmingly rejected a bill last Thursday to lease the prison, Marana Community Correctional Treatment Facility adjacent to Tucson, to the federal government for illegal aliens and other violators of immigration law for just $1 a year. The bill failed due to bipartisan rejection despite its party-line passage in the Senate.
“The federal government should have access to the empty Marana Prison to house these dangerous criminal illegal aliens so that Arizonans are protected from further threats,” said the bill’s author, Senator John Kavanaugh.
One Republican lawmaker representing Marana, Rep. Rachel Keshel, rejected repurposing the prison for immigration violations over concerns of bringing criminal illegal aliens into their community.
Keshel and fellow lawmaker to the area, Democratic Rep. Kevin Volk, alleged in remarks to Capitol Media Services that Kavanaugh failed to consult with local leaders about his proposed plan.
“Now, I do agree that something needs to happen with it instead of it just sitting there. But why was I not consulted with?” Keshel asked. “Why wasn’t I able to go to the mayor, the vice mayor, the town council of Marana, and figure out what their desires were for their community?”
The prison’s buyer, Management and Training Corporation (MTC) out of Utah, had operated and managed the prison. MTC purchased the 500-bed facility for about $15 million last Wednesday.
MTC owns nearly 40 correctional facilities, community release centers, and treatment programs across the nation.
The Marana prison was the state’s first private prison, established over 30 years ago. The minimum-security facility housed around up to 500 prisoners requiring substance abuse intervention. The declining prison population in the state prompted the prison’s closing and its recent sale.
The sale comes less than two years after Governor Katie Hobbs announced the prison’s closure in late 2023. The prison closed with under half of the number of prisoners that would constitute capacity.
Hobbs said the closure was a means of saving taxpayer dollars and eliminating government waste. The governor projected a savings of $15 million between the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years.
Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) absorbed the Marana inmates into other prisons throughout the state. ADCRR operates 15 prisons, six of which are private.
“So not only are we demonstrating significant savings, we’re demonstrating, with actions, our ability to be more efficient with the resources already provided to us,” said ADCRR Director Ryan Thornell.
The move by the Hobbs administration put off some local leaders. Marana Mayor Ed Honea said Hobbs gave notice to nearly 90 prison employees and staff of their impending job loss just three weeks before Christmas. The prison had the capability of employing over 200 individuals at full capacity.
Per Honea, the Marana inmates also provided affordable labor for the town. The inmates managed and cleared roadways, and during storm seasons would also clear debris.
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