At the Arizona Capitol, you can usually find someone hunched over the public computers in the hallways, typing comments about bills to lawmakers through the Legislature’s Request to Speak system.
Usually, they aren’t actually requesting to speak in front of a committee — and anyway, lawmakers have cut down on public comment in recent years to limit average citizens’ ability to provide input to their lawmakers about the laws being voted on.
Instead, most of them are signing their names for or against a bill in the RTS system, and sometimes adding their thoughts to the comments section for lawmakers to read.
But most lawmakers simply do not care what the public thinks.
We pulled data from Skywolf, our legislative intelligence service, to find the most hated bills of the legislative session, based on sign-ins to the RTS system.
But not just the most hated. The Top 10 most hated bills that lawmakers are moving through the process anyway — showing, once again, that they don’t care what voters think.
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Selina Bliss
Hate it score: 85.6% (81 for it, 482 against it)
A federal district court shot down Arizona’s ban on trans girls playing on girls sports teams, and a federal appeals court agreed. Now the law is tied up, awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on similar bans in other states.
But the courts and the fact that the voters aren’t exactly clamoring for her fix isn’t stopping Bliss from trying to get Arizona voters to expand Arizona’s law banning trans girls from playing on girls teams.
Her HCR2003 would sidestep Gov. Katie Hobbs veto by asking voters to require all “athletic associations” (in addition to schools, which were covered under the now-enjoined law) to prohibit trans girls from playing on the team of their choice.
And it would prohibit schools and athletic associations from allowing trans kids to use the bathroom, locker room or “other private athletic spaces” of their choice.
Sponsor: Republican Sen. John Kavanagh
Hate it score: 87.7% (69 for it, 495 against)
Kavanagh has long been pushing “bathroom bills” to regulate which loo children can use in schools. His latest version is designed to escape that inevitable veto by bypassing the governor and heading straight for the ballot in November.
But based on the reaction in the RTS system, voters aren’t that into it.
SCR1006 would require schools to provide single-occupancy bathrooms to trans kids who “submit a written request with satisfactory evidence of sex.” It would also allow people to sue the school if a trans kid uses the bathroom aligning with their preferred gender. And it would require students to get a signed parental permission slip to go by a pronoun that doesn’t align with the one they were assigned at birth. Plus, teachers could just not call them by that pronoun if it conflicts with their “religious or moral convictions.”
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Justin Olson
Hate it score: 89.5% (53 for it, 452 against)
Olson’s HCR2040 asks voters to amend the state constitution to ban school districts from providing any support to teachers’ unions, including by banning teachers from using school emails to recruit. It would also bar schools from deducting union dues from paychecks, among other union-busting provisions.
Teachers and school advocates turned out to oppose the bill, but it’s still moving through the process.
Like the previous two bills mentioned, it would go straight to the voters if lawmakers approve it.
Sponsor: Republican Sen. Warren Petersen
Hate it score: 93.9% (47 for it, 726 against)1
Hobbs wasn’t exactly going out on a limb when she vetoed Petersen’s bill to change the name of the Loop 202 to the “Charlie Kirk Loop 202.”
While Kirk was massively influential in right-wing corners of the internet, RTS users weren’t keen on naming the Valley’s largest freeway system in his honor.
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Nick Kupper
Hate it score: 96.3% (25 for it, 646 against)
The governor was one of hundreds of Arizonans who weighed in against HB2206 (and its mirror bill in the Senate) when she vetoed the measure. The bill would have required the Department of Economic Security to reduce the SNAP error rate to less than 3% or lose 10% of its administrative funding, among other provisions.
Only 25 people, not counting Republican lawmakers, registered their support for the measure.
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Quang Nguyen
Hate it score: 96.6% (14 for it, 403 against)
Ngyuen’s bill to increase the penalty for crimes committed while wearing a mask drew opposition from loads of voters, nurses and civil rights organizations that were worried about its impact on Muslim women who wear masks for religious reasons. (Nguyen later amended the bill to include a carve-out for people who wear masks for religious reasons.)
But that opposition is no match for a few dozen Republican lawmakers who want to see the bill signed into law.
Sponsor: Nguyen
Hate it score: 96.6% (16 for it, 459 against)
Nguyen’s HB2416 would dedicate $20 million from the state General Fund to the Department of Public Safety for “local border support.”
That mound of money didn’t get much support from the public, but Republican lawmakers are moving it along anyway.
Sponsor: Kavanagh
Hate it score: 97.4% (15 for it, 565 against)
You may have heard about the bill to criminalize warning people about ICE actions in their neighborhood, including by tweeting, or blowing whistles.
And, if so, it’s probably no surprise that the bill was deeply unpopular at the state Legislature, at least with the citizens who weighed in on it.
But not with Republican lawmakers, who are only one final vote away from sending it to the governor’s desk.
Sponsor: Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick
Hate it score: 98.1% (nine for it, 433 against)
President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” created a federal school voucher style system, but states have to opt into the program.
Republican lawmakers want Arizona to get in on that, and have pushed SB1142, which would declare Arizona opts in.
Citizens using the RTS system aren’t so fond of the idea — and we have a feeling Hobbs isn’t either.
Sponsor: Republican Sen. TJ Shope
Hate it score: 98.5% (seven for it, 445 opposed)
Arizona’s most hated bill, per the sign-ins on the Legislature’s RTS system, was not what we expected.
SCR1040 would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to increase the mandatory retirement age for judges to 75 years old, rather than 70 years old.
It wasn’t a terribly controversial bill — it even got a single bipartisan vote from Democratic Sen. Lauren Kuby.
Most Democrats opposed it, however, saying that Americans are tired of being represented and ruled by septuagenarians.
Plus, the same provision was included in Prop 115 back in 2012, which voters rejected by a nearly 3-to-1 margin (though that made other changes to the judicial system as well).
For the last 15 months, we’ve been publishing three separate weekly newsletters covering education, water and AI policy in Arizona.
Now, we’re bringing that coverage into our main publications.
That means you’ll start seeing more dedicated stories on those topics in the Arizona Agenda.
Jessica Votipka, who previously covered education issues for the Daily Star, will be covering the big statewide education stories — the Legislature, the superintendent’s race, state budget fights that hit schools, for the Arizona Agenda and Tucson Agenda. (See today’s Tucson Agenda for her piece on a bill to let kids play hooky from school for a Sunday school-type program.)
Arren Kimbel Sannitt, our water nerd, will bring those deep dives into what’s happening on the Colorado River, groundwater regulation and the general aridification of the Southwest.
And Adi Jagannathan, our resident AI expert, will be your guide through the coming AI gold rush / apocalypse.
As we fold more of that detailed policy coverage into our main publications, we’d love to hear from you about the education, water and AI themes you’d like to read more about.
Drop us a line at [email protected] or in the comments section.
The red circus is coming: President Donald Trump will make a Turning Point USA rally appearance at Dream City Church in North Phoenix on April 17 alongside speakers like Erika Kirk and GOP gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs. The Pentecostal megachurch, which has close ties to Turning Point, compared Charlie Kirk to Jesus Christ in the aftermath of his assassination and owns a school that was recently sued after a teacher allegedly groomed and had sex multiple times with a 15-year-old student.
Trust us, we promise: At a press conference on Monday, Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor provided an update on the soon-to-be-operational ICE detention center in the city. But as reported by Morgan Fischer of the Phoenix New Times, none of the promises that the Department of Homeland Security made to the city are enforceable by law — including pledges to limit capacity to 542 inmates, create a community relations board and offer facility tours. In addition, KTAR’s David Iverson noted that the department promised the city an annual payment of $300,000 but hasn’t signed any paperwork. Activists, concerned politicians and our favorite Surprise councilmember expressed skepticism.
Working it out, Scottsdale-style: A lawsuit filed against the City of Scottsdale and a developer by condo owners near Museum Square may be resolved soon, Tom Scanlon of the Scottsdale Progress writes. The condo owners claimed officials improperly cleared the way for a nearby 150-foot hotel when Assistant City Manager Brent Stockwell allegedly misled an elderly HOA chair into waiving a 60-foot height restriction. In that vein, the developer may be taking a stand against the city for “breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing” while the condo owners are offering to drop the lawsuit if they can re-vote on the height restriction.
All this talk about Scottsdale has us thinking: Please upgrade your subscription and support your local journalists, even if we’ll never get to own a condo in Old Town.
If I file there may be trouble, if I don’t it will be double: Arizona’s Republican lawmakers are urging residents to file their taxes, Kevin Stone of KTAR reports — even though they haven’t worked out a plan with Gov. Katie Hobbs to conform Arizona’s tax code with the new federal one. If Hobbs and Republicans reach a compromise, anyone who has filed their taxes may have to also file an amended return.
The Moscow Connection: Republican U.S. Rep. Eli Crane is facing rebukes from members of both parties for being one of four Republicans and one Democrat to host a cadre of Russian lawmakers in Washington, Zach Bradshaw of Cronkite News reports. One GOP congressman compared the meeting to “a visit by the Third Reich” while Crane’s likely Democratic opponent in November, Jonathan Nez, highlighted a report from a top European Union diplomat that Russia has been passing intelligence to Iran.2
“While Arizona families struggle with rising costs at home, Eli Crane is busy giving private tours to Russian officials – one day after a report that Russia is helping Iran kill Americans in the Middle East,” Nez said.
Correction: In yesterday’s In Other News section, we said ICE wanted to use city-owned space in Flagstaff. There has been no talk of ICE using city-owned property, just that ICE might want to use property within the city limits.
Yesterday, we reported on the first petition challenge of the season, which was filed against GOP Rep. Walt Blackman by a past primary opponent who isn’t even running this year.
We dropped by the courthouse yesterday afternoon to pick up a copy of that lawsuit, and have a few more details on that challenge.
It looks like a bit of a train wreck.
Steve Slaton lost to Blackman in the 2024 GOP primary after records suggested that he embellished his military service record. Then, he claimed that Blackman had lied about the details of his Bronze Star; Blackman struck back with a defamation lawsuit.
Now, Slaton is alleging that Blackman is not eligible for reelection because he owes about $169,000 in campaign finances fines from an old campaign committee he used during his first stint in office from 2018 to 2022.
Blackman never officially closed that committee down, even though he wasn’t running for the Legislature anymore, so he racked up enormous fines for not filing reports for a campaign that didn’t exist.3 (Blackman also owes about $200 in late fees because his current campaign committee filed multiple reports a few days late, as we noted yesterday.)
Blackman, who ignored multiple inquiries from us, told the Arizona Mirror that the fines are because of an “administrative error.”
Blackman’s fate remains unclear at this point — and the Secretary of State’s Office was unable to offer a comment on the fees, which might be even higher than the lawsuit claims.
A screenshot from the Secretary of State’s campaign finance website, which shows Blackman’s old committee owes a total of $194,375 in fees.
But Phoenix attorney Tom Ryan doubts that the challenge has legs because Slaton, who is representing himself, may have committed a litany of errors in filing it.
First, Slaton filed the lawsuit in Maricopa County, while Blackman represents and is running for office in Pinal, Gila, Coconino and Navajo Counties.
Slaton also forgot to name Secretary of State Adrian Fontes as a defendant in the complaint — though he did name Fontes on the cover sheet.
“I’ll give him this — it is unique. It’s the first time I’ve seen this. This theory that he’s alleging is new and unique,” Ryan said of Slaton. “Because of his blind anger toward Blackman, he may very well be screwing up a case that could be worthwhile. The problem is Slaton himself is a bit of a nutcase, and it may be hard for him to find someone willing to represent him.”
If what Ryan says is true, it looks like the lawsuit may get thrown out, and Slaton will have wasted $367 to file it.
1 The tallies for SB1010 and HB2206 include both the House and Senate versions of the same “mirror” bill.
2 Arguably worse, Crane showed up wearing a mismatched three-piece suit that made him look like a prom attendee without a date to give him fashion advice.
3 Blackman is not the first candidate to forget to close down his account — former candidate Ted Prezelski once racked up more than $90,000 in fines after never closing a campaign committee down. The Secretary of State’s Office has generally cut very favorable deals with candidates in that position.