The League’s legislative agenda
Local control, reloaded … He'll fundraise better from jail anyway … And poor Joseph.
There are few organizations with more pull at Arizona’s Legislature than the League of Arizona Cities and Towns.
Considering the League represents 91 municipalities that collectively make up lawmakers’ districts, legislators tend to take its positions seriously.
So when League staff invited us for a sit-down to go over their priorities for the year, we decided to take it seriously, too.
The League’s core thesis is advocating for local control, so it most often weighs in on housing bills that affect zoning and other regulations that city councils traditionally set.
But the rapid growth of short-term rentals has pushed the League into the offensive. This year, it’s championing two bills to give cities and towns more latitude to regulate them.
This year, the League is finally being freed from an agreement it made with major short-term rental companies in 2022.
But first, a little backstory: After then-Governor Doug Ducey signed SB1350, or “the Airbnb bill,” in 2016, local governments were largely prohibited from regulating short-term rentals.
Cities got more say on short-term rental regulation in 2022, when the League got a new law passed that let municipalities force short-term rentals to get licenses. The licensing permission means local governments can impose penalties after three nuisance violations within one year.
The League’s lobbyist, Nick Ponder, was part of the negotiations to get the new law across the finish line. The League made concessions, he said, by signing onto an agreement with Airbnb and Expedia Group to not lobby for a full repeal of SB1350 until 2027.
Part of that behind-the-scenes agreement, however, was that after 2025, the League could push for a bill to let cities cap the number of short-term rentals in their jurisdictions.
So it’s no surprise that’s one of the League’s top priorities this year: legislation that would allow cities to cap the share of their housing stock that can be used as short-term rentals, with each city setting its own limit.
The bill, which hasn’t been introduced yet,1 wouldn’t force existing short-term rental owners to give up their licenses. Instead, Ponder said, cities that hit their cap would only issue new licenses as others are surrendered.
“The objective here is just to try and, at some point, get our communities back to the way that I think we intended them to be, which is not these horizontal hotel chains, but communities again,” Ponder said.
The second short-term rental bill on the League’s agenda fixes an oversight of the 2022 bill that gave cities licensing authority.
Cities can revoke a short-term rental license for one year after three violations — which mainly cover nuisance issues like excessive noise and trash — but only if those cases make it through municipal court within a year. That’s an unlikely feat in the bureaucratic slog of city courts.
The League’s second short-term rental bill proposal changes the law so that three or more violations adjudicated within two years can get a license revoked.
Several lawmakers are on deck as potential bill sponsors, including Republican Reps. Selina Bliss and Walt Blackman, and Sen. John Kavanagh. Bliss represents Airbnb-plagued Sedona and unsuccessfully ran a bill to let cities cap short-term rentals in 2023.
The League’s bills will have to face Airbnb’s sophisticated local lobbying efforts, which have recently ramped up in Arizona. In September, the multibillion-dollar company formed an Arizona-based PAC called the “Airbnb Responsible Tourism Coalition.”
Tom Savage, the League’s legislative director, said League staff are “not deterred.”
“I think this is a direct response from the industry to try to change the narrative,” he said. “We’re not trying to ban short-term rentals, so if that’s going to be part of their narrative, it’s just simply not true. We’re just trying to achieve balance in the law so Airbnbs and our neighborhoods can operate cohesively.”
Even though the League is free to lobby for a total repeal of the 2016 law that prevents municipalities from regulating short-term rentals after 2027, a move that would let cities ban short-term rentals, Savage acknowledged “the Legislature (isn’t) going to entertain that.”
We’re tracking the housing bills at the Capitol with Skywolf, our legislative intelligence service.
You can follow along by bookmarking our housing bill tracking list — or you can sign up to track bills like a pro!
#LockMeUp: The Trump administration is suing Arizona and Connecticut to get access to unredacted voter rolls — including voters’ names, birthdates, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, Carrie Levine reports for Votebeat. We’re the 23rd state to refuse the request and get slapped with a lawsuit. Thirteen have turned over the files. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes says it would be illegal for him to turn over that information, and the feds will have to “put me in jail” before he’d release the files, per Democracy Docket.
We’d run, too: An immigration sweep at a Home Depot in Phoenix might be the first concrete example of the Trump administration’s plan to make the Valley the next Chicago, the Republic’s Daniel Gonzalez and David Ulloa Jr report. The raid via unmarked vehicles that swooped down on the Home Depot on 36th Street and Thomas on Sunday netted two arrests — including a 60-year-old man with diabetes who has been in the country for 30 years. Not to mention, a brief detention of a U.S. citizen who ran from agents “because all of the other day laborers were running,” per the Republic.
Torched and standing alone: Heading into her final year as governor, Gov. Katie Hobbs still has eight unconfirmed agency directors, thanks in large part to Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman, who chairs the committee in charge of vetting her cabinet picks, Reagan Priest reports for the Capitol Times. Of the eight unconfirmed directors that will likely face confirmation hearings this year, seven are the governor’s second choice for their respective positions. But one consultant noted that Hobbs hasn’t exactly stood up for her nominees as they stared down Hoffman’s committee.
“When (Dr. Theresa Cullen) got eviscerated at (the committee hearing), she walked to her car alone,” the consultant told the Capitol Times. “… This woman just got f***ing torched, wrongly or rightly, she got torched and there was no one there to go, ‘Hey, you did fine, these people are just a**holes,’ whatever you say to someone who just got torched.”
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Odd bedfellows: Trump announced yesterday that he would crack down on large investors who buy single-family homes. The announcement spurred Democratic state Rep. Oscar De Los Santos to say he has been “fighting to stop large corporations from buying Arizona homes” since he was elected, and he’s “glad President Trump has seen the light.”
Pet pigs at your own risk: After children got sick with E. coli at a petting zoo at the Arizona State Fair last year, Republican Sen. John Kavanagh introduced a bill requiring petting zoos ensure visitors wash their hands, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. Fun fact: It’s not his first bill dealing with animals at fairs.
In other, other news
A Scottsdale smoke shop has to pay $460,000 after a team of undercover teens helped the Arizona Attorney General’s Office show the store was selling vapes to kids (Morgan Fischer / Phoenix New Times) … The Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela is getting rave reviews from GOP officials in Arizona (Stephanie Murray / Republic) … Opponents of the Oak Flat copper mine got their day in court yesterday (Debra Utacia Krol / Republic) … Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne pushed back on the Trump administration’s plan to charge a huge fee to international teachers (Graham Krewinghaus / Nogales International) … And if you missed our edition about “Hell Week” this week, you can hear Hank talk about it on “The Show” instead (Lauren Gilger / KJZZ).
The race for Arizona’s congressional seat in CD1 is starting to look a lot like Arizona’s gubernatorial primary: Donald Trump liked it so much, he endorsed it twice.
In a Jan. 6 Truth Social post, Trump announced he was backing former Cardinals kicker Jay Feely, who switched from running in CD5 at Trump’s behest.
The president previously endorsed GOP state chair Gina Swoboda.
But the third Republican candidate in the race, Republican state Rep. Joseph Chaplik, was left empty-handed.
My message to the folks at Home Depot who we hire to help us is...hang in there. Esta bueno. This will pass and we will still hire you. To Adrian Fontes...I say BRAVO!!