On Monday, the Arizona Senate passed in a nearly unanimous bipartisan vote Rep. Kelly Townsend’s Salt River wild horse bill, HB2340, during the floor session. The bill also received the support of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.
HB2340 codifies a cooperative approach for the humane management of the wild horses and criminalizes harassing, shooting, or killing of a Salt River wild horse and also affirms that they are not stray livestock, according to a statement from Simone Netherlands, president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.
Rep. Kelly Townsend worked tirelessly with the various interests groups trying to find consensus among them. “This is a great success. I am grateful that we were able to work through the many issues related to wild horse management over the last many months,” said Townsend. “This took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, yet we managed to find a consensus with all parties involved. Despite all of the obstacles and acrimony we still got through it and are one step away from finishing the work. That feels really good. This problem is bigger than the personalities.”
| Member Name | Vote | Member Name | Vote | Member Name | Vote |
| Sylvia Allen | Y | Nancy Barto | Y | Carlyle Begay | Y |
| David Bradley | Y | Judy Burges | Y | Olivia Cajero Bedford | Y |
| Lupe Contreras | Y | Andrea Dalessandro | Y | Jeff Dial | Y |
| Susan Donahue | Y | Adam Driggs | Y | Steve Farley | Y |
| David C. Farnsworth | Y | Gail Griffin | Y | Katie Hobbs | Y |
| John Kavanagh | Y | Debbie Lesko | Y | Barbara McGuire | Y |
| Robert Meza | Y | Catherine Miranda | Y | Lynne Pancrazi | N |
| Steve Pierce | N | Martin Quezada | NV | Andrew C. Sherwood | Y |
| Don Shooter | Y | Steve Smith | Y | Bob Worsley | Y |
| Steve Yarbrough | Y | Kimberly Yee | Y | Andy Biggs | Y |