If Gov. Doug Ducey believed shooting down 22 legislative bills would shame the 47 Republicans in the Arizona Legislature into passing his budget bills, the reaction of some lawmakers suggests there is now even less support after his vetoes were announced Friday.
“The decision to employ strong arm tactics by vetoing over 20 Republican bills, presumably driven by some of his staff and advisors, reflects a fundamental miscalculation regarding the status and progress of the budget negotiations,” Rep. Jake Hoffman (R-LD12). “It is deeply concerning that they did not foresee how detrimental indiscriminately vetoing nearly two dozen bills would be on reaching consensus on the budget.”
Hoffman pointed to Ducey’s inclusion of SB1074 in the list of the 22 vetoed bills as especially problematic. The legislation prohibits the use of public funds for the promotion of Critical Race Theory training, and the training itself could not be required of public employees.
“The Governor’s decision to veto crucial election integrity legislation, as well as his veto of a bill that would have banned taxpayer money from being used to teach the racist, bigoted Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideology is shocking and disappointing for the millions of Arizonans who support these measures.”
Ducey’s veto letter to Senate President Karen Fann and House Speaker Rusty Bowers noted that “some” of the bills contain good policy, but “at this time, our priority needs to be passing a budget for Arizonans.” The vetoes ignore the fact that the legislators had already done their part to pass the bills, all of which passed with Republican support.
Meanwhile, Ducey’s actions do not seem to have nudged any “on-the-budget-fence” Republicans to drop their demands, as evidenced by a tweet by Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-LD16) Friday night.
Townsend worked with Rep. John Kavanagh (R-LD23) to put forth an amended bill this week containing several provisions she said address “election reform, election integrity, and election security.” However, the House recessed Wednesday without voting on the bill despite the Republican caucus promising all session to push election-related legislation.
“I will not vote for the #AZBudget unless it has significant election SECURITY measures in it,” Townsend’s tweet reads. “This is absolute and I am immovable. I cannot, in good conscience, support any money issues without reforms that restore confidence in our elections.”
Two such election-related bills are on Ducey’s veto list, including HB2792 which would prohibit county recorders or election officials from sending early ballots to voters who did not request them. The other bill would have only allowed persons registered to vote in Arizona to represent a political party at a polling place.
Many of the vetoed bills address health and social services matters, including SB1514 which mandates that the state provide dozens of beds for homeless people age 55 and over in Maricopa County, SB1716 which mandates the use of a surveillance security system at the Arizona State Hospital, and SB1022 that would require revision of state laws to replace the term “product of human conception” with the term “unborn child.”
Republican lawmakers were not the only ones who reacted negatively to Ducey’s action. One of the vetoed bills, SB1526, prohibits the general use of restraints on a pregnant inmate or for 30 days after giving birth. It also prohibits an unlicensed health care professional from conducting a body cavity search on a pregnant prisoner unless the employee has a reasonable belief the prisoner is concealing contraband and would provide feminine hygiene products to female inmates free of charge.
SB1526 passed the House and Senate with bi-partisan support and was transmitted to Ducey’s office May 24. Sen. Tony Navarette (D-LD30) expressed his dismay with the veto action, calling it “a public temper tantrum” by the governor.
“To say I am disappointed that the Governor, in a petty move, decided to veto a bill that would have improved the lives of incarcerated parents and their children, is an understatement,” Navarette’s statement reads. “Passing this bill was a mater of basic human decency and respect. It’s sad that Governor Ducey decided his own political interests were more important than that.”
Four of the bills included in Ducey’s veto action involve marijuana, including HB2303’s proficiency testing of any independent laboratory involved in the testing of marijuana and HB2414’s authority for the Arizona Department of Health Services to conduct inspections of a medical marijuana dispensary. In addition, SB1121 deals with security, packaging, and labeling requirements of marijuana, while SB1408 requires there to be research on the relationship between marijuana use and mental illness.
Some of the other vetoed bill involve changes to how the Arizona Psychiatric Security Review Board conducts its business and new rules for how the Arizona Department of Transportation treats conviction of reckless driving, aggressive driving, or racing.