While it is fair to say that the COVID-19 pandemic made for a great deal of on-the-job training for state and local governments, as they designed policies in the middle of the crisis, it is also apparent that a great many of the state legislators in Arizona’s State Legislature have learned from the mistakes that were made, and are busy crafting bills to prevent them from occurring again.
Just this week, Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill, sponsored by Rep. Leo Biasiucci, which prohibits the mayor of a city or town from ordering the closure of business during a declared emergency.
The bill, HB2107, which passed with the assistance of Warren Petersen, who ran a similar bill in the Senate, also applies to a chairman of the board of supervisors for any unincorporated areas of a county.
No More Business Closures by the City or County. Today the bill that @Leo4AzHouse and I worked on together to prevent cities and counties from shutting down your business during a pandemic went to the Governors desk.
— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) March 24, 2022
Appreciate the leadership and guidance from @votewarren on this bill. Government deciding during the pandemic that WalMart could stay open but Mom and Pops couldn’t was WRONG! This bill stops that from ever happening again. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/bgtouSlzjF pic.twitter.com/uwTMLjEH0Z
— Rep. Leo Biasiucci 🇺🇸 (@Leo4AzHouse) March 24, 2022
While Governor Doug Ducey did not lift lockdowns as soon as possible like Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida did, the restrictions he imposed through executive orders were not nearly as draconian as the measures sought by the mayors of Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff.
Currently:
A mayor or chairman of the BOS may declare an emergency, if authorized by ordinance or resolution, due to fire, conflagration, flood, earthquake, explosion, war, bombing, acts of the enemy or any other natural or man-made calamity or disaster or by reason of threats or occurrences of riots, routs, affrays or other acts of civil disobedience which endanger life or property within the city, or unincorporated areas of the county, or any portion thereof (A.R.S. §
26-311).”The mayor or the chairman of the BOS has the authority to impose all necessary regulations to preserve the peace and order of the city, town or unincorporated areas of the county, including but not limited to:
1) Imposing curfews in all or portions of the political subdivision;
2) Ordering a business to close;
3) Closing public access to any public building, street, or other public place;
4) Calling on regular or auxiliary law enforcement agencies and organizations for assistance; and
5) Notifying the constitutional officers that the county office for which they are responsible may remain open or may close for the emergency (A.R.S § 26-311).