Latest news with #ArizonaHouseofRepresentatives
NBC Sports
24-06-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Arizona legislature approves bill that would provide up to $500 million for Chase Field renovations
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks are one small step from securing up to $500 million to help with renovations to the team's downtown home Chase Field. The Arizona House of Representatives voted to approve House Bill 2704 by a 35-20 margin. It would recapture sales taxes from the stadium and other adjacent buildings over the next 30 years and reinvest them into infrastructure at the retractable roof structure, which has been home to the D-backs since 1998 and is owned by the Maricopa County Stadium District. The only remaining hurdle is for Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the legislation, and she's been publicly supportive of the bill. 'I'm thrilled that the legislature has passed a bill that will keep the Diamondbacks in Phoenix and create good-paying jobs,' Hobbs said on social media. 'This is a huge win for every Arizonan. I appreciate the bipartisan elected officials and the business and labor leaders who came to the table and worked with my office to make this moment possible.' The Diamondbacks say they will also contribute $250 million of the team's money to help fund renovations. Team president Derrick Hall has said the nearly 30-year-old stadium needs several upgrades, most notably to its air conditioning system, which keeps the stadium cool during Phoenix's brutally hot summer months. The team's current lease with the county expires in 2027. 'We are ecstatic over the legislative approval of HB2704,' Hall said in a statement. 'This will be a monumental victory for baseball and Diamondbacks fans when signed by Governor Katie Hobbs. We could then shift our focus to a proper lease extension negotiation with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in hopes of modernizing and renovating this public asset to a level those fans deserve.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bullets strike staffer's car at Daniel Hernandez's campaign office
Daniel Hernandez in 2023. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0 A shooting outside the campaign headquarters of longtime gun safety advocate and congressional candidate Daniel Hernandez left his family and staffers shaken Thursday afternoon. At around 5:15 p.m., according to a statement from the Tucson Police Department, officers responded to a call about vandalism and possible vehicle damage at the Hernandez family home, which doubles as his campaign headquarters. A staffer's car was struck by a bullet, and shell casings were found at the scene. No one was harmed. The investigation remains ongoing and no arrests have yet been made. Hernandez, a Democrat who is running in the special election to represent Arizona's 7th Congressional district, lamented the 'deeply unsettling' danger his family and team were in and denounced what he said was another in a long string of threats against his political career. 'As a gun violence survivor, I know this fear all too well — and over the years, my family and I have endured repeated death threats,' he said in a written statement. 'Our family, our staff, and our supporters deserve to feel safe. Violence and intimidation have no place in our politics. We will not be deterred, and we will share more information as it becomes available.' Hernandez has served in public office since 2017, when he was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives. Along with his younger sisters, current state Reps. Alma Hernandez and Consuelo Hernandez, the trio has established a progressive brand that emphasizes LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights and gun safety. The race to represent Arizona's 7th Congressional district is just a week away. The registration deadline to vote in the special primary election is June 16, and early voting begins on June 18. Hernandez faces a crowded field to win the Democratic nomination in the heavily Democratic district. The percentage of voters in the district who cast their ballots for Democratic candidates is more than twice that of those for Republicans. Leading the pack are Hernandez and Adelita Grijalva, a veteran of Tucson-area politics who has netted endorsements from high-profile figures like U.S. Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly. Grijalva is seeking to continue the legacy of her father, U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva, who represented the district for more than two decades until his death from cancer in April. In a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Adelita Grijalva expressed her opposition to gun violence and her relief that no one was hurt. 'My thoughts are with the Hernandez family and campaign team tonight,' she wrote. 'I'm relieved to learn that everyone is safe. We deserve safe communities free from gun violence.' Concern over gun violence is a key part of Hernandez's political platform. In 2011, he interned for U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and was credited with helping save her life when she was shot in 2011. That experience informed his commitment to gun safety advocacy, and he later became the state director for Everytown for Gun Safety, heading the organization's efforts to enshrine stricter regulations in Arizona law from 2012 through 2014. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former GOP state Rep. Austin Smith, a Turning Point leader, indicted for forging election documents
Rep. Austin Smith, R-Surprise, on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives on April 17, 2024. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror Former Republican state legislator Austin Smith has been indicted on 14 misdemeanor and felony counts for allegedly forging voter signatures on his petitions for reelection last year. Former member of the state legislature's far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus Smith dropped his reelection bid last spring after he was accused of personally forging more than 100 petition signatures to get on the 2024 Republican primary ballot. Around the same time, Smith resigned from his position as senior director at Turning Point Action, the political advocacy arm of Turning Point USA, a far-right organization based in Phoenix that aims to mobilize young conservatives. But according to Smith's Linkedin and X accounts, he was rehired in January as Turning Point Action's strategic director. Smith made his X account private, blocking his biographical information — including his job title — on the morning of June 10, after the news of his indictment was made public. A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Smith on June 2 on four felony counts, for presenting documents he knew were forged to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, and 10 misdemeanor counts for personally forging the names of electors on his reelection petitions. The felonies each come with a 1-2 year prison sentence; the misdemeanors come with a six-month imprisonment. When the allegations of signature fraud became public in April 2024, Smith vehemently denied them, calling them 'ludicrous' and accusing Democrats of creating a 'coordinated attack' against him. However, 100 of the signatures on his petition to get on last year's Republican primary ballot, along with corresponding addresses, obviously look like they were all written by the same person. And some of the people whose names were on the petition told the court that they never signed it. Smith took no accountability for the allegedly fraudulent signatures and said that he dropped out of the race because didn't want to spend tens of thousands defending himself in the civil elections challenge — as well as a possible criminal case for forgery. Ironically, Smith was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee, where he decried unproven election fraud in Maricopa County, and has even made jokes accusing county officials of mail-in ballot signature fraud on social media. 'Signature verification in Maricopa County is a joke,' Smith wrote on Twitter in May 2023. Smith was one of the many Arizona Republicans who falsely claimed without evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump. 'What happened on November 3rd, 2020 in Maricopa County continues to be a national disgrace and embarrassment,' Smith wrote on his website. 'Not only that, Austin believes it was criminal and will fight every day in the State Legislature to hold those responsible to account.' Multiple audits, including a highly partisan review orchestrated by Arizona Senate Republicans, found no discrepancies in the election. Fraud allegations made in court in the days and weeks following the 2020 election were all rejected because there was no evidence backing up the claims. Neither Turning Point USA Action nor Smith immediately responded to a request for comment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A Republican calls out rank politics and ‘performative outrage' amid split on animal welfare bill
Photo illustration by Jim Small. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror One GOP state lawmaker has had it with the 'performative outrage' of some of the far-right members of his own party. During a debate about a proposed bill that would strengthen consequences for people convicted of animal abuse, Rep. Walt Blackman engaged in a heated exchange on May 20 with fellow Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives. Kolodin, a Scottsdale Republican and member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, criticized Senate Bill 1658 for what he described as putting the wellbeing of pets above that of their owners, especially owners who are homeless or living in poverty. Blackman, who comes from Snowflake and describes himself as a traditional Reagan Republican, had just days earlier made a lengthy post on the social media site X calling out his far-right GOP colleagues for 'spend(ing) more energy policing ideological purity than drafting legislation.' 'It's got nothing to do with the bill,' Blackman said on May 20, in response to Kolodin's criticisms. 'It's got to do with politics. I've been down here (at the Capitol) enough.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The proposed legislation at the center of the debate was originally introduced by Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick via Senate Bill 1234, which passed through the Senate with near-unanimous support but never got a committee hearing in the House. Blackman revived the bill via a strike-everything amendment (an amendment that wholly replaces the text of the original bill) to Bolick's Senate Bill 1658. Numerous animal rights organizations supported the measure, including the Arizona Humane Society and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Blackman is a U.S. Army combat veteran who said that he considers his dogs to be family members and that he, like many other veterans, depends on them to help him through the mental and emotional impacts of his time in the military. 'It is making sure that people who have dogs, that they are being responsible, that they are making sure that they are giving them clean water, that they are giving them the proper amount of food to eat,' Blackman said. 'This is a no-brainer piece of legislation.' The proposed law that Blackman was advocating for would add failure to provide suitable and species-appropriate food, water and shelter to the definition of animal neglect in Arizona. It would also expand the definition of animal cruelty to include 'intentionally, knowingly or recklessly' failing to provide medical attention necessary to prevent unreasonable suffering. 'I don't know why this body would want to be so cruel as to make it a serious crime for poor people to own pets,' Kolodin said of the proposal. The bill includes carve-outs to the shelter requirement for working dogs, including livestock herding and guardian dogs, as well as for the pets of people who don't have a permanent residence themselves. A clearly frustrated Blackman reminded Kolodin of those exceptions, to which Kolodin countered that there was not an exception for the medical care requirement. 'If you can't afford to give (medical care) to yourself or your kids, you're not breaking the law. But if you can't afford to give it to the family dog, now you're a criminal,' Kolodin said. 'That is cruel.' Kolodin called the proposal 'inhumane.' Blackman responded by pointing out that 'some of his colleagues' might want to think back on some of the cruel and inhumane votes or comments they've previously made on the House floor. A lot of things that I did as a Republican, I am not proud of. – Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake Members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus were some of the only legislators who voted against the final version of an emergency funding bill last month to ensure that Arizonans with disabilities didn't lose access to vital caregiving and health services. 'We would love for every person in this state to get proper medical attention,' Kolodin said. 'We would love for every person in this state to have nourishing food and water. We would love that. And we would love for every dog in this state to have those things too. But guess what? That is not reality.' Blackman told the Arizona Mirror in a May 22 phone interview that he was surprised that Kolodin said that on the House floor — not because Blackman thinks it was disingenuous, but because it doesn't align with the Arizona Freedom Caucus agenda. Kolodin, along with other Freedom Caucus members, have voted in favor of strengthening rules and restrictions on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides assistance to low income people to purchase food. They've also supported cuts to Medicaid, and the services it provides, including when they voted against the emergency funding bill for the Division of Developmental Disabilities last month. They have also supported legislation to criminalize homelessness. Blackman said that, as he sees it, members of the Freedom Caucus seem to always be voting against bipartisan legislation not based on the merits of the proposals, but based on a political scorecard. And statements from the group's leader, Sen. Jake Hoffman, at the start of the 2025 legislative session seem to back that up. During a January press conference, Hoffman said that the Freedom Caucus' top priority over the next two years would be to make sure that the Democrats who head statewide offices, including Gov. Katie Hobbs, lose their 2026 reelection campaigns. Blackman clashed earlier this year with Arizona Freedom Caucus member Sen. Wendy Rogers, of Flagstaff, when she blocked a bill that he sponsored which criminalized acts of stolen valor at the state level. Stolen valor means lying about or embellishing one's military service. Rogers and Blackman represent the same legislative district, but are political opponents, and she endorsed Steve Slaton over Blackman in the 2024 GOP primary election. Slaton, who owns The Trumped Store in Show Low, is a Trump loyalist like Rogers. But during his campaign, Slaton was found to have falsely claimed that he saw combat in Vietnam during his time in the U.S. Army. Blackman and Kolodin engaged in another heated exchange in April, after Blackman reintroduced his stolen valor bill as a strike-everything amendment to another bill originally sponsored by Bolick, circumventing Rogers' power to block it. Kolodin supported the original version of the stolen valor bill when it passed through the House, but was the single dissenting vote when it was revived. Kolodin said that the new version of Blackman's proposal included a provision that greatly expanded its scope: It says that any person convicted of the offense outlined in the bill would be disqualified from public office. 'We cannot open the door to allowing our courts to judge political speech within the context of criminal law,' Kolodin said. Blackman, in a fiery response to Kolodin, said that the bill has nothing to do with politics or political speech. 'This has nothing to do with political speech. This has to do with blood, sweat and tears men and women left on the battlefield,' Blackman said, at times yelling. 'The next time we have a conflict, I'd like to see whoever says 'no' on this board or in the Senate to jump in a Humvee and get shot at and tell me the service didn't matter.' Blackman told the Mirror that the first person he was criticizing in his May 18 social media post was himself. It was during a two-year reprieve from the state Capitol after serving as a state representative from 2019-2023 that he said he realized that he had gotten away from the values he believed in when he first joined the Republican Party in the 1980s. 'A lot of things that I did as a Republican, I am not proud of,' he said, admitting to his adherence to the 'it's our way or the highway' approach to governing that the GOP employed during his first stint as a lawmaker, when Republicans controlled the state House by a single vote. Since he returned to the legislature in January, Blackman said he's committed to working across the aisle to make changes that help Arizonans instead of scoring political points simply by voting against legislation because Democrats support it. Blackman said that he continues to support closed borders, lower taxes and free enterprise, 'however, I am not for putting my foot on somebody's neck just because they happen to disagree with me,' he said. In the social media post, Blackman accused his party of moving away from what he described as the traditional Republican values of faith, freedom and force to 'focusing almost exclusively on grievance politics and cultural warfare.' Blackman was one of several Republicans who voted for or expressed support for SB1658 during the May 20 debate. Rep. Matt Gress, of Phoenix, described the legislation as 'morally right.' 'How we treat our animals matters a great deal to who we are as a society,' he said. Gress mentioned the impetus for the proposal, a 2023 animal cruelty case in Chandler when 55 special needs dogs were found to be in poor health and living in 'horrible, horrible' conditions. 'We didn't have appropriate laws in place to hold those owners accountable,' he said. Gress, who, like Blackman, has also been chastised by members of his party for voting alongside Democrats, praised bipartisan support for the proposal. The bill will still have to make it past a full vote on the House floor and Senate, as well as a signature from the governor before it becomes law. 'This is a good bill, OK?' Blackman said during the May 20 debate. 'Don't abuse your dog. That's all it's saying. Don't abuse your dog. It doesn't say if a person does not have a place to go — somebody who cannot take care of their dog — they're not going to go to jail.' Kolodin did not respond to a request for comment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Will Arizona Become the First State to Join Feds in Planning a Bitcoin Reserve?
Arizona has broken new ground in what's been a race among U.S. states to see which may become first to set up a crypto reserve as a formal part of their fiscal strategy, getting legislation approved with mostly Republican lawmakers in support. It's unclear whether Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, will look favorably on the legislation that was rejected by most Democratic lawmakers. She has vetoed a long list of bills in this session, and if she vetoes this, too, the matter is closed for the year. If it were approved, Arizona's inclusion of digital assets in its public-funds investments could even outpace the U.S. Treasury Department's effort to get it done, which still awaits a full accounting of the U.S. holdings before federal officials can move to build the reserve that President Donald Trump has called for. With the Arizona House of Representatives passing the crypto reserve effort in a 31-25 vote on Monday — three Democrats voted in favor — the state surged past others considering similar measures, including New Hampshire, where a bill has passed its House. But Hobbs has been in a budget dispute with Republican lawmakers. "Any bill not already on my desk will be vetoed until we have a serious, bipartisan funding solution that protects health care for Arizonans with disabilities," the governor had said in an April 17 posting on social media site X. That matter may have been resolved with her signature on a disabilities-funding bill last week. Sign in to access your portfolio
