ARIZONA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE
2024 LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP
Session Overview
After spending 160 days in session, the Arizona Legislature adjourned sine die on Saturday, June 15th at 9:55 p.m. In total, nearly 1,800 pieces of legislation were introduced with 258 bills signed into law and 73 of them vetoed.
The situation at the Capitol remained very much divided and featured a great deal of work by the Arizona Catholic Conference (ACC) on a number of hotly contested issues including abortion and immigration, to name a few.
Life Issues
Historically, Arizona has been one of the most pro-life states in the country and has been recognized as such by national organizations. Nonetheless, while many rightly celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a chain of events subsequently occurred that now seriously threatens to undermine decades of work in this regard.
Earlier this year, following the demise of Roe v. Wade, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an opinion to allow the pre-Roe statute prohibiting most abortions from the moment of conception to become law. Shortly, thereafter, the legislature quickly moved to repeal this law which currently leaves Arizona with a 15-week abortion ban that has limited exceptions for the health and life of the mother.
Meanwhile, an extreme pro-abortion initiative that appears to be headed for the November ballot threatens to undermine almost all of Arizona’s common sense pro-life laws including safeguards that are currently in place at abortion clinics, parental consent for girls, and late-term abortion of viable preborn children. The Bishops of the Arizona Catholic Conference have issued several statements noting their opposition to this initiative and continue to encourage the faithful to work and pray for its ultimate defeat.
It should be noted that there was also some good news at the legislature when perennial proposals to legalize assisted suicide (HB 2878 and SB 1530) failed to advance. Similarly, the ACC was pleased that efforts to expand the death penalty were either withdrawn by sponsors or amended to instead use natural life in prison (SB 1232).
Immigration Legislation
Immigration remained another issue that has substantially intensified at the Capitol following the inability of the federal government to properly address the complex situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. The lack of a federal solution to the challenges faced by both vulnerable people and American communities has created many problems.
While not intending to question the good intentions of lawmakers, it should be noted that a bill (SB 1231) purportedly designed to secure the border, however, did not include language preventing its enforcement by local police in the state’s interior. Accordingly, public safety would have been threatened if crime victims and witnesses were afraid to report crimes in communities throughout Arizona. The ACC was consequently grateful that SB 1231 was vetoed.
Eventually, another measure came along (HCR 2060) that raised similar concerns about state and local police enforcing federal immigration laws and it ultimately was sent to the ballot for voters to decide. Although improvements were made to HCR 2060, the reality is that its passage will create similar fears that will have harmful consequences within Arizona communities impacting public safety. For these reasons, and others, the Bishops of the Arizona Catholic Conference have issued statements expressing their opposition and are encouraging the faithful to work and pray for its defeat.
School Choice
Arizona remains a national leader in school choice laws that allow children of all backgrounds the ability to attend the school that best fits their needs. The ACC is grateful that with the help of legislative leadership, proposals to eliminate the ESA (HB 2562) and STO (HB 2809) programs failed to advance.
Similarly, proposals to dramatically rollback the ESA program were instead shaped into common sense improvements to add requirements such as the fingerprinting of teachers and random audits to improve accountability (HB 2906). Additionally, instead of a proposal zeroing out tuition tax credits, a very modest cap was put on the corporate tuition tax credit aggregate annual limit of $135 million and individual tax credits remain unchanged (HB 2909).
Fortunately, no efforts materialized to place school choice on the ballot for voters to decide in November. Nonetheless, school choice remains one of the most hotly contested issues and its future will be largely impacted by the results of the upcoming election. The ACC strongly believes that both well-funded public schools and strong school choice laws greatly benefit the future of all Arizonans.
Vulnerable Populations
The bipartisan budget that was passed at the end of the legislative session was not dramatically different than the previous year’s budget. Education funding and school choice were thankfully protected, as already noted.
Additionally, the ACC was pleased that an additional $15 million was added to the Housing Trust Fund (HB 2897) and that the foster care and charitable organization tax credits, which tremendously benefit faith-based charities, were untouched.
Seal of Confession Preserved
In conclusion, it would be remiss not to mention the serious efforts to undermine religious liberty that were made again this year. In this regard, the ACC is especially grateful that legislation to force priests to violate the Seal of Confession in certain cases (HB 2712) again failed to advance. Priests cannot break the Seal of Confession under any circumstances and proposals to do so demonstrate a continued threat to our important religious freedoms.
Conclusion
The Arizona Catholic Conference is grateful to all the elected officials and groups we worked with this past session to promote the common good and to defeat harmful bills. We are also appreciative of your support, and especially your prayers.
