Arizona has some weird laws on the books. Here are 8 of the strangest you should know

Yahoo

16-04-2025

Arizona has some unusual and strangely specific laws still on the books.
While Arizona drivers might know about some of the weird rules regulating traffic, there are a lot of other goofy laws on the books. Did you know the Grand Canyon State has placed restrictions on when hotel staff may restock a minibar and whether certain arcade games are allowed to be rigged? We didn't either.
Here are eight unusual Arizona laws that you should know about, though most actually do make sense when you think them through. (We're not sure about the minibar and lemonade statutes, though).
Arizonans can't feed garbage to pigs without first obtaining a permit, according to ARS 3-2664. ARS stands for Arizona Revised Statutes.
There's an exception, however, for anyone who feeds only their own household garbage to pigs that are raised "for his own use." (We're assuming that women can be pig owners, too, but the statute just refers to "his.")
Arizona has unique driving laws: Here are 8 traffic rules you must know to avoid a ticket
A person operating a motor vehicle on a public highway and approaching a horse-drawn vehicle or a horse and rider "shall exercise reasonable precaution to prevent frightening and to safeguard the animals and to ensure the safety of persons riding or driving the animals," ARS 28-858 says.
If the animals appear frightened, the person in control of the vehicle needs to reduce their speed and "if requested by signal or otherwise shall not proceed further toward the animals unless necessary to avoid accident or injury until the animals appear to be under control."
A person who knowingly or intentionally trips an equine for entertainment or sport is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor, according to ARS 13-2910.09, must serve no less than 48 hours in jail and pay a fine of $1,000. The punishments get more severe with repeat offenses.
Equine, per the law, is defined as a horse, pony, mule, donkey or hinny. A hinny is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.
By "trips," the law means knowingly or intentionally causing an equine to lose its balance or fall by use of a wire, pole, stick, or rope or any other object or by any other means.
The law doesn't apply to jumping or steeplechase events, racing, training, branding, show events, calf or steer roping events, or any traditional western rodeo events.
Those arcade games that pick up stuffed animals and other prizes with a robotic claw, known as crane games, can't be knowingly rigged, an Arizona law says. Anyone found guilty of rigging a crane game is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Rigging a crane game, per the law, can include:
Altering or maintaining a crane game so that the claw is physically unable to grasp exposed prizes.
Displaying prizes in a crane game in a manner so that the claw is physically incapable of grasping exposed prizes.
Misrepresenting the value of prizes.
Using cash or currency as prizes in crane games or awarding prizes in crane games that are redeemable for cash or currency.
The saguaro cactus is protected under the state's Arizona native plant law. Anyone who moves or salvages a saguaro cactus (cereus giganteus) that is more than four feet tall, from other than its original growing location, must purchase a permit, Arizona law says.
Destruction or theft of a saguaro, which are exclusive to the Sonoran Desert, is illegal under state law and can result in fines and a class 4 felony.
Landowners have the right to destroy or remove plants on their land, but only if the land is privately owned, the protected plants are not taken off the land or offered for sale, and the state was notified of the intended destruction before the plants were destroyed, according to Arizona law.
Alcohol in Arizona generally can't be sold between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., which is likely the reasoning behind ARS 4-206.05, which says that hotel and motel minibars in Arizona may not be "replenished or restocked with spirituous liquor between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m."
Writer Andrea Coleman questioned the usefulness of the law in a 2019 article published in Medium.
"Hotel rooms seem to be pretty safe places to drink. There's a bed, a carpeted floor, even a toilet to vomit in," Coleman wrote. "It's like drinking at home. You're not behind a motor vehicle, less chance of putting someone's life in danger."
Speaking of minibars and drinks, Arizona has a state drink, and it's lemonade. The official state drink is documented in the Arizona Revised Statutes with a simple sentence: "Lemonade is the official state drink." It was signed into law by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in 2019.
The idea came from Gilbert teenager Garrett Glover. Glover said lemonade seemed most fitting because of Arizona's five C's: copper, cattle, climate, cotton and citrus.
Social media users at the time suggested everything from horchata to margaritas as other contenders for Arizona's state drink, but lemonade won. AriZona Iced Tea was not a contender − turns out that drink originates in New York.
Arizona's "stupid motorist law" has received attention on lists of unusual driving laws for sounding silly, yet it actually makes sense.
State law penalizes drivers who ignore warning signs about flooded roadways, leaving the drivers financially responsible for a potential rescue if they deliberately drive around warning signs.
Frequently referred to as Arizona's stupid motorist law, ARS 28-910, the law mandates that the expense of rescuing a driver, along with towing a vehicle stranded by floodwaters, would be billed to the driver up to $2,000.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona has some strange laws still on the books. Here are 8 of them