Latest news with #AlexanderKolodin
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona Freedom Caucus member Kolodin running for secretary of state in 2026
Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, on Jan. 13, 2025. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin on Monday announced his plans to run for Arizona secretary of state in 2026. Kolodin, who was first elected to represent Scottsdale in 2022, is an election denier and a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus. He's also an attorney who was sanctioned by the State Bar of Arizona in 2023 for taking on lawsuits challenging the 2020 election, including the infamous 'kraken' lawsuit that made implausible and evidence-free claims of massive election fraud. 'I'm Alex Kolodin and I'm running for Secretary of State to restore transparency to our elections once and for all,' Kolodin wrote in a social media post on Monday. 'Arizona elections continue to be a laughing stock under (Democratic Secretary of State Adrian) Fontes. Voter confidence is at historic lows. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I'm running for Secretary of State to restore transparency, honesty, security, and lawfulness to our elections.' In a video announcing his bid for the state's top election official, Kolodin walks toward the camera with a slightly blurred Arizona Capitol building in the background. In the video, Kolodin claims that the head of the Arizona Republican Party, Gina Swoboda, asked him to run and endorsed him. But Swoboda issued a statement later on Monday saying that she hadn't endorsed Kolodin and wouldn't endorse any candidate in the Republican primary. She added that she would support Kolodin if he wins the primary, as she had previously said she would. In fact, Swoboda is strongly considering a run for the office herself, something she told multiple reporters on Monday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Since he took office, Kolodin has been an outspoken member of the House Elections Committee, where he's advocated for significant changes to the state's election laws, many of them based on conspiracy theories that have fundamentally reshaped how Republicans view elections in Arizona and across the country. During some of those meetings, Kolodin chided those who don't believe claims that elections are marred by widespread fraud or have outcomes that are rigged by elections officials. 'These days, I feel like I'm living in the Orwellian world,' Kolodin said during a House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee meeting in February 2024. ''We trust our election officials. They would never put their thumb on the scale. They would never try to cheat.' Well, we know that's demonstrably false, and it's demonstrably false in the way a 6th grader could know that it's demonstrably false.' His evidence was that Donald Trump was not on GOP primary election ballots in two states — Colorado and Maine — after his candidacy was challenged on the grounds that he was ineligible to serve under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because he incited an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. In Maine, the secretary of state determined Trump couldn't appear on the ballot. But in Colorado, the Democratic secretary of state allowed him on the ballot only to have the state Supreme Court rule that he was barred by the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled that decision, and Trump appeared on the ballot in all 50 states. Kolodin supported legislative changes that would have made it easier for people like Kari Lake to challenge the results of an election, to get rid of no-excuse early voting and to return the state to all-precinct voting with precincts capped at 1,000 voters, an idea that experts at the county level said would be unworkable. For years, representatives of Arizona's rural counties begged Kolodin and the other Republicans on the Elections Committee to consider how difficult and costly it would be to implement some of the election changes that they supported. But Kolodin said during a January meeting that he only really believed the complaints from the rural counties after former Freedom Caucus member Justin Heap took office as Maricopa County Recorder and relayed the same concerns to him. 'To be honest, we've never really had somebody that we trusted on the other side to tell us these things in a way that we would believe them,' Kolodin said during a Jan. 15 House Ad Hoc Committee on Election Integrity and Florida-style Voting Systems meeting. Kolodin was the chairman of that panel, and he drafted legislation aimed at speeding up the state's election results, based on systems already being used in Florida. The proposal passed through the House and the Senate, both under Republican control, but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. A similar resolution, which would bypass Hobbs to be sent straight to voters in 2026, passed through the House on a party line vote and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Kolodin was the driving force behind an election timeline fix bill that passed with bipartisan support in February 2024, which will allow voters who drop off their ballot in person on Election Day to show identification and have their ballot tabulated immediately, instead of dropping it off for signature verification. The change, meant to speed up the reporting of election results, will take effect in 2026. This year, Kolodin sponsored legislation that would repeal the law banning Arizonans from owning machine guns, silencers, sawed-off shotguns and even pipe bombs. He was reelected in November. It is unclear if he will resign his legislative post to mount his statewide campaign. Fontes, who has passed on opportunities to run for governor and Congress, has not announced whether he's planning a reelection bid. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Republican plan to exempt developers from water restrictions fails in Arizona House
Photo via Getty Images A Republicans plan to give a break to housing developers who they say were treated unfairly by updated groundwater supply modeling is dead in the lack of water. The plan to exempt specific proposed housing developments in areas of Queen Creek and Buckeye from a moratorium on building failed to pass through the Arizona House of Representatives for the second time by a vote of 29-26 on Wednesday. One Republican, Rep. Alexander Kolodin, of Scottsdale, voted against the bill, alongside House Democrats. The second rejection means the bill cannot be revived. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Supporters of House Bill 2299, sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin, the chairwoman of the House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, claimed that it was the right thing to do for developers who were blindsided by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs' moratorium on new housing construction in some parts of the Valley. Implemented in June 2023, the moratorium caused an uproar among developers with projects already in the works in those areas, and Republicans have been looking for a way to restart building since then. The moratorium was implemented on parts of the Phoenix Active Management Area that rely solely on groundwater after updated modeling from the Arizona Department of Water Resources determined that it was running 4% short of its 100-year assured water supply requirement. Arizona has several AMAs, created via the 1980 Groundwater Management Act, and the Phoenix AMA covers most of the metro area. Developers looking to subdivide land to build houses within an AMA must obtain a certificate of 100-year assured water supply, or a commitment from a water provider that already has a certificate of assured water supply, to provide water to their subdivision before they can build. Griffin's bill would have allowed developers within the Phoenix AMA who submitted an application for a certificate of assured water supply between early 2021 and May 31, 2023, to request reevaluation of their application by the Department of Water Resources. ADWR would be required to reevaluate within 15 days, and base its determinations on groundwater modeling that dates back to 2006-2009, not current models. Barry Aarons, a lobbyist for the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, told members of the House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee on Feb. 14 that relying on those outdated models that don't reflect current conditions could result in excessive groundwater pumping. Aarons said he believes that it's 'an incontrovertible fact' that the updated 2024 groundwater model provides a more accurate basis for planning and development. Republican Rep. Khyl Powell pointed out on the House floor Wednesday that Griffin's bill would have helped to address the state's housing supply shortage that has contributed to rising housing costs over the past several years. 'We're constantly hearing that we don't have enough housing,' he said. But Kolodin, a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, said that now is not the time to make cities in the Valley compete with new housing developments for water — especially with a 2026 deadline coming up for renegotiation of Colorado River water usage. Arizona, which gets around 35% of its water from the Colorado River, shares the water source with several other states and Mexico and could lose a significant amount of that water in renegotiation. Most cities in the Phoenix metro area primarily use Colorado River water. Home developments and the municipal water providers who serve them are required to replenish the groundwater they pump from the aquifer. Rep. Neal Carter, R-San Tan Valley, said that those replenishment requirements mean concerns about water availability are invalid. But Kolodin pointed out that the water used for replenishment within the Phoenix AMA comes almost exclusively from the Colorado River, which is likely to face steep cuts in the near future. Most of the communities within the Phoenix AMA, which rely on Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District to replenish their water, officially opposed Griffin's bill. They include: Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, Avondale, Glendale, Chandler, Goodyear, Surprise and Gilbert. If Arizona's allotment of Colorado River water is significantly cut, and can no longer be used to replenish the aquifer, the state would have to find other replenishment resources or draw down the aquifer, which would put the region's water supply at risk. Kolodin said that he thinks Arizona's groundwater regulations have 'artificially constricted' the system and should be overhauled to create a free market for water. On Feb. 26, the first time House Bill 2299 failed to pass, Kolodin said it was time to work on comprehensive changes to groundwater law instead of creating carve-outs for specific groups. 'If there's to be reform, let's legislate a completely new model,' he said. 'Let's actually solve some of the structural problems. Let's not just hand a few businesses, a few people, a few landowners the right to build that is not given to anybody else.' While he didn't advocate for a completely new model, Aarons on Feb. 14 also advised lawmakers that it was time to have a serious discussion about treating all water users the same when it comes to assured water supply and replenishment requirements. Currently, the requirements don't apply to commercial or industrial developments, unless they are served by a water provider that has an assured water supply designation. Republican leaders in the Arizona Legislature, along with the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, have filed a lawsuit challenging some of ADWR's assured water supply rules that they say were implemented without proper authority or using proper rulemaking procedures. The lawsuit, filed March 10 in Maricopa County Superior Court, challenges the department's new Alternative Path to Designation of Assured Water Supply. The alternative path would allow new building within the areas of moratorium, but only if housing developers procure renewable sources of water to offset 25% of their groundwater use. House Speaker Steve Montenegro, along with other Republicans, have described the rule as a 33% tax on water, while ADWR has said it isn't a tax. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona House approves ban on birth certificate gender changes for trans residents
Photo via Getty Images/Illustration by Jim Small | Arizona Mirror Republican lawmakers in the Arizona House of Representatives have passed another anti-transgender bill that would bar trans people born in Arizona from amending their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity. Rep. Rachel Keshel, the Tucson Republican and member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus who sponsored the bill, claimed that its purpose was only to bring the state's birth certificate law in line with the U.S. Constitution and to protect 'the integrity and accuracy of vital records.' But multiple Democratic lawmakers pointed out that her claims were untrue. 'I'm really frustrated with this, because this is blatantly anti-trans, and there's no question about it,' Rep. Brian Garcia, D-Tempe, said on Feb. 6 when the House Judiciary Committee considered the bill. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Garcia echoed the comments of Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, who said during her seven years as a lawmaker she'd seen bill after bill from her Republican colleagues targeting the trans community. She accused the Republicans who backed the anti-trans proposals of espousing the right to individual freedom — but only when it's convenient for them and when it aligns with their personal beliefs. When it comes to transgender people, they go out of their way to deny them individual rights. House Bill 2438 passed the House on Feb. 19 by a vote of 33-26 — only Republicans supported it — and now heads to the Arizona Senate for consideration. The bill is likely to pass through the Republican-controlled Senate but will almost certainly be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has promised to block all anti-transgender proposals that make it to her desk. Another anti-trans proposal, House Bill 2062, which would enshrine a narrow definition of biological sex into state law based on a person's physical reproductive characteristics, passed through the House last week. Keshel's bill would remove from Arizona law the option for transgender people to amend the gender markers on their birth certificates to align with their gender identity, and instead only allow for changes if the original information on the certificate was 'factually inaccurate at the time of recordation.' I don't have a constitutional right to have a different birthday on my birth certificate... (because) maybe I don't like my horoscope. – Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale On Feb. 5, several Republicans who backed the bill claimed that those changes were aimed at bringing Arizona law in line with the U.S. Constitution. Keshel and Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, both said the bill was in response to a federal judge last year striking down Arizona's requirement for transgender people to undergo gender transition surgery before changing the gender markers on their birth certificates. In August, U.S. District Court Judge James Soto ruled that the law violated the Constitution's equal protection clause. He also said that requiring transgender minors who have not undergone gender reassignment surgery to use birth certificates that don't align with their expressed gender identity would involuntarily 'out' them as transgender every time they have to present a birth certificate, disregarding their right to privacy. Kolodin claimed HB2438 would make Arizona's laws constitutional, based on a ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals last summer that upheld a Tennessee law that treats the sex listed on a birth certificate as an unchangeable historical fact. Kolodin and Keshel disregarded portions of Soto's ruling on the Arizona law, specifically when he wrote that it violated the equal protection clause because those who aren't transgender 'are not presented with the unlawful choice of being stripped of their bodily autonomy or face discrimination, harassment, and potential violence.' I exist. We exist. I did not choose to be transgender — nobody does. The unnecessary, unceasing effort by the Arizona state legislators to deny and eradicate our existence is genocide at its worst and bigotry at its best. – Paul Bixlar, the first openly transgender woman to be elected to an Arizona school board A transgender woman who spoke to the Judiciary Committee as it debated the bill on Feb. 5 told lawmakers that Soto in no way implied in his ruling that banning all transgender people from changing their gender markers would bring Arizona's law in line with the Constitution. 'There is no reading of the decision that would imply that the court would tolerate a total denial of the ability of transgender people to amend the sex on their birth certificate,' Erica Keppler told the lawmakers. Keppler added that having a birth certificate that doesn't match their legal name or outward identity could impact a person's ability to prove their citizenship and to vote. 'I am a transgender woman,' Paul Bixlar, the first openly transgender woman to be elected to an Arizona school board, told the committee Feb. 5. 'I exist. We exist. I did not choose to be transgender — nobody does. The unnecessary, unceasing effort by the Arizona state legislators to deny and eradicate our existence is genocide at its worst and bigotry at its best.' Bixlar served on the Liberty Elementary School Governing Board for four years before resigning just before the end of her term in December. Chairman of the Committee Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, who escaped Vietnam just days before the fall of Saigon, told Bixlar that she should take more consideration before using the term genocide. During the same meeting, Keshel said that HB2438 aligned with the first executive order of President Donald Trump's second administration, issued Jan. 20, which sought to erase transgender and nonbinary identities in the eyes of the federal government. Several lawsuits have been filed challenging the executive order, including the portion that ordered the federal government to stop issuing passports with amended gender markers. During discussions about Keshel's bill in committee on Feb. 5 and on the House floor on Feb. 19, Kolodin mocked transgender Arizonans' desire to have a birth certificate that reflects their gender identity. 'I don't have a constitutional right to have a different birthday on my birth certificate,' Kolodin said during committee on Feb. 5, because 'maybe I don't like my horoscope.' Instead, he said, lawmakers should choose to view gender as an immutable physical quality equal to sex, which he described as the 'sane Republican way.' Scientists who study human biology and medicine use the term sex when referring to biology and gender when referring to 'self-representation influenced by social, cultural, and personal experience,' according to Yale School of Medicine. In speaking against the bill during a debate on Feb. 17 and during voting on Feb. 19, Rep. Patty Contreras, a Phoenix Democrat and co-chair of the Legislature's LGBTQ caucus, pointed out that the bill did nothing to tackle the most pressing issues facing Arizonans like the lack of affordable housing or the future of the state's water supply. Only 30 people officially registered in support of the bill, while 336 signed in against it. 'This bill would erase transgender men and women,' Contreras said before voting against the bill on Feb. 19. 'This bill would make it difficult for transgender men and women to live and work in their communities as the true human beings that they are. They are here, still human and deserving of love and rights. Having documents such as birth certificates that do not accurately reflect the person's gender identity will impact their daily life.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
USA Today
14-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Lawmakers teeing up bill that would allow BYOB on this state's golf courses
Lawmakers teeing up bill that would allow BYOB on this state's golf courses A state lawmaker believes golfers in Arizona are playing with a handicap and he's got the solution: Let them bring their own booze onto the course. A BYOB policy for the numerous golf greens in Arizona would help cost-conscious golfers save money. It would also erase the stigma of lawmakers being branded as the party poopers who prevent such liberties, Scottsdale Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin explained as he presented House Bill 2411 to the House Commerce Committee. The bill is not a mandate for a BYOB policy, course operators would have to allow it. The legislation would apply to golf courses of more than 1,000 yards that are licensed to sell liquor. The bill was inspired by a visit to the Cowboy Golf Classic in Prescott, where Kolodin and three fellow lawmakers saw a sign that specifically banned carry-on cocktails and cited the state law that makes it so. He saw a similar admonition at the Orange Tree Golf Course in Scottsdale and spotted a statewide issue that he said needed solving. "It does annoy me, as a member of the Legislature," Kolodin said. People are out on the course to relax and have a good time and it's not a good look to have lawmakers blamed for dampening their spirits, he said. He said the measure would help golfers save some money because, as one course operator noted, "everything is cheaper at the gas station." It prompted him to dub the bill "the Inflation Reduction Act of 2025." Lawmakers drank up the bill, but not without some stipulations. Rep. Laurin Hendrix, R-Gilbert, said he's not a drinker and did not want his vote for the bill to be seen as a change in his behavior. Likewise, Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, cast a "yes" vote as he noted: 'I want to make it clear, I do not drink!' The bill passed on an 8-2 vote. Tempe Democrat Janeen Connolly voted no, citing safety concerns. 'Golfers drink a lot," she said. "And then they leave the golf course in their automobiles.' Rep. Betty Villegas, D-Tucson, also voted no but did not explain her reason why. Reach the reporter at or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on social media @maryjpitzl. Support local journalism. Subscribe to today.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A $50 million allocation to enforce the ‘Secure Border Act' could spark a constitutional showdown
Photo via Getty Images A Republican bill that would appropriate $50 million from the state general fund to the Arizona Department of Public Safety to enforce 'border related crimes' and implement a measure voters approved last year cleared its first hurdle Monday afternoon. But if it ultimately becomes law, it could trigger a constitutional challenge to the law that voters overwhelmingly backed in the November election. That law, Proposition 314, makes illegally crossing the border a state crime, enabling local police to detain and arrest migrants. But the GOP lawmakers who crafted the measure and sent it to the ballot didn't allocate any funding to enforce its provisions, even after sheriffs and other law enforcement leaders told them they needed money if they were going to be asked to enforce it. Now that Prop. 314 won at the ballot box, Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, is pushing House Bill 2606 to provide funding to actually enforce its provisions. 'I think if we are going to ask law enforcement to perform additional duties, we need to have that money,' Nguyen told the House Committee on Public Safety and Law Enforcement when it considered his bill. But doing so could be grounds for a lawsuit that aims to take down the entire law. The Arizona Constitution requires any ballot measure that increases state spending to provide money to pay for it — and says that money cannot come out of the state's general operating account. Nguyen's proposal would appropriate the $50 million from the state's general fund. No lawmakers in Monday's committee spoke about the possible constitutional issues the funding could trigger, but there were repeated references to the bill's goal of implementing Prop. 314 enforcement. Scottsdale Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin asked Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse at one point if he was ready to 'carry out the will of the voters.' At another point in the hearing, Nguyen said that voters overwhelmingly approved of Prop. 314 and it needed to be enforced. And Republicans rebuked concerns from Democratic lawmakers and reiterated that Prop. 314 was approved by voters. 'This proposition went to the ballot, went to the voters who passed this. Sixty-six percent of voters passed this,' Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman, said, adding that 'mixed-status families' are breaking the law and 'can be arrested.' Critics focused on the impact the money would have on immigrant families. Lan Hoang, operations director for the Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity Coalition, said her group was concerned about spending state money to separate mixed immigration status families. Nguyen interrupted her during a tense exchange, and shot back that family separations happen 'every day.' 'We separate families all the time. If my son committed a crime, he would be separated from me,' Nguyen said . Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, shared Hoang's concerns, saying the bill is written in a 'very broad' way and that family separations have already seen an increase. 'It is a very complicated situation,' Austin said. 'We have many people living in fear.' President Donald Trump in the past has said he would be willing to deport mixed immigration status families. The bill passed out of committee with one Democrat, freshmen lawmaker Kevin Volk, who won in a competitive southern Arizona district, voting yes on the measure. The bill must still pass the House Appropriations Committee before it can be considered by the full House of Representatives. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
