Latest news with #ArizonaSenateJudiciaryandElectionsCommittee
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Arizona Gov. Vetoes More Than 30 Bills Including Some Related to Immigration, Gender Identity
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs The vetoes, part of a sweeping one-day action, have drawn sharp criticism from Republican state lawmakers, who accused the governor, a Democrat, of undermining public safety, parental rights, and transparency. Among the bills vetoed was Senate Bill Hobbs said the bill would not increase 'opportunity, security, or freedom' for Arizonans. But Republican state Sen. John Kavanagh, the bill's sponsor, accused Hobbs of siding with 'woke ideology' over the rights of parents. 'Parents should determine what's best for their children, not school employees,' said Kavanagh. 'When children are experiencing psychological turmoil, their parents deserve to know. Despite the harm being inflicted, there are public schools that continue to push the use of gender pronouns to mask psychiatric issues from parents and force progressive political agendas on Arizona's vulnerable youth population.' He also criticized Hobbs for vetoing Senate Bill Related Stories 5/9/2025 4/25/2025 'A 13-year-old female should not be forced to stand next to a naked, transgender female, who is in reality an 18-year-old biological male,' Kavanagh said. Another vetoed measure, Senate Bill State Sen. Jake Hoffman, the bill's sponsor and chair of the Arizona Senate Government Committee, called the veto 'irrational.' 'There is no logical justification for Hobbs' veto on this reasonable bill that helps align local and federal government officials with their critical law enforcement duties, but she remains committed to her radical ideology of open borders and appeasement for cartels,' Hoffman said. 'Arizonans will ultimately bear the brunt of Katie Hobbs' leftist partisan antics.' Hobbs also vetoed Senate Bill State Sen. Wendy Rogers, chair of the Arizona Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee and the bill's sponsor, said the veto blocks necessary transparency. 'Our hardworking, law-abiding citizens have a right to know how much of their money is going towards paying for the medical services of those who've willfully chosen to break our laws by entering our country illegally,' said Rogers. 'The state's Medicaid program is intended to help vulnerable Americans, like seniors, the disabled community, and impoverished children, receive the medical care they need, when they need it.' Additional vetoes targeted legislation involving election procedures. Senate Bill The governor also vetoed Senate Bill In another veto message, Hobbs described Senate Bill Hobbs also vetoed Senate Bill State Senate Republicans criticized Hobbs for blocking what they described as legislation intended 'to expand civil liabilities for the mutilation of Arizona children,' according to the title of their May 12 statement defending the bill as a means of ensuring accountability regarding transgener treatments. With a Republican-controlled Legislature but insufficient numbers to override the vetoes—three-fourths is needed—the bills are unlikely to be revived this session. Hobbs has repeatedly said she will oppose legislation she views as ideologically driven or harmful to Arizonans, but critics say her broad use of the veto undermines the will of elected lawmakers.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Bill to make ‘Gilbert Goons' style attacks felonies moves forward in Arizona Senate
Photo via Getty Images In response to the brutal beating death of Preston Lord at the hands of a teen gang called the 'Gilbert Goons,' Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell wants to make group assaults on a single person felonies instead of misdemeanors. Seven people — three minors and four adults — have been charged with killing Lord, who was only 16, in a Oct. 28, 2023, attack at a Halloween party in Queen Creek. Melissa Ciconte, Lord's stepmother, told the Arizona Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee that perpetrators of group beatings like these should face harsher penalties. 'This calculated act was done without remorse,' Ciconte said during Wednesday's hearing. 'He was beaten, kicked, and stomped on — not just to inflict harm, but as entertainment for those who participated. One of them even danced on top of his body after he was deceased. They took his life without a second thought, showing a complete disregard for human decency. 'This is not just a tragedy. It is an outrage, and it cannot continue. Preston's memory has been a rallying cry, not just for justice, but for prevention.' An investigation by the Arizona Republic first publicly connected Lord's slaying with a series of beatings by a group of mostly affluent teenagers in the East Valley. Lord's parents have criticized the Gilbert Police Department for having knowledge of the brutal attacks and doing nothing to stop them before they escalated and became deadly. Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg claimed that many of the other attacks were not reported to police, and that investigators were not aware that the attacks were connected until after Lord was killed. During the year leading up to Lord's death, groups of teens who were part of the Goons would gang up on a single person and hit, kick and punch them while sometimes recording and bragging about the crimes on social media. Many of the attacks happened at the same locations, including the parking lots of fast food restaurants. Richard Kuehner, whose teen son was beaten in August 2023 at an In-n-Out in Gilbert, the location of several Goons attacks, told the committee that his son's attackers deserved to be charged with more than a misdemeanor for their actions. The attack left Kuehner's son with a concussion and so scared that he moved out of the country to live with his mother. He described the punishment his son's attackers received as a 'slap on the wrist,' adding that he doesn't believe it deters young people from taking part in violent crimes. 'The mental and emotional trauma my son endured has been far more profound (than physical injuries),' Kuehner said. 'Even after the attack, he continued to be threatened by the same kids and was too afraid to leave the house for fear of being ambushed again.' Kuehner said he reported the attack to his son's school and the Gilbert police, but there was scant response from either. Last year Kuehner filed a civil lawsuit against numerous young people and parents he claims are associated with the Gilbert Goons, as well as the Chandler Unified School District and Gilbert Police Department for not doing enough to stop the attacks. The proposal that Mitchell is backing, House Bill 2611, would make the assault of a single person by a group of three or more people — currently a misdemeanor — into a felony. The bill, sponsored by Phoenix Republican Matt Gress, would make more serious punishments available, and if the perpetrators are adults, possibly saddle them permanently with the label of felon. Vicki Lopez, a criminal attorney representing Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, asked that legislators amend Gress's bill to ensure that it doesn't unintentionally result in felony charges for children who engage in minor schoolyard altercations. Lopez explained that, because the definition of assault includes touching someone with the intent to 'insult, injure or provoke,' children as young as 12 who, for example, hold another child's arms while a third child pokes or slaps them could be charged with a felony under Gress's proposal. Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, agreed with Lopez that HB2611 might need amending to ensure it doesn't have unintended consequences, and suggested adding a caveat that the group assault must cause serious injury to be upgraded to a felony. Mitchell responded that assault causing serious physical injury is already considered a felony offense. But many of the Goons attacks leading up to Lord's death did not meet the legal definition of serious injury, she said, the reason the change was proposed. According to Arizona law, a serious physical injury 'causes reasonable risk of death, serious and permanent disfigurement, serious impairment of health or loss or protracted impairment of the function of an organ or limb.' 'What we're seeing in this trend is individuals who are engaging in using their fists, beating down a kid, and unless there is a broken bone or a serious physical injury, then it is treated as a misdemeanor,' Mitchell said. 'So, it is not really reflective of the seriousness of three individuals ganging up on one individual to commit an assault.' The committee voted 4-3, along party lines, to forward the bill to the full Senate for a vote. Democratic Sen. Analise Ortiz, of Phoenix, said that her 'heart goes out to the family and the whole community of Gilbert that was um impacted by this horrible and unnecessary death.' But Ortiz said she voted against the bill because she viewed it as overly broad. And that, she said, could lead to serious consequences for young people who make a 'dumb mistake on the schoolyard' that don't cause serious injury but land them in the juvenile detention system anyway. Ortiz added that this could forever change 'the trajectory of their lives, without any assurance that this would deter any types of assaults of this nature in the future.' In the House, Gress's bill received bipartisan support, passing by a vote of 37-21 on March 3. The majority of Republicans favored the proposal, along with 10 Democratic legislators. Five Republicans joined the rest of the Democrats in opposition. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
