Latest news with #Kolodin
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
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP's 1,000-voter precinct plan would cost Arizona counties $53 million
Photo via Getty Images A Republican proposal to force voters to cast their ballots at neighborhood voting sites would cost Arizona counties more than $50 million the first year and more than $20 million every election year. And the plan to limit those voting precincts to just 1,000 voters means counties would have to find nearly 4,000 new voting locations. Jen Marson, executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties, has repeatedly told lawmakers that the proposal would put a financial burden on the counties and would be logistically impossible to implement. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Earlier this year, Rep. Alexander Kolodin, a Scottsdale Republican, told the Arizona Mirror that he didn't necessarily believe it when county representatives told him and other members of the House Elections Committee that some of their election reform plans would be too costly and difficult to carry out. Kolodin and other supporters of 1,000-voter precincts have claimed that it would cut down on long lines and sidestep printer problems that occurred during the 2022 election in Maricopa County. Kolodin also said that it would make voting more convenient for voters in his Scottsdale-based district, because precincts would be located close to home, within their neighborhoods. But legislative budget analysts have confirmed the accuracy of the numbers that spurred the Arizona Association of Counties to oppose House Concurrent Resolution 2002. 'I'm not worried when people say that they don't trust our numbers because I know that they're right,' Marson told the Arizona Mirror. 'I just don't have time to worry about people who choose not to believe the facts.' The Joint Legislative Budget Committee wrote in an April 11 fiscal note that information submitted by the Arizona Association of Counties showed that HCR2002 would cost the counties a total of around $53 million in its first election year and more than $21 million each election year after that. 'It's not a surprise to us at all,' Marson said of the fiscal impact outlined by the JLBC. 'We've been saying for years that a move in this direction is incredibly costly in terms of manpower and dollars.' The initial cost would include about $31.5 million for new equipment at each of the 3,957 additional voting locations the counties would be forced to open, an estimate that JLBC said 'appeared generally reasonable.' The estimate accounts for around $8,000 to purchase electronic poll books, which cost around $1,400 each, and devices for voters with disabilities to use, which cost about $3,700 apiece. If the resolution became law, each primary and general election after that would cost the counties around $10.8 million to rent out voting locations and pay seven workers to staff each site. Because there is a primary and general election, that means there would be an additional $21.6 million cost to the counties every election year. The budget analysts wrote that counties could potentially see some offsetting savings from the legislation's elimination of early voting locations and emergency voting centers, but those would likely be miniscule in comparison to the increases. 'I think it's a huge impact cost-wise, regardless of county,' Marson said. The resolution would ask voters to enact the precinct-only voting scheme in 2026, and is a mirror of House Bill 2017, which would directly make the change in state law. Both were introduced by Rep. Rachel Keshel, a Tucson Republican and member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus. Both have already been approved along party lines in the House of Representatives and could be brought for a vote in the Senate at any time. But HB2017 would almost certainly meet its end with a veto from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. HCR2002 is a workaround that would bypass Hobbs' desk to be sent to the ballot. Both of Keshel's proposals would ban the use of voting centers and require all in-person voters to cast their ballots at precincts capped at 1,000 registered voters apiece. Most counties use voting centers, which allow any registered voter to show up and cast a ballot at any polling site in the county. Under the precinct model, only voters assigned to a precinct can vote there, and if they vote at the wrong location, their ballot won't be counted. If they became law, the proposals would force a significant shift for the counties, since eight of them — including Maricopa and Pima, where 75% of voters live — use only vote centers. Four more use a hybrid system with both vote centers and precincts. Only three counties use precincts exclusively. Keshel's proposal would require Maricopa County alone to open more than 2,400 new voting locations and to hire more than 17,000 additional poll workers. In the 2024 general election, Maricopa County operated 246 Election Day vote centers and hired more than 4,000 workers. In 2016, the last time Maricopa County used only precinct-based polling places, it had 671 polling sites. 'We are confident we would not be able to find enough locations or people,' Marson said. 'We struggle to staff 245 vote centers, so a tenfold staffing increase seems undoable.' Both proposals are repeats that Keshel introduced last year but that failed in the Senate, where former Secretary of State Ken Bennett was the only Republican who voted against it. Keshel said during a Jan. 22 House Federalism, Military Affairs and Elections Committee meeting that she was hopeful her proposals would make it through the chamber this year, since Bennett was not reelected. Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a Republican and former state representative who supported last year's version of the 1,000-voter precinct cap, acknowledged during a January committee hearing that it would be a challenge to implement. Heap, who was a former member of the Freedom Caucus, said that a 1,500-voter cap might be more realistic in Maricopa County. Senate President Warren Petersen did not respond to questions about whether legislators in the chamber were supportive of bringing HCR2002 to the floor for a vote, following the confirmation of the increased cost to the counties from JLBC. Legislative Republicans and Democrats, along with the governor, are in a political battle over funding for the state's Division of Developmental Disabilities, which will run out April 30. The DDD needs $122 million in supplemental funding to get it through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, but both parties have been fighting since January about how to accomplish that. Some Republicans have said they are dedicated to cutting programs that parents of children with disabilities say are vital, while the nearly 60,000 people with disabilities and their families who rely on DDD face the potential loss of services in May. All of the House Republicans who are advocating for cuts to the DDD program that accounted for a large chunk of the funding gap voted in favor of Keshel's proposal before JLBC published its fiscal note. Neither of Keshel's proposals include funding for the added costs to the counties. Keshel didn't respond to a request for comment on the fiscal note. 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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
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alexander Kolodin seeks secretary of state post under Freedom Caucus banner
Republican Alexander Kolodin is running for Arizona secretary of state, promising to improve voter confidence in elections by being transparent and secure. In a March 31 announcement, Kolodin criticized Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and the current secretary of state, for being a hyper partisan. At his state Capitol announcement, he drew laughs from supporters when he mocked Fontes' stance that President Donald Trump is trying to cancel elections. "President Donald Trump is not going to cancel the 2026 election," Kolodin said. Kolodin is running under the banner of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, which is supporting Congressman Andy Biggs for governor in 2026. The caucus represents the farther right reaches of the state COP. Kolodin refused to comment on the legality of Trump's election executive order, issued March 26. Critics say it's unconstitutional, as the states, not the executive, are in charge of elections and have vowed to sue. But he praised the order's stipulation that people must provide documents proving U.S. citizenship in order to vote, a provision that's been in Arizona law for years. He also rebuffed numerous questions from reporters, dismissing some of the queries as partisan. Kolodin touted his success last year with legislation that required ballots be walked into the polls in the 2024 elections to be hand counted as a check on the automatic tabulation machines. It delayed the reporting of election returns, but Kolodin said it was done to boost confidence in voters who are wary of machine counts. He also said he helped craft strategy to challenge the Elections Procedures Manual, a guidebook produced by the secretary of state and the 15 county recorders that outlines the fine-grain details of how elections are run. It worked; a court earlier this year found issues with the manual. Fontes has said he is appealing the ruling. Kolodin is a second term lawmaker, representing Legislative District 3 in the northeast Valley. He's the vice-chairman of the Regulatory Oversight Committee in the Arizona House of Representatives and the sponsor of a wide range of bills, from a proposal to institute the firing squad as Arizona's method of capital punishment to numerous election-related bills. One of those proposals is to give the Legislature the final say on the Elections Procedures Manual. An attorney, he has represented clients in numerous election-related lawsuits. Most notably, he represented the state Republican Party in a lawsuit in the aftermath of the 2020 election that argued Arizona's early voting system was unconstitutional. He lost that case, and the state Supreme Court declined to take up the issue. Fontes has not announced his intentions for the 2026 election cycle. He has flirted with running for other offices, most recently for the Congressional District 7 seat in southwestern Arizona. But on March 26, he announced he would not run for that seat, citing the need to defend against what he sees as President Donald Trump's effort to cancel future elections. It was a reaction to the president's executive order that would change election procedures, a move that many view as outside his power because the U.S. Constitution gives the states the power to run elections. At the time, Fontes would not comment on whether he would seek a second term as secretary. Kolodin's announcement comes a year after then-state lawmaker Justin Heap announced his bid for Maricopa County recorder. A member of the Freedom Caucus, Heap defeated incumbent Steven Richer in the GOP primary and went on to win the seat. Thus far, Kolodin is the only Republican running for the secretary post. State Republican Party chair Gina Swoboda has been mentioned as a possible candidate but she has not committed to the race. Reach the reporter at or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on social media @maryjpitzl. . Subscribe to today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alexander Kolodin seeks secretary of state post under Freedom Caucus banner
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill giving Arizona police drone-shooting immunity moves forward
Photo by Abadonian | iStock/Getty Images Plus A proposal that would give local law enforcement immunity when shooting down drones near the southern border passed out of committee Thursday despite concerns that it gives broad immunity to law enforcement. House Bill 2733 by Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, would give local law enforcement immunity from liability for damage to personal property if they are shooting down a drone they believe is engaged in criminal activity. The bill comes amid an increase in drug cartel drones flying over the states' southern border, GOP lawmakers and the Democratic attorney general say that local police should be able to shoot them out of the sky without fear they'll be sued. But even if state law is expanded to allow cops to shoot down drones, federal law still bans shooting at any aircraft — including drones. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Airspace around the borders of the United States is heavily controlled and monitored by the U.S. military and the Federal Aviation Administration. NORAD has previously reported that drone incursions at the southern border have seen a marked increase as inexpensive consumer drones have proliferated. Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, voiced concerns that giving law enforcement immunity and not creating a carve out for larger cities such as Nogales that are on the state's southern border gave him concern. 'As I read that, all I need is reasonable suspicion…which is fairly easy to establish and I could go skeet shooting,' Kolodin said during a House Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee hearing on the bill. In one scenario proposed by Kolodin, a law enforcement officer could shoot down a drone over someone's residence in Nogales, the drone could cause damage to that person's house or other property and law enforcement would be shielded from any liability. 'It is an absolute immunity, as long as the conditions are satisfied,' Kolodin said. 'It just seems like an oversight to me.' But Marshall disagreed with Kolodin, saying that the drones law enforcement are looking to take down are closer to the border and not in populated areas. He additionally dismissed concerns that the shooting down of a drone could lead to collateral damage. 'If you're out there at the border at ten o'clock or midnight, If a bb hits you in the head, put a bandaid on it,' Marshall said, suggesting that law enforcement would only use electronic anti-drone devices or 'bird shot' in shotguns to take down the drones. 'If you're out in the desert and you're flying these drones, you're probably up to no good.' The bill initially allowed law enforcement to shoot down drones within 30 miles of the border, but an amendment by Rep. Kevin Volk, D-Tucson, changed that to 15 miles at the behest of the Attorney General's Office. 'We are literally the transportation superhighway for fentanyl that comes into the country,' Nick Debus, a lobbyist for Attorney General Kris Mayes, told the committee. Debus, Marshall and Cochise County Sheriff Robert Watkins, whose county is along the border, all said the bill was necessary to combat the ongoing fentanyl crisis, as drug smugglers have been utilizing a variety of drones to bring fentanyl across the border. Watkins conceded that the drones his deputies have found have not been carrying drugs. And he also dismissed concerns about officers firing weapons into the air. 'If a cop is dumb enough to pull out his 9mm handgun and start capping rounds at a drone…we have a bigger issue,' Watkins said, adding that law enforcement use of force policies would aid in preventing law enforcement from shooting drones out of the sky with rifles or pistols. Kolodin disagreed, saying that as long as law enforcement acted within the confines of the law having reasonable suspicion, then they'd have complete immunity. The ACLU of Arizona agreed with Kolodin, noting that journalists and private citizens often fly drones along the border, and that giving law enforcement the power to shoot them down could limit the ability of watchdog groups or journalists from seeing how the Trump administration is conducting border operations. 'You can certainly shoot drones down over Nogales in this bill,' Marilyn Rodriguez, a lobbyist representing the ACLU said to the committee. 'How can law enforcement even assess a violation of organized crime?' Drones have long been a growing concern for both local and federal law enforcement at the border. Customs and Border Protection uses specialized 'drone jammers' to disable unmanned aircraft that are flying illegally. And they have also been spotted at critical facilities, including an incursion involving a 'drone swarm' at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power plant in 2019. Drones have proliferated in the past few years with multiple uses from law enforcement, fire fighting and even land surveying. It is unclear how the measure would account for drones operating legally within the border region. The bill passed out of committee with bipartisan support, though Kolodin and two Democrats — Reps. Lorena Austin and Quantá Crews — voted present. The bill will head to the full House of Representatives for consideration next. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
