Militia bill dead for this session
Sen. Jack Harper was sponsor of S1132, which Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed because she said it was “redundant.”

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed seven measures in just one day, including a proposal to establish a volunteer militia separate from the National Guard and a measure to prohibit the state from accepting consular ID cards as a valid form of identification.
Two of these bills have been viewed as tackling directly or indirectly the complex issue of illegal immigration. Their rejections came on the heels of her veto of another proposal to penalize people congregating on street corners looking for work.
Her actions on May 9 immediately drew criticism from the bills’ proponents. An outspoken anti-illegal immigration lawmaker essentially called her “soft” on the issue.
Napolitano calls militia bill ‘redundant’
Napolitano said the volunteer militia bill, S1132, sponsored by Sen. Jack Harper, R-4, is basically redundant.
Current state laws already give the governor the ability to call on a volunteer militia to supplement the efforts of the National Guard, she said in her veto message, citing the Arizona Constitution and the state’s revised statutes.
“Moreover, the governor already has the specific statutory right to call the unorganized militia into service of the state in times of emergency,” she said.
“Adding a further class of citizen militia to be established under the direction of a committee is inefficient and would only cause confusion with existing law,” she also said.
In response to the veto, Harper suggested that time will prove him right. “They were wrong then, and she is wrong now,” the senator said.
Harper pointed out that in 2003 he proposed to put the National Guard on the border. The governor then spoke out against it.
“I believe her adjutant general said it wasn’t the role of the National Guard to guard the nation’s borders,” he said.
Now the National Guard is helping guard Arizona’s border with Mexico, one of the most porous in the nation.
“So it just took a few years for them to realize that they were wrong,” Harper said.
Harper: Don’t wait for disaster
The senator said the governor should not wait for a natural disaster to call up a militia because by then, the state would have yet to identify who is willing to serve or have had time to train volunteers.
He pointed out that recently the state undertook a disaster drill. In that drill the Army National Guard did not participate — only the Air National Guard did. He said he believes it is because the Army National Guard is depleted.
Harper nonetheless said he would not try to revive the measure this session.
He surmised that his bill, which narrowly passed, splitting lawmakers mostly along partisan lines, would not get any support from Democrats and probably even fewer votes from Republicans, unless a disaster strikes proving his point and debunking arguments put forward by the governor.
Mexican IDs still OK
Napolitano also rejected S1236, which would have prohibited the state or its agencies from accepting as a valid form of identification consular ID cards issued by a foreign government.
Backers of the bill said these cards, specifically the Mexican ID cards known as consular matriculas, which contain no immigration information, are unverifiable and readily forged.
Supporters of the ID cards countered that they provide some sort of identification and to a certain extent point law enforcers in the right direction, as well as help protect immigrants by giving them access to limited government services. Critics question whether undocumented residents should have access to such services at all.
Napolitano said barring their acceptance would “hamstring” efforts by law enforcers to know the criminal histories of foreign nationals they encounter.
Her main argument is that the bill would limit the ability of law enforcement officers to confirm the identity of foreigners. She also said if foreign nationals are unable to use consular IDs, they will be more likely to obtain forged documents accepted by the state, such as Social Security cards, to get access to services.
Her veto drew harsh criticisms from Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18, known for his tough anti-illegal immigration legislation. He is the author of a proposal now moving in the Senate to sanction businesses that knowingly employ undocumented workers.
“Napolitano continues to defend illegal aliens. (She is) pandering to open border groups and the pro-illegal alien community. She refuses to protect Arizona or legal citizens,” Pearce said in an e-mail response to the Arizona Capitol Times.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Chuck Gray, R-19, but carried the language of one of Pearce’s bills.
“They are a tool for terrorists, fugitives, and illegal aliens to move around this country, board planes, get services, etc. Shame on her, again!” Pearce said.
“The issuance of these cards is tantamount to amnesty,” he later said in a press statement. “They break our laws when they cross the border, (and are) repeat offenders when they undercut Americans for jobs and three-strikers when they use false identification to obtain services or cash the checks.”
Gray said by vetoing the bill, Napolitano is sending the message that consular ID cards, which are unreliable, are OK to use. That is a mistake, he said.
“That’s the wrong message to send,” said the former police officer.