Key Points:

• Governor Hobbs vetoed antisemitism bill citing teacher liability concerns

• Critics said bill suppressed free speech, hindered Israel criticism

• Hobbs supports Holocaust education, promotes empathy over punitive measures

Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have prohibited teaching and promoting antisemitism in Arizona public schools, but also would have allowed lawsuits against individual teachers suspected of doing so.

House Bill 2867, sponsored by Republican Rep. Michael Way, was sent to the governor’s desk last week with some House Democrats voting in favor of it. But other Democrats, teachers’ groups and First Amendment advocates raised a variety of objections to the bill, arguing it could make teachers quit, suppress free speech and prevent any criticism of Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Unfortunately this bill is not about antisemitism; it’s about attacking our teachers,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter. “It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college, and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits.”

Hobbs also included a letter from the Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center dated June 6 that urged her to veto the bill. The center’s executive director, Lori Shepherd, said the bill is “not the answer” to combating antisemitism in Arizona schools.

“While I support the need to fight hate and antisemitism, the bill’s vague language and punitive approach send a dangerous message to teachers: avoid controversy, or face a courtroom,” Shepherd wrote.

In her letter, Hobbs pointed to other areas where she has worked to combat antisemitism, like signing a bill in 2023 that expanded Holocaust education requirements in public schools and signing a budget that included funding for a Holocaust education center in Phoenix. Earlier this session, Hobbs also signed House Bill 2880, which prohibits encampments on college campuses after they were used during pro-Palestine protests on Arizona campuses last spring. 

Hobbs attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center last week and pledged her support for Jewish Arizonans.

“Arizona will always be an ally and partner to the Jewish community,” Hobbs said while speaking to a crowd at the site on June 5.

She also referenced that visit in her veto letter, saying it informed her decision not to sign the legislation.

“It was a powerful reminder that the most effective way to combat antisemitism is through education, empathy, and community,” Hobbs wrote.