Key Points:

• Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoes 88 bills passed by GOP-controlled Legislature

• Hobbs rejects bills banning Sharia Law and restricting gender transition hormone therapy for minors

• Hobbs is still short of her 2025 veto record

Arizonans cited by speed cameras won’t see their fines capped $75.

Teens won’t be able to get a learner’s permit at 15.

There won’t be a new state ban targeting Sharia law.

And there won’t be new restrictions on gender transition hormone therapy for minors.

These are just four of the 88 bills approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature that Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed last Friday. That brings her veto tally up to 151, just short of the 174 vetoes she issued last year.

Whether she has time to break that record is unclear. While the Legislature adjourned a week ago, an aide to the governor said she still has over 40 measures on her desk awaiting action.

Her latest vetoes touch on everything from religious law and immigration to traffic enforcement and teen driving.

Religious laws, bank practices

Among the bills on the governor’s hit list Friday were two measures designed to preclude the use of any religious law in Arizona.

One sponsored by Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, would have specifically barred the use of Sharia Law in Arizona.

Hobbs, in her veto message, noted that the measure had a list of what she called “abhorrent practices” that it would prohibit. That includes honor killings, coerced marriages, female genital mutilation, polygamy, and domestic violence or spousal abuse “that is justified by cultural, religious or family authority.”

Hobbs said those practices are already outlawed under existing federal and state statutes. All this would do, she said, is result in the state defending an unconstitutional measure “that the state of Arizona will lose, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.”

Hobbs also rejected a broader measure that would have made it illegal for judges to rely on any religious sectarian law to influence their decisions.

Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, built in some exceptions, saying it doesn’t apply to any law “based on Anglo-American legal tradition and principles on which the United States was founded. And courts still could recognize “traditional marriage between a man and a woman” performed by a member of the clergy.

“This bill is a solution in search of a problem and therefore unnecessary,” the governor wrote.

Hobbs also rejected several other proposals from Rogers.

One would have made it illegal for banks, credit unions and even check-cashing services to do business with people who are in this country without legal immigration status. It also would have barred financial institutions from sending any money from those same people to other countries, something Rogers said was designed to reduce the number of people in this country without legal status.

Hobbs didn’t address any of that, saying in her veto message that it would impose “additional red tape” on Arizona financial institutions.”

The governor also vetoed a separate Rogers-sponsored measure which would have required the state and all agencies to provide the federal government with any information it wants about people in Arizona who are undocumented.

Photo radar, learner’s permits 

Sen. David Gowan’s now-vetoed proposal would have capped fines for speeders at $75, far short of the $200 penalty some cities imposed.

More significantly, it would have barred the Motor Vehicle Division from informing insurance companies of those speed violations. And the citations could not be used as “points” to determine when someone has a license suspended.

The final version of the bill limited the protections solely for those exceeding the posted speed limits on streets and highways. It would not aid motorists who were caught on camera running red lights, speeding in school zones, and who were guilty of criminal speeding, which means traveling more than 20 miles an hour over a posted limit. None of that convinced Hobbs to sign.

“This bill undermines cities’ ability to keep communities safe by making their own decisions about law enforcement policies,” the governor wrote in her rejection letter.

Hobbs also decided that 15 is too young to get a learner’s permit.

Current law requires teens to wait until they are 15 1/2. Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Surprise, said this would give youngsters extra time to practice, including additional required time on the road with parents. But foes still said teens that age lack the required discipline to be safe drivers.

Hobbs agreed, pointing out that the current driving age is already below the recommendation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which suggests waiting until 16.

Nuclear energy and vaccine mandates

Hobbs also said she does not want to override local control when it comes to placing small “modular” nuclear reactors in rural communities.

Supporters said that there is no reason to give county supervisors the power to deny zoning, as these would be going in near large industrial users, presumably data centers. They said it would provide needed economic development in the state’s rural counties.

“Given record power demand growth projections, Arizona must responsibly reduce barriers to developing new energy projects quickly,” Hobbs wrote.

But the governor said while the technology for such modular reactors is “promising,” it is still emerging. And Hobbs also took a swipe at lawmakers for creating special rules citing nuclear reactors but not other forms of energy.

Hobbs also rejected GOP-backed efforts to roll back public-health rules.Also rejected were two bills dealing with vaccinations.

One would have banned state and local governments from requiring vaccinations, masks or other face coverings.

Hobbs said Arizona already has “robust exemptions” to vaccination requirements. That includes allowing opting out of school requirements for medical, religious and even personal reasons.

But she said there’s another issue.

“It’s concerning diseases that were once eliminated are making a comeback in Arizona’s playgrounds and classrooms because of dangerous information,” the governor wrote.

The other bill Hobbs vetoed would have said that businesses cannot refuse to employ or provide services to those who aren’t vaccinated.

Gender transition limitations

Also meeting with the governor’s displeasure were three bills on gender transition.

A 2022 Arizona law, signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, already makes gender reassignment surgery on minors illegal.

One bill this year would have enabled minors to file civil suits against those who perform transitions for up to 25 after they reach adults.

Another would have extended that ban on surgery to any form of what proponents call gender-affirming care for minors, including hormone treatments.

And a third would have built on that and said healthcare providers who provide any such care to minors are responsible for the costs of any detransition treatments as well as legal fees and costs.

Hobbs wrapped all three into a single veto, saying that the law against gender reassignment surgery makes the bills “unnecessary.” 

Her veto message focused on the existing surgical ban and did not grapple with the bill’s attempt to extend restrictions to hormone therapy.

Hobbs also rejected a proposal by Rep. Rachel Keshel, D-Tucson, to direct the state Board of Education to develop “age appropriate” programs to teach school children about prenatal development. The governor said instructional requirements “should be left to experts, not politicians trying to force mandates on our teachers.”

Other vetoed bills include:

– Barring the state Game and Fish Department from using public monies to transport Mexican wolf pups into Arizona;

– Requiring paid petition circulators for ballot measures to disclose to would-be signers that they are not from Arizona;

– Expanding child neglect statutes to cover women who expose a fetus to prenatal drugs or if a newborn is found to have fetal alcohol syndrome;

– Mandating that ballots have some built-in fraud countermeasures like watermarks, holograms or paper that changes color under heat.