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Supporters maintain pressure for prison oversight appropriation

Key Points: 
  • Lawmakers push funding for prison oversight office passed into law last year
  • Advocates cite receivership, violence, worsening conditions in state prisons 
  • Budget negotiations could bring funding, but advocates brace to look elsewhere 

Lawmakers and advocates are waiting to see whether the allegedly incoming bipartisan budget will include $1.5 million to actualize an oversight office to monitor state prisons. 

So far, the line item has been absent from every budget proposal from Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Legislature. 

And though the original legislation did include a provision allowing the office to rely on alternative funding sources, proponents hope the state prioritizes prison oversight, citing an ongoing line of complaints from staff, inmates and their families. 

“When you are basically a ward of the state, you should be making sure that things are moving pretty fluidly inside the prison walls and not having fights breaking out, people getting murdered,” Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, said. “The issue is not going away.” 

Senate Bill 1507, sponsored by Bolick last session, created the Independent Correctional Oversight Office. 

It passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by the governor in July but lacked any funding from the state budget to get started. 

Under the legislation, the office would be led by a director, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. 

The office is tasked with keeping a close eye on the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, with obligations to monitor conditions of confinement, ensure compliance with state and federal regulations, provide information to inmates, family members or department employees and man a hotline and a complaint system. 

Each year the office would also have to transmit a report detailing data on complaints received and resolved, inmate deaths, suicides, assaults, drug overdoses, lockdowns, housing assignments, and information on inmate classification policies, staffing statistics and transition and reentry programs. 

Staff would also have near-unfettered access to department records and facilities, though all communications with the department are deemed confidential. 

Though the office was left unfunded last year, Bolick said she added in a provision in the final language allowing for the corrections oversight fund to consist of legislative funds, federal funding, private grants, gifts and contributions, fearing funding from the state would fall through. 

“We got the bills through, and it got signed,” Bolick said. “But it’s on paper only. It doesn’t actually do anything.”

This session, allocating money for the office emerged as an early priority for Bolick and Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, who both introduced appropriation bills to funnel $1.5 million to fund the office. 

Blackman and Bolick’s bills passed their respective chambers unanimously, but the appropriation has made little legitimate headway in proposed budgets so far. 

Hobbs omitted the $1.5 million from her executive budget proposal unveiled at the start of the session, but at a Joint Appropriations Committee meeting in January, budget director Ben Henderson said the governor was open to a conversation “about how to make sure there’s funding for that office.”

The Legislature’s budget, vetoed by Hobbs in early May, skipped funding the office too. 

Estrella Lopez, senior state policy manager for Justice Action Network, a criminal justice group that lobbied for the oversight office’s passage, acknowledged the fiscal landscape has become more difficult this year given the limited state coffers. 

She compared the corrections budget and ongoing costs accrued from lawsuits to the $1.5 million funding request.

“You can find $1.5 million when you’re talking about a $1.6 billion budget,” Lopez said. “I don’t want to say it’s change in the couch cushions. But if you look at the scale of it, kind of.” 

If the office is not funded in the state budget this year, advocates remain hopeful in sourcing funds from elsewhere. 

Bolick said she had spoken to a few groups and sensed some appetite for nonprofits to pool resources. Lopez added, however, that stakeholders have not been actively pursuing funds thus far. 

“The fact that it hasn’t been in any of the versions so far, I’m not taking that as an indication that all parties won’t come together and fund this important issue,” Lopez said. “We do still have a hope and expectation that the state will find it in this budget, that would be the best place for it.”

At bottom, though, lawmakers and advocates stress the continued need for independent oversight. 

Bolick said she continues to get emails and letters detailing issues inside the state prison system. Lopez pointed to a federal judge’s decision to order the department’s health care system under receivership. 

John Fabricius, executive director of Praxis Initiative, longtime advocate for oversight and former inmate, pointed to the problems entrenched in the department. 

“It is not a rehabilitative engine. It is a mess, and it is a morass that you have to navigate and survive, and it is getting exponentially worse,” Fabricius said. “We can’t kick the can down the road anymore, we’re out of road.” 

 And though he too hopes for funding in the budget, he voiced a commitment to getting the office running in any case. 

“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Fabricius said. 

Arizona candidates turn to AI to generate campaign content

Key Points:
  • Arizona politicians are increasingly using AI-generated content in campaigns 
  • Some candidates are weaponizing AI to target their political opponents 
  • Arizona laws on AI use in elections are relatively lax and provide little recourse

From photos of a candidate meeting with nonexistent constituents to a video of a state senator vanquishing his opponent with a proton pack Ghostbusters-style, Arizona’s political hopefuls are turning to artificial intelligence to create content to boost their campaigns.  

One candidate has even gone so far as to create an entire political ad with AI, featuring memes of President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance as a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the dysfunction in Washington, D.C. Rick McCartney, a Democrat running in the crowded 1st Congressional District field, said the ad aims to point out the chaos of current Republican politics.

“We know what this chaos looks like, and one of the big reasons I’m running is for us to diffuse it.” McCartney said. “We wanted to demonstrate that frivolous use (of AI), particularly in political campaigns and with this administration, to distract.”

McCartney said his team intentionally put an AI disclosure on the ad and used unbelievable imagery — like a shirtless and heavily-tattooed Trump flexing — to illustrate the inundation of content Americans face from politicians without deceiving the voters he intends to court.

“We weren’t trying to create other realities. We were trying to play on stuff that other people had created or that had gone viral in some way,” McCartney said. “It wasn’t just about getting attention, it was demonstrating what it means to create chaos and distraction.”

The congressional hopeful appears to be the first Arizona candidate to use AI to generate a campaign ad, but other politicians are also experimenting with the technology. And while McCartney’s video parodied viral memes and featured an AI likeness of himself, other candidates are creating “new realities” targeting their political enemies, who have little legal recourse. 

Arizona has two statutes governing AI use in elections, though neither is particularly strict. 

One requires AI disclosures on manipulated content posted within 90 days of an election. Under that law, a candidate can ask a judge to intervene and impose a $10 fine for every day the content remains online without a disclosure. Alternatively, candidates can ask a judge to declare a manipulated photo or video fake, though a judge cannot order removal of the content or impose fines solely for the creation of AI content. 

Fortunately for AI-loving candidates, popular photo and video generators like Gemini and Grok automatically add watermarks to content manipulated or created by AI. 

Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh’s video featuring the Fountain Hills Republican as a Ghostbuster and his primary opponent Robert Wallace as a “bathroom spirit” has a Gemini watermark in the bottom right corner. 

Kavanagh also created a website featuring AI-generated photos of Wallace inspired by Reddit posts he allegedly made related to his use of psychedelics and his beliefs in reincarnation. Kavanagh told the Arizona Capitol Times that the website was designed to highlight the dangers of electing such a “weird” person, while Wallace said he found the whole thing hilarious.

Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, is also using AI to create content targeting his perceived political opponents, though he will likely be reelected handily in the deeply-red Legislative District 1. 

Finchem, who runs a research institute studying “the lack of transparency” in elections, focuses his AI-generated content on election officials like Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.

Finchem posted two AI photos of Fontes on April 29 and May 4, with one depicting Fontes being led away in handcuffs by police officers and another depicting him with his head bowed in front of an angry judge in a courtroom. Both posts include pleas for donations to Finchem’s reelection campaign and only one has a clearly labeled AI disclosure.

“I’m fighting to finish cleaning up their election corruption under Fontes and Richer. They want me silenced,” Finchem wrote in one post. “If we fail, the fraud machine keeps running. Rush $25, $50 or $100 now to meet our goal!” 

Richer, meanwhile, is depicted in more of a cartoon-villian style with red eyes and hands clasped as ballots and dollar bills fall in front of a stormy Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. Finchem again made a call for funds and told his followers, “I’m fighting to root out the deep corruption in Maricopa.” 

In response, Richer made the image his profile photo and in a post, he wrote, “I’m flattered that I’m chosen as a high-profile fundraising lure.” 

Richer said AI has not changed much in terms of people’s attitudes but noted the increase in ease and detail in generated images, which “supercharges people’s ability to be awful to people.” 

“Mark Finchem said deceitful stuff about me before AI was created,” Richer said. “Now he just gets to depict it.” 

He beckoned back to 2021 when Congressman Paul Gosar posted an anime video of a character with his face plastered on killing another character bearing the face of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a post which ultimately got him censured and stripped of his committee assignments. 

“It was just this cheesy little video,” Richer said. “Now maybe he’ll use his characteristically poor judgment to make a more realistic version of that.” 

Other lawmakers, like Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, have used the technology for far more innocuous yet still slightly uncanny content creation. Blackman, who was previously criticized for using ChatGPT to help write a memoir, has posted several AI photos that appear to be him meeting with constituents or border patrol agents.

Upon closer inspection, the candidate in the photos does not actually look like Blackman and in one he appears to be meeting with constituents outside of a “mercnatile” shop, according to a misspelled sign. Blackman’s posts do not have AI disclosures, though it’s unlikely that anyone would challenge them in court since he is the only real person featured in them. 

McCartney, the CD1 candidate, said his campaign will be putting up signs with an AI-generated version of himself wearing boxing gloves. While he is in favor of using AI as a tool, he said politicians still need to do more to regulate it.

“I am very much pro-AI innovation, but we also have to strongly be pro-AI regulation,” McCartney said. “It’s already starting to shape elections, it’s affecting jobs, privacy, healthcare, education, national security. All of those are very serious pieces to this and if we don’t work to create guidelines and guardrails around them, who knows what they could turn into?”

Challenges to primary election candidates oust 12, 10 survive

Key Points:
  • Litigation removes 12 political hopefuls, allows finalization of ballots
  • Courts keep 10 candidates on ballot in statewide, congressional, legislative races
  • Signature disputes and technical errors determined candidate legal challenges

Primary ballots can now head to the printer after a series of rulings on nomination challenges officially finalized the list of candidates allowed to appear on the ballot.

This year’s legal challenges weeded out 12 primary candidates via voluntary withdrawal or court-ordered removal, while ten others who faced challenges to their eligibility prevailed and now head to voters. 

Under state law, any elector can file a lawsuit to challenge a candidate’s eligibility, which targets the number of signatures a candidate has collected or a candidate’s general eligibility to serve in their chosen office. 

Courts have historically favored ballot access when assessing eligibility, but legal challenges can and do prompt removal based on a number of factors, such as a failure to collect enough signatures. 

As of April 6 — the deadline to file a candidate challenge — a total of 27 lawsuits sought to cut 22 candidates running in statewide, legislative and congressional races.

Six challenges went up to the Arizona Supreme Court. 

In the gubernatorial race, No Labels candidate Hugh Lytle faced challenges to both the validity of his signatures and the fact that he listed a business address on his petition sheets rather than his home address, as required by state law. 

The signature challenge failed first, and the address claim followed, with Lytle’s place on the ballot affirmed by both the Superior Court and Arizona Supreme Court. 

Craig Beckman, an elector represented by attorneys with Coppersmith Brockelman, a law firm frequently used by Gov. Katie Hobbs, filed the address challenge. 

And while both the Superior Court and the Arizona Supreme Court concluded Lytle failed to comply with state law, it also determined his use of a commercial business address did not irreparably confuse voters nor warrant removal from the ballot. 

“Based on the record here, (the) Candidate’s use of the business address in the same city and county in which he resides was unlikely to confuse or mislead the thousands of people who signed Candidate’s nomination petitions for statewide office,” chief Justice Ann Timmer wrote. “Therefore, we are unwilling to disqualify their candidate from the ballot.”

In a prior Supreme Court ruling, justices held that candidates must use their residence and “a candidate who intentionally does otherwise flirts with disqualification.” And in allowing Lytle on the ballot, justices again backed that stance while adding new clarification. 

“To be sure, a candidate would flirt with disqualification if the candidate gave a bogus address with the intent to mislead different factions to gain political advantage in the course of seeking nominating petition signatures,” Timmer wrote. 

Lytle said the lawsuit was an effort to limit competition and it was unfortunate that the campaign had to spend money to defend it. But, in the end, he said he was “fortunate” in light of the final ruling. 

“The judges in all cases saw it from my perspective,” Lytle said. “Which is, this is nonsense.” 

Justices ruled in favor of three other legislative candidates as well. 

Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez, who’s running for state Senate in Legislative District 20, faced two claims that her unpaid campaign finance fines disqualified her from the ballot, citing a state law setting a $1,000 limit. 

She was granted a spot on the ballot by a Pima County Superior Court judge, who found that, even though she had unpaid fines, she did not need to formally face penalties. In a brief ruling, the Supreme Court agreed. 

“Once again, the court has spoken, and once again, we have prevailed,” Hernandez said in a statement. 

Hernandez’s sister, Democrat Rep. Consuelo Hernandez faced the same claim of unpaid campaign finance fees and also received the court’s approval to proceed. She is running for the state House in Legislative District 21

Finally, David Rose, candidate for the state House in Legislative District 30, faced a challenge alleging he failed to restore his civil rights after a past felony conviction. But the Superior Court found Rose expunged his past convictions and regained the civil rights necessary to vote and run for office. 

His challenger then failed to file her opening brief to the Supreme Court in the correct format. The court dismissed the challenge based on technical filing failures and issued another ruling finding that, even if they considered the merits, the challenge would still be unsuccessful. 

As for removals, the Arizona Supreme Court barred Ryan Slawson, a Democratic state Senate candidate in Legislative District 19, after he fell short by a single signature. 

The Supreme Court found there was no reversible error. 

At the Superior Court, five candidates prevailed after challenges were either dismissed or fended off. Two candidates were removed and decided against pursuing an appeal. 

Rep. Walt Blackman, running in LD7, fended off challenge based on unpaid campaign finance fees after Steve Slaton, Blackman’s former Republican primary opponent, failed to serve the correct parties 

Republican candidate for Treasurer Katherine Haley is also safe after Merissa Caldwell, a grassroots organizer, dropped her signature challenge. 

Similarly, Green Party gubernatorial candidate Risa Lombardo prevailed in two challenges. One plaintiff, No Labels gubernatorial candidate Teri Hourihan, voluntarily dropped her challenge, while the other, Craig Beckman, failed to show enough invalid signatures to prevent Lombardo from appearing on the ballot. 

And contrary to claims by a challenger, incumbent Sen. Brian Fernandez in LD23 also submitted the necessary signatures to stay on the ballot, backed by county reports and made official by a court order.

Rose Cantu, candidate for the Arizona House in LD24, saw her case voluntarily dismissed by the elector who originally filed. 

And as for those unsuccessful, Democrat candidate for superintendent of public instruction Michael Butts lost his spot after a judge found he failed to collect enough signatures

Jerone Davison, a Republican running in CD4, failed to collect the required 1,430 minimum signatures, per a final judgment from a Maricopa County Superior Court judge. 

A cut of candidates declined to engage in litigation and withdrew their candidacy instead. Per the Secretary of State’s Office, ten candidates willingly bowed out of the race. 

In legislative races, James “Jimmy” Holmes, a Republican running for the House in district 23 against incumbent Rep. Michele Peña, photocopied his signature on petition sheets instead of signing off himself to verify signatures. 

“Photocopied signatures are not verifications, one cannot verify that a petition was signed in his presence before the petition was signed,” attorney Tim La Sota wrote. 

In District 2, Neil DeSanti, a Republican challenging Rep. Justin Wilmeth, agreed to back out after a challenge contended he failed to collect enough signatures. 

DeSanti has tried and failed four times now to run for office. He has withdrawn his candidacy or been disqualified in past cycles over failure to restore his civil rights following felony convictions. 

And, even though he made a last-ditch effort to dismiss the case after the plaintiff in his candidate challenge initially failed to show up to a court hearing, DeSanti ultimately agreed to withdraw from the race. 

In a final statement to the court, DeSanti said, “This is not my first rodeo.”

No Labels candidate for treasurer Michael Zepeda backed out, too, in light of a signature challenge. 

The remaining withdrawals transpired in congressional races. 

In Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, Christopher Ajluni, a No Labels candidate, Victor Weintraub, a Democrat, and David Redkey, a Republican all withdrew their candidacy after facing signature challenges. 

Eric Descheenie, a Democrat running in the 2nd Congressional District, also backed out over a signature challenge, as did Blake Bracht, a Democrat running in the 5th Congressional District. 

Jessie Martines, a No Labels candidate running for the 8th Congressional District, bowed out after a lawsuit claimed his petition sheets were invalid as they were “defaced/corrected by hand-written strike throughs throughout the body of the petition. 

With this cycle’s candidate challenge window now wrapped up, county election officials across the state can now proceed with printing ballots before the May 11 deadline.

Arizona lawmakers seek $1.5 million for prison oversight office

Key points:
  • Two Republican lawmakers seek funding for the state Independent Correctional Oversight Office.
  • Gov. Katie Hobbs signed legislation creating the office, but without funding
  • Arizona faces millions in fines for inadequate prison health care conditions.

Two Republican lawmakers convinced Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this year to sign legislation to allow some outside oversight of the state’s prison system.

Now they want to see if the governor is willing to fund it so it can begin operations.

Rep. Walt Blackman of Snowflake and Sen. Shawnna Bolick of Phoenix have introduced proposals to provide $1.5 million to the newly created — but so far not operational — state Independent Correctional Oversight Office. The bills, HB2063 and SB1032, are identical, allowing them to advance in parallel and expediting their reach to the governor’s desk.

The lawmakers say they believe they already have the support of a majority of their colleagues.

In fact, the original plan to create the office – complete with the funding – was approved earlier this year by the Senate on a 23-5 vote. It also unanimously cleared the House Government Committee, which Blackman chairs.

But both Blackman and Bolick told Capitol Media Services at the time that the message from the Hobbs was that the idea was DOA with the funding. So when the measure came to the House floor, Blackman agreed to strip out the funding, which allowed the bill to clear the chamber 46-10 and secure the governor’s blessing.

But Blackman said the office serves no purpose without any cash. So he said he is reaching out to the governor’s staff in hopes of convincing her that the funding in the new proposals is a good investment.

He said it’s not just that the state already is spending more than $1.5 billion a year on what is known as the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. There’s also the millions of dollars in fines imposed on the state by a federal judge who has previously found that medical care in the prison system was “plainly grossly inadequate.”

And Hobbs?

“We will have those conversations when it comes to the budget negotiations,” Hobbs told Capitol Media Services.

“Any money bill is put in the budget pile,” the governor said. “And that’s when it’s appropriate to have that conversation.”

But why did she sign legislation to create an office to provide independent oversight of the prison system if she’s not going to fund it?

Hobbs said the bill she finally signed – establishing the office but with no money – was the result of “a lot of compromise.”

“I’m certainly willing to continue those conversations to make sure that we can make sure that that office is as effective as possible,” the governor said.

But Hobbs sidestepped the question of whether the prison system needs outside oversight, instead launching into a defense of Ryan Thornell who she hand picked to run the system that houses more than 35,000 inmates after taking office in 2023.

“Director Thornell is doing a great job,” she said.

“He inherited a mess, a system that was on the brink of receivership,” Hobbs said, referring to efforts by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Prison Law Office and other groups to get U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver to appoint an outsider to actually run the prison’s health care system. And the governor acknowledged that such an order “would cost taxpayers a lot more money than the system is costing now.”

But she also said this is not a problem of her making – or that of Thornell.

“Our prison system has been neglected for a long time,” the governor said.

Indeed, the current federal court lawsuit goes back to 2012. And Blackman agreed that the problems are not the fault of the current director.

“He was put in a position that was already to hit the iceberg,” he said. Consider, he said, the Titanic.

“The ship was going, you are already close to hitting the iceberg, and then you change out the captain,” Blackman said. “Is it the current captain’s fault that you’ve hit an iceberg?”

The oversight office, he said, is designed to provide an outsider’s perspective onf the problems and find ways to avoid future problems.

But Blackman said it can’t do that without money.

If nothing else, the Snowflake Republican said the $1.5 million should be seen as a matter of fiscal responsibility – and not just to avoid the possibility of an appointed receiver dictating to the state the kind of care that must be provided, including the number of doctors, nurses, aides and even equipment.

Consider, he said, the millions of dollars in fines that Silver already has imposed.

In her 200-page order in 2022 – the one when she said the care was “plainly grossly inadequate – Silver laid out facts she said show not only were top prison officials aware of conditions that resulted in serious and unnecessary physical harm and death to inmates, but they actively ignored the problems. And the judge said state officials were acting “with deliberate indifference” to the substantial risk of harm to inmates.

None of that was news to prison or state officials – or to Doug Ducey who was governor at the time.

In 2015, three years after the lawsuit was signed, the state agreed to a settlement promising to do better.

Yet in 2018, the state was fined $1.4 million for failing to live up to the performance measures to which it had agreed. And Silver imposed another $1.1 million penalty in 2021.

Seeking more progress, the judge in 2023 issued a comprehensive injunction laying out what the prison system must do to improve that care. 

That injunction required the state to overhaul how it provided care to inmates, vastly increase the number of doctors and nurses to set levels, and provide better access to specialists. Other parts of the injunction included limits on putting inmates in isolation and requirements to treat opioid addiction and Hepatitis infections among the inmate population.

Yet earlier this year, a court-appointed monitor told the judge the state “remains non compliant with the vast majority, with slow (or little) progress toward achieving substantial compliance.” And Sophie Hart, an attorney for the Prison Law Office, told Silver that it was clear the state lacked the capacity or the will to fix the system and the time had come for Silver to appoint a receiver to do the job.

But attorneys for the state went back to Silver three months ago, again arguing for yet more time to fix the problems before Silver appoints a receiver.

Blackman said that lack of progress underlines the need for what he and Bolick are seeking.

“The oversight committee will help our state lawmakers, the Governor’s Office, and those folks that have to manage internally the Department of Corrections on how we can come up with ways to fix that,” he said. Blackman said outside oversight and recommendations even could get the issue out of federal court and provide “a chance to move past this.”

“I mean, we can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a better outcome,” he said.

“It’s not working right now and it has to be checked,” Blackman said, “And it cannot be checked internally, from inside the department, because it’s easier, it’s better to have a second set of eyes looking at it.”

He acknowledged that it isn’t just Hobbs who needs to be convinced to support the funding.

First, he and Bolick need the votes of their colleagues to get the appropriation to the governor’s desk. And Blackman said he already is working on it.

Lawmakers demand greater oversight of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety

Key Points:
  • Legislators want to review licensed group homes
  • Some are concerned children are too often labeled as runaways, not missing
  • Move is part of a larger push for oversight of the Department of Child Safety

House and Senate Republicans are moving to organize greater oversight into the Department of Child Safety following the deaths of multiple children who were known by the department.

Sen. Carine Werner, R-Scottsdale, announced on Aug. 6 that she’s organizing a closed stakeholder meeting of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on DCS in September to review state protocols for licensed group homes and child welfare oversight. 

The announcement followed an Aug. 1 Phoenix Police news release announcing two men were arrested and charged with the murder of 16-year-old Zariah Dodd after she left her group home in Surprise. 

One of the suspects, 36-year-old Jurell Davis, is believed to be the father of Dodd’s unborn child and is also charged with sexual misconduct with a minor.

Lawmakers have become increasingly alarmed with the practices of DCS and group homes in the state. During the recent legislative session, Gov. Katie Hobbs signed “Emily’s Law,” named after 14-year-old Emily Pike, who was murdered and dismembered after she fled a group home in Mesa.

The law created the Turquoise Alert system, which the Department of Public Safety will issue if a person under the age of 65 has gone missing and law enforcement believes the disappearance is underexplained or suspicious. 

In a news release, Werner also cited the recent death of 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste, whose father was arrested and charged with murder and child abuse. According to the release, DCS received multiple reports of child abuse from Baptiste’s father. 

“The deaths of Emily Pike, Zariah Dodd, and Rebekah Baptiste should be a wake-up call for us all,” Werner said in a statement. “These tragedies make it painfully clear that when our child protection systems — both state and tribal — fail, the consequences can be horrific. We cannot allow these failures to repeat.” 

Werner isn’t the only lawmaker interested in using legislative authority to examine DCS. Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, told the Arizona Capitol Times that he has requested permission from House leadership to organize a House Government Committee meeting to hear from DCS and law enforcement about issues involving missing children. 

The Turquoise Alert from Emily’s Law functions in a similar way to an Amber Alert. The state used it for the first time on July 23 for 6-year-old Violet Coultas, who was found less than a day later after the alert was issued, according to a DPS news release. 

“Turquoise Alerts are an essential tool in quickly notifying the public and mobilizing law enforcement when a vulnerable individual is missing,” DPS Director Colonel Jeffrey Glover said in a news release. “In this case, the system worked exactly as intended.”

Lamakers also hope the new law will be used to help locate missing indigenous individuals, where their communities have long dealt with high rates of assault, abduction and murder of tribal members, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. However, the U.S. Department of Justice’s missing persons database, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, only logged 116 of those cases.

Emily Pike was a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The sponsor of the bill that would become Emily’s Law, Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, said during the 2025 legislative session that she was frustrated that the state wasn’t looking for Pike when she went missing. 

“Over the years, Tribal communities have faced the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons without advanced emergency systems in place and we see the Turquoise Alert as a proactive step in the right direction,” Inter Tribal Council of Arizona President Paul Russell said in a July 10 news release after the Turquoise Alert system became active in the state.

Blackman said in an Aug. 4 video posted to X that the Turquoise Alert is a good step for lawmakers, but more needs to be done by the state Legislature. 

“We’re all at blame for this in government,” Blackman told the Arizona Capitol Times.

One issue that Blackaman raised was how missing children are often labeled as runaways. Under state law, children labeled as runaways do not require law enforcement to assign a missing persons detective. 

The statute does require law enforcement agencies to submit identifying information of a missing child within two hours of notification to the Arizona crime information center and the national crime information center.

A 2023 auditor general’s report on DCS and missing children showed children are much more likely to be reported as a runaway rather than missing. About 200 more children were reported as runaways in each calendar month of 2020 than missing, according to that report. 

Werner’s committee is scheduled to meet on Sept. 3. A Senate news release notes the meeting will not be open to the public, but will be a stakeholder meeting with DCS, Tribal Nations, law enforcement, legislative members and child welfare experts to identify potential legislative and regulatory remedies. 

Prison oversight reform is long overdue in Arizona

Shawnna Bolick

On December 21, 2018, President Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act into law, marking a significant step forward in federal sentencing reform. Just weeks later, we took our first oaths of office in January 2019. That milestone marked the beginning of our shared efforts to advance meaningful criminal justice reform in Arizona. In early 2020, we met with Matthew Charles, a man who served over two decades in federal prison without a single disciplinary infraction. His success after release reaffirmed our belief in redemption and fueled our resolve to bring reform home.

Walt Blackman

During our first year, we were honored to be named “Rookies of the Year” by the Republican Party of Arizona. That summer, we submitted a letter to House leadership and Speaker Rusty Bowers, requesting approval to host a bipartisan Earned Release Credits for Prisoners House Ad Hoc Committee. We held public hearings, reviewed policy gaps, and took a critical tour of the Florence prison complex with then-Director Charles Ryan. The director’s resignation was inevitable, considering reports of serious safety issues in the prisons. Just hours after that visit, he submitted his resignation notice, having served as the ADC Director for ten years. The ad hoc committee released its final report later that year.

Later that fall, we visited the Lewis complex in Buckeye and observed widespread security lapses, broken cell locks and compromised safety. These firsthand encounters laid the groundwork for the creation of the House Committee on Criminal Justice Reform in January 2020, where we continued our work as Chair and Vice Chair. The committee remained active into the 2021–2022 legislative session, continuing to examine sentencing policies, reentry coordination and prison oversight.

When COVID hit, our efforts didn’t stop. In 2020 and 2021, we held remote oversight discussions, including briefings with then-Director David Shinn. From 2021 to 2022, Senator Bolick served on the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, weighing critical funding for health care services and ADC settlements. A pivotal moment came in the fall of 2021, when the Arizona Auditor General released a report detailing the Department of Corrections’ failure to meet performance benchmarks, delayed releases of eligible inmates and a general disregard for prior audit recommendations.

In June 2022, Senator Bolick blocked passage of the ADC budget until those reforms were addressed. In December 2022, just before leaving the House, we toured Lewis again and issued a joint press release after meeting with inmates who raised security concerns, including allegations of sexual violence.

In January 2023, as Senator Bolick transitioned to the upper chamber and toured juvenile corrections alongside Representative Blackman, Governor Katie Hobbs signed Executive Order 6, establishing the Independent Prison Oversight Commission. The commission was designed to strengthen transparency and accountability within Arizona’s corrections system. Tasked with inspecting prison facilities, reviewing records, and speaking directly with inmates and staff about health care, safety, educational programming, and access to necessities. The commission — despite its initial lack of funding — marked a critical step toward institutionalizing meaningful oversight. The commission released its report in November 2023.

Throughout this period, we visited private prisons and attended reentry graduation ceremonies, where we met Arizonans trying to turn their lives around. We received hundreds of letters from families of inmates, corrections officers and community advocates calling for stronger oversight, improved mental health care and meaningful rehabilitative programs.

In May 2025, we sent a letter to legislative leadership urging the formation of a bipartisan ad hoc committee to investigate persistent security failures. In the years since, we’ve met with whistleblowers, reviewed internal ADCRR reports, and pushed for public testimony from leadership, staff and impacted families. All these efforts culminated in the 2025 passage of Senate Bill 1507, creating a permanent oversight office. 

However, passing SB 1507 is only the beginning. The oversight office must be funded — estimated at $1.5 million annually. We can’t go back and change the outcomes for those who have already lost their lives in state custody, but we can act now to prevent future tragedies. Recent deaths in the Arizona Department of Corrections include Indalecio Garcia, 31, who died at the Lewis complex on June 23; Ernest Walker, 60, who died June 28, 2025, at Banner Casa Grande Medical Center; Danny Jones, 60, who died June 24, 2025, at ASPC-Tucson; and Daniel Montoya, who died while incarcerated at Lewis Prison. Others — Saul Alvarez, Thorne Harnage, and Donald Lashley — were killed behind bars. These are not isolated cases. 

With proper funding, SB 1507 can provide the real oversight and accountability needed to prevent future tragedies.

Shawnna LM Bolick is the State Senator for LD2, and the chair of the Senate Committee on Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency.

Walt Blackman is the State Representative for LD7, and the chair of the House Committee on Government.

Animal cruelty bill heads to Senate after weeks of negotiations

Key Points:
  • Bill expands criminal charges for the cruel neglect of pets
  • Bill received bipartisan support
  • Bill will now head to the Senate for final read

After weeks of negotiations, the House approved an animal cruelty bill that would bring criminal charges against people who abuse their pets.

Senate Bill 1658 passed the House 34-18 on June 12 with bipartisan support despite objections from some Republicans who viewed certain provisions of the bill as overly punitive.

Most of the Democrats voted for the bill, while the majority of Republicans disapproved of the measure. Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, sponsored the bill and worked with Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, to move it through the House. 

The legislation would require pet owners to provide food, water and shelter to their animals, and expand the definition of animal cruelty to include failing to provide medical attention for a pet. It also adds charges for subjecting an animal to cruel neglect.

“It is common sense, does not affect livestock, does not affect people experiencing homelessness, very straightforward language,” said Humane Society President and CEO Dr. Steven Hansen in an interview earlier this month.

During the House third reading hearing, Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said the bill troubled him on a “personal level” because it could affect pet owners who are struggling financially.

“They’re the folks that are clinging to the family cat through financial hardship, where they may not have a safe and healthy place to live, where they may be draining their bank account, facing bankruptcy and just trying to hold on, and this body proposes to make them into criminals without a second thought,”  Kolodin said.

Lawmakers who supported the bill said it would give law enforcement the necessary tools to quickly arrest people who abuse animals.

“This bill gives law enforcement and prosecutors clear standards to act quickly, protect animals in danger and hold abusers accountable,” said Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, during the House Committee of the Whole session on June 11.

The bill was prompted by an animal cruelty case in September 2023, when 55 disabled dogs were seized from a Chandler home. The homeowner was arrested on multiple charges of animal cruelty, fraud and theft.

The bill was initially introduced as Senate Bill 1234, but was double assigned to the the House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee and House Judiciary Committee after it was approved in the Senate with bipartisan support.

Blackman used a striker amendment on another Bolick bill after the original animal cruelty measure was double assigned.

The legislation still faced obstacles as Republicans questioned the vagueness of the language and harshness of the penalties. 

Blackman worked on a series of amendments that sought to clearly define the language and other aspects of the bill in order to garner the necessary support.

The bill will now head to the Senate for a final read and, if approved, to the governor’s desk.

 

Supporters of animal cruelty measure still hopeful

Key Points:
  • Bill redefines inhumane conditions for domestic animals
  • There’s an ongoing push to secure support from House Republicans 
  • June 16 is likely the last day the bill can receive a vote in the House

The supporters of an animal cruelty bill are pushing for the measure to receive a vote before time expires on the legislative session.

Senate Bill 1658 is awaiting approval in the House, but the chamber didn’t vote on the bill when it convened on June 4. That means the House will have to vote when it returns on June 16 or the bill will likely die this session.

If the House approves the bill, the legislation will then return to the Senate for a final vote. By then, however, it may be too late since both chambers could start advancing budget bills that week.

Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, said the bill is supposed to be heard when the House reconvenes, but he’ll use a procedural measure to bring it up for a vote if it’s not on the agenda. 

Blackman has been working with the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, and the Arizona Humane Society to advance the measure through the Legislature.

Senate Bill 1658 aims to clearly define suitable conditions for pets and add a misdemeanor charge for failing to provide an animal with medical attention to prevent unnecessary suffering. 

The measure would also redefine what it means to provide the appropriate food, water and shelter, but lawmakers and stakeholders are working to update the language to secure approval from some Republicans who are currently against the bill.

“It is common sense, does not affect livestock, does not affect people experiencing homelessness, very straightforward language,” said Humane Society President and CEO Dr. Steven Hansen. 

The bill was initially introduced as Senate Bill 1234, but was double assigned to the the House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee and House Judiciary Committee after it was approved in the Senate with bipartisan support.

Blackman used a striker amendment on another Bolick bill to keep the legislation alive.

The bill moved through the House Government and Rules committees, and advanced through the House Committee of the Whole on May 20, maintaining its bipartisan support. 

Bolick previously said she spent several weeks advocating for the legislation after House leadership told her the bill lacked the votes to be approved.

Some Republican lawmakers questioned the harshness of the penalties and the clarity of the language.

“The language is just far too vague at certain points where it could potentially criminalize someone who possibly can’t afford to take care of their animal properly according to this bill, and this will be someone that actually loves their animal very much,” said Rep. Rachel Keshel, R-Tucson, during the Committee of the Whole hearing.

Hansen said on June 4 that the Humane Society worked with Blackman and Bolick to revise certain provisions of the bill, which would have expanded the definition of cruel neglect to include the failure to provide a pet with food fit for consumption and water suitable for drinking.

“So what we had agreed to is removing the definition of water as drinkable and just that animals require water, and also removing the food has to be appropriate for the species and edible, so just food,” he said. “So those are two big steps backwards.”

The Humane Society and lawmakers were initially able to keep a requirement in the bill calling for pet owners to provide suitable shelter but questions arose during negotiations regarding whether the structure had to be sound.

For example, legislators would need to determine whether a tent could be considered a suitable shelter. 

The bill’s language has to be “well defined,” Blackman said.

Blackman said the focus will be defining that language, as well as other aspects of the bill so it can garner the necessary support by June 16.

“I got to crank out that language … make sure it’s good to go,” he said.

Stolen valor bill faces roadblock, but striker could get it to governor

A week after the bill’s sponsor accused the committee chairman of blocking the measure, the Senate Judiciary and Elections committee held a bill Wednesday that would establish criminal offenses for people who impersonate an armed forces veteran.

Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, who chairs the committee, included House Bill 2030 on the agenda after Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, who sponsored the bill, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers and military veterans called out Rogers and committee member Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, at a press conference last week.

Rogers said during the committee hearing that she asked Blackman to amend the bill so it would comport with federal law. She didn’t elaborate on the federal law and how the bill lacked compliance.

“My staff let his staff know that I was including it on today’s agenda, in case we had applicable discussions before committee,” she said. “We have not, so I’m holding the bill.”

Blackman, a U.S. Army veteran, previously said he believes the reason why Rogers held the bill was because she and Finchem were attempting to protect Steve Slaton, Blackman’s opponent in Legislative District 7. Slaton was accused of misrepresenting his military service while campaigning last year.

On his website, Slaton claimed that he worked as a crew chief and co-pilot on a Cobra helicopter, serving in Vietnam and Korea. But the DD-214, the official military record, does not mention Vietnam, and only that he was listed as a helicopter repairman in Korea.

Rogers was criticized last year for campaigning with Slaton despite the allegations against him.

Although the bill has stalled again, there is still a chance the legislation can bypass Rogers and make it to the governor’s desk.

The House Rules committee on Monday unanimously approved a striker amendment to Senate Bill 1424, which contains the same language as Blackman’s bill. The House Government committee also unanimously passed the striker last week.

SB1424 is sponsored by Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, who said she agreed to run the striker to keep the bill moving forward.

House passes ‘Valor Act’ unanimously, but Senate committee blocks it

Key Points

  • “Valor Act” would criminalize impersonating a veteran.
  • The bill passed out of the House unanimously but is held in the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee. 
  • Republicans and Democrats in the House called on Sen. Wendy Rogers to stop blocking the bill. 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are calling on Arizona’s Senate president to advance legislation that would establish criminal offenses for people who impersonate an armed forces veteran. 

The House passed HB2030, titled the “Master Sergeant Orlando Dona Valor Act,” on Feb. 11, 58-0. 

But nearly a month after the bill was assigned to the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee on Feb. 27, the bill has yet to receive a hearing.

Now, House legislators are accusing Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, of using her position as chair of the committee to block the bill that passed unanimously out of the House. 

“Silence in this is compliance in this,” said the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, during a March 19 press conference with veterans and other lawmakers. “Those members who have not spoken up and said that this is wrong, you have veterans in your communities; in every single district in this state.”

Blackman, a U.S. Army veteran, said he believes the reason for Rogers’ inaction is personal. In 2024, Rogers and Blackman both ran in Legislative District 7, but Rogers, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was a staunch supporter of Blackman’s primary opponent Steve Slaton.

On his website, Slaton claimed that he worked as a crew chief and co-pilot on a Cobra helicopter, serving in Vietnam and Korea. But the DD-214, the official military record, does not mention Vietnam, and only that he was listed as a helicopter repairman in Korea.

Blackman and the Navajo County Republican Committee accused Slaton of altering his military records on the campaign trail to falsely claim service and military commendations from Vietnam. And although Slaton has repeatedly denied the accusation, Rogers continued to support him after many Republicans called for him to drop out of the race.

Blackman said he believes Rogers and Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, are protecting Slaton by attempting to kill his bill. 

“This is a no-brainer bill,” Blackman said. “I am asking Senator Rogers and I am asking Senator Finchem to either get on board or get out of the way.”

Neither Rogers nor Finchem responded to requests for comment sent from the Arizona Capitol Times.

On the morning of March 19, Blackman and the House Government Committee passed a striker amendment on SB1424 that carried the same language as Blackman’s House bill. If that Senate bill passes out of the House, it would only need to return to the Senate for a full vote, allowing Blackman to bypass Rogers’ committee.

SB1424 is sponsored by Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, who said she agreed to run the striker to keep the bill moving forward. Both of Bolick’s grandfathers served in the U.S. armed forces. 

“We should not be putting personalities over good policy,” Bolick said. 

Because of the criminal penalties that are associated with the bill, it was assigned to Rogers’ committee. Blackman said he doesn’t blame Senate President Warren Petersen for assigning it to Rogers, but called on him to either assign his bill to a different committee or put Bolick’s bill up for a vote when it returns to the Senate. 

Petersen said in a text to the Arizona Capitol Times that he’s unwilling to circumvent his committee chairmen.

“As President, I have empowered my chairmen. If they hold a bill, it is dead, even if I like the bill. I think it is good for the institution when leadership respects their chairmen and does not go around them,” Petersen said.

Rep. Blackman proposes stolen valor law

An Army veteran who earned a Bronze Star for his actions in combat in Iraq wants to send some of those who fake their veteran status or their medals to prison.

But Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, said he crafted his Stolen Valor legislation to avoid the same legal problems that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 voiding a similar federal law as a violation of free speech rights in the First Amendment. He said only if someone seeks to profit from a deliberate misrepresentation could they end up behind bars.

And the former tank commander said there’s another reason for the state to have its own law: It would spell out that anyone convicted under the legislation who was holding public office would be forced to resign, something he said could not be covered by a federal law.

At its heart, Blackman said it’s an issue of identity theft. The victims, he said, are all those who actually have served and have been awarded special medals and other designations, whose service is diluted by those who are falsely making such claims.

“Every veteran in the United States, the half a million veterans here in Arizona, we are all victims when somebody steals our valor,” he said. “You are also looking at the family members left behind, Gold Star families, when somebody said they did something in combat when they did not,” Blackman said, referring to the parents, siblings, children and extended families of those who are killed in combat.

HB 2030 would make it a crime to impersonate a veteran to obtain employment or government contracts, or to claim veteran benefits such as health care, education or disability compensation.

But it does not stop there. Blackman’s legislation also would make felons of anyone who uses a fake claim “to secure votes, campaign contributions or political advantages.”

Consider, he said, someone who tells voters he or she was deployed to Vietnam when the military records show otherwise.

“By doing that, I have raised X amount of dollars, $5,000, $10,000, $50,000, and that is why I was able to raise that money, that is a crime,” Blackman said. He said it’s no different than existing laws that make it illegal to gain money through false schemes.

The issue actually came up last year in a bid by Blackman to reclaim the House seat he had previously occupied before 2022 when he instead made an unsuccessful run for Congress.

On his website, Steve Slaton, his foe in the GOP primary for the state House, claimed that he worked as a crew chief and co-pilot on a Cobra helicopter, serving in Vietnam and Korea. But the DD-214, the official military record, does not mention Vietnam and only that he was listed as a helicopter repairman in Korea.

Slaton offered several explanations, including that he was the victim of identity theft and his military discharge papers had been altered.

Blackman did not mention Slaton on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to get into names about who actually did it in Arizona,” he said.

“To say their names, folks would think it’s a personal vendetta,” Blackman said. “It is not.”

Another part of the legislation would make it a crime to wear or display any unearned military award, ranging from the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross to the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

That section does not mention wearing any of those medals for the purpose of personal gain. But Blackman insisted that is the intent and that no one will end up in prison simply for dressing up with such a medal.

“If a person wants to walk around and look like George S. Patton, that’s their business,” he said of the much-decorated World War II general whose honors include the Army Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart.

“However, if they say, ‘I want to be in office’ or ‘I need this contract because I am George S. Patton, but they’re not, then they have committed a crime.”

At a minimum, HB 2030 would make impersonating a veteran a Class 4 felony, which carries a presumptive 2 1/2-year prison term.

But Blackman’s bill provides for a Class 2 felony, presumptively 5 years in prison, if the value of the benefit they were seeking is worth at least $50,000. And anyone convicted under that part of the statute would have to serve at least 85% of their sentence before they were eligible for parole.

 

New Faces: Walt Blackman

Returning to the Legislature is Representative-elect Walt Blackman from Legislative District 7. Blackman, a Republican from Snowflake and a U.S. Army combat veteran, served in the House from 2019 to 2023. He said he wanted to return because he saw too much “stagemanship” instead of policy while watching as an outsider for two years. “Everything we do affects everybody in this state whether they voted for us or not,” Blackman said. As the incoming chairman of the House Government Committee, he said he looks forward to easing burdens for licensed practices to be more user-friendly for Arizonans, but not irresponsible. Blackman will serve on the House Appropriations and Commerce committees. With Democratic governor, Blackman said he understands the importance of working with Democrats and treating people with respect and dignity. “This isn’t a war. These are people that just can’t get along sometimes,” Blackman said. He has two political heroes: former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Army General Colin Powell for his approach as an “independent Republican;” and former President John F. Kennedy, who Blackman said helped de-escalate the Cuban Missile Crisis by working across the aisle with Republicans.

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