The Arizona 2022 legislative session ended early Saturday morning with incredible, groundbreaking victories for life, parental rights, educational freedom, religious freedom, child protections, and more.
Life
- SB 1164 – (Sen. Barto) – Prohibits abortions after 15-weeks gestational age. Note however, that the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing states to regulate abortion should make Arizona’s pre-Roe law prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother. This has an injunction against it in some counties, so this may actually need to go through a court decision. It follows that the 15-week law should not go into effect because of the pre-Roe law’s enforceability. See a prior GIT newsletter describing what’s next on the life front in Arizona.
- HB 2659 – (Rep. Kaiser) – Ensures patients with disabilities are not discriminated against when in need of an organ transplant
- HB 2693 – (Rep. Toma) – Adds an inflator to the charitable tax credit that provides funding for pregnancy resource centers
- HB 2862 – Increases funding to $500,000 for organizations serving homeless, pregnant women in an effort to promote life. Doubles the funding to $3 million for the Family Health Pilot Project, which promotes abortion alternatives
- SB 1138 – (Sen. Petersen) – A prohibition on doctors performing irreversible gender related surgeries on minors
- SB 1165 – (Sen. Barto) – Requires only biological females compete on women’s and girls’ sports teams
- HB 2161 – (Rep. Kaiser) – Ensures parents have access to their children’s educational and medical records, as well as surveys prior to being given to students, and a right to sue for violations
- HB 2853 – (Rep. Toma) – Expands eligibility for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) to all students
Religious Freedom
- HB 2449 – (Rep. Nguyen) – Requires nursing homes and hospice allow clergy visits during a public health emergency
- HB 2507 – (Rep. Toma) – Declares houses of worship and religious organizations “essential services” during a public health emergency
- SB1399 – (Sen. Kerr) – Ensures faith-based foster care and adoption agencies are not discriminated against when following their beliefs in placing children
Other Good NewsThe CAP Team also provided assists on legislation to prohibit the teaching of critical race theory
- SB 1412 – (Sen. Mesnard) , to prohibit sexually explicit materials in schools
- HB 2495 – (Rep. Hoffman) and to ensure parents access to visit school classrooms
- HB 2025 – (Rep. Udall).In anticipation of Roe being overturned, lawmakers also increased services to pregnant women.
Defense Won Also!No bill on CAP’s opposed list made it to final passage.
- HB 2802 – (Rep. Bowers) – would have undermined religious freedom, parental rights, and free speech rights by providing special rights to government sanctioned interest groups and prohibiting parents from seeking counseling care for their minor children struggling with same sex and gender identity issues.
There was another US Supreme Court decision this week supporting religious liberty:
- Carson v. Makin: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in Carson v. Makin that the state of Maine cannot exclude students who attend religious schools from a government program in which they are otherwise qualified.