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(The Center Square) -- U.S. senators collectively spend more than a million taxpayer dollars each year for pricey flights on private planes for themselves and their staff, even though Senate rules greatly discourage the practice, an investigation by The Center Square found.

The spending includes a Midwestern senator who regularly charters flights to travel to and from Washington, D.C., at an expense that is about 10 times what he would pay to fly commercially from his local airport.

It also includes New York's two senators who have repeatedly used the charter planes to crisscross their state for public appearances and press conferences, including for initiatives to protect the environment. Private jets are notorious polluters and often criticized by environmentalists when celebrities use them.

And one former Arizona senator spent about $50,000 for one flight from Washington, D.C., to the Grand Canyon in 2023 to attend an event with then-President Joe Biden, who signed a proclamation to protect sacred tribal land in the area.

"It shows that when you're spending somebody else's money, you aren't looking for the best deal," said David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a national government spending hawk. "There's got to be better guidelines, better regulations and better oversight to make sure that they're not spending thousands of dollars on a round-trip flight that could cost hundreds of dollars."

Senate rules allow for reimbursement for charter aircraft with no more than two engines and six seats under certain circumstances. Those situations include: flights that exceed 14 hours; the transportation of someone with a medical disability; security concerns; no other available flights; and "other exceptional circumstances."

A representative of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics -- which oversees the spending -- did not respond to a request to comment on the rules and the flights of senators.

The senators' spending is reported twice each year by the Secretary of the Senate, but it is published in a way that makes it difficult for the general public to evaluate. The text documents are thousands of pages long and cannot be easily transferred to spreadsheets for analysis. The U.S. House provides the information in spreadsheet form.

The Center Square used artificial intelligence tools to extract the data and manually verified the key information that is the basis of this article.

Senate spending for charter flights has far outpaced that of the U.S. House, where the top spender averaged about $10,000 per year. The Senate spending has been driven primarily by three people.

The top spender

Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, spends by far the most on charter flights. In 2024, the most-recent full calendar year available in the Senate expense reports, he spent about $480,000.

That was nearly half of the total spent by all senators.

Senators who live in sparsely populated and geographically large states often opt for private planes for some of their travel to visit far-flung constituents, but Rounds' spending is mostly for travel to Washington, D.C., the Senate's records show.

He often spends between $10,000 and $15,000 each week for the travel. On Mondays he typically flies from his city of Pierre -- in the middle of South Dakota -- on a charter plane to a suburb of Minneapolis, where he switches to a typical commercial flight to Washington. Later in the week, he returns by a similar combination of commercial and charter flights.

Each charter flight to the Minneapolis area costs about $6,000. Roundtrip commercial flights from Pierre to Washington, D.C. often cost between $500 and $1,000.

There are no direct commercial flights to Washington from Pierre, which despite being the state's capital has a population of about 14,000. Yet some of the available commercial flights can take as little as about six hours to reach the nation's capital, The Center Square found through commercial flight booking websites.

Rounds' office did not respond to repeated requests to comment for this article, but a Center Square reporter approached Rounds in Washington and asked about the flights.

"That's the frustrating part," Rounds said, referring to a lack of direct flights to and from Washington to South Dakota. "We've actually tried driving to different places and then getting on a flight, but then you need a connecting flight. This is the best we can do right now and actually make our votes on Mondays and Thursdays."

The total travel time for Rounds' typical trips was not immediately available. He is required to report how much they cost and when they happened, but federal lawmakers have shielded themselves from public records requests that might reveal more information about their travels.

Most of the charter flights Rounds commissions are from Mustang Aviation, a decades-old company that also offers aircraft maintenance and flight training. Its owner, Jim Peitz, did not respond to a request for comment.

Campaign finance disclosures show that Peitz donated $4,000 to Rounds in his last election cycle, which culminated with a dominant win in 2020. Rounds, a former governor, was first elected to the Senate in 2014.

Rounds also told The Center Square, when one of its reporters caught up to him at the Capitol last week, that his office returns more money from his Senate office account than many lawmakers.

"We're normally giving back more money out of our budget than about 50% of all the members of the Senate," Rounds said. "We try to follow up pretty closely so that we're actually sending money back to the sergeant at arms."

But he could not say how much money the office returns.

South Dakota's other senator -- Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from Sioux Falls -- also flies from an out-of-state airport to Washington, Senate records show. Thune flies between Omaha, Neb., and D.C., at a cost that is often less than $1,000. The records do not indicate how he travels to and from Omaha.

Thune's office did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Thune is also one of the top spenders for charter flights, often spending about $50,000 each year. Records show he uses the flights for in-state travel. His home in Sioux Falls is in the far southeast corner of the state.

New York's senators

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both New York Democrats, are routinely the second- and third-highest spenders for charter flights, according to the Senate data.

In 2024, Gillibrand spent about $270,000, and Schumer spent about $160,000.

They often use the flights to make multiple stops across their state, usually for public appearances and press conferences. For instance, Schumer's flights last year coincided with events in which he discussed federal health care funding freezes, the impact of tariffs on businesses and efforts he opposed to eliminate clean energy tax credits, according to a review of his schedule.

The final destinations of the Schumer flights were sometimes Washington, D.C.

The senators spent even more money on flights in 2022 -- a mid-term election year that featured a tighter-than-usual governor's race and a strong Republican turnout. That year, Gillibrand spent about $350,000, which approached the amount Rounds spent.

Gillibrand and Schumer's staff did not respond to requests to comment for this article.

Many of the destinations for both senators were larger New York cities with regular commercial flights available for hundreds of dollars. Instead, Schumer commissioned flights that typically cost between $7,000 and $10,000.

Gillibrand's were about twice as expensive per trip, with many of them originating in Washington. The flights ranged in cost from about $15,000 to $19,000.

Gillibrand typically charters flights from Venture Jets, a Pennsylvania-based company. Schumer uses Flying Zebra in New York.

Most expensive flight

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, was a Top 5 spender for chartered flights in 2022 and 2023. She spent a comparable amount to Gillibrand in 2023, largely because of the most-expensive flight listed in Senate expenditure data in recent years.

Sinema and several members of her staff flew on a charter plane from Washington to the Grand Canyon, which is in her state, in August 2023 at a cost of about $50,000, the data show.

One-way direct flights from Washington to Flagstaff, Ariz., -- near the Grand Canyon -- can cost less than $200 per person, according to current commercial airline ticket prices.

On the day of her flight, she attended an event in which then-President Joe Biden signed a proclamation to protect more than 900,000 acres of land important to native Americans near Grand Canyon National Park. Sinema was a lead advocate of banning future uranium mining in the area.

Senate records indicate Sinema chartered further flights that day and the next to visit several other cities at an additional cost of $19,000. She did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

(The Center Square) - Arizona can achieve a better free-enterprise ranking if it improves on housing and public safety, according to Zachary Milne, a senior economist at the Common Sense Institute for Arizona.

CSI last week released its annual Free Enterprise Report, which ranks states in nine categories: education, energy, health care, housing, infrastructure, public safety, state budget and finances, taxes and fees, and workforce.

Overall, the report found that Arizona ranked 27th in the country when all these categories were aggregated.

California ranked at the very bottom of the list. Nevada ranked 33rd, and Colorado, 17th. South Dakota was No. 1.

Milne told The Center Square that Arizona’s ranking is in the middle of the pack in its free-enterprise competitive score.

According to the senior economist, Arizona can improve in housing and public safety.

Arizona ranked 40th in housing and 43rd in public safety.

If Arizona wants to “continue to grow and be a destination for businesses and people looking for a better life,” then it needs to get its “housing issue under control,” Milne explained.

The report noted that because of Arizona’s economic success over the last 10 years, many people have moved to the state, especially from California. It said housing construction has not kept up with demand, resulting in higher home prices and limited availability.

In 2011, an average household needed to work about 32 hours a month to afford a new mortgage. Eleven years later, the same household needed to work over 82 hours to afford one, the report said.

CSI released a report last year showing Arizona will always be in a housing deficit.

Arizona needs to build more housing, Milne noted.

The report ranked Arizona 40th in housing competitiveness, 38th in hours to pay mortgage and 34th in hours to pay rent.

Looking ahead, the report said Arizona’s outlook is positive because more homes are being built and migration into the state has slowed down.

For public safety, Milne said Arizona has room to improve this category by reducing its homeless population, drug-related deaths and crime numbers.

In 2024, the report stated overdose deaths declined in America, but Arizona's decline was one of the nation's slowest rates.

CSI said the state’s homeless population continues to increase. A Housing and Urban Development report showed in 2024 that Arizona had the nation's 10th highest number of homeless people, with 14,737.

According to the report, Arizona’s crime ranking has improved in recent years, but the state has not hired enough police officers to keep pace with population growth.

The report showed Arizona ranked 46th in the number of police per crime, 41st in drug overdose deaths and 37th in homelessness.

CSI described Arizona’s future in the public safety category as positive because the state and federal government have pursued additional resources to fight drug and human trafficking along the southern border.

The report said that, due to recent federal policy changes, border states will see their rankings improve in this category in the future.

Another area for improvement is education. The report ranked Arizona's schools 40th in the nation.

The factors pulling down Arizona’s education ranking are low high school graduation rates and test scores, Milne said.

Arizona has the nation’s 48th-lowest graduation rate. Regarding test scores, Arizona fourth graders ranked 46th in reading and 45th in math. The state’s eighth graders ranked 38th in reading and 29th in math.

In fiscal categories, Arizona ranked in the top 10 in state budget, taxes and fees and economic momentum.

Arizona ranked sixth in state budget rankings, with the report saying the state continues to keep its “debt under control.” The report noted legislators have made an effort to use excess revenue to pay down the state’s general fund debt.

The Grand Canyon State ranked fifth in taxes and fees. CSI’s report said this was due to its low “tax and fee burden.”

Arizona’s state and local taxes and fees totaled 9.8%, which is lower than the national average of 12.8%, the report stated.

The report also highlighted its flat 2.5% tax rate, which is tied for the lowest among states with an income tax. Arizona has also streamlined personal property taxes and reduced business tax rates, the report added.

Arizona ranked first in economic momentum, according to the report. This ranking is due to the state having the fastest five-year average growth in GDP per capita, employment growth and increased incomes. According to the report, Arizona saw “one of the fastest declines” in its overall poverty rate.

In addition to these categories, Arizona also ranked well in energy. The report found Arizona ranked 17th in the country.

Milne called the state’s energy grid “very reliable.” He noted Arizona is well-positioned for the future as data centers and other “high power demand” industries become a part of America’s economy.

(The Center Square) - A new Arizona bill is designed to stop the spread of child pornography and revenge porn.

House Bill 2133 is in the state Senate, awaiting deliberation after passing the state House last month by a vote of 41 to 16. Three representatives did not vote.

HB 2133 mandates that online commercial websites that publish or distribute sexual materials verify that every person in the content is 18 or older.

These online commercial platforms would be required to take steps to prevent non-consensual uploads and use automated detection tools when possible, HB 2133 says. Detection tools could include third-party verification systems or signed affidavits.

The bill is an attempt to curb revenge pornography, which includes photos and videos that are distributed without the subject's permission.

HB 2133 does not pertain to news organizations, search engines, cloud providers or in good-faith uses that are for “scientific, medical or educational purposes.”

Online commercial entities that don’t follow proper age-verification rules, the bill says, could be fined up to $10,000 per day per violation. If a minor is depicted in sexual material, an online commercial entity could be fined up to $250,000.

On top of all this, HB 2133 includes artificial intelligence-generated or digitally altered sexual content in the bill's definition of sexual material. This means people could face criminal charges now for uploading AI-generated or digitally altered explicit images of someone in Arizona.

Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Yuma, HB 2133’s sponsor, told The Center Square that the bill makes Arizona law “more proactive than reactive.”

Kupper said a woman who was the victim of revenge porn brought this piece of legislation to him. He added that they worked on it to “tighten it up and fit into what Arizona needs,” calling it a “constituent bill.”

Arizona needs this law because society does not “treat internet crimes the same way as physical world crimes,” Kupper said.

He said the bill makes Arizona law “more proactive than reactive.”

The state representative gave the example of a strip club, where people are able to legally take off their clothes. However, these individuals have to have their age verified first to do this.

Whereas on the internet, revenge porn and child porn are allowed to be uploaded to the internet first before it is removed, Kupper noted.

“All I am doing is bringing a level of consistency between how we treat actions in the physical world to the digital world,” he told The Center Square.

A misconception people have about the bill, according to Kupper, is that they are “equating” it to his age verification bill from last year’s session.

Last year, Gov. Katie Hobbs signed into law HB 2112, which mandated commercial pornography websites to verify users are of legal age before being able to use their platform.

Kupper said these two bills are different. He noted his age verification bill “had to do with making sure minors were not seeing adult content.”

“This bill [HB 2133] is about making sure minors are not in [adult content],” he noted.

Kupper also said another misunderstanding about his current bill is that it restricts free speech. He pointed out that “child porn and revenge porn are not protected speech.”

The state representative said his bill does not affect “protected speech.”

Kupper said he is “building off of existing federal statute” and bringing it to Arizona.

His legislation says online commercial platforms can’t share identifying information with federal, state or local government entities. Also, they can’t retain identifying information.

The bill also requires verification records to be kept for seven years and provided to the Arizona attorney general upon request.

Kupper said he worked with the Free Speech Coalition, a nonprofit trade association for the adult industry, on an amendment to his bill regarding record-keeping requirements.

Mike Stabile, director of public policy for the Free Speech Coalition, told The Center Square that the amendments the coalition worked on with Kupper were “making sure” his bill complied with “federal law and other regulations around revenge porn and child sex abuse material.”

With these new amendments, Stabile said HB 2133 will be stronger in “preventing” the distribution of revenge and child porn.

Kupper said he will introduce the amendments to the bill on the state Senate floor.

Stabile said his organization is taking a neutral stance on HB 2133. Last year, the coalition opposed Kupper’s age verification bill.

Stable added that his trade association reached out to Kupper to provide its expertise on age- and consent-verification laws.

Adult content sites use multiple verification steps to ensure people in their content are of legal age and have consented to be in the content, Stabile said.

The adult industry has been “the front line defense in a lot of cases” to prevent the distribution of revenge porn and child porn, he noted.

Stabile said he was “glad Kupper has been willing to work with [the coalition] on this bill and hopefully on future bills.”

In addition to the Free Speech Coalition, Kupper noted he also worked with Google and Meta on HB 2133. Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google owns YouTube.

Kupper said he has worked with the two California companies to ensure the bill protects “children, [and] non-consenting adults” as well as speech.

Kupper told The Center Square that HB “has a good shot” of being signed into law by Hobbs, citing she signed his age verification bill last year.

He said if members of Hobbs’ office have any concerns about HB 2133, he is willing to work with them.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the Phoenix City Council vote on U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement activities.

(The Center Square) – The Phoenix City Council voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day and rename facilities and streets named after the United Farm Workers cofounder.

The action followed this week's rapidly growing trend across Arizona and California to remove Chavez's name wherever it appears, following allegations that he raped United Farm Workers cofounder Dolores Huerta and two girls. Chavez was a Yuma, Ariz. native who died in 1993 and cofounded the UFW union.

Council members Wednesday also voted 8-1 in favor of a proposal limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Phoenix.

The council's vote on Chavez came on the same day that an Arizona Senate committee, meeting elsewhere in Phoenix at the Capitol, voted to advance legislation to repeal the holiday on a statewide basis.

In addition to the city of Phoenix's decision to rename the holiday, Mayor Kate Gallego said the city will begin a process to remove a plaque honoring Chavez. She added the city will rename its facilities and remove street signs bearing his name.

“First, we stand with victims and survivors, as I can’t imagine the courage it took for them to share their truth, and I'm deeply grateful,” said the mayor. “We also stand with the thousands of people whose voices and advocacy built the farmworker movement.”

Gallego went on to say that "the actions of one individual do not define their success or their power.”

During a public comment period, one resident named Feliciano urged the city to wait and asked why an investigation into the Chavez allegations had not been conducted.

“That should be concerning for everyone regardless of politics,” said Feliciano, whose last name was not stated clearly.

“In America, we believe in due process," said Feliciano, who went to Cesar Chavez High School in Phoenix. "We don't believe in judgment; we don't rewrite history based on incomplete information.”

During her remarks at the meeting, Councilmember Anna Hernandez said American leaders “have a long history of ignoring the experiences of sexual violence that women have faced.” Hernandez added that people need to be held accountable.

“As a council member, it is my responsibility to push this city to take action, to find resources for survivors, to find resources to teach men and boys not to be trash,” said Hernandez. “I will be voting yes with the expectation that we are going to take material steps to end sexual and domestic violence against women and girls.”

Regarding ICE, city council members approved a Community Transparency Initiative that requires federal law enforcement officers to obtain permission from the city before conducting activities.

"All of us are aware of the many civil rights abuses and blatant illegal activity that far too many have experienced” at the hands of ICE, Gallego said, citing Portland and Chicago. She also pointed to Minneapolis, where federal immigration officers killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“Even here in Phoenix,” said the mayor about questionable ICE activities. “It's un-American, it's shameful, it doesn't make us safer, and we have to be prepared if we're next” on ICE’s list.

In February, Gallego put an item before the council to begin adopting policies that the mayor said would prepare for a possible escalation of ICE operations. For the last 45 days, the mayor and city council members have been meeting with community members to hear their concerns and ideas. That, said the mayor, has helped city officials end up in a better place.

“I think staff has done an excellent job of addressing the priorities we set forth and coming up with a plan to move forward,” said Gallego. “This is not the end of the road on this topic. We're going to remain vigilant and learn and do as much as we can to make sure that ICE agents who violate the law, who are needlessly violent with protesters, will be held to account.”

The city council heard from more than a dozen speakers during a time for public comments.

One man, whose first name is Rafael but last name wasn't stated clearly, said the United States is made up of immigrants.

“ICE treats us like we’re irrelevant beings. It's unacceptable,” said Rafael. “I have no faith, federally, but in you guys I do.”

Annette Musa, a member of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board, thanked city leaders for “working to stay ahead of escalation” should it come to Phoenix.

“We look forward to regular reports on this work as well as how the business community can contribute to a safe and prosperous Phoenix,” said Musa.

Before the council meeting, Arizona Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said the city doesn't have the ability to impose restrictions on a federal agency. He called Phoenix's measure "illegal," "grandstanding virtue signaling" and "meaningless" during a Center Square interview. He said the city has no control over what ICE does in public places.

(The Center Square) - The average U.S. gallon of gas neared $4 on Wednesday as California closed in on $6, with prices fueled by the uncertainty around the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran.

With no clear end in sight for the Iran conflict that has killed nearly 3,000 people across the Middle East, oil and gas prices have remained high across the globe, but slowed since the first weeks of the conflict. In the U.S., some states are exploring pauses on fuel taxes to relieve consumers.

“I would caution against saying things are stabilizing because prices are reacting to a dynamic and complicated international situation,” AAA Auto Club Group spokesperson Skyler McKinley in Colorado told The Center Square on Wednesday. “Prices have stabilized at an expensive level, and so we're seeing that oil flow across the system. And we're seeing it priced in at the gasoline level.”

The U.S. national average for a gallon of regular gas was $3.98 Wednesday, up from $3.84 last week, according to AAA. The all-time high was $5.01 set back in the summer of 2022 shortly after the Russia-Ukraine war began and as the COVID-19 pandemic was ending.

In the Southwest, California saw an average price of $5.83, up from last week’s $5.56. Coastal counties such as Los Angeles, San Diego and San Luis Obispo saw averages above $5.90 a gallon. San Francisco County saw a $6 a gallon average on Wednesday, and some northern and eastern counties saw $6 or more for the average trip to the pumps.

Arizona reached $4.62, up from last week's $4.40. The state's most populous county and home to Phoenix, Maricopa, had the most expensive gas at $4.92 a gallon.

Colorado remained below the national average at $3.91, up from $3.83. In Nevada, the average gallon creeped toward $5 at $4.83 from last week’s $4.62. Clark County, home to Las Vegas, saw an average of $4.88 a gallon.

“At $4 per gallon, behavior starts to change. Motorists don't cancel their vacation, but they might combine errands. They might eat out less,” said McKinley. “$4 is the line in the sand where many motorists are like, ‘Oh, I've got to change my behavior – to use less fuel or to use it more efficiently.’ ”

McKinley added that he did not expect fuel demand to decrease.

In Arizona, legislators are considering a pause on gas fuel taxes to fight the rising prices. Republicans proposed House Bill 2400, the Gas Tax Holiday Bill, but neither legislative chamber has voted on the issue, which is unlikely to be popular among Democrats.

The Gas Tax Holiday Bill would suspend the state’s 18 cent per gallon fuel tax from May 1 to Sept. 30. The tax generated over $817 million for the state’s Highway User Revenue Fund and was the biggest contributor to the fund that pays for the state’s highways, roads and other major infrastructure.

The Arizona bill would follow similar measures under consideration in at least three other states, according to Market Watch.

“There's some stuff you can do around the margins. And when we have gas tax conversations, that's what we're talking about – but changing those doesn't actually change the trend lines and the pressures [on fuel prices],” said McKinley. “A gas tax is a simple fix to provide some measure of relief to some people, but it does so at the consequence of whatever you would use those dollars for.”

Currently Georgia is the only state that has enacted a gas tax holiday in response to the Iran conflict-influenced gas price hike. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the measure last Friday, suspending the state’s fuel taxes for 60 days.

The gas tax holiday proposed by Arizona Republicans follows a series of similar proposals in recent years, but none have been successfully passed into law in the state.

While the Arizona Republican party holds slim majorities in both the state House and Senate, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has not signaled support for a fuel tax holiday. In an email response to The Center Square, the Governor’s Office said it doesn't comment on pending legislation.

(The Center Square) - University of California, Los Angeles is being sued over what plaintiffs call a "radical," anti-Israel activist.

The lawsuit was brought by the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, which claims UCLA is hiding records from the public about what “radicals” have been teaching on campus during UCLA’s taxpayer-funded Activist-in-Residence program.

Goldwater said these “activists” have a right to their radical ideas, including the self-proclaimed revolutionary journalist Lisa Gray-Garcia, who called homelessness a “white man’s scam” and accused Israel of genocide. Still, Goldwater attorneys said the university is not entitled to hide records about what radicals are teaching or how much they’re being paid.

“Public universities don't get to operate in secret,” Goldwater attorney Stacy Skankey told The Center Square. “They're taxpayer-funded, and so if the taxpayers are funding any particular program, the public has a right to see it.”

According to Skankey, Goldwater has been trying to get information for several months, but UCLA has not complied with the California Public Records Act and its requirements for a timely response.

“So we have sued to get them to comply with the law to ensure that we receive the documents that they're withholding,” said Skankey. “In California, the response is due almost immediately, and they have worked with us as far as saying that a production would be forthcoming. But they've kept moving the ball on that, and they haven't given us a clear reason as to why that's happening, why they're withholding.”

Skankey noted the law does not make exceptions for anything that might prove inconvenient or embarrassing to UCLA.

“They cannot operate behind closed doors,” said Skankey. “They are public and taxpayer-funded, and so, any taxpayer has a right to know what's going on at that university and what they're funding.”

The California Public Records Act was passed by the state Legislature in 1968. According to CA.gov, the state of California states that CPRA “requires that government records be disclosed to the public, upon request.”

The lawsuit is filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a Phoenix City Council vote.

(The Center Square) – California and Arizona are moving quickly with bipartisan, widespread and emotional support to take once revered labor leader Cesar Chavez’s name and likeness off holidays, schools, streets and facilities after allegations of rape.

Officials are hurrying to rename Cesar Chavez Day ahead of its date, March 31. It’s a holiday in California, Arizona and seven other states.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Los Angeles County, the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District have renamed Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day following allegations that Chavez raped Dolores Huerta, resulting in her giving birth to two children. Chavez, a Yuma, Ariz. native who died in 1993 and is also accused of sexually assaulting two girls, and Huerta, 95, cofounded the United Farm Workers union.

Legislation to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day is being discussed at the Capitol in Sacramento ahead of the March 31 date. A bill is being put together by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, and Senate Pro Tem President Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara.

"California’s farmworker rights movement never has been about one individual," Rivas and Limón said in a joint statement. "To the survivors who have found the courage to come forward, uplifting the movement’s values of dignity and justice, and demanding accountability, our hearts are with you always."

In Phoenix, the Arizona Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to back a bill repealing Cesar Chavez Day on what Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, told The Center Square is a faster-than-usual track for legislation. Lawmakers there are speeding up the process by replacing all the content in House Bill 2072, a previous unrelated bill already going through the legislative system.

Meanwhile, in a government chamber just a mile away from the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, the Phoenix City Council voted to rename the holiday as Farmworkers Day. Council members also decide to rename streets and facilities that currently have Chavez's name.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass recently issued an executive order renaming the Chavez holiday as officials expressed shock over the allegations against the labor leader.

“These accounts coming after decades are deeply troubling and underscore a fundamental truth. Sexual abuse has long harmed women and girls, and accountability must never be secondary to any movement, legacy or individual,” said Hilda Solis, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, at Tuesday’s meeting.

Shortly after her comments and several public speakers unanimously supporting the change, the board voted 5-0 to immediately rename the holiday. The same motion also included an instruction to all county departments to immediately remove Chavez's name from all holiday events, communications and materials and refocus events on farmworker justice and labor rights.

“This movement will not be erased,” said Solis, who described herself as Huerta's friend.

The board then voted 5-0 on another motion directing all county departments to start the process to get public input on renaming all county facilities and streets with Chavez’s name. The staff was instructed to report back to the board in 21 days.

That motion includes the removal of art depicting Chavez.

Los Angeles County has three art works representing Chavez at a library, park and probation center, Arts and Culture Director Kristin Sakoda told the board.

"The intention of all of our civic art is to create a welcoming space, to reflect our cultural diversity, artistry and creativity," Sakoda said, but added it's important that art doesn't hurt people.

Solis and Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey Horvath worked together on the resolutions concerning Chavez.

“This past week has been heartbreaking for so many people on so many levels, for communities, for people who admired one man and admired the movement,” Hahn said.

Horvath noted labor movements consist of people, not those who lead them. “If anything, this moment demands we wipe the lens, not erase history."

Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell called on the county to develop a better process before it commits taxpayers’ dollars to honoring someone, to make sure the person’s full history is known. And Supervisor Kathryn Barger noted schools now face the challenge of how to rewrite the curriculum about Chavez and the labor movement.

The Chavez name is seen throughout California, from streets in the heavily Latino cities of Los Angeles, Oxnard, Santa Barbara and San Diego, to schools bearing Chavez’s name throughout Southern California and beyond.

Petersen told The Center Square that efforts to rename streets, schools, events and facilities in Arizona had spread “like a brush fire.”

On Tuesday, there was emotion in the voice of Los Angeles Unified School District board member Kelly Gonez as she talked about the resolution she co-authored to rename Cesar Chavez Day and remove Chavez’s name and likeness wherever it appears in the nation’s second-largest school district. That means the removal of murals and the renaming of Cesar Chavez Learning Academies in San Fernando and Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Los Angeles.

“These heart-wrenching stories represent a betrayal for so many of us and yet they resonate with many survivors and many women who have experienced this as girls and in our adulthood including myself,” said Gonez, who was tearful.

She noted the board stands with survivors and condemns all forms of sexual violence.

The board voted 7-0 for the resolution.

At the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting, Solis, the chair, said the new holiday name, Farmworkers Day, “addresses the ongoing challenges and reaffirms our commitment to their dignity and rights.”

(The Center Square) - The sponsor of Arizona bills aimed at improving transportation routes sees economic opportunity down the road after their recent passage in the state Senate.

"These projects address real pressure points on our highways, keep traffic moving, and support the continued growth of communities across Arizona," said Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, answering The Center Square's questions by email.

"Transportation is about safety, mobility and economic opportunity," said Rogers, who sponsored Senate Bills 1062, 1063 and 1064. The Senate approved all three last week, and they have gone to the House for consideration.

SB 1062 passed along party lines, with four state senators not voting. SB 1063 and SB 1064 passed 18 to 9, with three state senators not voting. Only one Democrat voted in favor of these two bills: Sen. Lauren Kuby, D-Tempe.

SB 1062 provides $1 million from the state general fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to help with upgrades along Route 60 and Superstition Mountain Drive. Some of the funds will be used to put in a “left turn lane and other intersection improvements.”

Rogers told The Center Square by email that “US 60 and Superstition Mountain Drive is the #1 safety concern for the Gold Canyon community.”

“This area has seen explosive residential growth and continues to be a regional choke point affecting daily commercial and freight traffic in and out of the Phoenix metro area,” she said.

The state senator added that “this specific intersection has seen multiple traffic accidents.”

“This intersection also affects emergency response and regional traffic surges especially during the 10-week Renaissance Festival which draws over 300,000 visitors,” she noted.

Rogers said the Arizona Board of Transportation has already approved the “design costs for these improvements.”

“The bill funds the costs that ADOT has estimated the improvements will cost,” she said.

When this transportation project is complete, Rogers told The Center Square that “drivers can expect a much safer experience by adding the additional lane and extending the stacking of both lanes to accommodate more vehicles.”

SB 1063 allocates $11.1 million for Arizona’s general fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to improve U.S. Route 70 between Mile Post 255 and Mile Post 301.

Rogers provided The Center Square with a letter from the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s chairman, Terry Rambler, addressed to the Arizona Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology Committee members. The tribe sent the letter in January.

The letter said that between Oct. 15, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2024, Route 70 saw “55 fatal accidents and 549 accidents with injuries.”

“This may appear as a relatively small number when compared to Maricopa County; yet, for our small, isolated, rural population, this number presents devastating impacts – on average, one working family member of our Tribe often supports 3 generations, up to 10 to 12 people,” the letter said.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe has over 17,500 members, according to the letter.

The $11.1 million estimate is based on a state Department of Transportation planning expert's estimate, the letter said. The most expensive part of the overall estimation will be creating a frontage road, which is estimated to cost $4.5 million.

SB 1064 allocates $3 million from Arizona’s general fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to help the city of Flagstaff with improvements along U.S. Route 66 between Interstate 40 and Milton Road.

The bill says the Arizona Department of Transportation, before or on Sept. 15, needs to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Flagstaff to help “design and construct the improvements along U.S. Route 66.”

Flagstaff must receive this money on or before Nov. 1, SB 1064 says.

(The Center Square) - The partial federal government shutdown did not impact the Federal Emergency Management Agency's immediate response to the severe flooding in Hawaii, a FEMA spokesperson told The Center Square Tuesday.

“FEMA remains fully prepared to provide support as needed,” an agency spokesperson said, answering questions by email. “While the shutdown impacts some routine operations, immediate response needs are not affected.”

“State and local officials are leading response operations on the ground in Hawaii, and efforts are proceeding without delay,” the FEMA representative told The Center Square. “Currently, FEMA has 53 staff deployed to monitor and support flooding operations, with no personnel being held back. Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments began yesterday in coordination with state and federal partners.”

The response comes amid a 40-day partial government shutdown that has left the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, unfunded. The shutdown has also meant that Transportation Security Administration agents across the country have been working without pay, leading agents to call in sick and creating lines lasting hours at airports. TSA agents were last paid on Feb. 14.

While the shutdown continues, Hawaii is still early in its recovery from back-to-back storms with flood watches across large swaths of the big island of Hawaii and Maui, according to the National Weather Service. Storms caused abnormal flooding and $1 billion in damages, according to the state government.

The floods were the worst since 2004, according to the government, with the most hard-hit areas receiving up to 4 feet of rain during the first week of the storm.

“The scale of damage we are seeing – from washed-out highways to overwhelmed water systems – makes clear that federal partnership is essential,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a Tuesday press release, requesting a disaster declaration from President Donald Trump. “We are doing everything we can at the state and county level, but this is exactly the type of event where FEMA support is critical.”

FEMA acknowledged the Democratic governor's request for disaster declaration and said it was in process.

Officials have been critical of FEMA's responses to past disasters.

One hundred people died as more than 2,200 structures were destroyed and $5.5 billion in damages were caused by the state’s last major, natural disaster – an August 2023 wildfire in Maui. Today, nearly three years later, FEMA approved $5.7 million to help.

The delay in the funding was criticized by U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, D-Hawaii, earlier this month, who mentioned former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Noem required personal sign-off on all relief spending over $100,000, according to the New York Times.

“Communities across our country are bearing the consequences of Kristi Noem’s failures as Secretary,” Kim said in a statement. “For an administration that touts the importance of efficiency, her needless red tape is proven to have left vulnerable communities without crucial funding when they needed it most.”

Hawaii’s political leaders hope the federal response is more immediate for the state’s latest natural disaster. The request includes up to 90% of eligible recovery costs to be footed by the federal government.

Meanwhile, across the ocean in the U.S. Southwest, the heat wave that brought in region-wide all-time daily highs last week continued to rock several states. In Nevada, expected highs were 20 degrees above the normal highs for this time of year, reaching into the mid-90s for Las Vegas.

Highs into the low 100s kept residents indoors this week in Phoenix and across Arizona. Further west in California, Los Angeles felt above-average highs into the mid-80s this week, with a heat advisory in effect Tuesday along the state's Central Coast by the National Weather Service.

In the Colorado Rockies, Denver continued to feel day-to-day record highs after last week’s heat wave. Wednesday was forecasted to reach the high-80s, which would set an all-time high for March in the Mile High City. Fire danger also remained high in the state fueled by the unseasonal heat, high winds and a dry winter. By Monday night, crews were beginning to contain the 24 Fire, which started last week and grew to more than 7,300 acres south of Colorado Springs.

(The Center Square) - Arizona Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh is criticizing the city of Phoenix for its resolution restricting federal immigration enforcement.

Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, told The Center Square that Phoenix’s resolution limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city is “illegal” and “grandstanding virtue signaling.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Phoenix City Council will vote on a resolution requiring federal law enforcement to obtain the city's prior approval before conducting law enforcement activity. The meeting is set for 2:30 p.m. Mountain time and will live-stream at phoenix.gov.

The resolution says federal law enforcement can’t use city property for staging operations, processing detainees or executing civil law enforcement operations without the approval of the city manager.

The resolution notes it does not restrict federal law enforcement when executing a judicial warrant, an emergency circumstance or an ongoing pursuit.

If approved, the resolution would not apply to federal law enforcement conducting operations on public streets and at airports and the Phoenix Municipal Court.

The resolution would require Phoenix officials to identify which city-owned properties federal law enforcement has used before and might decide to use again.

After doing this, the city would be required to install signs on identified properties stating that federal law enforcement can’t use them for civil enforcement without permission.

On top of all this, the resolution requires all city departments to appoint a point of contact and establish a process for reporting violations of federal law enforcement agencies unlawfully using city-owned land.

The resolution would remain in effect until March 25, 2029, if passed by the city council.

The Center Square reached out Tuesday to the city of Phoenix, but did not hear back by press time.

Kavanaugh told The Center Square that Arizona law requires all government entities to cooperate with ICE to enforce “immigration law to the fullest extent allowed by federal law.”

He said what the city of Phoenix is attempting to do is “meaningless.”

“ICE is not going to listen to them. They have no control over what ICE does in public places, so they can’t even prevent that. This is pandering for votes,” the majoity leader said.

Kavanagh explained the city should be “using money to assist ICE in enforcing immigration laws as Arizona law permits.”

According to Kavanagh, illegal immigration “is a big negative.”

“[Illegal immigrants] take away jobs from legal residents. They lower the prevailing wage in certain occupations. They commit crimes that would never be committed were they not here in the first place, and they're a drain on public services,” he explained.

The senator noted the Arizona Legislature could file a complaint that could potentially remove Phoenix's portion of state-shared revenue if the city passes the resolution.

But Kavanagh added, “ICE is going to rightfully and legally ignore all of this grandstanding, so it’s not going to make any difference."

(The Center Square) - A North Carolina high school student is suing over alleged violations of her constitutional rights after her school painted over her Charlie Kirk tribute and accused her of vandalism.

In December 2025, Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization that protects religious rights, filed a lawsuit against Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte on behalf of student Gabby Stout. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The lawsuit alleges the school violated Stout’s First, Fourth and Fifth amendments.

The Center Square reached out to Ardrey Kell High School, but its administration declined to comment on the litigation. The school is part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district. The Center Square reached out to the district, but did not hear back by press time.

Travis Barham, an ADF attorney representing Stout, told The Center Square that the history of the high school’s spirit rock is “notable because students had painted a variety of other ideological messages on the rock.”

The attorney noted the spirit rock had Black Lives Matter messaging on it in the past.

When Barham first got involved in the case, he said the “degree to which this violation was egregious and blatant immediately jumped out” to him.

“It shocked me that a school district would be so cavalier in the way it mistreated a student,” he noted.

Stout, who is a junior at the high school, painted a tribute for Kirk after the conservative leader and Scottsdale, Ariz., resident was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025 at a rally at Utah Valley University in Orem.

Here's the lawsuit's timeline of events.

On Sept. 12, Stout called the school’s office and received approval for the tribute from a school official. According to the lawsuit, the official told her, “That would be very nice.”

At around 4 p.m. on Sept. 13, Stout, her parents and two friends went to the high school to paint the spirit rock, the lawsuit noted.

On one side of the rock, it said, “Live Like Kirk — John 11:25” and “Freedom 1776,” the lawsuit stated.

After painting the rock, Stout, a Christian, and her friends placed flowers at the base of the spirit rock to honor Kirk, the lawsuit said.

The students finished painting the spirit rock around 6 p.m., the lawsuit stated.

Two hours later, according to the lawsuit, Stout learned on social media that the message she had painted on the school rock was no longer visible. The lawsuit said gray paint was used to cover up her message.

Later that night, Stout returned to the school’s campus to see what had happened to the spirit rock, the lawsuit said, adding that she saw a high school student taking pictures of the rock.

The lawsuit said Stout asked the student if she had painted over her Kirk tribute, but the student told her that school officials had done it.

On Sept. 14, when Stout returned to the school’s campus, she saw someone painted over the grey paint with the message of “Be kind” and “You are enough,” the lawsuit stated.

According to the suit, Susan Nichols, the principal of Ardrey Kell High School, sent an email to all parents at the high school that said its spirit rock was “painted this weekend with a message that was not authorized or sponsored by the school or the district."

“Acts like these are considered vandalism to school property and are in violation of the CMS Code of Student Conduct,” Nichols added in her email.

The principal also said in her email that law enforcement was contacted and that the school would be cooperating with the investigation, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, the high school’s code of conduct states if students are found guilty of violating its vandalism policy, they may be held financially responsible for the damages.

After reading the principal's email, Stout sent an email to Nichols saying that she had painted the rock but had contacted the school and received approval to paint the spirit rock, the lawsuit said. Stout denied any act of vandalism.

Barham said the charge of vandalism “made no sense because the spirit rock was a place where students always painted messages.”

To accuse her of vandalism publicly and then to contact law enforcement to cooperate with a criminal investigation “took matters to a whole new absurd level,” the attorney told The Center Square.

On Sept. 15, Stout was called down to Student Services, where the offices of Nichols and other school officials are located, according to the lawsuit.

Deborah Hitt, one of the school’s assistant principals, directed Stout to a conference room, the lawsuit noted.

In the conference room, the lawsuit stated Hill told Stout that she needed to write down her account of what happened regarding the spirit rock on Sept. 13. Stout’s two friends had also been instructed to write similar statements about the events.

Barham said the school did not tell Stout about her constitutional rights to remain silent or to have an attorney present during a criminal investigation.

After Stout returned to class, Hitt came to her class to speak with Stout again, the lawsuit stated. The assistant principal retrieved Stout’s phone from the classroom and returned once again to Student Services to answer more questions, the lawsuit said.

This time, Stout sat in Assistant Principal Kelly Holden’s office along with Hitt, the lawsuit stated. The suit said Holden called Stout’s mom to see if she could ask her questions about her daughter’s role in painting the spirit rock.

Stout’s mom granted Holden’s request. However, the assistant principal asked Stout to open her cell phone to show them her call records, the lawsuit stated, adding that the school never asked permission to search Stout’s phone.

On Sept. 16, according to the lawsuit, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Administrative Services sent a message to all the high school students’ families announcing the “Revised Spirit Rock Speech Code,” which says, “Spirit rocks are not to be used for personal, political, or religious messages.”

The code adds, “All messages should reflect positive school spirit and uphold the inclusive values of our school community.”

According to Barham, the new policy gives school officials “a wide amount of discretion to decide what’s in good taste."

The attorney called the new policy a violation of the First Amendment, noting the U.S. Supreme Court has been “very clear” that when government “targets political and religious messages for different levels of scrutiny, that’s viewpoint discrimination.”

”What we have here is a school district that has committed itself to targeting the speech of students and families of faith. That's unconstitutional, and that should never be tolerated,” Barham said.

The same day, Stout’s father spoke by phone with Nichols, who told him that his daughter would not be punished and that the criminal investigation was being closed, the lawsuit noted. Nichols did not mention sending a statement exonerating Stout, according to the lawsuit.

On Sept. 17, Stout and her parents spoke with Nichols again by phone, during which they asked her to send a message clearing her daughter’s name, the lawsuit stated.

On social media, Stout saw messages that “urged school officials to prosecute her, insisted she should be imprisoned for years, and labeled [Stout] and her friends ‘racist Thugs,” the lawsuit said, adding that she also saw messages like “Die like Kirk.”

After this event, the lawsuit stated Stout’s best friends stopped “socializing with her,” and she was labeled by students as “the girl that painted the rock.”

The lawsuit noted the stress from the investigation, social media attacks and ostracization caused Stout’s Crohn’s Disease to exacerbate, causing “severe stomach issues for her.”

Stout’s parents repeatedly asked the school to clear their daughter’s name, but it never did, the lawsuit stated.

On Oct. 11, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Communications Division sent a message to all the families at the high school saying the display Stout and her friends made for Kirk was not “an act of vandalism” and did not violate the “student code of conduct,” the lawsuit added. It also said the school did not contact law enforcement to do an investigation.

According to the lawsuit, in November, school officials helped orchestrate a student-led protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including a message from Nichols promoting the event to the high school’s families.

”It's absurd that [Stout’s] speech was targeted and that she was personally targeted and maligned in such a deeply personal way. No students should ever have to do that, and no schools should be in the business of picking winners and losers when it comes to who can express their views,” Barham noted.

The attorney told The Center Square that “high school students should be inspired, challenged, and encouraged to express their beliefs freely. That goes for all points of view, not just left-leaning points of view.”

Stout’s lawsuit asks a court to end the school’s new speech code and seeks compensatory damages.

(The Center Square) - Former Gov. Doug Ducey’s chief economist and policy adviser told The Center Square that the ongoing budget negotiations between Arizona Republicans and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs are “unusual.”

Last week, budget talks between Republican legislative leaders and Hobbs abruptly ended.

Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, and House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Surprise, issued a joint statement saying Hobbs walked away from the negotiations on Thursday.

“At the center of this dispute is her proposal to dramatically increase withdrawals from Arizona's Public Land Trust, a voter-protected fund designed to support K-12 education for generations. This is not a solution. It is a long-term raid on a critical resource,” they said.

Petersen talked to The Center Square Friday about the stalled budget talks.

"What happened was she wanted us to raid the education trust fund to the tune of 10% withdrawals every year. It would have bankrupted the education trust fund. She wanted to use that as a way to balance the budget," Petersen said during a phone interview. "And to complicate it even more, the voters would have to vote on it."

Petersen told The Center Square that "there's no way" voters would have approved draining the education trust fund.

He said Republican legislative leaders told Hobbs that they didn't want to rely on "something so speculative" and, "We want to deal with real money, not fake money."

That's when Hobbs walked out of the budget talks, Petersen said.

The Center Square contacted Hobbs’ office, but did not hear back before publication.

According to the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the state land trust fund “supports K-12 schools, universities, and other public agencies in Arizona by generating revenues via the sale and use of lands and the investment of proceeds associated with acreage granted to the state.”

The Republican state leaders cited legislative budget analysts who project Hobbs’ proposal “would cut the trust nearly in half over the next 20 years, dropping it from roughly $9.7 billion to $4.7 billion.”

“Her latest plan calls for a 10.9 percent distribution for the next 20 years, far above the previous 6.9 percent over ten years,” they said. “That approach would bankrupt the trust and rob future education funding from our children just to please unions today.”

On the other side, Hobbs said she would not continue negotiations until the Arizona Republicans publicly released their budget plan.

“Legislative leaders have refused to engage in serious negotiations, failing to show the Governor’s Office a responsible way to pay for their proposed tax cuts for billionaires and special interests and refusing to discuss a Prop 123 proposal, a once-in-a-decade opportunity to invest in our public schools without raising taxes,” Hobbs said, according to the Arizona Mirror.

Petersen was critical of Hobbs during Friday's phone interview.

"We have a real vacuum of leadership on the ninth floor," Petersen said, referring to Hobbs and her office. "It's time for a real leader, a real governor.

"2027 cannot come soon enough," Petersen said, referring to the 2026 gubernatorial race and the start of a new term after it. The winner of the July 21 Republican primary will run against Hobbs in the Nov. 3 general election.

Petersen, meanwhile, is running for Arizona attorney general. The winner of the Republican primary is expected to go up against Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes on Nov. 3.

Glenn Farley, who currently works as Common Sense Institute Arizona’s policy and research director, told The Center Square that in mid-March, budget negotiations are usually in their early stages.

It would not be until May that budget documents would be made public, noted Farley, who served eight years in Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's administration. Ducey, a Republican, was governor from 2015 to 2023 and is a former CEO of the ice cream parlor chain Cold Stone Creamery.

Farley said Hobbs' request to have budget documents made public stood out to him.

He described the budget documents as being “live,” “changing sometimes several times a day.”

“ They're in flux, and the things that are changing, there are hundreds of lines of items on the spreadsheets. The things that are changing can be politically sensitive. So it would be very uncommon for documents that are in that state of flux to be released publicly,” Farley noted.

These documents would not usually be released until late April or early May, when they would be “vetted publicly,” Farley explained.

Despite the ongoing budget negotiations being “unusual,” Farley said it was a positive sign that they were already underway.

However, he said the downside to the budget negotiations is Hobbs stopping until certain “public demands are met by her legislative counterparts.”

“I don't recall that ever happening in the Ducey administration,” Farley noted.

Regarding Proposition 123, Arizona voters approved it in 2016. The proposition increased the annual distribution of the state’s land trust fund made to education funding from 2.5% to 6.9% for the next 10 fiscal years.

Proposition 123 had a “specific purpose, Farley said, adding that it was at the time when the Ducey administration “was settling an ongoing lawsuit with school districts related to conduct the state did during the Great Recession.”

As part of the settlement in Cave Creek Unified School District v. Arizona, Farley said Arizona needed to “make a large one-time cash payment and an ongoing increase in basic state aid” to education.

The proposition expired in June 2025. Farley stated if the state Legislature and governor don’t act on it, then it “will remain expired forever.”

He added that Arizona’s general fund is picking up the costs. Common Sense Institute Arizona projected that in 2024, the general fund in fiscal year 2026 will need to increase its spending by nearly $300 million to cover the last K-12 formula funding.

Farley said the governor and the Legislature disagree on whether the state will put new money into K-12 education and, if so, how to pay for it.

Based on Hobbs' budget proposal, she wants to move the distribution rate up from 6.9% to 10.9%.

Farley said in a typical year, the state land trust fund would earn between 7% and 8%. He added that the distribution rate of 6.9% is “probably sustainable.”

However, he said the 10.9% distribution rate is “aggressive.” If the distribution rate was increased to this percentage, Farley noted it would “likely result in decreases in trust value.”

Farley told The Center Square this means that Arizona “would be distributing more money than the trust is earning every year.”

Besides education spending, Farley noted another issue the governor and Legislature are discussing is conformity measures to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He said the Legislature wants full conformity, whereas Hobbs has proposed partial conformity to the federal changes.

The two sides are “disagreeing” over an estimated $100 million, Farley said, adding that $350 million of the $450 million in conformity costs are in Hobb’s proposals.

The items they are disagreeing over are “depreciation and capital investment incentives,” he stated.

The longer the conformity issues remain unsolved, the more they become an issue, according to Farley. He noted tax filing season started in January.

The research director said Arizona will be at the end of income tax season soon and the one-year mark of Proposition 123's sunset.

In the environment Arizona is operating in, Farley said it assumes the state’s revenues have “already absorbed the conformity costs,” and the general fund is paying for the costs of Proposition 123.

“ The governor wants to deviate from that environment, and the Legislature wants to maintain the current operating environment, which is simpler and more efficient for taxpayers,” he explained.

Center Square Southwest Regional Editor Dave Mason contributed to the reporting for this story.

(The Center Square) - Historic floods drenched Hawaii into the weekend, leaving behind an estimated $1 billion in damages with no plans yet for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response.

While Hawaiian residents were evacuated during the floods, several states in the continental Southwest reeled from a record-breaking, early heat wave.

Hawaii, meanwhile, saw what Gov. Josh Green called the state's worst flooding since 2004.

“This storm could cost over $1 billion of damage,” Green told reporters during a press conference Friday.

Rain pounded the Hawaiian Islands through the weekend on the tail end of two back-to-back storms that started March 10. Record rainfall hit the state day-after-day in some areas, with up to 4 feet of rain during the storm’s first week recorded in parts of Maui, according to the National Weather Service.

The downpour came from two Kona Low storms, a form of cyclone in the Pacific Ocean. The first occurred from March 10-15, and the second started March 18 and was expected to fully clear the Hawaiian islands by the end of Monday.

“It can essentially put the islands in a period of very active weather – very heavy rain for a week at a time,” Matthew Foster, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, told The Center Square on Monday. “And the fact that we had two of them back-to-back is a little unusual.”

Flash flood warnings and flood watches were still in effect across the big island of Hawaii Monday afternoon. Flood advisories remained active for the North Shore of Oahu and the island of Maui.

Foster said the human impact was largest on Oahu, the island known for Honolulu. It's where much of the state’s population lives.

“In terms of impacting towns, people and having the evacuation notice for the possible dam break … Oahu would have been the most impacted,” said Foster. “But in terms of rain amounts, the south side of Maui and the south side of the big island [Hawaii] actually received more rain.”

Over 230 rescues had occurred across the state as of Sunday, according to Gov. Green. No deaths have been reported.

In Oahu, over 5,500 residents were forced to evacuate from a near-overflow of the 120-year-old Wahiawā dam, according to the state government. Water levels at the dam have fallen since Sunday, and the evacuation orders have been lifted, leading residents to return home to mud-flooded homes.

FEMA has not said if it would send emergency supplies or personnel to help Hawaiian residents recover, as it would typically for a natural disaster in the U.S.

While Green said the White House had reached out to offer support, President Donald Trump had not publicly commented on the floods as of Monday afternoon.

FEMA falls under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is currently impacted by the partial government funding shutdown. Hawaii’s regional FEMA office did not return a call from The Center Square. Instead, the office sent an automatic email that it may not be able to reply for comment at this time, “due to the lapse in federal government funding.”

On the U.S. mainland, the Southwest is still recovering from an unusually early heat wave.

While only the Los Angeles area had an active heat warning as of Monday, states across the region were expected to continue to beat records across the week.

Last week’s heat wave saw several cities reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the earliest point in the year in recorded history, including Las Vegas, which had never previously recorded 100 as early as March.

“Coming out of this historic heat, we're still actually going to stay warm,” Sean Benedict, the National Weather Service's lead meteorologist in Phoenix, told The Center Square. “There's no significant system to cool us down, so we're still going to be seeing high temperatures pushing 20 degrees above normal for this time of year, and that's going to continue through the entire week.”

Benedict said the heat wave had been caused by unusually high pressure air moving into the region, which has now cooled down, but a lack of other weather means the heat will remain for the time being.

“It's not until the weekend and into early next week when we start to see the pattern shift a little bit more and we get more cloud cover, pulling some moisture up in here,” said Benedict. “Potentially even some rain showers.”

Residents across the Southwest have been warned since last week to avoid direct sun, seek air-conditioned rooms when possible and hydrate well, including with extra electrolytes such as in sports drinks. But Benedict said this early summer stint could still be enjoyed.

“ The mornings are still fairly cool even though they themselves are well above normal … Take advantage of the mornings when it is cool,” said Benedict. “But be prepared for it to get hot quickly and make sure you're prepared for that.”

(The Center Square) - A land-use attorney is sounding the alarm about a congressional bill that could have a major impact on Arizona’s housing market.

Congress has passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which would prevent institutional investors from buying single-family homes. The bill was approved by the Senate on March 12 and the House on Feb. 9. The Senate version is different from the House version, so it now must go back to the House for consideration.

The bipartisan bill was sponsored by U.S. Sens. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

“Housing is a major driver of concern regarding the cost of living today, where supply has not kept up with demand," said U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Peoria, Ariz.

“Current regulations drive up costs and delay construction while small to medium-sized banks are unable to finance new projects. That is why I voted in favor of this bill," Hamadeh said, answering The Center Square's questions by email.

"The conservative bill leverages private capital and existing federal programs to address housing affordability instead of expanding federal subsidies," Hamadeh said.

The representative also said the bill “furthers government transparency by requiring HUD to regularly testify before Congress and requiring HUD, USDA, and the VA to improve coordination and efficiency across their respective housing programs without increasing the federal deficit.”

Adam Baugh, a partner of the Phoenix law firm Withey Morris Baugh PLC, told The Center Square that the bill started out as a good idea.

But the bill became “kind of clumsy” as additional things were added to the bill that appealed to “the vibe of America and less to the facts of it," Baugh said.

The lawyer said there's a perception that these institutional investors were buying up available houses, so legislators added provisions to the bill to “respond to the vibe in America.”

A bill that started out with a great goal ended up being watered down by extra regulations on build-to-rent communities, he noted.

Baugh described built-to-rent as compact, ground-level homes, such as cottages and bungalows.

These living arrangements provide options for people who don’t want to live in an apartment, but want additional space, he explained.

Build-to-rent living spaces are not products that can be sold individually, the attorney stated.

“They make great sense for what is a horizontal apartment regime," Baugh said. "They make terrible sense if someone [is] trying to convert them to home ownership."

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act requires institutional investors with more than 350 build-to-rent homes to sell their excess structures.

The bill says institutional investors who own more than 350 units and continue building them must sell them within seven years of construction, with tenants given a first chance to buy them, he stated.

“This law essentially forces these units to be shed and sold one by one,” Baugh said, adding that this is an “impossibility to carry out.”

This bill will “likely kill off a very important asset class,” Baugh stated.

The attorney said the bill undervalues institutional investors’ assets and holdings because it “quickly forces a sale of assets.”

Baugh warned the bill would lead to less capital investment in these rentals.

“We keep talking about how we have a housing shortage. We have an affordability problem, and the biggest way to address that is to build more units,” he explained.

If build-to-rent developers no longer feel confident backing these projects, the future supply of build-to-rent lots will be reduced, tightening the rental market, he said.

According to Baugh, Phoenix is “arguably the most sensitive market in the United States for this bill.”

He said Phoenix is America’s top market for build-to-rent growth, with 30,000 units in the city and thousands more ready to hit the market soon.

“This bill directly targets one of Phoenix’s most dominant product types,” he said.

From 2019 to 2024, Arizona saw a 309% increase in build-to-rent homes, according to a study by Point2Homes, a company that helps people find rentals.

This bill would have a “dramatic impact” in Arizona, he said.

”Built to rent and the sale of land for built-to-rent is one of the things that has driven and supported the increased values of land in Arizona," Baugh said.

An unintended effect of this bill will be that Arizona land will not have “the same value as it did before,” with rents increasing because no new inventory is coming online, he said. “We thought we were solving a problem, [but] actually just exacerbated it."

Baugh, who gives advice to several build-to-rent investors, told The Center Square that they all worry about how they can exit an asset that was not meant for homeownership.

If institutional investors have to sell these units off at seven years, it will create a “mass eviction of an entire project," the attorney noted.

“Not only does it sort of boot people out of these units, it also is going to spook people from coming into the units as you get closer to that seven-year mark,” Baugh said.

He pointed out that if these institutional investors were going to sell these lots, they would have to make internal and external improvements, hire an agent who gets a certain commission and a period when no one is living there.

Baugh said this will cause investors to lose months of revenue.

If this bill becomes law, it will make institutional build-to-rent land buyers pause quickly, he said.

(The Center Square) - An Arizona ballot initiative seeks to enshrine mail-in and early in-person voting in the state constitution.

The Free, Fair and Secure Elections Act would guarantee Arizonans could vote in person on Election Day at county centers, request mail-in ballots for elections and continue voting early until the Monday before statewide elections.

Supporters are trying to put the measure on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. For that to happen, they must collect 383,293 signatures by July 2.

The elections initiative would prevent the Legislature from limiting the early voting period. It also says voting restrictions need to be “narrowly tailored and necessary to serve a compelling state interest.”

Furthermore, the initiative states Arizona must issue free ID cards to people without a driver’s license and that election results would be determined only by American citizens eligible to vote.

Stacy Pearson, co-founder of the public relations firm Lumen Strategies and a backer of the elections act, said there is an “absolute concerted effort from the White House to the Arizona state Capitol to make it more difficult to vote early and by mail.”

Pearson co-founded Lumen Strategies with Chad Campbell, who left the company to serve as Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ chief of staff. Campbell previously served as a Democratic state representative.

Pearson told The Center Square that Arizonans need to “take control away from politicians who are bending to the will” of President Donald Trump and put protection for voters in the state Constitution. Once added to the Constitution, the protections would be difficult to remove, she added.

Over the last couple of years, the Legislature has tried numerous times to “make it harder to vote” in Arizona, Pearson said.

Hobbs has vetoed a plethora of election-related bills the Legislature has passed since she became governor.

In 2023, the Democratic governor vetoed bills that would have modified early ballot lists, banned artificial intelligence for ballot processing and prohibited ranked-choice voting.

The following year, she axed bills that would have prevented county recorders from issuing voter registration cards to people with a mailing address outside Arizona and would have allowed federal political candidates to use observers at voting centers.

In 2025, the governor vetoed bills that would have allowed for hand-counted audits, required paper ballots to use watermarks and invisible ink for security and prevented the state attorney general from prosecuting county recorders who don’t certify elections.

The state’s access to early ballot and mail-in voting is determined by the Legislature, Pearson noted, but added Arizonans can’t “rely on the state Legislature to enshire these protections."

Arizona has been voting by mail for more than 30 years, she noted, adding that more than 80% of Arizonans used the state’s mail-in voting systems.

“This has to be a project from the people for the people. Our state Legislature is doing the exact opposite, with the direction from the president,” Pearson said.

She also noted Arizona Republicans use mail-in voting and are the “largest block of mail-in voters.”

“This isn’t something we’re going to have to try to court folks to consider. This is what the voters want,” she noted.

Pearson said politicians “are completely out of step with what Arizona voters want and currently use.”

“They want common-sense voter ID law, and they want early and mail-in access,” Pearson explained.

(The Center Square) — The Republican majority in the Arizona Legislature is working on a bill to end Cesar Chavez Day following allegations of sexual abuse and rape by the late United Farm Workers cofounder.

Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Deer Valley, has proposed a strike-everything amendment to House Bill 2072. Such an amendment is a quick way to move legislation by replacing the entire content of an unrelated bill already proceeding through the Legislature. Rep. Lisa Fink, R-Glendale, the original sponsor of HB 2072, supports the amendment.

The Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee will discuss the amendment at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Bolick is the committee chair.

The action to end the holiday follows United Farm Workers cofounder Dolores Huerta’s allegations this week that Chavez raped her, leading her to give birth to two children. There are also allegations that Chavez raped two young girls.

The accusations prompted UFW to cancel celebrations on Cesar Chavez Day, a state holiday on March 31 in Arizona, California and seven other states. The allegations have also prompted cities and school districts throughout the Southwest to discuss renaming streets and schools named after Chavez, as well as efforts to end or rename Cesar Chavez Day or anything else with Chavez’s name. Statues of Chavez have been covered up or removed.

For now, members of the Republican majority in the Arizona Senate and House are pushing to end the holiday.

“We cannot say we stand with victims and then maintain laws that send a conflicting message,” Bolick said in a statement Thursday. “This is about ensuring Arizona law reflects a clear commitment to protecting victims and upholding accountability.”

Senate President Warren Petersen said he was shocked when he heard the allegations against Chavez.

“The amount of abuse, sexual assault, rape, everything involved, is a horrific, heinous crime,” Petersen, R-Gilbert, told The Center Square during a phone interview Friday afternoon.

“Crimes against children are the most heinous,” Petersen said.

He noted he has been encouraged by bipartisan support for removing Chavez’s name from anything that honors him.

“The Republicans are leading the way on this, but I think Democrats will be on board with this," Petersen said about the bill ending the holiday.

“People are moving quickly to make sure his legacy is not preserved,” he said. “A person who has committed such a heinous act should not be honored in any way. This is an evil man. There’s no way our state should have a state holiday for a man who raped these women.”

The Senate president said it normally takes 17 days to pass a law, but efforts are being made to repeal Cesar Chavez Day before March 31, which is less than two weeks away. He added he expects Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has already canceled plans to honor Cesar Chavez on March 31, to sign the bill.

Instead of canceling the holiday altogether, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Thursday announced the city’s plans to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farm Workers Day. The Center Square asked Petersen why Arizona legislators wouldn’t do that.

“It’s an interesting question,” Petersen said. “We have Labor Day.”

He said there hasn’t been a push among legislators to rename the holiday, but compared efforts to remove Chavez’s name to a brush fire.

“I’m seeing efforts at all levels of government to scrub his name,” Petersen said, adding that no state parks are named after Chavez.

House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Surprise, said the state can’t honor Chavez following the allegations.

“We are not going to keep honoring a man who committed sexual abuse against children and assaulted women,” Montenegro said in a statement Thursday. “If even the Governor is stepping back from recognizing Cesar Chavez this year, then the Legislature needs to finish the job. Looking the other way is not leadership.”

But Pedro Hernandez, the California state program director for GreenLatinos, said he would prefer government entities rename Cesar Chavez Day rather than end the holiday altogether.

“I hope this can be an opportunity to highlight all of the farm workers movement,” the Fresno resident told The Center Square during a phone interview Friday afternoon.

“There were thousands of other people who were doing this same work and were committed to the same vision for the people who keep America fed and sacrificed their bodies and so much,” he said, referring to the hard physical labor of farming.

Hernandez, whose organization is a Latino-led environmental nonprofit, said he doesn’t see the distancing from Chavez’s name as a setback for workers.

“I think the Latino civil rights and farm workers movement is in a different place than it was in the 1960s,” Hernandez said. “The rapid nature of how the Latino community has reacted to this is a sign that we are still very strong and open to accepting these truths in recognition that people were hurt. We need to uplift them as best as we can.”

He added efforts to rename everything associated with Chavez won’t happen overnight. Cities and school districts can move quickly to remove Chavez’s name, but it will take more time to rename, for example, the Cesar Chavez National Monument, a 116-acre park in Southern California’s inland Kern County, Hernandez said.

Meanwhile, more progress is needed to help Latino workers, who experience a high level of heat-related mortalities in farming, construction and landscaping, said Hernandez, who lives in California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley.

“I hope as we are in the 250th anniversary of the United States, this can be a broader opportunity to remember our nation’s history and move forward,” Hernandez told The Center Square.

(The Center Square) - The Arizona Legislature this week passed a bill renaming a major Arizona highway after conservative leader Charlie Kirk.

Senate Bill 1010 renames Loop 202 as the "Charlie Kirk Loop 202."

Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, who is SB 1010’s sponsor, said, “Loop 202 runs right through the heart of the Phoenix metro area and connects communities across the Valley. It’s a corridor millions of Arizonans rely on every day.”

“Charlie built a national platform, but he called Arizona home,” Petersen said, answering The Center Square's questions by email. ”Naming one of the state’s most visible, heavily used roadways after him reflects the scale of his influence and ensures his impact is seen and remembered by future generations.”

After its passage, SB 1010 headed to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk, where, according to Petersen, its fate is uncertain.

Earlier in March, the Democratic governor vetoed SB 1439, which would have created a license plate honoring Charlie Kirk. Republicans hold majorities in both houses of the Legislature, but lack enough seats to override Hobbs' vetoes.

In her explanation of why she vetoed it, Hobbs called Kirk’s assassination “tragic."

“Political violence puts us all in harm’s way and damages our sacred democratic institutions," Hobbs said.

The governor added she would work “toward solutions that bring people together,” but noted SB 1439 fell “short of that standard by inserting politics into a function of government that should remain nonpartisan.”

Petersen told The Center Square that he was disappointed Hobbs vetoed SB 1439.

He said the bill was a “simple way for people to voluntarily show support for someone who encouraged civic engagement.”

Petersen is hopeful Hobbs will sign the highway bill.

“We have many roads in Arizona named after political figures,” Petersen explained, adding that the state has a “long tradition of recognizing people for their contributions, not their party affiliation.”

“I’m hopeful the governor will do the right thing with this bill,” he said.

Petersen said he has not had any feedback from Hobbs' office regarding the highway bill.

“Unfortunately, the governor does not communicate well with the Legislature on bills," the Senate president said. "We’ve had more productive communication with prior administrations when it comes to working through legislation."

“At the end of the day, this is a straightforward decision. It’s about whether we continue Arizona’s tradition of recognizing impact, regardless of politics,” Petersen added.

Regarding feedback from his constituents, Petersen told The Center Square that his bill has had “overwhelming support from Arizonans." He said this was “understandable when [people] look at the number of people who showed up to honor Charlie after his death.”

Kirk was a Scottsdale, Ariz., resident who cofounded Phoenix-based Turning Point USA. He was appearing at a rally Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem when he was shot and killed. Tyler James Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder, and there have been several pretrial hearings at the Fourth Judicial Court in Provo, Utah. Another hearing is scheduled there on April 17.

“Charlie was the only person in Arizona history to ever fill two stadiums at his funeral," Petersen said. "Charlie’s passion for American values and his ability to bring young people into civic engagement is exactly why so many believe his impact should be recognized."

(The Center Square) - Political and civil leaders across California and the wider Latino community in the U.S. are reacting to several allegations of sexual abuse and rape by the 1960s farm worker and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.

The United Farm Workers, which Chavez cofounded, has denounced his alleged behavior and canceled celebrations of Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, a state holiday in California.

“As a women-led organization that exists to empower communities, the allegations about abusive behavior by Cesar Chavez go against everything that we stand for,” said the UFW Foundation in a press release. “These disturbing allegations involve inappropriate behavior by Cesar Chavez with young women and minors. They are shocking, indefensible and something we are taking seriously.”

The Chavez family said the information about Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993 at 66 years old, came as news to them.

“This is deeply painful for our family,” wrote the Chavez family in a statement the Cesar Chavez Foundation sent to The Center Square. “We wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward.”

Victims included two young girls and Chavez’s long-time protest co-leader Dolores Huerta, who cofounded UFW.

“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years I have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” Huerta wrote in a statement Wednesday.

Huerta said she was forced into two sexual encounters by Chavez, with both resulting in pregnancies that she delivered. The story was reported by a multi-year New York Times investigation. It included details of how Chavez allegedly drove her out to a secluded field in 1966 and raped her.

Huerta added that she did not know of the two young girls Chavez allegedly raped until the New York Times contacted her. “The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me.”

Chavez led the farmworker movement in California, which included the famous 1,000-Mile March by the UFW. The movement was a reaction to what the UFW called low living standards and second-class citizen treatment for immigrants and farmworkers in California.

Among other political and societal wins, the movement helped pass the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, giving farmworkers the right to collective bargaining.

But at the same time, Chavez was seen by some people in the Latino community as a complicated figure, who did not fight for the same protections for illegal immigrant workers or fully acknowledge the Filipino workers who marched beside him.

Pedro Hernandez is the California state program director for GreenLatinos, a Latino-led nonprofit for environmental issues with chapters in California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Illinois. He was raised in the same California farming valleys that Chavez organized for and said he met many people who marched with him and felt gratitude towards his work.

“At the surface level though, there is a perspective that he was a figure to be revered,” Hernandez told The Center Square during a phone interview Thursday. He added that he imagined many people would be disappointed by the news of the sexual abuse allegations.

Despite his complicated history, Chavez has been upheld as a protest, revolutionary and Latino rights hero across much of the U.S. In the wake of the allegations, widespread calls to rename schools, parks and holidays, originally named after Chavez, quickly spread. Southern California cities with large Latino populations have streets named after him, such as Cesar Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles, Cesar Chavez Drive in Oxnard and Calle Cesar Chavez in Santa Barbara.

Nine states – California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Mexico – celebrate Cesar Chavez Day as state holidays, according to the website timeanddate.

On Thursday morning, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a proclamation to rename March 31 from Cesar Chavez Day to Farm Workers Day.

“Dolores and leaders like her inspired so many of us to activism,” said Bass at a press conference. “Mr. Chavez's crimes do not diminish the courage of farm workers and workers everywhere who fight for their rights, equality for Latinos, and a stronger nation for everyone.”

In Arizona, where Chavez was born, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the city would start renaming facilities that were named after Chavez. She also said they would re-focus the holiday on his birthday to be about the wider workers rights movement.

In Northern Nevada, the Central Labor Council said it would rename the Cesar Chavez Celebration to the much longer name: Northern Nevada Member Assistance Program Solidarity Celebration Dinner.

“As long as the process is community-informed and continues to uphold that it was a farm worker movement and there was more than an individual contributing to this, then I think we have a really interesting opportunity to change the narrative from a cult of personality to more of a people's history and a people's narrative,” said Hernandez on the renaming efforts.

Hernandez also told The Center Square that the effort to rename facilities and holidays that were originally named in honor of Chavez had been much faster than for other controversial historical figures in the U.S. ”I think it’s something that is worth noting here.”

(The Center Square) - Women supporting gun rights and safety - self-described “warrior women” - spoke in favor of three new Arizona bills Thursday morning during a news conference in Phoenix.

“I want to be very, very clear. The Second Amendment is not a suggestion. It is a promise carved in stone: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” state Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, told reporters as she discussed Senate Bill 1012, her legislation to remove unnecessary notification requirements for gun owners.

Shamp and the bill’s supporters say those requirements treat gun owners like suspects. The legislation allows people with a concealed handgun to bring it into restaurants and other businesses, but Shamp noted it does not extend that right to bars and nightclubs.

Besides SB 1012, the new bills include House Bill 2076, which creates the Save Our Children Safety Program to provide employee training, crisis preparedness and optional certification for designated staff to carry guns on campus to protect students. The third bill is Senate Bill 1424, which requires schools to provide firearms safety instruction to prevent accidents without discouraging firearm ownership.

Shamp noted the Arizona Constitution stresses gun rights in language even stronger than that of the U.S. Constitution and said the right to bear arms is crucial to keeping families safe.

“Criminals do not disarm at the door. Threats don’t wait for dessert,” Shamp said. “Your children’s safety does not end at the restaurant door.”

She said her bill doesn’t expand where guns are allowed and doesn’t do away with the requirement of a conceal-carry permit.

After Shamp spoke, Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, stressed the importance of her legislation, Senate Bill 1424, which emphasizes firearms safety training in schools.

“Most accidental shootings involving children happen - where? - at home,” Rogers, chair of the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee, told reporters. “Firearms are one of the leading causes of death to children and teens in this country.

“SB 1424, my bill, takes a very straightforward approach,” Rogers said. “They require schools to provide age-appropriate firearms safety instruction focused on accident prevention and personal safety. …

“Students are taught what to do if they encounter a firearm,” Rogers said. “They’re told not to touch it, are told to leave the area and to tell a trusted adult. This is a 1, 2, 3 memory item. This is clear guidance that a child can remember and act on.”

Another speaker was state Rep. Selina Bliss, R-Prescott, who authored House Bill 2076 and chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee. Bliss presented a proclamation for gun rights to Cheryl Todd, president of Women For Gun Rights. Todd stood at the podium with other women and her granddaughters as she discussed three generations of her family who believe in gun rights and safety.

“We believe in something very simple,” the Arizona resident told reporters as she talked about her organization’s support for the three bills. “Education is the key to safety."

The Center Square reached out to gun control organizations but did not get a response by press time.

(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is co-leading a nationwide lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its rescission of a finding on greenhouse gases.

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the federal government’s recognition that the gases threaten public health and welfare. The finding also provided the legal basis for regulating emissions from motor vehicles, power plants and industry under the Clean Air Act.

“It’s grounded in science, it’s been upheld by the courts, and some would just refer to it as common sense,” said Bonta during a Thursday morning press conference announcing the lawsuit. “Now President Trump and his EPA are trying to erase it entirely.”

President Donald Trump has referred to climate change as a “hoax.” Trump is also on record as saying green policies harm consumers and the economy, and the EPA says the new lawsuit is motivated by politics.

Plaintiffs say it's motivated by environmental concerns.

“The federal government is attempting to overrule the science and do away with the protections that limit harmful pollution from vehicles, the largest source by the way, of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” said Bonta, who boasted about this being the 63rd lawsuit California has filed against the Trump administration in 63 weeks. Bonta is joined in the suit by Democratic attorneys general and other Democrats from states throughout the U.S.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who's a frequent critic of the president and is widely expected to run for president in 2028, joined Bonta for the “Trump Is Making Deadly Pollution Great Again” press conference.

Newsom said the last decade between 2015 and 2025 was the hottest one in history as the world deals with climate change. The Southwest is undergoing a heat wave that is bringing unseasonal triple-digit temperatures this week.

“There’s no Republican thermometers; there’s no Democratic thermometers,” said Newsom. “If you don’t believe in science, you've got to believe your own eyes."

According to Newsom, places, lifestyle and traditions are “being quite literally wiped away.”

He pointed to Paradise, Grizzly Flats, and Greenville, Calif., as examples. Newsom and others believe climate change played a role in the fires that damaged those areas.

By repealing the Endangerment Finding, California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez said the Trump administration is abdicating its responsibility to protect Americans.

“California is not going to sit back and watch while the federal government dismantles critical public health protections,” said Sanchez. “We are going to fight back.”

The federal lawsuit is filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. circuit.

The EPA Thursday told The Center Square, “It is revealing that the plaintiff-states ran to the press before even filing their complaint.” The EPA added that this illustrates that, for them, this is not about the law or the merits of any argument. According to the EPA, the plaintiffs are clearly motivated by politics.

“EPA carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the text of the CAA, and the Endangerment Finding’s legality in light of subsequent legal developments and court decisions,” the EPA press office said. “This included a robust analysis of the law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. EPA.”

The agency concluded that Section 202(a) of the CAA does not provide EPA statutory authority to prescribe motor vehicle emission standards for the purpose of addressing global climate change concerns.

“In the absence of such authority, the Endangerment Finding is not valid, and EPA cannot retain the regulations that resulted from it. EPA is bound by the laws established by Congress, including under the CAA,” said the EPA press office. “Congress never intended to give EPA authority to impose GHG regulations for cars and trucks.”

The other attorneys general co-leading the lawsuit are from Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. They are joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also joined the lawsuit along with the cities of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus (Ohio), Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Harris County, Texas.

Bonner Cohen, a senior fellow at the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, thinks the suit will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I suspect the Supreme Court will uphold what the EPA is proposing to do because nowhere in the CAA does it say specifically that the EPA is authorized by Congress to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” Cohen told The Center Square Thursday. “The language there is very vague, and the current Supreme Court has been very particular in saying that regulatory agencies cannot make regulations up out of whole cloth. They must have specific congressional authorization to exercise their power, and the EPA administrator recognizes that his agency does not have that power.”