Weekly Legislative Reports

The 55th Arizona Legislature, 2nd Regular Session, officially began Monday, January 11 with Governor Doug Ducey delivering his seventh and shortest (only 22 minutes) State of the State address to the Legislature. As a result of the ongoing pandemic and taking extra precautions, Governor Ducey spoke from his Executive Tower via video as opposed to the typical address on the House floor in front of all 90 legislators and distinguished guests. His speech focused on the State’s grappling with the pandemic and that he believes Arizona is better positioned than any other state to come out of this stronger and more resilient. Light on full policy details compared to prior years, the Governor focused on condemning the recent insurrection and violence in Washington D.C., the significant and ongoing threat of the pandemic, getting kids back in the classroom for learning, reducing taxes, and decreasing overly burdensome regulations.

Arizona’s Primary Election, held yesterday, contained several surprise outcomes in state legislative races with several key races still too close to call. Below is a brief summary of the key races at the federal, statewide (Arizona Corporation Commission) and legislative level. We will provide an updated/finalized election outcomes report once the remaining ballots are counted and reflected in the official report.

Governor Ducey held a press conference on June 29th to provide an update on the continued COVID growth in Arizona. He solemnly indicated that “Arizona will remain on pause” as we struggle to contain the spread. His slides contained a new theme of “stay healthy, safer at home” as he encouraged Arizonans to stay home as much as feasible as the expectation is that the numbers will continue to worsen over the next couple of weeks. When Arizonans do need to go out, he strongly encouraged them to please wear a mask. The state continues to focus on testing and building testing capacity.

As Arizona faces a surge in COVID-19 cases across the state, Governor Ducey provided an update on the state of the public health emergency. The Governor began with saying that this virus is now widespread in Arizona and is growing fast and that anyone can contract it and anyone can spread it. He noted that at his last press conference he said the numbers were going in the wrong direction and they continue to worsen. Governor Ducey emphasized that the trend is unacceptable and it's time to step up our personal responsibilities regarding this process.

We are providing the following update on Governor Ducey’s COVID-19 press conference from yesterday afternoon. For the first time since these public health updates started, the Governor arrived sporting a mask and emphasized the importance of wearing one when in public and unable to social distance. He also encouraged Arizonans to continue to adhere to all other CDC sanitation guidance to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Arizona Legislature formally ended its 2020 Regular Session, with the Senate adjourning sine die. After the Arizona Senate first voted to adjourn sine die more than two weeks ago, the Arizona House reconvened last week and passed over 30 mostly non-controversial Senate bills. The House hosted various committee hearings and moved forward with bills prior to motioning to follow the Senate and bring an official close to session last Thursday evening (May 21), just prior to the start of the Memorial Day weekend