PHOENIX — State lawmakers sent Gov. Doug Ducey legislation Friday to allow lawsuits against cities to challenge their gun regulations.
SB 1266, approved by the House 31-23, is designed to add teeth to existing state laws that prohibit local communities from enacting firearms laws that exceed what the Legislature has permitted. It says a court that finds there was a knowing or willful violation of state law can assess a civil penalty up to $50,000 and remove public officials from office.
The measure aimed largely at Tucson, which has refused to repeal two gun regulations that former Attorney General Tom Horne concluded in 2013 are beyond the city’s authority.
One allows police to request a breath sample from someone who has negligently discharged a firearm and appears intoxicated. Horne said Arizona law bars cities from passing ordinances relating to the “discharge and use of firearms.”
Horne also said Tucson cannot require people to report the loss or theft of a gun to police because it relates to the possession or transfer of firearms, something the Legislature has said is solely within its purview. And Horne said the $100 civil penalty for failing to report a missing gun conflicts with another law that bars gun ordinances that have a penalty greater than what exists in state law.
The city has ignored Horne’s formal legal opinion. Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, sponsor of SB 1266, said this legislation would ensure that does not happen.
There was no debate on the measure.
Sex education
Citing the Bible, claiming being gay is a voluntary “lifestyle” and saying homosexuality causes AIDS, the Senate killed a proposal its sponsor said would allow schools to provide accurate sex education.
Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, said state law allows schools to develop courses designed to teach students about AIDS. Those laws require the information to be appropriate to the grade level offered, be medically accurate and promote abstinence.
But Quezada also noted the law makes it illegal for schools to include anything that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle.” It also forbids portraying homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle.
Quezada said the language is outdated and actually results in schools that do have such programs being unable to help students avoid disease.
Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, said prohibiting a discussion of homosexuality leaves “a whole bunch of students at risk.”
“Students are going to engage in sexual activity whether we teach them about it safely or not,” she said. What’s worse, Hobbs said, is that the current laws suggest that homosexuality is simply a “lifestyle.”
“It’s something they’re born with,” she said. “There’s a lot of science behind that.”
But Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, disagreed.
“There’s a lot of science that says it isn’t,” he said. Anyway, Smith said, if the goal is “safe sex,” then schools should be stressing the safest of all sex: none at all.
“Instead it seems like we’re teaching our second-, third- and fourth-graders how to put condoms on cucumbers instead of how to teach abstinence like we used to in the good old days,” he said.
“This is about AIDS education in our school,” Smith said. “And if you think it’s OK to allow discussion in our schools of what directly causes AIDS to be OK, I think that’s completely out of bounds.”
Quezada said Smith was missing the point.
He said the law already allows sex education and already allows teaching about AIDS. He said limiting what teachers can say leaves a hole in the curriculum.
“You are not talking to certain kids who need to hear that conversation in the classroom,” Quezada said.
Vacation rentals
Cities and counties are on the verge of losing their authority to keep property owners from renting out their homes for short-term and vacation rentals.
Without debate the Senate on Friday gave final approval to SB 1350, which is designed to preclude local governments from barring such rentals because a property is not classified as a hotel. The measure now goes to the governor.
Ducey is expected to sign the restriction as it is in line with his vision to have Arizona be the leader of “the sharing economy.” He sees online services like Airbnb that links up property owners and renters to be similar to Uber and Lyft, which connect motorists with people needing a ride.
The measure drew some concern from local governments. But proponents said the legislation still allows cities and towns to adopt regulations designed to protect public health and safety.
