Ducey signs bills on campaign finance, abortion, deportation

PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey penned his approval Thursday to massive changes in campaign finance laws; new restrictions on abortions; and keeping certain felons behind bars longer than now required.

Other measures signed by the governor include:

• Making it easier for Arizonans to order wine from other states.
• Setting up a system so candidates for local office can gather nominating signatures online.
• Prohibiting cities from imposing taxes or fees when a gun is sold from one private party to another.

Campaign finance

Potentially the most sweeping of these will change the rules governing when groups have to register with state election officials. That is now determined by an examination of their primary purpose; factors include what percentage of their money is spent trying to influence an election.

SB 1516 says any group organized under the Internal Revenue Code as a “social welfare” organization is presumed exempt. That means the state is powerless to demand disclosure of the individuals providing the dollars.

Also gone are limits on how much someone with financial resources can spend hosting a fundraising event for one or more candidates. More significant, the benefactor’s identity and amount spent would never be made public.

The change also allows candidates who have amassed large donations to transfer some of that money to others in need, a maneuver specifically outlawed by voters in 1986. Lawmakers were allowed to make that change because the constitutional provision against legislative tinkering with voter-approved measures did not kick in until 1998.

The measure also repeals all criminal penalties, with state Elections Director Eric Spencer promising to reinstall them sometime next year.

Ducey sided with legislators and business interests who argued that the restrictions — and specifically the disclosure requirements — deter some people from giving to candidates or supporting ballot measures.

“When it comes to free speech and participation in the democratic process, our laws should reflect the goal of making it easier for more citizens to engage,” the governor said in a prepared statement. “That’s what this reform package does.”

Ducey said the rewrite will “provide more opportunity for participation in the political process and increased freedom of speech.”

“What he means is money from anonymous billionaires,” responded Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson.

Ducey benefited in his successful 2014 gubernatorial run from outside cash, with $1.8 million spent on his behalf by various groups, and another $6.4 million spent on TV ads and other campaign materials targeting Fred DuVal, his Democrat foe.

Rep. Ken Clark, D-Tucson, is weighing a referendum. If he can gather slightly more than 75,000 signatures, the legislation could not take effect unless and until voters ratify it in November.

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Abortion bills

Ducey signed three separate measures related to abortion, including one that puts into state law what he admits is a now-outdated standard for a drug used in medication abortion.

SB 1324 requires doctors to use RU-486, also known as mifepristone, according to label directions approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that were in effect at the end of last year. That change was pushed by abortion opponents in an effort to stop doctors from using the drug to terminate pregnancies up to nine weeks; the FDA label specified seven weeks.

Earlier this week, though, the FDA declared RU-486 is safe through 10 weeks. The agency also said a 200 milligram dose is sufficient — one-third of the old standard that Ducey’s signature now mandates doctors use or face potential loss of their medical license.

In signing the bill, the governor said lawmakers “acted in good faith” based on the information they had. Ducey said he saw no reason to veto the measure even if it did put outdated standards into law.

“In such a case, I will always stand with those advocating life,” he wrote. He said, though, that the “unexpected” action by the FDA may require lawmakers to send him another bill this year “and I stand ready to consider those changes when they reach my desk.”

Ducey also signed SB 1474 prohibiting the sale or transfer of tissue from aborted fetuses as well as experimentation on such tissue, and SB 1485 that locks Planned Parenthood out of a program that allows state employees to donate to organizations through payroll deductions.“The right to life is fundamental, and these reforms are consistent with my track record of supporting common-sense initiatives that promote the health and safety of Arizonans and protect precious human life,” Ducey wrote. He cited the undercover videos that purport to show officials from Planned Parenthood (though none from Arizona) negotiating the sale of fetal tissue.“In light of recent allegations of unlawful practices and procedures on a national level, it is a responsibility I will not take lightly,” he said.

Deporting felons

People in this country illegally who commit felonies will no longer be eligible for release and deportation to their home countries.

Legislation signed by Ducey on Thursday voids an existing law that allowed the Department of Corrections to release certain prisoners after they served half the term, if the agency received an order of deportation from federal officials.

That law appears to have been enacted for financial reasons, with the idea that turning inmates over to immigration officials removes them from the country and saves the state the cost of keeping them behind bars.

Ducey said that made no sense. “If you break the law and commit a crime in Arizona, we expect you to serve your sentence, no exceptions,” he wrote.

The law never applied to those convicted of murder, rape, child molesting, or to those who were sentenced either as a repeat offender or someone who committed an offense while on parole.

But it did allow the release of others convicted of low and mid-level felonies.

Some legislative Democrats said the move will cost the state about $17 million a year, though there was never a formal analysis by legislative staffers of the cost.