Similar 'religious freedom' bill vetoed in Arizona

Arizona laws prohibiting discrimination do not extend to gender or sexual orientation.

And Arizona laws allow businesses to ignore government rules and laws against discrimination if they can show they would interfere with the owners’ ability to practice a “sincerely held” religious belief.

In 2014 the Legislature voted to extend that to situations where a civil suit is brought against a business owner by someone denied service, including LGBT customers.

But Jan Brewer, who was governor at the time, vetoed the measure under pressure from the business community. She said then that the change “could divide Arizona in ways you cannot even imagine, and no one would ever want.”

Brewer went on to say she understood the concerns of businesses that feared they would be forced to violate their religious beliefs. And she said those concerns are “not unfounded.”

She took a slap at the Obama administration and courts, which she said had increased “government’s encroachment upon our religious freedoms.”

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But Brewer called the measure flawed.

While proponents of the measure argued they were seeking to protect businesses, Brewer said then, “The business community overwhelmingly opposes the proposed law.”

Brewer called the legislation a solution in search of a problem.

“SB 1062 does not address a specific and present concern related to religious liberties in Arizona,” she said in prepared comments at the time. “I have not heard one example in Arizona where business owners’ religious liberty has been violated.”

The governor also noted several Republican legislators who voted for the measure said they were having second thoughts and had asked her to veto it.