PHOENIX, Ariz. – As a native of the Grand Canyon state, here’s something I don’t get to say or write very often: One of Arizona’s elected officials recently did something sensible.
Obviously, I’m not talking about the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision holding that a territorial law passed in 1864 now governs the state’s abortion policies. I’m talking about Governor Katie Hobbs vetoing HB 2586, a bill which would have established Arizona as another state requiring adult websites to implement age-verification measures with respect to Arizona internet users.
Note that I said Hobbs had done something “sensible,” which is not to say it was smart, at least in the political sense. It isn’t hard to imagine a negative campaign ad from Hobbs’ next electoral opponent, decrying the Governor as “soft on porn,” or claiming Hobbs “wants porn sites to corrupt Arizona’s children,” or offering it as proof that Hobbs is secretly snapping children’s heads right off their necks and sipping adrenochrome directly from their spinal cords.
Doubtlessly, Hobbs understands the political perils of vetoing a bill like HB 2586, which is likely why in her brief statement explaining her decision, Hobbs wrote that “children’s online safety is a pressing issue for parents and the state.”
“While we look for a solution, it should be bipartisan and work within the bounds of the First Amendment, which this bill does not,” Hobbs added.
Thus far, Hobbs’ veto of HB 2586 hasn’t garnered much mainstream media attention, most likely because she also recently vetoed SB 1231, AKA the “Arizona Border Invasion Act.” Hobbs’ statement explaining the SB 1231 veto is similar to the one for HB 2586, in that it is short, to the point and centered on her belief the law would not have advanced the stated goal of securing the border.
While Hobbs didn’t have much to say about her veto of HB 2586, critics of the bill (and other legislation like it) were a bit more effusive.
“We completely agree with Governor Hobbs that legislation to protect children’s online safety ‘should be bipartisan and work within the bounds of the First Amendment, which this bill does not,’” the Free Speech Coalition said in a statement published Monday.
FSC also noted their organization “led opposition to the bill and traveled to Arizona multiple times to speak with legislators, journalists, allies and constituents.”
“HB2586 ultimately passed the legislature on a party-line vote, and opposition to the bill came from the ACLU, FIRE, Chamber of Progress, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, SIECUS, ESPLERP and a host of other organizations dedicated to civil liberties, reproductive rights, sex worker rights and LGBTQ+ rights,” the FSC statement continued. “They understand, as we do, that these bills endanger not only adult content, but wide swaths of speech online. We thank Governor Hobbs for her courage in standing up to calls for censorship, and look forward to working with the legislature on effective methods of keeping minors from accessing age-inappropriate material online.”
While I welcome the opportunity to (for once) applaud a decision or statement made by an Arizona politician rather than mock it viciously, I’ve been living in this state long enough to know the next legislative atrocity is likely to be right around the corner. Whether the next inevitable, dumb, unconstitutional bill from the state pertains to age-verification, border policy or regulating which equine species can sleep in what kind of bathroom fixtures, here’s hoping Hobbs has her veto pen ready for it, too.
