Phoenix sues Arizona, claims budget bill violates state constitution

PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix is suing the state of Arizona, claiming the budget bill passed in June violates the Arizona Constitution.

The lawsuit focuses on the loosely referred “single-subject rule,” with the city saying budget bills have to be about the budget while general legislation has to be covered one subject at a time, according to a press release on Tuesday.

Phoenix alleges the bill included substantive legislative provisions that have nothing to do with each other, with a “hodgepodge” of topics impacting at least 10 different state agencies.

“The city of Phoenix is filing this lawsuit to ensure the State Legislature follows our Arizona constitution,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in the release.

“This year’s budget illegally limits cities’ abilities to serve our communities and undermines the legislative process.”

A particular focus in the lawsuit is in reference to the Office of Accountability and Transparency, which was created on a slim vote of 5-4 by the city council in May.

The office provides an independent civilian-led review of the Phoenix Police Department.

Former law enforcement or a family member of law enforcement personnel are not allowed to serve on the staff.

However, included in the budget was a requirement that police misconduct be investigated only by certified officers from the same jurisdiction – essentially banning civilian-controlled review boards.

The budget bill also allows the state to keep videos from body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras secret, giving the Department of Public Safety power to decide when it’s in the public’s interest to release them.

The lawsuit said the bill, pushed through as budget reconciliation, is designed to nullify the office.

Jean-Jacques Cabou of Perkins Coie LLP, who filed the suit on behalf of the city, said in the release that the suit asks the court to enforce the rules of the constitution.

“Whatever you think about the merits of the substantive items in the bill the city is challenging, Arizonans of all stripes should, and do, agree that the Legislature has to follow the Constitution just as everyone else does,” Cabou said in the release.

The process of “logrolling” many things into one bill has been against the law for as long as Arizona has been a state, according to the release, with the concern being cramming multiple things into one bill will result in people refraining from opposing the measures in fear of losing the whole bill.

“By stuffing so many different topics and so much substantive legislation into a bill that’s supposed to simply enact parts of the budget, the Legislature made sure that none of these important topics got their own individual votes,” Cabou said.

Among the other items included in the budget bill was a ban of the so-called “critical race theory,” and stripping the secretary of state of the power to defend election-related lawsuits against the state and giving it to the attorney general after the current occupants leave office in 2023.

The budget bill also blocks public health measures meant to control the spread of COVID-19 in schools and universities, including vaccine or face mask mandates, and outlaws mandatory testing except in cases of outbreaks in dormitories and only with approval from the governor’s office.

Local governments in future pandemics also won’t be able to enact their own public health measures and the governor won’t be able to require people to be vaccinated under the budget bill.

The budget bill is set to take effect on Sept. 29.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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