Steve Montenegro

A Republican-backed ballot measure in Arizona, Proposition 145, was dismissed by a judge for violating the state constitution's Separate Amendment Rule. The measure aimed to protect private school voucher funding for military families but included provisions that would have banned future reforms to the voucher system.

A judge removed a Republican ballot measure from Arizona's ballot, ruling it unconstitutionally broad by targeting all public sector unions, not just teachers' unions. The measure, House Concurrent Resolution 2040, was designed to disable the Arizona Education Association but was rejected for violating the Arizona Constitution's Separate Amendment Rule, which requires amendments to address a single topic.

An independent oversight program, COMIT, created after a 2018 rape at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix, is being defunded despite being made permanent in 2023. The program, operated by Disability Rights Arizona, provides oversight for group homes caring for people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. Arizona lawmakers and officials have agreed to cut its $1.2 million annual budget as part of broader fiscal decisions.

A psychiatrist named Peter Morey, whose Oregon medical license was suspended in 2010 for inappropriate behavior toward patients, including improper medication prescriptions and inappropriate touching and conversations, was appointed to Arizona’s Sex Offender Management Board. Morey, who later moved to Arizona and worked as an attorney, was dismissed from the board in March after his history emerged, though the board has not publicly addressed the implications of his appointment.