The 56th Arizona Legislature was marked by the introduction of dozens of bills seeking to tear down the separation of church and state. Many of these bills mirrored the proposals outlined in the Christian nationalist Project 2025. All were introduced by Republicans and votes largely fell along partisan lines, with a few exceptions.
18 such bills made it to a full vote, and one was signed into law (HB2310, a censorship bill opposed by numerous LGBTQ+ advocacy groups).
Others included:
- Bills censoring a broad variety of content, using the threat of steep criminal penalties to chill free expression.
- Attempts to harvest online ID from online viewers of adult content
- Bills seeking to remove medical privacy protections for minors
- Crackdowns on the proliferation of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training
- A custom license plate to fund the religious Brigham Young University in Utah
- Religious vaccine exemptions
- Attempts to force school districts to promote the ESA program
- Attempts to ban satanic imagery
- Attempts to make school board elections partisan
- Bills restricting gender reassignment and trans expression
- An abortion divestment bill
Many others—some even more severe—were introduced and died in committee. This included one introduced by a Democrat (Amish Shah, LD-5) protecting religious use of gay conversion therapy (HB2789, HB2736).
Some Democrats introduced bills seeking to expand access to reproductive healthcare; secure legal protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination; and regulate the state’s run-amok ESA program. With Republicans (narrowly) controlling both chambers and all committees, however, these bills were all killed quietly behind the scenes by committee chairs and Senate President Warren Petersen (LD-14).
The bills’ stories are provided in this report, along with a scorecard ranking legislators according to their vote with our positions.