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Gov. Katie Hobbs rejected a proposal by Sen. John Kavanagh that could have sent protesters to jail for intentionally blocking a stretch of freeway.
The Fountain Hills Republican’s proposal would have made it a felony for protesters to block a highway, bridge or tunnel. And it classified the offense as a Class 6 felony, which carries a presumptive sentence of a year in state prison.
In her veto message, the governor did not address Kavanagh’s concerns. Instead, she said that what Kavanagh proposed went too far.
"Recognizing the sanctity of constitutionally protected rights, it is critical that we approach these matters with precision to avoid infringing on Arizonans' freedoms,'' Hobbs wrote.
Kavanagh said the idea came to him late last year while he was watching a news report on television about a group of protesters that had blocked the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge going into San Francisco for about four hours by laying down. They were demanding a cease fire in Gaza.
Why they were doing it, Kavanagh said, is irrelevant.
"No restrooms, a couple of vehicles had organs that were supposed to be going to a place for a transplant,'' he said.
There is a general statute that makes it illegal to block traffic in a way that creates an "inconvenience or hazard.'' That is a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to four months in the county jail and a $750 fine.
But Kavanagh said that is insufficient.
"It seems to me that if a small group of people literally steal four hours of thousands of people’s lives for their protest, it should be more than a little misdemeanor,'' he said.
His measure had some limits, and not just that it would not apply to city streets unless that road was leading into an airport. The action would have had to block at least 25 people from where they are going.
We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
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