Tucson Standard

State Sen. Justine Wadsack (R-Pima County) recently condemned Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for vetoing a bill written to prevent children from being exposed to adult oriented businesses or performance.

"Katie Hobbs' thinly veiled effort to allow sexual grooming of our children is an awful position to take as our Arizona Governor. The people of this state expect our elected leaders to do everything in their power to protect those who can't protect themselves," Wadsack said in a statement posted to Twitter by the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus on June 19. "This bill would have ensured prosecutors could seek appropriate punishment for adults who recklessly steal the innocence of our kids by exposing them to sexually explicit adult businesses and performances." 

Wadsack was the writer and primary sponsor of SB 1698, an Arizona bill that aimed to make it unlawful for adults to knowingly allow minors to be exposed to adult entertainment such as sexually explicit performances or drag shows. The bill outlined penalties and levels of felony charges for allowing a minor to be exposed to adult-oriented businesses or performances which were defined to be a situation where “a person who appears in a state of nudity or who is seminude, a person whose performance is characterized by the exposure of specific anatomical areas or specific sexual activities, a performance that is harmful to minors.”

AZ Family News reported that the bill went through several amendments and versions in the House and Senate, eventually landing on the governor’s desk in early June. Hobbs vetoed the bill on June 16, along with three other bills addressing drag shows. “Intolerance has no place in Arizona, despite the legislature’s frequent attempts to pass legislation that says otherwise. SB 1026, SB 1028, SB 1030, and SB 1698 are attempts to criminalize free expression and ostracize the LGBTQIA+ community both implicitly and explicitly,” Hobbs said in her veto letter.

According to KGUN 9 News, SB 1028 aimed to restrict adult cabaret performances from occurring on public property that a minor could be present at, defining those performances to include drag performers and shows. It outlined a first and second violation to result in a class one misdemeanor and a class six felony, respectively. SB 1030 attempted to create a regulation of licensing for establishments that conduct drag performances, classifying adult-oriented businesses as establishments that conduct drag performances, and restricting when such a performance may occur.

So far this year, Hobbs has vetoed 119 pieces of legislation. This is more than double the previous maximum from a single session, according to AZ Family News, which was 58 vetoes. Hobbs, a Democrat, is battling Republican legislators who she warned against sending her bills based on "political agendas" as she would not sign them.