Arizona has been pretty clear in the past that they aren’t a huge fan of government mandates.
The legislature fought tooth and nail over allowing the state to participate in Medicaid expansion during the Affordable Care Act implementation, despite the thousands of residents it would help access affordable healthcare. Meanwhile, pushes to legally allow discrimination based on race, sexual orientation and sexual identity have become commonplace under the banner of “state’s rights.” Now the state continues to solidify its anti-federal government stance with new bills refusing to acknowledge executive orders by the President of the United States. At the same time, the GOP is arguing that gun rights were given to them by God.
What could go wrong with that combination?
According to Laurie Roberts at The Republic, the bill in question is House Bill 2368, which would forbid the state from recognizing any presidential order unless Congress (yes, that constantly roadblocking, do nothing political body) has approved it. As Roberts points out, that not only means that immigration reform and other executive measures state Republicans disapprove of can just be ignored, but it also means that millions of dollars on projects and policies that they do agree with would be lost as well, all in the name of standing against the president.