Whoever said “practice makes perfect” clearly never witnessed the legislative gymnastics of Senate Bill 1299.
Originally pitched as a bill to support law enforcement grants, SB1299 has undergone more facelifts than a Hollywood socialite—each version raiding funds from community colleges and Arizona’s Justice Reinvestment Program to benefit the Department of Public Safety (DPS). In its latest reincarnation, the bill was tweaked to make it more palatable to House Democrats—but the road there was anything but smooth.
Let’s Break It Down
Amendments to bills in Arizona can only be in standing committees (like Health and Human Services, Appropriations, or Commerce) or in the Committee of the Whole, known as COW. When a bill passes out of COW and then returns for more changes, it’s labeled “Add COW 1,” “Add COW 2,” and so on—each round indicating yet another rewrite.
SB1299 first passed the Senate with provisions focused on law enforcement grant programs. Then, in late March, it hit the House Appropriations Committee, where every word of the original bill was struck and replaced with new language—recycled, notably, from a failed proposal last session.
After that dramatic overhaul, the bill appeared to vanish from the legislative process. It missed its stop at the House Rules Committee, a required step for every measure. For a while, it looked like SB1299 was dead in the water. Then, last week, it rose from the grave.
In its first Committee of the Whole appearance, an amendment allowing DPS to use up to 10% of the Safe Community Enforcement Fund to enforce the Smart and Safe Arizona Act. Additionally, up to 5% of the fund’s $2.5 million allocation must be transferred to DPS for administrative costs.
That wasn’t the end. The bill was immediately called back for “Add COW 1” on Tuesday, this time to include language from House Bill 2813—legislation that creates a process for wrongfully convicted individuals to seek compensation. This new compensation mechanism, dubbed the Erroneous Convictions Fund, will be paid for using money from—you guessed it—the Justice Reinvestment Fund, funded by cannabis tax revenue under Prop 207.
Then came Add COW 2—to correct a technical error in the amendment just added.
The inclusion of HB2813, originally sponsored by Representative Powell, was widely seen as a last-ditch effort to win over House Democrats. The amendment not only dominated debate but ultimately overtook the entire identity of the bill as it headed to the House floor for third read.
House Republicans Applaud, But Democrats Remain Skeptical as SB1299 Falls Short of Voter Protection Threshold
During the Third Read on the House floor, Republican lawmakers praised the newly added amendment to SB1299. But House Democrats were not convinced—and made their objections clear, with a final count of 32-24-4.
While managing to pass with a simple majority—just over 51%—it failed to meet the 75% supermajority required under the Voter Protection Act (VPA). That threshold is necessary to amend any statutes created by voter-approved initiatives, like those under Proposition 207.
So what does that mean? Even though the bill passed with a simple majority, it didn’t get the 75% vote needed to change any laws that came from a voter-approved measure like Prop 207. Because of that, none of the changes in the bill can actually go into effect. It might have passed on paper, but without that higher vote, it’s basically dead.