What you should know about these new Arizona laws

Nov. 2, 2023

Rebates for Families

Many Arizona families will receive a tax rebate of up to $750 from the Arizona legislature. The rebate was aimed at parents with dependent children in an effort to provide some relief from rising inflation.

“The governor was not a big fan of this proposal from some folks in the Republican Caucus,” Duda said. “This was the result of a very unique style of budgeting and people from the Conservative Freedom Caucus pulled their money together to give everyone some of their tax dollars back.”

Checks or electronic refunds began going out to qualified families beginning Oct. 30. Those who claimed the dependent child tax credit on their 2021 tax return and paid at least $1 in income tax to the state in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were eligible for a rebate.

The payment is based on a child’s age:

$250 for children younger than 17
$100 for dependent children age 17 and up

The rebate was capped at three children per family. The Arizona Department of Revenue estimates more than 740,000 Arizona families will benefit. All rebates should be issued by Nov. 15.

Do Not Text Ban

Nobody likes annoying calls and texts from solicitors. If your phone number is on the national do-not-call list, it can now be protected from texts from solicitors too.

“There’s nothing absolute about this and a lot of these text messages and calls are still going out,” Duda said.

There already is a law that was signed by Jan Brewer 10 years ago, which is very similar.

The bill passed with nearly unanimous support.

School Suspensions

This law reverses a policy that was approved just two years ago. Lawmakers will again allow schools to suspend students for disruptive behavior.

“After a couple of years, people wanted that option back because administrators felt like that took a very important tool out of their toolbox,” Dudas said. “They don’t really have any enforcement mechanism and that law got rolled back this year.”

The new law applied to students from kindergarten to fourth grade.

Other new laws

Members of the recently formed U.S. Space Force can now be buried in Arizona’s veteran cemeteries.
Ungated communities with a homeowner’s association (HOA) have until June 30, 2025, to decide if they want to keep their existing parking restrictions. If they decide to get rid of their restrictions, parking oversight falls onto the city they are located in.
HOA board members would automatically lose their seats if they fail to follow their association’s procedures for removing a board member.
A new law offers trauma counseling services to first responders.