By Reagan Priest | AZ Capitol Times
Key Points:
- Governor Hobbs vetoed antisemitism bill citing teacher liability concerns
- Critics said bill suppressed free speech, hindered Israel criticism
- Hobbs supports Holocaust education, promotes empathy over punitive measures
Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have prohibited teaching and promoting antisemitism in Arizona public schools, but also would have allowed lawsuits against individual teachers suspected of doing so.
House Bill 2867, sponsored by Republican Rep. Michael Way, was sent to the governor’s desk last week with some House Democrats voting in favor of it. But other Democrats, teachers’ groups and First Amendment advocates raised a variety of objections to the bill, arguing it could make teachers quit, suppress free speech and prevent any criticism of Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Unfortunately this bill is not about antisemitism; it’s about attacking our teachers,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter. “It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college, and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits.”
