2026 Wins: Celebrating Four Major Smart Justice Laws Enacted in Arizona

This year, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed four major Justice Action Network-supported bills into law! Together, these laws will shine a light on the use of incarceration for unpaid court debt, strengthen probation, eliminate some burdensome court fees, and expand treatment options for justice-involved veterans.

2026 marked the most challenging legislative session in recent memory, making these wins all the more significant. A prolonged budget battle significantly limited opportunities for legislation to advance, and of the record 2,116 bills that were introduced, just 264 became law.

We overcame the challenges of this session thanks in large part to our legislative champions, who sponsored these bills and made them a top legislative priority. Bipartisan support for smart justice reform is stronger than ever in Arizona, and we saw this reflected in final vote counts for these bills.

Let’s dive into these four JAN-supported bills and why they’re so important: 

1. Making Probation More Effective and Efficient

Senate Bill 1662, sponsored by Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R), makes commonsense changes to probation that can have a profound impact on people’s daily lives. The bill requires probation conditions to reflect each individual’s needs and circumstances rather than imposed as one-size-fits-all requirements, creating greater opportunity for people to succeed long term.

As JAN Senior State Policy Manager Estrella López explains, “One-size-fits-all probation conditions may look tough on paper, but the reality is they don't make people more law-abiding. Generic conditions untailored to the individual are inefficient and undermine jobs, housing, and ultimately public safety. This bill replaces what sounds good with what actually works.”

2. Eliminating Justice System Fees Imposed for Exercising Constitutional Rights

Senate Bill 2265, sponsored by Rep. Neal Carter (R), removes three court fees assessed when a defendant exercises their right to a public defender, a jury trial, and an appeal.

Eliminating these fees is a common sense starting point: no one should have to pay to exercise a constitutional right. Justice-system fines and fees can create financial barriers to successful reentry, trapping people in debt when they should be focused on rebuilding their lives.

Senate Bill 2265 builds on JAN-supported legislation enacted in 2023 that eliminated fees assessed for juvenile defendants, and led to courts waiving $39.7 million unpaid monetary obligations for over 110,000 juveniles, parents, and guardians. 

JAN was proud to support this year’s bill alongside the Fines and Fees Justice Center and Stand for Children Arizona.

3. Shedding a Light on How Arrests and Incarceration are Used for Court Debt Enforcement

House Bill 4158, Arizona’s criminal justice omnibus bill, includes a JAN-supported provision requiring statewide reporting on court-ordered and collected fines and fees, the costs of enforcing them, and when and under what circumstances individuals are being incarcerated for unpaid court debt.

The reform grew from JAN’s work with Rep. Chris Lopez (R) on House Bill 2825. The bill as filed would have eliminated arrest and incarceration as consequences for failing to pay court debt and made Arizona among the first states in the nation to take that step. While the final version focuses on transparency, data collection, and annual reporting, ending incarceration as a tool for collecting court debt remains a key priority for JAN, and we believe the data will build an even stronger case for action in the years ahead.

The data collected under House Bill 4158 will give lawmakers the roadmap they need to determine next steps for broader fines and fees reform and identify where reform is most urgently needed to curb, or ideally end, the use of incarceration as an enforcement tool for court debt.

4. Expanding Veterans Treatment Courts

House Bill 2960, sponsored by Rep. Stacey Travers (D), creates a grant program to help local governments establish or expand Veterans Treatment Courts across Arizona.

These specialized courts connect justice-involved veterans with individualized treatment and support for root-cause challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, and other service-related needs. Expanding access to Veterans Treatment Courts will help more veterans receive the care they need while improving long-term outcomes for participants and communities alike.

Thanks to House Bill 2960, more Arizona veterans will be able to access targeted care and early intervention – a major win for veterans and the communities they belong to.

Defensive Victories: Defending Against Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drug Offenses

In addition to the four overwhelmingly-positive reforms signed into law, JAN-opposed legislation that would have expanded mandatory minimum prison sentences was vetoed.

Senate Bill 1061 would have triggered a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence for a first-time conviction for possession of only nine grams of fentanyl for sale or transport, a breathtaking departure from the existing threshold and a quantity that might represent only a small handful of counterfeit pills. After the bill passed both legislative chambers, JAN urged Governor Hobbs to veto the legislation, and she ultimately did.

The veto prevented the passage of a bill that would have had devastating consequences for individuals suffering from addiction, their families, and communities, while avoiding a costly expansion of Arizona’s already overcrowded and strained prison system. The veto also stopped a bill with no tangible evidence that it would have reduced overdose or addiction rates or improved public safety.  

Continuing to Fight for Oversight Funding

Funding for Arizona’s Independent Correctional Oversight Office didn’t make the final budget, and while that outcome is disappointing, the movement generated constitutes a significant win. 

The proposal earned near-unanimous legislative support, generated sustained media attention, and we saw several Republican lawmakers calling for spending an annual $1.5 million needed to make the office operational – something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Just as importantly, it reflected a growing consensus that independent correctional oversight is necessary, and that change in perspective is a victory in its own right. The path forward is a little brighter. 

Celebrating Wins & Keeping the Momentum Moving

The four legislative victories we achieved this year demonstrate that meaningful justice reform is possible even during one of the most difficult legislative environments in recent history.

We’re incredibly proud of these four major wins in Arizona and are grateful to have worked alongside our incredible legislative champions, national and in-state advocates and partners, and our on-the-ground consultants at Veridus to deliver reforms that will impact many Arizonans in the years to come.

The wins this session are also a testament to legislative relationships JAN has built, prioritized, and centered in our work over the last decade in Arizona. When JAN started working in Arizona in 2016, smart justice reform was an emerging issue. Nearly a decade later, several Republican lawmakers not only sponsored smart justice reform bills, but made them their top legislative priority. 

The wins this session are also a testament to legislative relationships JAN has built, prioritized, and centered in our work over the last decade in Arizona. When JAN started working in Arizona in 2016, smart justice reform was in its infancy. Ten years later, the lawmakers we worked with this year not only sponsored smart justice reform bills, but made them their top legislative priority.

Our team looks forward to building on this momentum and continuing to help advance commonsense policies that make Arizona safer, fairer, and more prosperous in the years to come.