AG Mayes takes on greedy Valley landlords.Mayes is suing a software company and nine rental companies in the Phoenix and Tucson areas for an “illegal price-fixing conspiracy” violating antitrust and fraud statutes. Her office says the scheme cost Arizona renters millions more than they should’ve paid, enriching rental companies while Arizonans struggled to keep up. According to the lawsuit, the companies conspired to create a rental monopoly, artificially jacking up rental prices through automated software while deceiving residents. The affordable housing crisis continues to be a serious concern in Arizona, as rental prices in the two largest cities have risen 30-76% over the last few years, forcing many renters out.

SB1070 2.0 bill passed. Republican legislators passed the racist SB1231 out of the Arizona Legislature last week, silencing public comment after 100 business and community leaders released a letter opposing it and two other anti-immigrant bills, HCR2060 and HB2748. SB1231 would give cops the power to arrest and detain suspected undocumented immigrants, allowing racial profiling that would put people in danger at traffic stops and opening the door to raids that would tear families apart. Gov. Hobbs has indicated she will veto the bill, but HCR2060, which Hobbs can not veto, is moving through the Arizona Senate and could end up on Arizonans’ ballots. There’s still time to fight back!

A win against LGBTQ+ hate. Last week, ALL Senate Democrats and a lone Senate Republican united to block SCR1013, a bathroom ban that would have endangered transgender and nonbinary educators and students in school. Arizona already has laws on the books that make it illegal to harm, harass, or invade people’s privacy. This attack was yet another attempt by Republican legislators to spread the misinformation and anti-trans rhetoric that has fueled violence against the LGBTQ+ community, like with the tragic attack on Nex Benedict.

Learn more about the Alabama IVF ruling and what it might indicate for Arizona, where abortion bans could similarly threaten IVF access. Watch here. 

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