BREAKING: AZ Appellate Court Reinstates Lawsuit Alleging ALEC Conference Violated Open Meetings Law (READ Opinion)

In 2019, a coalition of progressive groups sued the Arizona Legislature to prevent GOP lawmakers from secretly participating in bill-drafting discussions at the conservative ALEC conference in Scottsdale. After the fact, the Superior Court judge dismissed the case, deciding that it raised a "political question" it could not consider (among other defects).

Today, a three judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals reinstated the case. (It was a unanimous ruling, although Judge Samuel Thumma dissented to part of the reasoning.)

Writing for the court, Judge Jennifer Campbell concluded "(v)iewing the complaint in its entirety, we conclude the Appellants alleged sufficient facts from which a reasonable inference could be drawn that the legislators violated the Open Meeting Law. Accordingly, at this stage of the proceedings, the Legislature has failed to demonstrate that the complaint should be dismissed."

Puente and the other plaintiffs are alleging that because Republicans are currently in the majority in (both houses of) the Arizona Legislature, and most of them attend the annual conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council ("ALEC") - where they discuss and approve "model bills" in closed sessions - the Open Meetings laws are violated. Those model bills are later introduced as real bills in Arizona (and elsewhere).

Kory Langhofer and Tom Basile (Statecraft) represent the Arizona Legislature. Stephen Benedetto and Heather Hamel (The People's Law Firm) represent Puente and other plaintiffs.

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. Paul is currently running for a seat in Arizona's House of Representatives.

"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona's Politics on the internet. 

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