Arizona Supreme Court looks at the future of how laws are made after COVID-19 lawsuits

The Arizona Supreme Court will take a look at the future of how laws are made after COVID-19 lawsuits call into question the current legislative process.

PHOENIX - The future of how some state laws are made is in front of Arizona’s Supreme Court.

Why?

It started with a lawsuit over COVID-19 mask mandate rules, but a decision could end with drastic changes for the legislature moving forward.

More and more questions are being asked about how bills become the law of the land.

What can and can’t go into the budget is at issue in front of the state’s Supreme Court on Nov. 2.

Stan Barnes is a former state lawmaker and longtime Republican political consultant.

What the state's Supreme Court does or doesn’t do could impact the way laws are made – affecting all Arizonans.

"If the court says to the legislature, ‘You’ve been doing it wrong, you’ve been doing it unconstitutionally,’ it’ll change the output of the legislature. There will be laws that will never be made because they couldn’t be done this way. Or there will be laws that will be made, entirely in the daylight, the normal process," Barnes explained.

The Arizona Education Association spearheaded the lawsuit over what went into the K-12 education budget. The budget included a ban on school districts requiring mask mandates, but the decision from the high court could extend much further than that.

"I do not think we’re going to go band and unring the bell. That is too difficult for everybody living under the laws that have passed. But even if that is all that is passed, it’s a significant change going forward," Barnes said.

The issues named in the lawsuit have so far been blocked from becoming law.