Arizona State Sen. Mark Finchem [R-District 1] discussed his legislative priorities and political philosophy during a Republicans of the Red Rocks meeting at the Sedona Elks Lodge on Friday, April 18, emphasizing moderation and local community cooperation in his remarks.

“We have to have reasonable expectations. We’ve got to live together,” Finchem said. “This poison of hatred that has entered the body politic over the last decade serves no purpose except to destroy the body politic … If the chips go down, and you have a problem tonight, the person next door is probably your best friend, and I don’t think you care or they care about your political proclivity. I would really like to see us get back to that place.”

He then launched into a critique of Gov. Katie Hobbs, who announced on April 17 that she would impose “a moratorium on signing legislation until Republican lawmakers end the political theater and pass a bipartisan supplemental funding bill to protect lifesaving services for Arizonans with disabilities.”

“The fraud of a governor that we have is probably going to veto every bill that comes out of the legislature unless it deals with developmentally disabled funding,” Finchem said. “Eventually she’s going to stop with her temper tantrum and she’s going to come to the realization that she has to work with the legislature.”

‘Big Government’

Finchem repeatedly addressed the negative effects and nature of government during the evening.

“This is going to sound strange coming from a guy who’s actually in government, but I do not trust government any further than I can throw it,” Finchem said. “That’s why I’m there.”

“The U.S. military has done experiments on the American people without them knowing it,” Finchem continued, citing the example of the 1950 Operation Sea-Spray, in which the U.S. Navy sprayed biological toxins over San Francisco, possibly resulting in a spike in urinary tract infections. “That’s what happens when you have a government that is out of control … They’ve become this network that they seem to think they run the country, not the people. That we work for them. That’s not how it is.”

“The root of all evil is the love of money, but I would also say the love of power, and for those who seize power that they are not entitled to, they are not American,” Finchem added. “The government should have the lightest touch possible on your lives.”

Yet Finchem also announced that the legislature plans to allocate $2 million in funding to a planned crime analysis center to conduct real-time surveillance of license plates with cameras on Interstate 17. Finchem compared the system to “the CIA targeting desk.”

Finchem further denounced efforts by businesses to use government to promote their financial interests. Finchem voted “no” on Senate Bill 1543, which allowed Taser and bodycam manufacturer Axon to bypass zoning rules and a planned referendum in Scottsdale to build its headquarters, 2,000 apartments, restaurants and a hotel. The Axon bill passed the state House 40-19 and the Senate by 17-13 and was signed by Hobbs on April 18.

“Axon came into Scottsdale and said if you don’t give us a waiver on building apartments for people who work for us to stay in, we’re going to go to Florida,” Finchem said. “I don’t take kindly to those kinds of threats, especially when it sets a precedent for an employer to come in and override local zoning.”

Forests and Fires

“We have got a lot of non-renewals that are going on,” Finchem said, regarding fire insurance. “Now we are seeing people that can’t sell their homes. Why? Because the buyer can’t get homeowners’ insurance. At the same time, the bank is calling their note because their home is no longer insurable.”

“The homeowners’ insurance crisis is going to bubble up so bad this summer that we may be able to force a special session to address that issue,” Finchem added.

Finchem suggested a government subsidy program as “essentially a block grant program under the Department of the Interior … for backstopping the insurance company to provide you with insurance.”

To help solve a fire problem he attributed “almost 100%” to the federal government as well as insurance agencies, Finchem proposed expanding the state Department of Natural Resources.

“We have it on good authority right now that the Trump administration is prepared to dispose of unappropriated lands that are currently held by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service,” Finchem said. “How would you like to see Prescott State Forest instead of Prescott National Forest? How about we have Arizona state parks?”

In his native Michigan, “their footprint of federal land is 1% of the state land. Do you know what it is in Arizona — 47.9%. Yes, that includes some tribal land, but why does the state of Arizona have so much land held by the BLM, which doesn’t manage land at all? They just watch it burn.”

The federal government owns 42.29% of land in Arizona, according to the Congressional Research Service. Of those 30.7 million acres in Arizona, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management owns 39.7%, U.S. Forest Service owns 36.64%, U.S. Department of Defense owns 9.67%, the U.S. National Park Service owns 8.52% and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service owns the remaining 5.48%. On a budget of $1.7 billion in 2024, the BLM generated $252.1 billion in revenue by managing livestock grazing permits, mining permits, coal leases, recreation and timberlands and providing technical advice for mineral rights on American Indian lands.

Finchem further called attention to the point that the USFS has a mandate to improve the watershed.

“Every piñon juniper sucks up 47 gallons a day in water,” Finchem said. “Tall timber … between 100 and 170 gallons a day. We have forest lots — every acre is supposed to have between 35 and 45 trees per acre. That’s a healthy forest according to the [University of Arizona]. We have plots that are 300, 400 trees an acre. What’s that doing to our water table?”

“We’ve got a lot of wood pulp for sale if that forest were managed by the state of Arizona,” Finchem added.

STRs

During the current legislative session, Finchem proposed SB1609 to repeal 2017’s SB1350, which legalized short term rentals in Arizona.

“With a bundle of rights goes a bundle of responsibilities,” Finchem said. “You can do anything on your property you want to until you interfere with your neighbors’ expectation of quiet enjoyment.”

Finchem suggested residents lobby their legislators in an attempt to get SB1350 repealed. “The pathway to solve this problem is community involvement,” Finchem said. “Having a room filled with the people who are affected by this is critically important.”

OHVs

In reply to an audience question regarding whether he would try to ban off-highway vehicles from state roads, Finchem said, “Government can’t do it all. The vehicle that you’re taking out on a road — you get smashed like a bug, it’s your fault. It’s not somebody else’s fault.”