HB 2469
Initials AG/KM Page 1 Vetoed
ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-sixth Legislature
First Regular Session
House: HHS DPA/SE 6-3-0-0 | 3
rd
Read 31-28-1-0
Senate: HHS DPA 5-2-0-0 | 3
rd
Read 16-14-0-0
Final Pass: 31-27-1-1
HB 2469: fentanyl; border; public health crisis
NOW: sovereign authority; border; health crisis
Sponsor: Representative Montenegro, LD 29
Vetoed
Overview
Deems that the trafficking of fentanyl across Arizona's border is a public health crisis and directs
the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS) to do everything within its power to address
the crisis.
History
DHS aims to promote, protect and improve the health and wellness of individuals and
communities in Arizona. The agency strives to set the standard for personal and community health
through direct care, science, public policy and leadership. DHS operates programs from the
following areas: 1) disease prevention and control; 2) health promotion; 3) community public
health; 4) environmental health; 5) maternal and child health; 6) emergency preparedness; and
7) regulation of healthcare intuitions and facilities.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) describes fentanyl as a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100
times stronger than morphine. The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2020
was more than 18 times the number in 2013 with more than 56,000 people dying synthetic opioid
overdoses in 2020. Fentanyl is listed as a narcotic drug in statute (A.R.S. § 13-3401).
Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution states that no state can, without the consent of
Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in times of peace, enter into any
agreement or compact with another state or with a foreign power or engage in war, unless actually
invaded or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states that the U.S. must guarantee to every state a
Republican form of government and protect each of them against invasion and on application of
the Legislature or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic
violence.
Article II, Section 3 of Arizona's Constitution permits the state to protect the people's freedom and
preserve the checks and balances of the U.S. Constitution by exercising its sovereign authority
to restrict the actions of its personnel and use of its financial resources to purposes consistent
with the U.S. Constitution by passing an initiative or referendum, a bill or any other available legal
remedy.
Provisions
1. Declares it is the public policy of Arizona to protect the state from drug cartels that threaten
the public safety, health or general welfare of its people. (Sec. 1)
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note HB 2469
Initials AG/KM Page 2 Vetoed
2. Deems that the federal government's failure to secure Arizona's border to protect it from an
unlawful invasion is dangerous and unprecedented. (Sec. 1)
3. Requires Arizona laws to be interpreted and construed to protect its sovereign authority
against any unlawful invasion at its border with Mexico. (Sec. 1)
4. Declares the trafficking of fentanyl across Arizona's border as a public health crisis and that
overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids are primarily driven by illicitly manufactured
fentanyl. (Sec. 2)
5. Asserts that DHS must do everything within its authority to address the crisis. (Sec. 2)
6. Defines the terms drug cartel and unlawful invasion. (Sec. 1)