SB 1038 Arizona Senate · 57th Legislature - First Regular Session

aggravated assault; commission; certain officials

SB 1038 amends Arizona's aggravated assault law to include assaults on specific public service workers while they're performing their duties, such as first responders, teachers, healthcare workers, park rangers, and other officials. It adds new circumstances where assaulting these individuals becomes a more serious offense - for example, attacking a teacher on school grounds or a healthcare worker during work hours. The law increases penalties for these assaults and applies until January 1, 2033. This change directly affects anyone committing assault against covered workers during official duties.

Bill status failed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 2, 2025 Last action Mar 26, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Senate Engrossed Version · 5 edits · Mar 10, 2025

MODERATE

This bill updates Arizona's aggravated assault statute to modernize protections for various public safety and service workers, clarifies definitions, and establishes a phased timeline for expanded protections. The changes primarily affect who is protected under the law and when different levels of protection apply.

Scope change

The bill expands and clarifies the categories of protected individuals, particularly adding specific protections for tribal police officers and updating the definition of first responders to include tribal police. It also establishes a transition period where current protections apply until January 1, 2033, after which expanded protections take effect.

TIMELINE

Establishes a transition period where current aggravated assault protections apply until January 1, 2033, with expanded protections taking effect on December 31, 2032.

DEFINITION

Updates the definition of 'first responder' to explicitly include tribal police officers alongside peace officers and emergency medical personnel.

SCOPE

Adds new protected categories including expanded definitions for health care workers and clarifies protections for various public safety and service employees.

REQUIREMENT

Reorganizes and clarifies the felony classification structure for aggravated assault based on the type of victim and circumstances of the assault.

TECHNICAL

Removes outdated formatting and reference text from the original introduced version, replacing it with the clean Senate engrossed version text.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

PASSED

upper

Mar 6, 2025

Upper · Passed

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors