SB 1215: litigation; financing; consumer protection; enforcement - Arizona

HOUSE - Amended by JUD - passed → Chaptered Version · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was finalized into law (Chapter 226) after passing the House and Senate, incorporating amendments from the Judiciary Committee. The text was cleaned of internal markup instructions and formatted for official publication. The substantive legal content regarding litigation financing rules remains consistent with the House version.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains unchanged; it applies to civil actions, administrative proceedings, and claims commenced on or after December 31, 2025.

TECHNICAL

Added official chapter number (226), bill title, and governor approval dates to the final version.

Removed House-specific amendment instructions and committee headers that were used during the legislative process.

Converted the text from a draft format with bracketed markup to a clean, final statutory text.

Senate Engrossed Version → HOUSE - Amended by JUD - passed · 2 edits

MINOR

The House Judiciary Committee amended the Senate version of SB 1215 to remove a specific provision prohibiting litigation financiers from accepting funds from 'Foreign Entities of Concern' and to reformat the entire bill into a numbered, line-by-line legislative text. This change removes a specific anti-foreign funding restriction while standardizing the document's presentation for final passage.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by removing a specific prohibition on funding sources from foreign entities of concern.

ELIGIBILITY

Deleted a clause that explicitly banned litigation financiers from providing funding if the agreement was financed by a 'Foreign Entity of Concern'.

TECHNICAL

Converted the bill from a narrative format with headers into a standard numbered legislative text format with line numbers and amendment instructions.

House Engrossed Version → Senate Engrossed Version · 6 edits · Jun 19, 2025

MODERATE

The bill was transitioned from the House to Senate version with several substantive changes. The Senate version clarifies disclosure requirements, expands applicability to include pending cases, and modifies enforcement provisions. These changes aim to improve transparency around litigation financing while maintaining consumer protections.

Scope change

The bill now applies to civil actions that are pending or commenced on or after the effective date, expanding coverage to include cases already in progress when the law takes effect.

REQUIREMENT

Added requirement for parties to disclose litigation financing agreements within 30 days of filing, including the financier's name and ownership details.

Expanded disclosure obligations to include information about hedge fund ownership and provisions that could give financiers control over the litigation.

Added specific provision requiring courts to consider litigation financing conflicts when appointing counsel in class actions and multidistrict litigation.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed enforcement from allowing only the Attorney General or parties to challenge agreements to giving courts authority to impose sanctions for non-disclosure.

TIMELINE

Expanded applicability to include cases already pending when the law takes effect, rather than only new cases.

DEFINITION

Removed language about foreign countries of concern from prohibited conduct section while keeping it in disclosure requirements.

Introduced Version → House Engrossed Version · 5 edits · Jun 19, 2025

MODERATE

The bill was reformatted from an introduced version to a house engrossed version with substantive changes to definitions and prohibited conduct. The most significant change is the addition of a new definition for 'Foreign Country of Concern' and 'Foreign Entity of Concern' to address foreign financing interests. Additionally, the definition of litigation financing was simplified, and new restrictions were added prohibiting funding directly or indirectly financed by foreign entities of concern.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly include foreign financing restrictions and clarify applicability to class actions and multidistrict litigation.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'Foreign Country of Concern' and 'Foreign Entity of Concern' to identify foreign government interests and sanctioned organizations.

Simplified the definition of 'Litigation Financing Agreement' by removing detailed exclusions for personal use loans and nonprofit funding, replacing them with a broader exclusion for agreements where no right to payment exists in excess of funding provided.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new prohibition requiring litigation financiers not to provide funding directly or indirectly financed by a foreign entity of concern.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified the definition of 'Foreign Person' and 'Foreign Principal' to align with the new foreign entity definitions, replacing the previous list of excluded entities.

ENFORCEMENT

Added specific applicability language stating the act applies to class actions and multidistrict litigation, with acknowledgments required from class representatives or named plaintiffs.

litigation; financing; consumer protection; enforcement

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