HB 2205 Arizona House · 57th Legislature - Second Regular Session

criminal damage; trespassing; critical facilities

HB 2205 amends Arizona law to increase penalties for damaging specific protected locations, directly affecting property owners and individuals who damage these sites. It classifies aggravated criminal damage when property is defaced, damaged, or tampered with at places of worship, schools, cemeteries, or utility/infrastructure sites (e.g., for metal theft), with penalties escalating based on damage amount ($1,500-$10,000+) and location type. For instance, damaging a school with $10,000+ in damage becomes a class 4 felony, while similar damage to utility infrastructure is a class 3 felony. The bill defines "damage" to include repair costs, lost services, and abatement expenses, making it a criminal offense with felony classifications.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 9, 2026 Last action Mar 16, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version House Engrossed Version (02/24/2026) · 3 edits · Feb 24, 2026
MINOR
The bill was reformatted from an introduced draft to a final engrossed version, removing pre-filing headers and adding official legislative session details. The core legal text regarding criminal penalties for property damage remains substantively unchanged, though minor formatting adjustments were made to the statute numbering and the removal of a specific phrase regarding 'nonferrous metals' in the utility infrastructure section.
Scope change
No change in the scope or applicability of the law; the bill continues to define aggravated criminal damage and set felony classifications for property damage.
TECHNICAL

Removed pre-filing metadata and added official state legislature headers and session information.

Standardized the formatting of the statute text, including line breaks and the removal of bracketed deletion markers.

DEFINITION

Removed the specific phrase 'for the purpose of obtaining nonferrous metals' from the definition of utility infrastructure damage, broadening the scope to include any interference with utility functions regardless of the motive.

Floor votes · House Feb 24, 2026

How they voted

3125
Passed · 4 other
Total votes 60
Feb 24, 2026
D Democratic27
24 Nay 3
88% Nay
R Republican33
31 Yea 1 Nay 1
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
11
Key actions
3
Committee
1
Feb 24, 2026
Lower · Passed
PASSED
lower
Feb 23, 2026
Lower · Passed
DP
lower
Feb 4, 2026
Lower · Passed
DP
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Selina Bliss
Selina Bliss
RRepublican
AZ
1