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
31–25
Passed · 4 other
Total votes 60
Feb 24, 2026
D
Democratic27
88% Nay
R
Republican33
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
Selina Bliss
RRepublican
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