PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed a bipartisan piece of legislation that prohibits registered sex offenders from serving on school boards throughout Arizona.
Senate Bill 1280 amends who is ineligible to run for a seat on a school district's governing board by including individuals who are "subject to registration as a sex offender in Arizona or any other jurisdiction."
The state's existing law requires school board candidates to live within the district's boundaries for at least a year and to not have any business connections with the school district. But the current law mentions little about whether a candidate's criminal history should make them ineligible to hold office.
The new law would also apply to individuals appointed to fill vacancies on a school board by a county school superintendent.
SB 1280 passed through the House and Senate without receiving any votes against it from lawmakers. Signed pieces of legislation typically go into effect about 90 days after the legislative session ends.
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UP TO SPEED
What is the Valley?:
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.
How big is Maricopa County?
Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.
The county was named after the Maricopa, or Piipaash, Native American Tribe.
