Sitting in a room with bookcases lined with books, a blue curtain, an American flag and an Arizona flag, Attorney General Kris Mayes said she's honored to take over the agency as the "people's lawyer."
Mayes is only the second woman to hold the office in the state, and the first mom.
"Probably took a little too long for that to happen," Mayes said with a smile and laugh. "But I think it's great to have a mom as AG."
As she takes over the office, Mayes said she has priorities she wants to tackle quickly.
Reproductive rights
An appeals court in Pima County ruled on Dec. 30 that doctors can't be prosecuted under Arizona's near-total abortion ban dating back to 1864. Mayes characterized that as a 'good decision' by the court.
"The 1864 ban is of course, insane, and unconstitutional," Mayes said. "It was passed when Arizona was not a state, when women couldn't vote."
That ban was put into place before Arizona was a state, and was enforced until an injunction was put in place in 1973 after the Supreme Court of the United States issued the Roe v. Wade decision.
Mayes said if the appeals court in Pima County's decision was appealed by another entity, she would fight it.
Throughout her campaign, Mayes has said she believes both the pre-statehood ban, as well as the 15-week ban passed by the state legislature last session, are unconstitutional. Mayes believes they both violate the privacy clause of the Arizona constitution.
"I will continue to fight both of them," Mayes said. "I will fight for reproductive rights for the women of this state."
In addition, Mayes says she's creating a Reproductive Rights Unit at the Arizona Attorney General's office.
"This issue isn't going away," Mayes said. "So if the legislature tries to pass something that's even more onerous on the women of this state when it comes to reproductive rights, I will fight it from this office."
Attorney and staff vacancies
Internally, Mayes is concerned about vacancies in the Child and Family Protection Division.
"These are the most important jobs in this building and yet we are down 40%," Mayes said.
Mayes said hiring for those positions is important and plans to ask the legislature for additional money to get the positions filled.
That division, Mayes said, protects Arizona families and kids, but the lack of staff has meant backlogs in the office.
"That's the problem. The folks who are hurt are the folks who are waiting and the families and the kids and that's not OK," Mayes said.
Mayes is proud of the attorneys in her office that have stepped in to help in these cases to help families and keep kids safe.
But adds, more needs to be done to help.
"The attorneys in my office who are having to fill in for the fact that we have all these vacancies are handling sometimes 140-150 cases at a time," Mayes said. "Again, not okay, and these are tough cases, this is hard work.”
Fentanyl
Another issue top of mind for Mayes is the fentanyl crisis. She said a lot of work needs to be done to address the problem.
To start, Mayes said it's an issue that needs to be looked at from a variety of angles. Mayes plans to work with the governor's office, legislature and other agencies to tackle it.
"Why are we sitting on a $5 billion surplus when our kids are being killed by fentanyl?" Mayes said. "Frankly, this state has not gotten a hold of this crisis and that to me is a scandal."
Mayes would like to see more money go to county attorney's offices around the state, more money for treatment options, to tackle the issue from the addiction side too.
As for prosecution, Mayes also believes looking into social media companies and their role in the fentanyl crisis is important too.
"Finding out and holding social media companies accountable for what’s happening on their platforms," Mayes said. "That’s something I can work on from the AG’s office."
Water
Another major focus for Mayes is water.
She said she's immediately working on addressing an issue in La Paz County where the state is leasing groundwater right now to a Saudi Arabia-based company that's growing alfalfa here. However, the state's lease isn't charging the company for the water they're using.
"Obviously at a time of epic drought, our water is precious and I think Arizonans are right to be outraged that the State of Arizona would allow a Saudi-owned corporation to stick a straw in the ground and suck out the water for free," Mayes said.
Mayes believes that violates the Arizona constitution's gift clause and plans to work to get the leases canceled within the next six months.
"Every day counts, if not sooner. Every single day counts because that water is coming out of the ground every single day," Mayes said.
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