When a Bill Becomes a Law: aka How Sausage is Made

By Mark Zinman | Zona Law

In April, we reported that Mark Zinman went to the Arizona House of Representatives and testified in support of HB 2068, which provided legal protection for property owners when they allow an assistance animal in their home, who then bites another person or otherwise causes damage. While we are happy to report that the bill ultimately was signed into law, the proposed bill changed multiple times before it was signed by the Governor. This is a story of how sausage is made and how bills become laws. The good news is that when two sides work together, reasonable bills can become law and provide protections for Arizona residents.

Initially, despite the logic in the bill, there was strong opposition to the bill from tenant advocates and government agencies concerned about fair housing implications. As the bill was originally drafted, it had two parts: (1) it codified a lot of fair housing rights into one statutory scheme, and (2) it created protection from liability for owners who allow a resident to have an assistance animal on property. The Fair Housing Act says that owners must grant modifications and accommodations for disabled residents. However, there is no specific statutory language interpreting this, so the process by which owners handle such requests is determined by case law and interpretations by the AG and HUD. The proponents of this bill thought it would be a good idea to codify a lot of the processes surrounding such requests. In other words, it was thought that by having both parties’ rights and obligations set forth in a statute, it would clarify things for everyone.

However, opponents argued that such a bill was actually limiting residents’ rights, and therefore, they objected. As such, to be able to proceed on the liability protection part of the bill, the section dealing with codifying the parties’ rights was removed entirely from the bill. By removing this section, many of the opponents agreed to support the bill.

The next hurdle that came up dealt with the concern that the liability protection language could be interpreted to limit a resident’s rights under the FHA. Remember, the purpose of the bill was to provide owner protection if a resident’s assistance animal bit someone. However, as written, fair housing advocates were concerned that the language would allow an owner to limit a resident’s rights under the FHA. While that was absolutely not the intent, we understood the concern that language can be misinterpreted and lead to absurd results. Therefore, we included language to make clear that the limitation of liability did not restrict or limit the resident’s rights under the FHA; we included this new sentence: “This section does not limit or abridge the rights of a person with a disability as otherwise prescribed in this chapter.” With this new sentence, all opponents of the bill agreed to remove their objections and allow the bill to proceed. If the opponents had continued to oppose the bill, we believe that the bill would have had more legislators voting against it, and it would not have made it out of the Senate and House. Fortunately, we are happy to report that the bill did make it out of the legislature and was signed by the Governor on May 13, 2025.

The bill will become part of ARS 41-1497.38, which is part of the Arizona Fair Housing Act and will provide the following:

NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER LAW, A LANDLORD IS NOT LIABLE FOR INJURIES OR

DAMAGES CAUSED BY A PURPORTED ASSISTANCE ANIMAL OR PURPORTED SERVICE

ANIMAL THAT IS ALLOWED AS A REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION OR A REASONABLE

MODIFICATION ON THE LANDLORD'S PROPERTY OR WITHIN PROPERTY CONTROLLED

BY THE LANDLORD. THIS SECTION DOES NOT LIMIT OR ABRIDGE THE RIGHTS OF A

PERSON WITH A DISABILITY AS OTHERWISE PRESCRIBED IN THIS CHAPTER.

While the Governor signed the bill, it doesn’t actually become law until 90 days after the legislative session ends. As of the writing of this article, we do not yet know when the legislature will close.