Strike everything after the enacting
clause and insert:
"Section 1. Section 16-1019, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE16-1019. Political signs; tampering;
classification
A. It is a class 2 misdemeanor for any person to
knowingly remove, alter, deface or cover any political sign of any candidate
for public office for the period commencing forty‑five days prior to a
primary election and ending seven days after the general election.
B. The provisions of this section shall not apply to
the removal, alteration, defacing or covering of a political sign by the
candidate or the authorized agent of the candidate in support of whose election
the sign was placed, or by the owner or authorized agent of the owner of
private property on which such signs are placed with or without permission of
the owner, or placed in violation of state law, or county, city or town
ordinance or regulation. END_STATUTE
C. Notwithstanding
any other statute, ordinance or regulation, this state or any city, town or
county shall not remove, alter, deface or cover any political sign if the
following conditions are met:
1. The sign
is placed in a public right-of-way that is owned or controlled by that
jurisdiction.
2. The sign
supports or opposes a candidate for public office or it supports or opposes a
ballot measure.
D. The
prohibition prescribed in subsection C applies only during the period
commencing forty-five days before a primary election and ending seven days
after the general election, except that for a sign for a candidate in a primary
election who does not advance to the general election, the period ends seven
days after the primary election.
E. Subsection
C does not apply to public rights‑of‑way for controlled access
highways or overpasses over those highways."
Amend title to conform
