ARIZONA STATE SENATE

ZACK DEAN

LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST

JUDICIARY & ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

Telephone: (602) 926-3171

RESEARCH STAFF

TO:                  MEMBERS OF THE SENATE

JUDICIARY & ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

DATE:            February 19, 2026

SUBJECT:      Strike everything amendment to S.B. 1099, relating to defamation; factors

Purpose

            Establishes statutory criteria for determining when a person commits an act of defamation.

Background

            The owner, licensee or operator of a visual or sound radio broadcasting station, or affiliated agents and employees, are not liable for damages for a defamatory statement published or uttered as part of a visual or sound radio broadcast by someone other than the owner, licensee, operator, agent or employee thereof, unless it is alleged and proved that the defendant has failed to exercise due care to prevent publication or utterance of the defamatory statement. Owners, licensees, operators, agents and employees of a station are likewise not liable for damages for defamatory statements published or uttered over the station by or on behalf of a candidate for public office (A.R.S. § 12-652).

            Acts that may constitute defamation are typically prosecuted under state tort law. In order to establish defamation under Arizona common law, a publication must be false and must bring the defamed person into disrepute, contempt, or ridicule, or must impeach the plaintiff's honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation (Godbehere v. Phx. Newspapers, Inc., 162 Ariz. 335, 341 (1989)).

            There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.

Provisions

1. States that a person commits defamation if the plaintiff is a private figure and the matter is of private concern and the plaintiff shows all of the following exist:

a) the person publishes a statement that is:

i. provable as false;

ii. reasonably perceived as stating actual facts about the plaintiff rather than imaginative expression or rhetorical hyperbole; and

iii. the person makes the statement with knowledge of its falsity, acts with reckless disregard of the statement's falsity or negligently fails to ascertain the statement's falsity; and

b) the statement, when examined within the full context in which it was made, injures the plaintiff's reputation by doing any of the following:

i. identifying the plaintiff by name;

ii. including a description of or reference to the plaintiff so that those who hear or read the statement reasonably understand the plaintiff to be the subject of the statement; and

iii. implying a clearly defamatory meaning that, when examined within its context, causes the average person to perceive a defamatory message.

2. States that a person commits defamation if the plaintiff is a private figure and the matter is of public concern and the plaintiff shows all of the following exist:

a) the person publishes a statement the person knows to be false, acts with reckless disregard of the statement's falsity or negligently fails to ascertain the statement's falsity;

b) the person publishes a statement that, when examined within the full context in which it was made, injures the plaintiff's reputation by:

i. identifying the plaintiff by name;

ii. including a description of or reference to the plaintiff so that those who hear or read the statement reasonably understand the plaintiff to be the subject of the statement; and

iii. implying a clearly defamatory meaning that, when examined within its context, causes the average person to perceive a defamatory message; and

c) the published statement is both:

i. provable as false; and

ii. reasonably perceived as stating actual facts about the plaintiff rather than imaginative expression or rhetorical hyperbole.

3. States that a person commits if the plaintiff is a public figure and the matter is of public concern and the plaintiff shows all of the following exist:

a) the person publishes a statement the person knows to be false or acts with reckless disregard of the statement's truth;

b) the person publishes a statement that, when examined within the full context in which it was made, injures the plaintiff's reputation by:

i. identifying the plaintiff by name;

ii. including a description of or reference to the plaintiff so that those who hear or read the statement reasonably understand the plaintiff to be the subject of the statement; and

iii. implying a clearly defamatory meaning that, when examined within its context, causes the average person to perceive a defamatory message; and

c) the published statement is both:

i. provable as false; and

ii. reasonably perceived as stating actual facts about the plaintiff rather than imaginative expression or rhetorical hyperbole.

4. Becomes effective on the general effective date.