SB 1412 Summary

• Amends Arizona law to allow residential property owners or occupants to remove political signs or printed materials from adjacent public right-of-ways without legal liability.

• Maintains existing protections for political signs placed in public rights-of-way if they meet specified conditions: maximum 16 square feet in residential areas or 32 square feet elsewhere, contain candidate/campaign contact information, and do not create safety hazards or obstruct vision.

• Keeps criminal penalties (class 2 misdemeanor) for knowingly removing, altering, defacing or covering political signs or materials of candidates, except when done by the candidate, their agents, or property owners.

• Clarifies that cities, towns and counties can only remove non-compliant political signs after providing 24-hour notice to the candidate or campaign committee, and must retain removed signs for at least 10 business days for retrieval.

• Applies protections during the period starting 60 days before a primary election through 15 days after the general election (or 15 days after the primary election for candidates who don't advance).