SB 1259 Summary

• Restructures the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (AZPOST) Board from 13 members all appointed by the governor to a 13-member board with appointments split between the governor, president of the senate, and speaker of the house of representatives.

• Increases retired law enforcement officers on the board from 2 to 5 members, requiring them to have extensive knowledge of use of force incidents, discipline, and law enforcement officer due process rights.

• Reduces public members not associated with law enforcement from 2 to 1 member appointed by the governor, while adding 1 public member appointed by the president of the senate and 1 public member appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.

• Modifies population thresholds for sheriff and police chief appointments, changing from "two hundred thousand" to "five hundred thousand" for sheriffs and from "sixty thousand" to "five hundred thousand" for police chiefs.

• Allows current board members serving under the prior law to continue serving until their current terms expire before the new appointment structure takes effect.