Our Bill in the Arizona state House, HB2064, is dead.  It died between committees.  A lot of bills for various reasons die in committee.  As many times as we called and utterly begged the chair of the Rules Committee to put the bill on his agenda, Chairman of the Rules Committee, Laurin Hendrix, would not put it on the agenda. Because all house bills have to be through committee before March 12th, the bill may still be active, but it is dead.

In order for you to understand how we got to this point, I must lay out a timeline.  On May 13th of 2025, I came incredibly close to being hit by a car.  The driver had ran a stop sign and came so close that I had to rear back with my cane in hand to keep from getting hit. 

At that time, I still had a little vision in the center but still legally blind.  After I finished crossing the road with my heart racing, I discovered that a Payson, Arizona police officer was crossing.  I waived him over.  I asked him to go after the car and at least write them a warning for running a stop sign.  He smiled, refused to do anything, and said that people make mistakes.  I found out later that the woman in the white car that almost hit me was more than likely his wife.  In small towns like Payson, everyone knows everyone.

Because of my background in criminal justice, I started researching the state laws in regards to blind people.  To my horror, I discovered that there is an antiquated statute, 11-1024, that is somewhat of an umbrella law that covers not letting someone with a guide dog in your business and hitting a blind pedestrian.  This statute only charges up to $750 and is only a level 2 misdemeanor. 

Every state around Arizona has harsher penalties for hitting a blind or deaf pedestrian.  On May 15th, 2025, I started calling and emailing my local representatives for Payson, Arizona.  I called legislators Walt Blackman and David Marshall Sr., both of which represent my district, LD7.   Legislator Blackman’s administrative assistant got back in touch with me on May 30th and asked if I’d like to talk to Mr. Blackman about updating the statute. 

Walt Blackman called me on June 2nd, 2025 and talked to me about what I was looking for and how he could help.  We had a productive and friendly conversation.  He told me he would work on a proposal and have it to me by the end of the day.  During the summer, the House is out of session and most legislators are on vacation during this time. 

A few days went by, so I emailed his AA. On 6/12/2025, Mr. Blackman sent me the draft bill.  I sent it to my group of blind friends that I was seeing every week whilst at ACBVI in Phoenix.  We went over the draft bill and had some suggestions for the legislator.

On August 20th, 2025, Walt and I had another discussion about the bill.  He offered to meet us on September 4th, 2025 at the Capitol.  When I told the group at ACBVI, they were incredibly happy.  Unfortunately, a lot of people in the blind community feel that no one cares about them and no one listens.  This meeting was supposed to provide them with a chance to speak to someone in power.  Even though Mr. Blackman, like all elected officials work for the people, they are in a position of power given to them by the people. 

On the late afternoon of August 28th, 2025, I received an email from legislator Blackman’s AA, stating that he would be out of town the week after the meeting was supposed to happen and would be unable to have a meeting with us on September 4th. 

All I could think about after getting that email was all the sad faces and broken hearts of people that thought for once in their lives that someone in power actually cared.  It was labor day weekend.  No one would answer the phone.  In sheer desperation, I called a local radio station, KMOG, in Payson and asked one of the DJ’s if there was anything he could do or if he had another number for Walt.  He started getting mad once I told him Walt had canceled a meeting with a group of blind people.  He said he would call Walt and let me know.

I still do not know what was said or if he called Mr. Blackman while on the air, but it did get Mr. Blackman’s attention.  Within 20 minutes, his AA was on the phone with me asking if I would take his call.  He was very upset and angry that I had called Steve at KMOG and told the truth.  Either he was confused about the dates or he didn’t think we were important enough to warrant a meeting.  After yelling at me for five minutes, he finally calmed down.  After I offered to file a FOIA request and play the audio of him saying September 4th, he remembered the date and apologized. 

He set the meeting back up for September 4th as originally discussed.  We met him in a conference room in the basement of the House building at the Capitol.  The group were able to give him suggestions.  He was very jovial and kind to everyone.  The group was very happy they were able to express their opinions and offer assistance during this process.  He told us that he would have us a finished bill in October and could pre-file it early in November for the 2026 House session. 

During the month of October, 2025, I kept calling and emailing his assistant asking for an update.  After numerous calls and emails, his assistant emailed us the rough rough draft of the bill on November 10th, 2025.  The bill was what we asked for.  Everyone at the blind center was so happy that we finally had a bill.  I made sure everyone knew that we had to wait on Mr. Blackman to submit the bill. 

I respectfully kept calling and emailing, pleading with them to submit the bill.  I did not want the bill to get lost and never get submitted for the 2026 session.  During the second week of December, I called every legislator in the Arizona state House, asking them to please inquire with Mr. Blackman about the bill.  On December 9th, 2025, he called me, angry that I had called the other legislators, and told me that he would submit the bill at his time and choosing.  I am a fairly well educated American citizen.  It is of my extensive understanding that elected officials work for us, right?

I let it go and enjoyed the holidays and was in the process of moving at that time.  I didn’t have time to call and inquire.  Once the new session started in January, I checked Walt’s bills.  To my delightful shock, our vulnerable pedestrian bill was listed and it had a number, HB2064.  He had pre-filed it on December 16th of 2025.

The bill was read for the first time on 01/12/26 and was assigned to the judiciary and rules committees.  It had its second reading on 01/13/26.  The House Judiciary Committee put it on their agenda and voted 8 to 1(8 Republicans voted for it and 1 Democratic voted against it.) to pass it.  The next hurdle was the Rules Committee.  We waited a few weeks.  It was never put on the agenda.  I had a large group of blind and sighted people call and plead with the Chairman, Laurin Hendrix, to put the bill on the agenda.  I emailed legislator Walt Blackman, the sponsor of the bill, several times, pleading for help or suggestions.  I called countless times and left messages.  Nothing. 

To his credit, Walt submitted the bill.  He had some great ideas and did what he said to a point.  I cannot say whether he submitted the bill to shut me up or he had genuine interest in updating the law regarding blind and vulnerable pedestrians.  Did the NFB, National Federation of the Blind, get involved and stop it?  I don’t have an answer as of yet.  I will find out. 

Why would the NFB stop this bill?  This bill protects vulnerable pedestrians, including the blind, and fills a gap in the law.  At present, there is no restitution required if you hit a blind person.  If you hit my guide dog, for example, there is no protections for the guide dog.  There is no restitution.  There is no education requirements with DMV drivers license testing.  This bill would fix all of that and update the penalties, if we are hit by a car.  They would stop it, because I, a blind man, and a group of blind friends worked on this bill, not the NFB.  They can’t take credit for it, thus they would do everything in their power to kill it.  They may have.  I do not know.  But, if the bill pops up next session with the NFB sponsoring it, we will know. 

Mr. Blackman may have felt like this bill would not give him a big enough PR boost for his upcoming election in November.  I don’t know.  I think at some level, he does care.  He offered a lot of great ideas, such as the education requirement, that I didn’t even think about in the beginning.  At the end of the day, he let this bill die.  When blind people are hit almost daily by negligent drivers, this is inexcusable.  The bill was not allowed to get to the Arizona State House for a floor vote.  The democratic process was not completed. 

These state politicians do favors all the time.  I used to work for a political think tank years ago.  Mr. Blackman is the Chairman of the government committee, thus he sets the agenda for that committee.  Mr. Hendrix might have a bill that he wants on the agenda.  All Walt had to do was ask Mr. Hendrix to put HB2064 on the agenda and do each other a favor, but alas, he did not. 

Now we have to wait another year.   How many more vulnerable pedestrians have to get injured or killed before something is done?  Every time a blind person steps off the curb, we are literally walking by faith alone.  We hope that the drivers stop as they should, but there is no guarantee. 

During December of last year, the wife and I moved to Oklahoma.  The penalty for hitting a blind pedestrian here is $100, a joke.  Thus, I have to start the process here soon.  I hope that someone, a blind person, stays on the politicians in Arizona and gets this bill passed next year.  Who knows, I could be in LD7, Payson and Show Low are, later this year, making sure every voter knows what happened. 

I will include a copy of the bill below. What are your thoughts?