On June 12 Arizona senators passed a bill that would drop the amount of fentanyl necessary to trigger mandatory minimum sentencing from 200 grams down to 9 grams. Senate Bill 1061 has been sent to Governor Katie Hobbs (D), who hasn’t signed it as of publication time. Since the bill’s introduction, however, the threshold has already been lowered to 100 grams, via competing legislation Hobbs signed in April.
SB 1061 would apply to charges of possession with intent to sell, as well as to charges of “[t]ransport for sale, import into this state, offer to transport for sale or import into this state, sell, transfer or offer to sell or transfer.”
First-time convictions involving 9 grams of fentanyl or more would trigger a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, with a presumptive sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 15 years. Subsequent convictions would trigger a mandatory minimum of 10 years, with a presumptive sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 20 years.
The bill passed its third reading with 32 votes in favor and 25 votes against; three senators did not vote.
In 2023, Hobbs vetoed a proposal that would have lowered the threshold for intent to sell from 9 grams to 2 milligrams, or 0.25 milligrams for carfentanil and other fentanyl-related substances. In a letter reiterating her support of Good Samaritan protections, she invited legislators to send her “a narrower bill that focuses on the manufacture of fentanyl.”
In 2024, Hobbs signed the law that set the original threshold of 200 grams. That stood until April 13 when she signed House Bill 2132, which lowered it to 100 grams.
But law enforcement, including Attorney General Kris Mayes, have been angling for something lower than 100 grams. In January, a county sheriff testified that a lower threshold would allow his department to pursue longer prison sentences for street-level sellers.
Arizona has emerged as the state where fatal overdose appears to increasing the most rapidly.
SB 1061 was introduced by Senator Wendy Rogers (R), who has supported a number of proposals ramping up penalties related to fentanyl and border control. In January, the Arizona Mirror reported that Rogers cut off an attorney who was testifying that rather than harsher sentencing, the state should be looking at treatment options.
“Shoulda woulda coulda. I am for nabbing [9 grams] off the street,” Rogers reportedly said. “If someone is an addict versus a dealer, that is not my obligation.”
There’s a good chance Hobbs will veto, as she vetoed an identical proposal from Rogers in 2025. However, in the year since then Arizona has emerged as the state where the rate of fatal overdose appears to be going back up the most rapidly, even as nationally the death rate continues to go down.
On June 13, one day after SB 1061 was sent to Hobbs’ desk, state representatives introduced a bill calling on the federal government to boost funding for the Arizona division of the Drug Enforcement Administration as well as other offices engaged in drug interdiction at the United States-Mexico border.
“[O]ver half of all fentanyl smuggled from Mexico comes through Arizona’s border, and Arizona had the highest 12-month increase in drug overdoses as of August 2025,” that bill states, “making Arizona a uniquely impacted and important state in the fight against fentanyl trafficking in the United States.”
Image via United States Customs and Border Protection