PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are reacting to last year’s wave of damage to Confederate monuments by civil rights protesters by trying to make it a felony to damage any public or private monument.
Rep. John Kavanagh supported his proposal at a Senate committee hearing Thursday by saying public monuments are a statement by the community that demand more protection.
Democrats call Kavanagh's an effort to criminalize protests against pro-slavery statues. The House passed Kavanagh's proposal on a party-line vote opposed by minority Democrats last month and it now awaits action in the GOP-controlled Senate.
