Axon brought a mobile tactical simulator to the Arizona Capitol on March 4, 2025, as part of its effort to back legislation that would stop a ballot referendum in Scottsdale brought by residents opposed to the company’s plans to build a 74-acre campus near the Loop 101 and Hayden Road. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Republican lawmakers want to make it impossible for Arizonans to let local voters challenge development projects at the ballot so that Axon can build a massive new headquarters and housing project in Scottsdale without opposition.
If the proposal passes, voters in cities and towns across the Grand Canyon State would be unable to mobilize to overturn zoning chances their city councils make to allow for a variety of development ventures, including efforts like the one in 2023 that blocked Tempe from rezoning land so the Arizona Coyotes could build a $2.3 billion entertainment district and stadium.
But the two bills being pushed by GOP lawmakers face an uphill battle from their own party as well as local neighborhood advocates.
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Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, has been strongly opposed to the two bills that Axon and some of his Republican colleagues support, and has reportedly gotten into heated arguments at the Capitol with Axon CEO Patrick Smith about the legislation.
Chaplik, like many in Scottsdale, opposes Axon’s proposed campus. After the city council rezoned land near Hayden and the Loop 101 for the sprawling 74-acre campus, local activists gathered signatures to send the decision to the ballot in a voter referendum, which must happen by November 2026.
Smith called the campaign against Axon’s plans “driven by special interests” at a press conference on the lawn of the Arizona House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Smith, flanked by Republican lawmakers and surrounded by employees, decried the referendum process Tuesday, saying the opposition to Axon’s development project was abused by “outside special interests.” He also claimed the process has never been used by locals, even citing the 2023 Coyotes stadium referendum in Tempe.
Long-time Tempe resident Ron Tapscott, who helped lead the effort on the referendum against the arena project in Tempe, called Smith’s comments an “outright lie.”
“We all did it collaboratively,” Tapscott said of the multiple local organizations that worked on the Tempe referendum. “So, to think this initiative was outside special interests is farcical.”
Arizona’s constitution and laws are broadly permissive of referenda challenging the decisions of state and local governments, and it’s not uncommon for residents of a city or town to send local decisions — often involving development that the council favors but that nearby residents oppose — to the ballot for a definitive thumbs up or down.
But House Bill 2925 and Senate Bill 1352 would eradicate such challenges by changing state law to declare that any application for rezoning is deemed an administrative act, which is not subject to a referendum.
Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, who sponsored the Senate legislation, said that the bill is about keeping Axon in Arizona — as well as keeping “outside special interests” from controlling rezoning decisions.
“We are going to fight tooth and nail to keep you guys here,” Gowan said to the crowd of Axon employees.
Smith told reporters that “California special interest” groups tried to “shake them down” after Axon won approval from Scottsdale for the project, leading to “paid signature gatherers” creating a referendum against the project.
“The referendum process sounds good at first,” Smith said, adding that “it is always driven by special interests.”
Chaplik posted on social media last month that Senate President Warren Petersen had pledged not to consider the bill.
“The Axon Lobbyist Bill is dead in the AZ Senate. This is a HUGE WIN for Scottsdale voters. Senate Pres. (Warren) Petersen has assured me it will not move an inch further,” he wrote.
Petersen did not respond to a request for comment.
There are also concerns over the constitutionality of the proposals.
The right for voters to bring a referendum is part of the Arizona Constitution, but the bills’ proponents argue that the idea won’t run afoul of the constitution since it merely reclassifies rezoning as not a legislative act but an administrative one. It would leave other forms of voter led referendum untouched.
Tapscott said he does not expect Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the legislation if it were to make it through the legislative process. Even if it does become law, he said he believes the courts will find it unconstitutional.
Others also see it as a direct attack on the voice of voters and neighborhoods.
Paul Davenport, a volunteer with the Neighborhood Coalition of Greater Phoenix, said that while they don’t “have a dog in the fight” on the Scottsdale issue, they do have concerns over anything that could take away the referendum power.
“I think it is important that citizens have the right to be informed and involved in what their local government is doing, and that is why zoning hearings are posted — those little signs you see on properties on such and such requests on this property,” Davenport said. “That is so people can get involved if they want to.… They may not want that proposed development to go in because, frankly, it may not be suitable for that site.”
Susan Edwards, president and co-founder of the Arizona Neighborhood Alliance, said she is worried that the bills are about taking away the voice of locals.
“Axon made an agreement with Scottsdale and its citizens, then came back with a very different plan,” Edwards said. “The citizens felt betrayed and asked that the original agreement be honored. They are the citizens who live there — not sheep. Shouldn’t they have a voice?”
Smith and Gowan both said that Axon’s proposal is popular among locals. But both chafed at the idea of letting voters demonstrate that in an election. Gowan and Sen. Janae Shamp, a Republican from Wickenburg, later claimed that an election wouldn’t be fair because “outside influence” would skew the results.
They added that Axon has been in negotiations to leave the state and it’s critical that everything be done to keep the company in Arizona.
Edwards shot back at those remarks.
“It’s ironic that Senators Gowan and Shamp are so concerned about ‘outside interests,’” she said. “We’d take them more seriously if they didn’t live 190 and 50 miles away, respectively, from the Axon site.”
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