Legislative District 16’s two GOP reps in the Arizona House shared legislative updates with Maricopa officials at a special city council meeting last night.
Teresa Martinez, in her second public Maricopa appearance in a week, and Chris Lopez gave airtime to more than the usual topic of transportation woes and wins. The Casa Grande Republicans discussed funding public safety and community programs.
“We were able to secure some big money for fire and police, even our friends at Thunderbird,” Lopez said of the busy rural fire district immediately south of city limits.
That “big money” for Maricopa? The lawmakers secured $200,000 each for Maricopa Police and Fire/Medical Departments, as well as $100,000 for the all-volunteer Thunderbird Fire District.
Martinez also spoke about a confrontation that led to a change in state law over how criminal-seizure money is handled.
She said Florence Police Chief Matthew Thomas confronted her after lawmakers approved a budget that redirected money from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations fund into the state’s general fund. The RICO account, made up of seized criminal assets, is intended to support law enforcement.
“He called me out … about how dare I steal RICO funds away from the police,” Martinez said. She denied it at first, but: “We indeed had done that, and I was ashamed of myself for not catching it.”
Martinez said she worked with colleagues to correct the mistake, adding language to Senate Bill 1739 to ensure that RICO money “may not be transferred to the state general fund.” She attributed the budget victories and policy fixes to being part of “an outstanding team and being relentless.”
“Out of all 30 districts in the State of Arizona, LD 16 came away with the most wins out of all of them,” Martinez said of the 2025 session. Looking toward 2026, she told the room of Maricopans: “We are there for one reason and one reason only and that is to represent the people here.”
“We got what we fought for, for the good of our district, plain and simple,” Lopez said, “and it would not have happened if we weren’t all pulling the wagon in the same way.”
