Nationwide, state and local governments are trying to shut down data center development. In Arizona, the law is clear: county governments can only halt an industry’s legal development in the face of an imminent danger to the public. But Pima County leaders came nowhere near meeting that threshold when they approved a moratorium on new data center development. That’s why the Goldwater Institute is demanding that Pima County leaders immediately rescind their unlawful assault on property rights.
In a demand letter to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, Goldwater explained that Arizona law only allows local governments to issue a moratorium on an industry if there is a “compelling need” and a “clear and imminent danger to the health and safety of the public.” But county officials have admitted that no such risk exists—a recent public-health review found no empirical evidence that data centers pose a health threat. The unlawful moratorium also raises serious concerns under Arizona’s Private Property Rights Act, which requires governments to compensate property owners when the value of their land is devalued by regulations.
Arizona became a data-center hub because of its business climate, infrastructure, and respect for property rights. The Goldwater Institute will always fight back whenever the government tramples on those rights or ignores laws meant to constrain it.
Read more here.
Few people know the hope the Goldwater Institute’s Right to Try for Individualized Treatments brings to rare-disease patients quite like Kendra Riley. To help build support for this landmark legislation, Kendra joined renowned media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky’s show to share how her youngest daughter, Keira, who has a rare genetic disease, is thriving today because she received an individualized treatment that saved her life.
“Keira was the 32nd kid in the world to have this treatment,” Kendra said on Ask Dr. Drew, adding that because of it her daughter is “happy, healthy, going to school.”
But it almost didn’t happen. The treatment Kendra’s daughter needed wasn’t available in the United States when she was diagnosed with Metachromatic Leukodystrophy in 2020, so the family rushed her to Italy in the nick of time. Under Goldwater’s Right to Try 2.0, rare-disease patients wouldn’t need to leave the country to access individualized therapies that simply cannot get through the FDA’s outdated, one-size-fits-all regulatory framework.
Right to Try 2.0 “seems like a reasonable idea in a free country,” Dr. Drew said. Goldwater couldn’t agree more. No one should have to flee the country or beg the government for permission to access potentially life-saving treatments.
It’s time for Congress to make Right to Try 2.0 the law of the land.
Read more here.
Click here to learn more about Right to Try 2.0.
They’re watching you—the government, that is.
Utilizing networks of cameras equipped with so-called automated license plate reader technology, cities, towns and even universities are tracking where you go, when you go there, and how often—some cameras even take note of the clothing you’re wearing. Now, the Goldwater Institute is demanding that governments using ALPR cameras come clean about how, exactly, they’re using this technology and how it impacts you.
We know that government entities are using ALPR cameras to record the license plate number and description of every passing vehicle. The rapid spread of this technology raises all sorts of concerns about privacy, due process, and other civil liberties. To better understand how governments are using data they collect about you, we are sending public record requests to Arizona cities, towns, and universities demanding answers about their contracts, policies, agreements, and camera locations.
Public records laws exist just for situations like this—to shine a light on what the government is doing. Americans deserve to know how the government is monitoring and tracking them. The Goldwater Institute is taking action to ensure they do.
Read more here.
