“Moment ago, I vetoed #SB1062,” Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said via Twitter in a much-anticipated decision following state legislators’ recent passage of the widely condemned legislation.
In a Feb 26 letter to the president of the Arizona State Senate, Brewer says the bill is “broadly worded and could result in unintended and negative consequences.”
She adds, “The legislation seeks to protect businesses, yet the business community overwhelmingly opposes the proposed law. Moreover, some legislators that voted for the bill have reconsidered their votes and now do not want this legislation to become law.” State senators Bob Worsley, Adam Driggs and Steve Pierce had written to Brewer asking her to veto the bill.
Since the state’s legislators passed the measure that would have allowed businesses to refuse service on religious grounds, Brewer had been under mounting pressure to veto the bill from powerful corporate and political interests. While businesses like American Express, Apple, Intel, Yelp, Marriott, Delta, American Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, PetSmart, AT&T, the Arizona Super Bowl Committee and others had expressed strong opposition to the bill, Republican party leaders John McCain, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich told the governor that a veto would be the right course of action.
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