House panel advances bill to create state compensation path for wrongfully convicted

The Arizona House Appropriations Committee on Monday advanced a bill that would create a state process for people who were wrongfully convicted to seek financial compensation and other remedies.

Supporters said the measure establishes a judicial process that would hold state government accountable for deep life harms when convictions are overturned. Opponents, including several county attorneys and the Department of Administration, asked for changes to narrow eligibility and to resolve long-term funding and administrative questions.

The bill, carried in the House by Representative Kyle Powell (District 14), would authorize claims for people whose convictions were overturned on post-conviction review, pardoned due to innocence or otherwise vacated. The measure as amended in committee would authorize awards equal to 200% of the median household income for each year a person was wrongfully imprisoned, adjusted year-by-year in the award calculation. The Legislature’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee earlier estimated potential awards could average under $1 million per claimant; state witnesses told the committee Arizona has a small historical pool of eligible cases — roughly 20 since the 1980s.

Advocates told the panel the state has a moral obligation to provide restitution and re-entry services. "People come out of prison with their lives taken; we should have a path to restore them," said Hope Dilap of the Arizona Justice Project. Several exonerees described years lost to incarceration and asked the committee to keep the bill’s current eligibility provisions in place.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office testified in opposition to the bill as drafted. Rebecca Baker told the committee the proposal would allow compensation even when a conviction is reversed for legal or procedural errors, not factual innocence, and that may "incentivize ineffective assistance of counsel" and create unusual civil burdens. The state Department of Administration said it was neutral but warned the program would be funded from the state's Risk Management Revolving Fund, which already pays settlements; the department told the panel that fund is under stress and that program costs will need to be monitored.

Committee members pressed advocates and agency staff about how many eligible claimants exist and about whether estates of deceased exonerees could apply; witnesses said about 20 people since the 1980s had survived the high post-conviction threshold, and that the current draft requires claimants themselves to apply, not estates, though that could be revisited.

The committee adopted a strike-everything amendment before voting to advance the bill to the full House. Representative Powell said the measure aims to make Arizona consistent with nearly 39 other states that have compensation statutes. The committee vote to give the amended measure a "due pass" recommendation was 18-7 in favor.

If the bill clears the House and Senate and the governor signs it, the new claims process would direct awards from the Risk Management Revolving Fund and create additional reporting and administrative processes the committee said it expects to monitor.

Why it matters: Wrongful-conviction compensation statutes address both justice and public-policy concerns: they provide financial relief to people whose lives were damaged by convictions that are later overturned, while also creating incentives for criminal-justice actors and clarifying administrative responsibility for payouts.

What’s next: S.B. 1500 goes to the House floor for third reading; committee sponsors said they are willing to work on technical changes requested by county attorneys and ADOA to refine eligibility, funding details and whether estates can apply.

Sources: Arizona House Appropriations Committee testimony; comments from Representative Kyle Powell; testimony from the Arizona Justice Project, Maricopa County Attorney's Office and Arizona Department of Administration.