2023 Year in Review

Attorney General Kris Mayes in 2023 focused on returning her office to its core mission: protecting the safety and well-being of Arizonans. She traveled the state to work directly with Arizonans, holding 12 town halls, leaving the Phoenix metro 17 times and visiting 11 counties. 

From protecting vulnerable adults and consumers to safeguarding the environment and reproductive rights to fighting the opioid epidemic, there was a lot of work cut out for the Attorney General's Office this year.  

Much more to come in 2024.

Best of 2023

Fighting the fentanyl crisis

The AG's Office fought to keep poisonous fentanyl out of our communities, seizing more than 16.7 million fentanyl pills this year. Attorney General Mayes took the fight to Washington, meeting with the Vice President, as well as officials from the DEA and Border Patrol to work together to keep deadly drugs from crossing the border in the first place. The office continued to hold opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in perpetrating the opioid epidemic. One of these opioid settlements obtained this year will help send more than 55,000 boxes of the life-saving opioid reversal drug, naloxone, to county health departments. 

Defending reproductive rights

Attorney General Mayes hit the ground running to defend reproductive rights. She fought to ensure that women aren’t saddled with an 1864 law that was passed before women had the right to vote, Arizona wasn’t even a state yet, and the Civil War was still raging. The AG’s Office also joined critical lawsuits to keep government out of what should be private decisions between families and medical providers. Some of those cases protected Arizonans’ access to medication abortion as extremists sought to restrict mifepristone. 

Combatting senior abuse and neglect

Through the newly-established Elder Affairs Unit, the AG’s Office did not tolerate fraud and abuse against the state’s older adults. The office successfully prosecuted those who abused vulnerable adults, went after impostor medical providers and advocated for stronger nursing staffing requirements for long-term care facilities. The Attorney General also sued to end secrecy in litigation against assisted living facilities.

Safeguarding water and the environment

The Attorney General’s Office led the charge to fully enforce Arizona’s groundwater laws. The Attorney General fiercely criticized the fact that Saudi-owned Fondomonte was allowed to stick straws in the ground and pump unlimited amounts of groundwater. This pressure led to the cancellation of two of Fondomonte’s deep-water well applications. The Attorney General also sued to hold water polluters accountable.

Protecting consumers against scams and fraud

Fraudsters, scammers, and companies operating with deceptive and harmful practices were no match for the Attorney General’s Office this year. The office took aggressive action to stop fraudulent Medicaid billing practices by scam artists masquerading as legitimate behavioral health providers, leading to 60 indictments. To protect consumers, the office went after illegal telemarketing calls, pharmaceutical companies for inflating the price of insulin, and harmful features Meta used to purposefully addict children and teens. Attorney General Mayes also held townhalls in Kingman, Tucson, Prescott, Yuma, Sierra Vista, Phoenix, Green Valley and Show Low to hear directly from Arizonans what their concerns are regarding the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger.