Arizona Senate panel backs renaming highway loop after Kirk

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(The Center Square) – The Arizona Senate Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 Wednesday afternoon, along party lines, to back a bill renaming highway Loop 202 as the Charlie Kirk Loop 202.

The legislation will go to the full Senate for consideration.

The loop spans about 77 miles across the Phoenix area and connects with Interstate 10 on both ends. Senate Bill 1010 calls on the state Department of Transportation to install signs reflecting the new name. The Arizona State Senate Republicans Caucus said no fiscal impact is anticipated.

The bill sponsor, Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said segments of the loop would still keep their previous designations. Petersen made the comment after Yvonne Pastor expressed concern that a segment would no longer be named after her father, the late U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Arizona, who the daughter noted was known for his bipartisan work on the behalf of Arizonans. 

Pastor urged the committee to name a highway segment closer to Kirk’s home in Scottsdale and Phoenix-based Turning Point USA, which Kirk started, after the conservative leader. A short while later, Petersen stressed the segment honoring Pastor, which would be part of the Charlie Kirk Loop 202, would still be named after the late congressman.

The four Republicans on the committee backed SB 1010. 

Petersen talked about Kirk, the Arizonan who was assassinated Sept. 10 when he was speaking at a rally before thousands at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

“His death was an act of political violence and terror that shocked our nation in renewed discussions on the importance of preserving civic civil discourse,” Petersen told the Senate panel. “Charlie understood better than most the beauty and necessity of the First Amendment. He championed the idea that disagreements should be met with dialogue, not division, and that vigorous debate strengthened our republic rather than weakened it.”

Petersen noted the new designation "ensures that this contribution to civic engagement, free speech and the public square will not be forgotten."

Several people supported the renaming during a public comment period.

The man accused of killing Kirk is Tyler James Robinson, 22, who appeared at his second in-person pretrial hearing Friday in Provo, Utah, as reported by The Center Square. Robinson is charged with six felonies, including aggravated murder, and one misdemeanor. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray has said he will seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted of murder.

Robinson's attorneys are trying to get the entire prosecution team disqualified on the basis that one of the prosecutors has an adult daughter who was at the rally when Kirk was shot and killed. Gray, whose office told defense attorneys about the daughter, said he doesn't believe there's a conflict of interest.