Sitting in a room with bookshelves full of books, blue curtains, American and Arizona flags, Attorney General Chris Mays She is honored to take over the agency as the “People’s Lawyer”.

Mays is the second woman in the state to hold the position and the first mother.

“Maybe it took a little too long for it to happen,” Mays said with a smile.

Mays said there are priorities he wants to address quickly as he takes over the office.

The Pima County Court of Appeals ruled on December 30 that the doctor could not be prosecuted under Arizona’s near-total abortion ban, which dates back to 1864.

“Of course the 1864 ban is insane and unconstitutional,” Mays said. “Passed when Arizona wasn’t a state and women couldn’t vote.”

This ban was enforced before Arizona became a state and remained in place until an injunction was issued after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade.

Mays said if the Court of Appeals against the Pima County decision was appealed by another body, she would fight it.

During the election, Mays has said he believes both the pre-statement ban and the 15-week ban passed in the last state legislature are unconstitutional. Mayes believes both violate the privacy provisions of the Arizona Constitution.

“I will continue to fight them both,” Mays said. “I will fight for the reproductive rights of women in this state.”

Additionally, Mays says he is setting up a Reproductive Rights Division in the office of the Arizona Attorney General.

“This problem is not going away,” says Mayes. “So if Congress wants to pass something even more embarrassing for women in this state on reproductive rights, I will fight it from this office.”

Internally, Mayes is concerned about vacancies in the child and family protection division.

“These are the most important jobs in this building, and they’re still down by 40 percent,” says Mayes.

Mays said the hiring of these positions is significant and plans to ask Congress for additional funding to fill the positions.

The department protects families and children in Arizona, but staff shortages have created a backlog in the office, Mays said.

“That’s the problem. It’s the people waiting, the families, the children that are getting hurt, and that’s the problem,” Mays said.

Mays is proud of the attorneys in her office who have stepped in to assist with these cases to help families and keep children safe.

But he adds that more needs to be done to do so.

“Sometimes the attorneys in my office who have to fill the fact that there are all these vacancies are handling 140 to 150 cases at a time,” Mayes said. , it’s not okay.These are hard cases.This is a lot of work.”

Another issue on Mays’ mind is the fentanyl crisis. She said much work needs to be done to address this issue.

For starters, Mayes said this is an issue that needs to be looked at from multiple angles. Mayes will work with the Governor’s Office, Congress and other agencies to address this issue.

“Our children are being killed by fentanyl, so why do we have a $5 billion surplus?” Mays said. “Frankly, the state has not grasped this crisis and to me it is a scandal.”

Mayes hopes more money will go to county attorneys’ offices across the state and more money will be spent on treatment options to tackle the problem from the addiction side as well.

Regarding the prosecution, Mays also believes it’s important to examine social media companies and their role in the fentanyl crisis.

“It’s about finding social media companies and holding them accountable for what happens on their platforms,” says Mayes. “It’s something I can work on from the AG office.”

Another main focus of Maze is water.

She is quickly working to address the issue of La Paz county, where the state now leases groundwater to a Saudi-based company that grows alfalfa here. We do not charge the company for the water it uses.

Related: Arizona farmers have grown Saudi Arabia’s agricultural empire. Now the monarchy has part of the state water.

“Obviously, in a time of epic drought, our water is precious, and Arizonas are outraged that the state of Arizona allowed a Saudi-owned company to stick straws in the ground to suck up water for free. I think it makes sense,” Mays said.

Mayes believes he has violated the gift provision of the Arizona Constitution and plans to seek to cancel the lease within the next six months.

“Every day matters, because water comes out of the ground every day,” says Mayes.

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