Arizona House reverses stand: Reporters allowed on House floor

Leaders of the Arizona House of Representatives announced on Tuesday that media will be allowed to access the floor for the rest of this session without having to undergo a background check.

This reverses a policy that was put in place Thursday by House Speaker David Gowan, which required reporters and other non-staff members to undergo a screening before being allowed access to secure areas, including the House floor and hallways leading to legislators' offices.

The change in policy was announced in an email sent just before 9 a.m. by Stephanie Grisham, press secretary for the Republicans in the House.

"Effective today, Tuesday, April 12th, media will have access to the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives for the remainder of this session," the email read. It gave instructions for reporters to sign in and out with the clerk's office.

"The rules of decorum remain in place," the email read, "and it is our hope that those will continue to be followed."

The email mentioned that security protocols were still being implemented.

Grisham, in a subsequent email, said the suspension of the background check applied to both members of the media and other non-staff members seeking access to secure areas of the House.

Media back on the floor

One new security measure was in place before Tuesday's afternoon floor session. A plastic table was set up at the west entrance to the House. Guards passed a wand over entrants and their bags. But guards did not request to open bags.

Paper signs taped to the doors said entrance was reserved "For Legislative Business Only."

Rep. Debbie McCune-Davis, D-Phoenix, observed the security measures while waiting to board an elevator. "Overreaction," she said.

About 10 minutes before the session started, 11 members of the media had signed in at the clerk's office. The group included crews from two television stations. Media members were led down a hallway, into a side door and onto the chamber's floor.

Before the session started, reporters interviewed lawmakers at their desks, scribbling in their notebooks as the representatives talked.

As the session opened, Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, noted the presence of the media. "I welcome the press back to the floor," she said. "Thank you very much for being here."

During the session, Democratic lawmakers proposed changing two rules of the House.

One would have stopped background checks of media members wishing access to the floor, absent a credible threat.

The other proposed rule change would have specifically banned members from carrying firearms inside the chamber, a practice some House members endorse, despite a sign at the front door of the building that says carrying a weapon inside is against the law.

Both amendments were defeated on party-line votes.

At one point, the House paused as members debated a point of parliamentary procedure. House Majority Leader Steve Montenegro came over to one of the press tables and explained what was going on to the two television crews and two wire service reporters there.

"That's something he couldn't have done if we were up in the gallery," said Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, who has covered the capitol since the 1980s. "I'm hoping this is behind us."

Though media members were supposed to check out upon leaving the House, only three did. One of those reporters checked out both himself and a colleague.

Roberts: Gowan, unmasked, cries uncle on reporter ban

Montini: Cowering lawmakers kiss up to reporters but still kiss off sick children

Gowan cites security concerns for original policy

Gowan announced the policy suspension to members in an email Tuesday morning, Gowan said that he proposed the background checks because he needed to act "quickly and decisively" to provide security measures after a day of raucous hearings about glitches in the Presidential primary election. One man needed to be physically removed from the House gallery and was charged with assault.

"I have worked hard to balance a number of factors in search of a solution to the controversy that has arisen over the recent amendment to our security policy," Gowan wrote. "Although many of you have asked that the House heighten security measures, some of you have also expressed concern about the policy’s effect."

The policy was put in place on Thursday. Most reporters' badges, which had been issued by the Department of Administration, stopped working before that day's floor session. Reporters covered the proceedings from the public gallery area that overlooks the floor.

PREVIOUS: Reporters lose access to Arizona House floor

Though the agenda that day was fairly light, most of the Capitol press corps attended. Their presence in the gallery — and not at the press tables on the floor — was the subject of an hour of lawmakers' speeches.

Gowan said the policy was about security. But the publisher and editor of the Arizona Capitol Times, a newspaper that covers the statehouse, offered a competing narrative. They said the policy was tailored to exile one of their reporters, Hank Stephenson, who had written stories critical of Gowan.

The policy would have excluded any reporter whose background check revealed certain crimes, including eavesdropping and trespassing. As it happens, Stephenson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge stemming from an early-morning arrest at a bar in Wickenburg in 2014.

ROBERTS: Gowan's abuse of power should cost him more than $12,000

RELATED: Lawmaker asked for more security, not reporter background checks

A lawyer for the First Amendment Coalition sent a letter on Friday threatening court action if the policy was not lifted.

Republican House Majority Leader Steve Montenegro, during a floor speech on Thursday, said the policy was put in place, in part, because of a letter signed by House members asking for extra security.

But the lawmaker who circulated that letter, Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, said the letter focused on securing the exterior and public areas of the building, not requiring background checks for the press corps.

Additionally, though Gowan said the Department of Public Safety would perform the background checks, a spokesman for that agency said on Monday that the DPS had no plans to do the screenings and had not done any since the policy was put into place.

How other states handle reporter access

The rule would have made Arizona the only state to require statehouse reporters to undergo criminal background checks before being granted access to the floor, according to documents collected for a 2014 survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Rules among the 50 states refer to “credentialed” and “bona-fide” members of the press. Most states seem concerned that reporters are using their floor access to gather news, rather than influence or lobby lawmakers.

One state, New Jersey, does issue credentials with the assistance of the New Jersey State Police, but a spokesman for the agency said the background check is cursory, intended more to determine whether the person is who they claim to be.

South Carolina does restrict access of former lawmakers who have been convicted of a crime whose punishment would carry a prison sentence of more than a year. But has no such rule regarding the press.

RELATED: DPS not doing background checks on reporters

MORE: Ducey says he feels safe around Arizona media

Some states do restrict access to the House floor. But a reading of those policies shows they seem more concerned with maintaining decorum, than security.

Wyoming, according to the survey, said it stopped providing a press box because too many entities wishing to lobby registered as media members. The state thought the most straightforward route, according to its survey response, was to have the media sit with the general public.

The Virginia Senate, in January, removed press from its floor, citing a need for more space, according to the Richmond-Times Dispatch. The House of Delegates still allowed access. The Senate decision was reversed by the end of the month and reporters were once again allowed access to the floor.

Also this year, the Missouri Senate moved the press to a visitors’ gallery overlooking the chamber. According to an Associated Press story, the move came because a Senator was upset that conversations overheard by reporters were being made public. That move was delayed until May because of delays in constructing a new press gallery, according to an AP story.

Some states, including Hawaii and Illinois, have press on the floor, but confined to boxes that don't offer access to the floor.

Reporters and photographers wishing access to press galleries in the two bodies of the U.S. Congress are checked mainly to see whether they work for legitimate media organizations, according to guidelines posted on a Senate website. Those galleries are located just above the floor, but do not allow reporters to be on the floor.

A White House credential requires a Secret Service background check. A spokesman for the agency declined to say what records are reviewed. But, according to a history of the agency, "In the President’s Secret Service" by Ronald Kessler, that process does include a check of criminal records.