Bills would speed donor disclosures

GOP aims to force Hobbs to report 2 years sooner

Two Arizona Republican lawmakers have harmonized competing bills dealing with public reporting of political fundraising, advancing a version that would require Gov. Katie Hobbs to divulge details later this year.

That means the public could see who is funding Hobbs’ political operation, and how she is spending that money, this summer, roughly two years sooner than required under existing Arizona law.

Two Republican lawmakers — Rep. Matt Gress of Phoenix and Sen. T.J. Shope of Coolidge — introduced bills earlier this year in response to reporting by The Arizona Republic that highlighted a three-year gap in reporting requirements. The bills included different reporting deadlines until Thursday, when Gress amended Shope’s bill to bring them in line.

“This is a bipartisan issue,” Gress told The Republic. “I hope that it continues to receive bipartisan support. Arizona has plenty of sunlight, so let’s shine it on elected officials’ campaign accounts.”

Currently, four-year officeholders who will seek a second term in office do not have to file public reports until early in the reelection year. For example,

Hobbs, a Democrat who was elected in 2022 and is fundraising for her reelection in 2026, has no legal requirement to make public her fundraising and spending details until January 2026.

Under the bill that advanced Thursday, Senate Bill 1571, Hobbs and others seeking four-year offices will be required to report their political fundraising and spending four times a year in each of the years between an election.

center in the state with nearly 150 over three years. The investigation exposed injuries, sexual assaults and deaths largely among residents with dementia.

Facility leadership insisted they were turning things around during The Republic’s investigation. But state inspectors found 48 more citations after that. In January, the state health department informed Heritage Village that it intended to revoke its license, according to Mayes’ lawsuit.

Mayes launched an investigation after a state inspection. According to the lawsuit, her team found Heritage Village:

Attempted to cover up the fact that it didn’t have required documentation for residents who can’t walk — even with assistance — by creating those documents only after the state demanded them.

Concealed more than 100 citations from public view by relicensing itself. If a member of the public searches for Heritage Village in the state’s search tool, only the 56 citations associated with the facility’s new license show up under regular settings.

Peppered its website with reviews copied and pasted from “other unidentified sites.” Some reviews were written by people with business and personal connections to the facility, like a person who appears to be the executive director’s husband.

Mayes wants to prevent Heritage Village from losing its license entirely because that would leave more than 150 residents and their families scrambling to find them new homes. Moving can cause major trauma for people with dementia.

A receivership would allow residents to remain but receive quality care, Mayes said in an interview with The Republic and azcentral.com. Existing management would be out and the receiver would assess which caregivers were qualified to stay.

Mayes said she believes it’s the first time an Arizona attorney general has ever asked for a receiver to take over the operations of a nursing home or assisted living facility.

“It’s long overdue,” she said. “When repeated fines and agency punishments are not enough to deter predators who maximize profits at the expense of elderly citizens, the job of protecting our most vulnerable falls on the attorney general.”

A judge could respond to Mayes’ request within 10 days to a few weeks.

Heritage Village responds to attorney general’s lawsuit

Heritage Village said in a statement Thursday that it continues to work with state regulators to correct deficiencies. It noted that it fired the previous management company in mid-2022, tightened security and hired more employees including some coordinators trained in medication disbursement.

“We respectfully disagree with the contention that the health and safety of any Heritage Village resident is at risk,” the statement said. “We are fully committed to complying with the extensive laws and regulations impacting assisted living, and to ensuring that Heritage Village becomes a model for assisted living in the state of Arizona.”

Gary Langendoen, managing director of Madison Realty, has pointed to a new on-site medical office as one of the measures to improve the facility. Langendoen’s firm acquired Heritage Village in 2017.

But Mayes said he’s had seven years to improve the facility and hasn’t turned anything around.

“I think it’s important to note that the doctor they hired is a defendant in my lawsuit,” she said.

Madison Realty Companies, with offices in Denver and Pasadena, has acquired and managed more than $6 billion in real estate across 30 states, according to JRW Investments, a company that evaluates investment opportunities.

An undated video on its now-defunct website talked up the fact that seniors come with money from life insurance proceeds from spouses and the sales of their homes. Langendoen said in the video that his investors like senior assisted living projects because there’s more demand than supply.

Mayes told The Republic that caring for the elderly is one of the most important duties of our society, “not a side hustle for property flippers.”

“Assisted living facilities like Heritage Village should be run by qualified healthcare providers who adequately staff their operations and train their employees, not by real estate speculators seeking to maximize profits,” Mayes said.

Lawsuit: Facility attempted to cover up lack of documentation

Under Arizona regulations, an assisted living facility can accept non-ambulatory residents — those who cannot walk by themselves or with assistance — only if those residents’ physicians certify in writing that the facility can provide the necessary level of care.

Heritage Village had 39 such residents. For 31 of them, the certifications the facility provided the state were signed by medical providers after the date the state demanded those forms.

Almost all those certifications were signed by the same three physicians. When the state interviewed those providers under oath, they said they signed the forms without understanding what they were signing or looking at resident service plans.

“I honestly don’t really read it. I just sign it,” one of them said, according to court documents.

Another said he had never been to Heritage Village and didn’t know his patients lived there.

As of this month, a quarter of the vulnerable adults living at Heritage Village can’t walk even with assistance, the complaint states. Most of them still haven’t had an evaluation by a doctor who has looked at their care plans and can assess whether or not the facility is capable of meeting their needs.

“When faced with a choice between bringing the facility into substantial compliance with Arizona law or merely generating paperwork that creates an illusion of compliance, Heritage Village chose the latter option,” the complaint reads.

“Despite their long history of failing to comply with state law, including over 170 ADHS citations and tens of thousands of dollars in previous civil penalties, Heritage Village continues to put the health, safety and well-being of their vulnerable adult residents at risk.”

Heritage Village told The Republic that it doesn’t knowingly admit or house any residents it can’t appropriately care for. The facility said it receives every resident’s medical records, verified by a physician, before they’re admitted and that secondary reviews for some residents should have been completed.

“Any mistakes in that regard have since been remedied,” the facility’s statement read.

In her lawsuit, Mayes also is seeking monetary penalties — restitution for “the exorbitant amounts Heritage Village

charges its residents and their families while providing dangerously substandard care,” according to court documents.

Errors continue after Republic investigation

After The Republic’s investigation reported severe medication errors, inadequate staff and building safety issues in October, state surveyors found similar problems continued.

Among many problems, found that Heritage Village:

Did not document a resident’s fall that landed them in the hospital.

Hired caregivers that didn’t complete required training.

Left some residents without a bell or intercom to call for help.

Gave one resident 150% of their prescribed medication, while another received double medication. Other residents’ medication was skipped for weeks.

Left a gate in the fence around a facility patio unlocked, so residents could leave with caregivers none the wiser.

surveyors

Families of ex-residents respond

The daughters of some former residents who suffered at Heritage Village responded to the news of Mayes’ lawsuit with tears.

“I’m overwhelmed. I’m trying to keep it together,” said Kanji Matsunaga, whose mother was attacked by another resident in 2022. “I really want to believe my mom was part of this lid being blown off.”

Michele Bixby’s mother spiraled into crisis mode after an employee skipped her medication. Her mother, who had severe dementia, pulled her roommate off the bed, which ended up killing the roommate in 2019.

“I’m still dealing with some of the depressions of that. You put your mother somewhere where you think they’re going to take really good care of her because the place looks nice and you see everything functioning and then this happens,” Bixby said. “And then you find out about all these other people.”