Before federal agents enforce laws in Arizona, they may have to clear it with county sheriffs first.

A state Senate committee in Arizona agreed Wednesday to take up a Republican-sponsored bill that would make it a crime for the feds to operate inside the state without first getting the green light from a county sheriff.

Richard Mack, a former sheriff in Graham County, Ariz., pushed the panel on the measure, arguing that sheriffs are the only law enforcement officers who are elected by voters.

“And then we allow bureaucrats from Washington, D.C., to come in and supersede his authority, and to do whatever they want in his county, and they (the sheriffs) can say nothing about it?” Mack said, as quoted by Capitol Media Services.

According to the Daily Star, the bill would bar any federal employee who is not state-certified peace officer from making an arrest or conducting a search and seizure without approval from a county sheriff. Federal employees would be granted an exception if they were to witness a crime.