CEBV Weekly: March 24, 2025

It’s the last week for the Arizona Legislature to hear bills in their crossover-chamber committees — and, as we all know, nothing motivates our lawmakers like a deadline.

It’s also typically the time of year when bad ideas crop up seemingly out of nowhere. Lawmakers dust off stalled harmful measures and stuff them into completely unrelated committees. They take bills with broad support and gut them, transforming them into vehicles for even more terrible ideas. This desperate annual last-minute rush to take out the trash has made for a very long Weekly — and it appears the majority of these “regular bills” (SBs and HBs) are destined for the garbage heap by way of Gov. Hobbs’ well-used veto stamp. What exactly is the point?

We can help by making the public’s perception of those nonsense bills crystal clear. Take a deep breath (or several), do what you can on the action items below, and know the chaos will soon subside.

⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Act on the Spotlight bill by using Request to Speak and contacting lawmakers directly to OPPOSE.

⏰⏰ If you have 15 minutes: Also act on the six ballot referral bills by using Request to Speak and contacting lawmakers directly to OPPOSE.

⏰⏰⏰ If you have 40 minutes: Also use Request to Speak on the other bills in committees this week. Refer to the information, links and talking points in this Weekly to craft your own comments to lawmakers.

⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom for our next CEBV Happy Hour conversation. This week, after our usual state legislative rundown, we’ll hear from Elana Mainer with Rural People’s Voice in Washington State. Happy Hour meets every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of legislative session. Sign up in advance here.

🚨 Tax grab alert! 🚨 This Monday, the Legislature will consider giving a $1 billion taxpayer handout to the billionaire owner of the Diamondbacks.

HB2704 would divert $1 billion over 30 years away from the state of Arizona and its counties and cities — roughly 5 times as much as the team even says it needs1 — to subsidize a private, highly lucrative sports franchise. Current official estimates significantly lowball the cost to taxpayers. There’s no enforceable provision requiring the money to be spent on renovations; instead, it could be diverted to to luxury amenities, or to new tax-exempt hotels, restaurants, bars and retail.

Slash services or raise taxes. Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego sounded the alarm this week, calling the bill a “major league boondoggle” that “defies responsible governance.” Unfortunately, Mayor Gallego is all too familiar with this type of attack on our economic future. Arizona’s spiraling universal voucher program and massive tax cuts for the wealthy, along with last year’s ban on residential rent tax, are blowing massive holes in city budgets across Arizona. Cities build their budgets on state-shared revenues (state tax that state government shares with cities and towns), but last year alone, lawmakers tanked these revenues by nearly $300 million — representing 20% of city budgets. This shifts the burden onto local government, forcing cities to either slash services or raise taxes. And the results are predictable: This week, Phoenix was forced to announce a 0.5% sales tax hike to avoid making cuts to city services like police, fire and libraries. HB2703 would shrink their budgets even further.

Negligible public benefit. Who benefits from this massive handout of public money that would otherwise support public services? It sure isn’t us. The team’s billionaire owner gets all the profits; we, the taxpayers, get higher bills. More than three decades of studies have found stadiums to be consistent money pits that are “not justified as worthwhile public investments." One sports economist says his entire profession feels “the ideal amount of public funding is either zero or awfully close to zero.” And these tax scams are justifiably loathed by voters: the last time Arizonans were asked to give a sports billionaire a tax handout, they resoundingly voted no.

Billionaire megadonors don’t need handouts. Diamondbacks team owner and billionaire Ken Kendrick is rich enough to build several stadiums without this handout. His team is now worth $1.43 billion, nearly six times its 2004 purchase price of $238 million. Did we mention Kendrick is also a Republican megadonor? He and his wife spent nearly $1 million in 2024 alone to keep Republicans in control of the Arizona Legislature — the same Legislature which now wants taxpayers to fancy up their donor’s ballpark.

HB2704 is scheduled for Senate Finance Committee, Monday. Use Request to Speak and contact the members of the committee to OPPOSE, then contact your own senator with your expectations. (While you’re at it, reach out to Gov. Hobbs at 602-542-4331 or engage@az.gov; she said last month she supported the idea and was likely to sign a bill "if all parties agree.")

And you thought our ballots were long last November: Republican lawmakers are advancing nearly 30 ballot referrals in an attempt to get around Gov. Hobbs' veto stamp. They’re a grab bag of far-right priorities, from massive tax cuts to attacks on direct democracy and the environment, and all of them would harm people. These six are headed through committees this week:

• SCR1006, removing voter approval of state trust land exchanges, which guards against backroom deals that might drain our groundwater or rivers
• SCR1014, mandating automatic and permanent income tax cuts of 50% if Arizona ever has a budget surplus, creating huge issues when Arizona has its next recession and needs those revenues
• HCR2021, capping cities’ ability to tax food intended for home consumption, blowing holes in local budgets and forcing slashed services and higher property taxes
• HCR2025, restricting voters’ direct democracy powers by requiring a 60% supermajority vote for initiatives or referendums that amend the Constitution
• HCR2037, legalizing automatic rifles, sawed-off shotguns and silencers based on a “constitutional and God-given right” to possess not just traditional firearms but also “weapons of war"
• HCR2055, broadly declaring that drug cartels are terrorist organizations, harming large numbers of people with no connection to drug trafficking or terrorism

Use Request to Speak to OPPOSE these six bills. Then, because they’re likely to advance through these stacked committees, contact your lawmakers directly — your senator for HCRs, your representatives for SCRs (remember, bills are in the opposite chamber from their origination).

Democracy

SB1085, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), would exempt private jets from sales tax. The legislature's nonpartisan data analysts say this "would result in a state General Fund revenue reduction likely in the millions" but cannot give a good estimate because the state doesn't have the proper data. Republican lawmakers have for decades systematically slashed state revenues, increasing tax carve-outs from $16 billion in 2014 to nearly $30 billion in 2024. These tax cuts hurt Arizona’s ability to properly fund our public schools and services. Our budget is in the bottom 5 states in per capita spending nationally, and our schools are funded at 49th in the country. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1088, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would strip Arizona of its local autonomy by forcing every state and local entity to unconditionally comply with federal deportation orders, even if they are unconstitutional, illegal, or inhumane. This threatens public safety, individual rights, the proper functioning of government, and our very democracy. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1152, sponsored by David Gowan (R-19), would restrict early ballot distribution by setting it to begin 21 days before the election, instead of the current 27 days. Ballots would be mailed out no later than 18 days before the election, down from the current 24-day deadline. This places extra burdens on rural, disabled and elderly voters, who would have less time to complete and return their ballots. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1280, sponsored by Mark Finchem (R-1), would make the “cast vote record” (a receipt of everything scanned by a voting machine) a public record. Election deniers insist baselessly that this tedious and routine document will somehow detect fraudulent voting patterns; it’s just another example of conspiracy theorists’ endless, fruitless quest for election wrongdoing. Gov. Hobbs has already vetoed this idea. Scheduled for House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1319, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), would allow Arizona to train and certify election officials during the first six months of even-numbered federal election years. Current state law only allows certified officer training during odd years, which means temporary staff must be certified a full year before they are hired to help tabulate ballots. The change would allow smaller counties to count ballots much faster by hiring temporary workers, sending them to a state training, and employing them through the November election. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. SUPPORT.

SB1371, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would slash the amount of income tax that seniors pay on 401(k) and IRA income. The bill's fiscal note estimates the cost at nearly $400 million a year. Using a revolving cast of sympathetic recipients, Republican lawmakers have for decades systematically slashed state revenues, increasing tax carve-outs from $16 billion in 2014 to nearly $30 billion in 2024. These tax cuts hurt Arizona’s ability to properly fund our public schools and services. Our budget is in the bottom 5 states in per capita spending nationally, and our schools are funded at 49th in the country. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1375, sponsored by Mark Finchem (R-1), would force county recorders to let anyone download voter registration rolls for free. Creating public, no-cost access to voter rolls enables spam and harassment, and allows bad actors to easily generate fake purge lists. This threatens the integrity of our elections. Scheduled for House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1455, sponsored by David Farnsworth (R-10), would ban any elections official running for re-election from performing election-related duties — in effect prohibiting them from doing the job taxpayers elected them to do. This is driven by the same election disinformation that created buzz around then-AZ Secretary of State Hobbs for certifying the 2022 gubernatorial election, a scenario that will likely repeat with now-Secretary Fontes certifying the 2026 election. Ridiculously, the bill exempts precinct committee people. Scheduled for House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1463, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would require initiative petitions to include a separate list, description and brief summary of existing statutes that “are likely to conflict with or be impacted by” the initiative. Prop 139, which voters resoundingly approved in November, conflicts with at least 40 separate statutes that the Legislature passed over decades to chip away at reproductive freedom. Including them all in this manner would have vastly increased the size of the petition, creating financial and logistical burdens on organizers and circulators, and thus on direct democracy. Scheduled for House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1705, sponsored by David Gowan (R-19), would create a civil fine of up to $5,000 for elected or appointed local government officials and administrative agency heads who “knowingly and wilfully” (sic) violate state firearm preemption laws, and bans the use of public funds to defend or reimburse them. These NRA-backed laws, which prevent cities from enacting tougher gun laws than Arizona’s purposefully, incredibly lax ones, leave cities and counties without the power to protect their citizens by enacting meaningful firearm regulation. This bill not only runs counter to Republicans’ professed preference for limited government, but attacks locally elected lawmakers for their attempts to represent their constituents’ wishes. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1714, sponsored by David Gowan (R-19), is subject to a striker from Anna Abeytia (D-24) that would outlaw forcing pregnant prisoners to schedule induction of labor before their due dates. In January 2023, the Arizona Republic reported that at least three women at Perryville Prison were induced early without their consent and without medical justification, reportedly because prison staff didn’t want to deal with labor in the middle of the night when it would be inconvenient for them. Scheduled for House Public Safety & Law Enforcement Committee, Tuesday. Use your RTS comments to SUPPORT the striker.

SCR1014 and its companion bill SB1318, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would mandate automatic income tax cuts of 50% if Arizona has a budget surplus. Because Arizona requires a two-thirds supermajority vote for lawmakers to raise taxes, these cuts would effectively be permanent, creating huge issues when Arizona experiences its next recession and needs those revenues. Arizona’s budget is one of the smallest per capita in the US, and schools are funded at 49th in the country, but we give away more money every year ($29.9 billion) in tax cuts, credits and carve-outs than we spend in our budget. Any surplus isn’t evidence that we’re collecting too much revenue; it’s evidence of lawmakers’ persistent unwillingness to invest in our public schools and services. When the House refused to pass this idea in 2023, the fiscal note projected a loss of $253.5 million for one year alone. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2005, sponsored by John Gillette (R-30), would allow county recorders who have “reasonable cause to believe” that a registration is fraudulent or incorrect to boot the voter into “paused” status. The “reasonable cause” language is particularly worrisome; when used in other bills, voting rights experts have said it could easily lead to the removal of eligible voters. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2154, sponsored by Rachel Keshel (R-17), would require a voter on the early voting list be booted to inactive status if a single election notice mailed to them is returned as undeliverable. Currently, officials must make an effort to contact the voter at the voter's new address and update that voter's address; this bill removes that requirement. The sponsor asserted in committee that she is pushing the bill because “two-thirds of Americans don’t trust our elections.” Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2206, sponsored by James Taylor (R-29), would add limits to Arizona's participation in ERIC, a multi-state system that weeds out duplicate, deceased or suspicious voter registrations. The ERIC system is one of the strongest safeguards against voter fraud for election officials; there’s no viable replacement. Republican-run states have been abandoning ERIC in the wake of far-right conspiracy theories and struggling to clean voter rolls without it. Gov. Hobbs vetoed a similar bill in 2023. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2440, sponsored by Rachel Keshel (R-17), would hobble the ability of Arizona's attorney general to hold county supervisors accountable for refusing to certify election results, though the courts have said that this is their job. The AG would not be able to prosecute or file civil charges against a county board of supervisors member who voted not to certify an election canvass if the vote is based on "a good faith belief" in election irregularities. Anyone who claimed they saw something amiss would be able to provide "expert testimony," and thus a legal basis for supervisors to balk. County supervisors don’t have any real discretion about certifying election results, which is why Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd were indicted on felony charges of interfering with an election when they delayed certifying election results in 2022. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2594, sponsored by Walt Blackman (R-7), would remove full control of the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council, the entity that reviews state agency rules, from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and allow lawmakers to appoint half of the council’s members. Though small and often overlooked, GRRC has an extremely important role in state government; it reviews proposed rules for clarity, compliance with statute, economic impact and other factors, and oversees nearly every state agency. GRRC is set to sunset at the end of this year; Republicans are reluctant to continue the council without major changes. One expert says the bill “smacks of politics instead of the thoughtful review that is expected to consider the reauthorization of an agency.” Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2606, sponsored by Quang Nguyen (R-1), would appropriate $50 million from the state general fund to the Arizona Department of Public Safety to enforce “border-related crimes.” This would not only fund racial profiling, but could trigger a constitutional challenge to Prop 314, which made illegally crossing the federal border a state crime and allows local police to detain and arrest migrants. Republican lawmakers didn’t allocate any funding to enforce the measure, and the Arizona Constitution says ballot measures that increase state spending must provide the cost from somewhere other than the general fund. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2704, sponsored by Jeff Weninger (R-13), would redirect $1 billion in taxpayer money to renovate Chase Field. Calling the bill a “major league boondoggle,” Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego warned in an open letter this week that current official estimates (which the state’s fiscal analysts acknowledge are incomplete) significantly lowball taxpayer cost. Plummeting state revenue sharing thanks to vouchers and tax cuts have meant budget shortfalls for cities across Arizona; Phoenix recently announced a 0.5% sales tax hike to avoid cuts to city services like police, fire and libraries. Team owner and billionaire Ken Kendrick is also a Republican megadonor. The team’s worth has grown to $1.43 billion, nearly six times its $238 million purchase price in 2004. Gov. Hobbs said last month she supported the idea and that she was likely to sign it “if all parties agree.” Scheduled for Senate Finance Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2918, sponsored by Justin Olson (R-10), would slash Arizona's tax rates in the sales, individual income, small business and school district categories, at a projected cost of roughly $200 million per year. The 2022 Ducey tax cuts have already caused state revenues to plummet, leading to massive deficits. Arizona cannot shoulder the burden of further cuts. Scheduled for Senate Finance Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HCR2021, sponsored by Leo Biasiucci (R-30), would ask voters to cap cities’ ability to tax food intended for home consumption. Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a similar bill in 2023 as it would have cost 65 Arizona cities over $150 million a year, blowing holes in local budgets and forcing slashed services and higher property taxes. Mayors are speaking out against the proposal, saying, "We really have no way to make up the loss in revenue.” Cutting taxes (and therefore revenue) only makes Arizona’s problems worse. Food tax revenue makes up more than 30% of the budget in the small town of Taylor; as the mayor there observed, “A 3% food tax is a lot more equitable than adding a new property tax and concentrating that tax on 4,500 people.” Scheduled for Senate Finance Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HCR2025, sponsored by Alexander Kolodin (R-3), would ask voters to limit their own ability to change the state’s Constitution. The measure requires a 60% supermajority vote for initiatives or referendums that amend the Constitution. Lawmakers in dozens of states have introduced more than 100 bills this year to restrict initiative campaigns; the common thread is an increased financial burden on organizers. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HCR2037, sponsored by Alexander Kolodin (R-3), would ask voters to legalize automatic rifles, sawed-off shotguns and silencers. The sponsor contends there is a “constitutional and God-given right” to possess not just traditional firearms but also what he called “weapons of war." Supermajorities of Arizonans back stricter gun laws. Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HCR2055, sponsored by Steve Montenegro (R-29), would ask voters to declare that drug cartels are terrorist organizations. The Brennan Center for Justice warns this could harm large numbers of people with no connection to drug trafficking, let alone terrorism. Churches, synagogues, food banks, and other organizations could be at risk given the broad sweep of the declaration. The declaration could endanger US-owned international companies, leaving them vulnerable to sanctions and heightening their risk of criminal prosecution, since cartels operate in sectors like agriculture and tourism. And critically, the declaration would have a negative, destructive impact on US-Mexico relations. The sponsor introduced the same bill (which failed to pass) last year. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

Education

SB1002, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), is a copy of a previously vetoed bill that would ban teachers from using a student’s chosen pronouns without written parental permission if they differ from the student's biological sex. Coming out to parents is intimidating; coming out at school helps a student feel prepared to come out to their parents, which helps strengthen the relationship. Prohibiting students from coming out at school without also coming out at home will erode the trust and relationship between youth and parents. The bill also further politicizes teachers, which deepens Arizona’s ongoing teacher retention crisis. The sponsor has said he is running the bill again because he hopes Hobbs and Democrats "learned their lesson" from recent election results. Scheduled for House Regulatory Oversight Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

SB1003, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would ban trans kids from using the school bathrooms, changing facilities and “sleeping quarters” that align with their gender identities. Trans kids wouldn’t be able to use any facilities at all without undue scrutiny of their bodies; the bills calls that a "reasonable accommodation." Anyone who “encounters” a trans person in a bathroom could file suit against public schools. A federal court found that these policies violate the US Constitution and Title IX, but the Supreme Court is widely considered to be preparing to overturn that. Republican lawmakers passed an identical bill in 2023, which the governor vetoed. Scheduled for House Regulatory Oversight Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

SB1164, sponsored by Warren Petersen (R-14), would force public schools in Arizona to open their doors to ICE agents. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that all children, regardless of immigration status, have the right to a free public education. Some Arizona districts are instituting “safe zone” policies to protect their students, stating that no individual or organization that would create an educational disruption is allowed on school grounds. This bill would override those policies. The bill appropriates unspecified amounts from the state general fund — in other words, blank checks — to county sheriffs' offices and the state Department of Corrections to administer the legislation. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1226, sponsored by Shawnna Bolick (R-2), is a copy of a vetoed bill from last year that would require district and charter school boards to restrict student access to the internet and to limit students’ use of phones during the school day to only for educational purposes or during an emergency, including during meals, passing periods and recess. This is a national trend that is already being handled on the local level. Schools should be allowed to set their own policies and not struggle under top-down legislative mandates. Scheduled for House Science & Technology Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

SB1584, sponsored by Janae Shamp (R-29), bans public schools from implementing hiring policies based on factors other than "merit" as part of the MAGA attack on diversity, equity and inclusion. The bill allows individuals to sue, which would lead to endless frivolous claims of “reverse racism.” Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2058, sponsored by Lisa Fink (R-27), would extend Arizona’s “personal belief” vaccination exemption to students at Arizona’s publicly funded universities and community colleges. Students could exempt themselves from vaccine requirements simply by submitting a signed statement to the school. This reinforces a message that vaccines are a risky personal choice, rather than a risk-mitigating responsibility to your community. Arizona already has one of the highest vaccine exemption rates in the nation. Will Humble of the Arizona Public Health Association says it’s one of the worst rates in the country and that “it means that Arizona school kids are no longer protected.” Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2063, sponsored by Lisa Fink (R-27), would require schools to tell parents about Arizona’s liberal opt-out law in all communications about vaccines. In other words, if there’s a measles outbreak, school administrators would have to tell parents that they can opt out of vaccines in the same email telling them about the importance of vaccinations to combat the measles outbreak. This would weaken Arizona’s basically meaningless mandate for children to get vaccinated against measles and negatively impact public health. Arizona is already headed in the wrong direction; vaccine exemption rates are so high, experts say they’re “a disaster waiting to happen.” Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2167, sponsored by Matt Gress (R-4), would ban school districts from holding an override election for one year if they fail to correct a financial reporting deficiency within 90 days of receiving notice from the auditor general. The bill also penalizes districts by removing 1% per month of the district's budget after 18 months until the Auditor General reports compliance. This unnecessarily punitive bill is inspired by troubles which have been uncovered and solved thanks to the robust accountability requirements in place for public schools. Meanwhile, ESA vouchers are costing our state $1 billion every year with zero accountability. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2700, sponsored by Teresa Martinez (R-16), would insert "a specific focus on the Gulf of America" into the state high school social studies standards for graduation. Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2724, sponsored by Tony Rivero (R-27), would allow public school principals to decide whether to allow "patriotic youth groups" to address students during the first quarter of each academic year. Principals would then have to ensure that any materials from these groups are distributed directly to students throughout the school year. Last year, Florida passed a similar bill, which its sponsor said was intended “to facilitate (groups’) access to schools, so they can continue to influence young minds.” This raises questions about constitutionality, ideology and indoctrination, especially given the 1984-worthy recent federal executive order on “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling.” Passed the House unanimously (!). Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2868, sponsored by Michael Way (R-15), would ban school districts from admitting students or hiring staff with race, sex or ethnicity in mind, as well as from holding any trainings on diversity, equity and inclusion. This framework seeks to promote fair treatment of all people, particularly groups that have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination. This culture-war-driven bill would keep school districts from specifically hiring black or brown teachers in an effort to increase representation, block teachers from discussing inclusion and equity issues that have arisen despite the 14th Amendment, and ban certain content from being taught in schools. This would negatively impact student learning, as well as teacher retention and recruitment. Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

LGBTQ+

SB1586, sponsored by Janae Shamp (R-29), would force health care professionals to pay the medical costs for minors who want a “gender detransition” to “reclaim their God-given gender” within 25 years of a procedure. The bill also enables civil lawsuits against providers for damages, including medical costs, pain and suffering, and loss of income. Similar to a vetoed bill from last year which Shamp based on her belief that “political ideology” is driving gender-affirming care. The bill, which does not define the term “gender transition,” is designed to harass providers with fear-mongering about future “liability” and to throw up unnecessary obstacles for transgender people getting the same types of care that cisgender people do. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

Water

SB1236, sponsored by Warren Petersen (R-14), would allow the storage of storm water to be used for replenishment credits. This gives credits for water that generally would be recharged anyway, and would likely result in a net increase in pumping. Scheduled for House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

SB1520, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), establishes an extremely weak system for groundwater "management" in a handful of areas in rural Arizona (Gila Bend, Willcox, and Hualapai Valley), ignoring numerous other basins that need groundwater management. The bill caps groundwater pumping at a level far below what is needed to stabilize aquifers in our state, and its weak goals would fail to limit the continued decline of water levels, though wells are going dry in some of these areas. Scheduled for House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

SB1523, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), adds new landscaping restrictions for cities within active management areas. The bill includes language that could prevent cities' future water conservation efforts, and does not include language about new development projects or redevelopment. These restrictions would result in minimal if any water savings, while paving the way for unsustainable communities, prioritizing developer interests. Scheduled for House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

SB1530, sponsored by Warren Petersen (R-14), would help developers get around assured water supply requirements by expanding the area of groundwater impact for wells. This is not based on any science or modeling and does not help groundwater recharge. Scheduled for House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

SCR1006, sponsored by David Gowan (R-19), would remove voter approval of state trust land exchanges. Voter approval is a check against backroom deals that might, for example, drain our groundwater or rivers. Scheduled for House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2059, sponsored by Lisa Fink (R-27), would ban Arizona, its cities and counties, and all its employees from enforcing the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, and would ban those who comply with the acts from receiving grant money from any source. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2089, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would allow voters to remove a subsequent active management area after ten years. Arizona is in water crisis; ten years of action is not going to be enough to magically solve our water problems forever. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2201, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would give power companies new protections from lawsuits if their equipment starts a wildfire. Environmental protection groups are calling it the “bill that lets APS burn your house down.” The new legal standard would be harder to prove than in other civil cases, leaving injured homeowners on the hook for losses caused by utilities. Scheduled for Senate Finance Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2204, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would get around assured water supply requirements for new developments and could result in double-counting of water. There is no way to guarantee the water going to a new development would be non-groundwater and would put even those with an assured water supply at risk. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2568, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would ban state rules from requiring commercial and industrial water users to hold a certificate of assured water supply or meet statutory replenishment obligations. We shouldn’t exempt mining operations and other heavy corporate users from having an assured water supply. Water doesn’t care who’s draining it. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2570, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), creates a high bar for establishing temporary non-expansion areas that would limit new irrigated agriculture, and stipulates that they expire after ten years. Temporary measures like these do not constitute real action on our state’s groundwater crisis. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2572, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), weakens warnings about Arizona’s hundred-year requirement for water and allows for adding more land to existing grandfathered irrigation rights, increasing pumping. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2574, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), allows counties to approve small subdivisions of 6-10 lots each 2+ acres in size, thus circumventing existing assured water supply requirements. This undoubtedly benefits the developers of so-called “wildcat” subdivisions, who split large parcels of land into smaller chunks and sell hundreds of those chunks off one by one, skirting the requirement to ensure a long-term water supply. Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

This Monday night, we’ll offer our Local Government training. Learn all about how city and county government works, including City Councils, Boards & Commissions, and county Boards of Supervisors, and find your role in making change! The link to sign up, along with so many others, are available on our Linktree:

2025 Session Timeline

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFriday, 3/28 Last day for a bill to get out of committees in its crossover house
(and the last day to use RTS until a budget drops)
Tuesday, 4/22 100th Day of Session (the stated end goal; can be changed)
Monday, 6/30 Last day to pass a constitutionally mandated state budget

Flag this handy list of contact info, committee chairs and assignments:

Bookmark CEBV’s Linktree. Want other ways to take action or stay informed? Looking for our social media? It’s all on our Linktree.

Sign up to get the entire text of the CEBV Weekly via email. It’s free!