By Daniel Stefanski |
A Republican proposal for groundwater policy is making its way through the Arizona State legislature.
Late last month, the Arizona State Senate passed SB 1221, which “establishes a process for the designation of a basin management area (BMA) and an active BMA in any location not included in an active management area (AMA), to be initiated by petition to the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, [and] outlines the goals of an active BMA, active BMA council makeup, rights to water, reporting requirements, and requirements for the continuation or termination of an active BMA” – according to the purpose provided by the chamber.
The proposal passed the State Senate with a 16-12 vote (with two members not voting).
In a statement after the vote, Senator Sine Kerr, the bill’s sponsor, sharply criticized the state’s Democrat governor for the process and policies of her work on this issue. Kerr said, “In her State of the State Address, Hobbs made it clear she would work with the Legislature to enact groundwater policy. Sadly, she reneged on this commitment. I sent a letter this week to the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources urging the immediate withdrawal of her Administration’s proposal for an Active Management Area designation for the Gila Bend Groundwater Basin. Circumventing the Legislature sets a dangerous and undemocratic precedent in which our citizens did not approve of.”
The southwest Valley lawmaker added, “For months, I’ve committed time to researching and developing a tool that empowers rural Arizonans to manage, measure, conserve, and protect the groundwater within their communities for the benefit of their citizens and their local economies. Although still a work in progress, SB 1221 reflects the input of the actual water users whose voices were diminished within the Governor’s Water Policy Council. Her executive action promises to have detrimental impacts on rural Arizonans.”
When Senator Kerr introduced her bill, she compared her legislation to the “alternative proposals that would hand over the fate of local basins to the Executive Branch located hundreds of miles away, and under appointments all made from Phoenix.” Kerr was previously a member of Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs’ Water Policy Council, which was created last year “to analyze and recommend updates, revisions and additions to the 1980 Arizona Groundwater Management Act (GMA) and related water legislation, which shall include without limitation, analysis and recommendations for groundwater management outside current Active Management Areas.” Hobbs referred to this council as “bipartisan,” though Senator Kerr, resigned from her post in October, alleging that the Council was “nothing more than a forum to rubberstamp the progressive environmental goals of special interest groups,” and that “this community (of Arizona citizens and stakeholders) is not being provided with fair representation at the table.”
Along with Kerr, the Arizona Farm Bureau also announced its withdrawal from the Council that month, opining, “…the outcome of the greater Council appears to be pre-determined as essentially a cross between the seriously flawed attempts of the past and an AMA (Active Management Areas).”
At the end of November 2023, the Governor’s Water Policy Council reported back with its recommendations. Those included “a launch point and guidance for drafting new rules for an Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply (ADAWS) program,” as well as “a foundational framework to craft legislation for creating a new groundwater management program for rural Arizona.”
In Hobbs’ second State of the State address this past January, she took time to discuss the importance of water for Arizona and her past and future work on this front. Hobbs said, “Let us remember that water and drought do not care about party registration or job titles or whether you live in an urban or rural community. We can only protect our water supply by working together. I stand ready to work with you to pass legislation that makes the changes we need today – all to safeguard Arizona’s water for tomorrow. And those who have spent years refusing to act: if you don’t, I will.”
That last line earned the Democrat governor an ovation from her allies in the Arizona House chamber, yet a warning of legal repercussions from two powerful lawmakers who were listening to her words.
Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope responded, “Yeah, I don’t think she has that type of authority to act alone but she seems willing to bend the State Constitution to her will pretty often so I’m sure she’ll try and I’m sure we’ll see her in court.”
Shope’s colleague, Senate President Warren Petersen, added on to the comment, writing, “Kind of like when she broke the law by appointing 13 fake directors?”
SB 1221 will now be considered by the Arizona House of Representatives.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
