The city of Tucson traded its water rights in return for $44 million in federal funding that will help pay for infrastructure.
The federal government agreed to pay the city $400 for every acre-foot of water conserved — the city traded away 110,000 acre-feet through 2025.
The city struck the deal with the federal government through provisions within last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The White House announced in April that it would use $15.4 billion from the IRA and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to combat drought. $4 billion of IRA funding was designated specifically for water management and conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin.
Mayor Regina Romero said the trade qualified Tucson as the “standard in water conservation.”
#Tucson is setting the standard in water conservation. Under my leadership and the Council, the City of Tucson has signed an agreement with @usbr to voluntarily reduce our #water allocation from the #ColoradoRiver. https://t.co/WWgYY8PeMP
In order to receive the $400 per acre-foot in funding, Tucson signed onto a three-year agreement for conservation. This agreement made up the first component of the federal funding opportunity through the newly-established Lower Colorado Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program (LC Conservation Program).
Other options for funding included a one-year agreement for $330 per acre-foot and a two-year agreement for $365 per acre-foot.
Earlier this month, Gov. Katie Hobbs joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo in a pact to conserve three million acre-feet over the next three years. That totals $1.2 billion in federal funding.
This consensus proposal is a step in the right direction when it comes to taking urgent action to protect the #ColoradoRiver system; however, I ask all parties to immediately shift their focus to the future of the Colorado River post 2026.
The second component of the program consists of proposals for additional water conservation and efficiency projects, which the Department of the Interior (DOI) disclosed could involve “a variety of pricing options.” Proposals for this program component closed last November.
The third program component concerns proposals for “long-term system efficiency improvements” that would result in a “multi-year system conservation.” Proposals for this program component are currently open according to the DOI website, though former DOI public communications indicated that this component was scheduled to close earlier this year.
The DOI issued a letter last week in an attempt to spur interest in participation with the third program component.
The DOI noted that successful conservation efforts would include results in quantifiable, verifiable water savings in Lake Mead based on consumptive use reduction and recent history of use; addition of new water to the applicant’s water supply, enabling a consumptive use reduction of Colorado River water; submission from a Colorado River water delivery contract, entitlement holders, or Central Arizona Project water delivery contractor subcontract holders, including partnerships with those entities; demonstration of viability for full implementation, including by demonstrating financial and technical capability of the entity for initial implementation and long-term operations, maintenance, and replacement; and provision of monitoring to ensure the proposed benefits to the system are realized.
Recipients of the DOI’s encouragement-to-apply letter included the Arizona Department of Water Resources, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Arizona State Land Department, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, EPCOR Water Arizona, and the University of Arizona.
Senior White House and DOI officials traveled to Arizona — as well as California, Colorado, and Nevada — to broker deals for water conservation efforts in April.
As part of the deal, the Biden administration set aside $233 million for the Gila River Indian Community, $36 million for Coachella Valley conservation, $20 million for four small surface water storage and groundwater storage projects in California and Utah, and over $54 million to repair aging water delivery infrastructure such as the Imperial Dam.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Northern Arizona University (NAU) admitted that it purposefully admitted more Hispanic students in order to receive more federal funding.
The Department of Education (ED) rewards higher education institutions for having a certain racial makeup within their student population, called a “Hispanic-Serving Institution.”
In order to achieve HSI status, colleges or universities must have Hispanic students making up at least 25 percent of their full-time equivalent student population, as well as a significant number of students requiring needs-based financial aid.
NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera said accomplishment of their HSI designation in 2020 was intentional in an interview last week with Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
“NAU applied for classification and then appointed key leadership to ensure we serve our Hispanic students well,” said Cruz Rivera. “It’s not just about meeting the number threshold, but rather about really carrying out our mission and supporting the success of our students.”
Hispanics aren’t the only racial group that NAU has prioritized. NAU pledged free tuition to Native Americans in November. In March 2021, NAU launched multiple initiatives totaling $1.3 million to increase the number of both Native American and Hispanic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates.
Following their HSI classification, NAU began to prioritize Hispanic students through their strategic plan, NAU 2025 – Elevating Excellence. These prioritizations include Hispanic-specific retention strategies concerning financial aid, mental health services, and community building; hiring and retention strategies to attract more Hispanic faculty; and faculty training to better understand Hispanic students.
HSI federal programming was reestablished in 2021 through an executive order by President Joe Biden: the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics (Initiative). The concept originated in 1990 under former President George H.W. Bush, but fell out of use in subsequent administrations until Biden was elected.
As part of the initiative, Biden established the Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics. The commission convened in its inaugural meeting earlier this month.
Included in the 21-member commission are three Arizonans. One of them is NAU’s program director and teacher for its Arizona K12 Center, Juliana Urutubey.
Urutubey was named the 2021 National Teacher of the Year and the 2019 Chicanos por La Causa Esperanza Latina Teaching Award while working as an educator in Las Vegas, Nevada. Urutubey recently relocated to Phoenix and joined NAU’s Arizona Teacher Residency.
Chicanos por La Causa has been intertwined with several major controversial events in recent years, including a federal pandemic loan fraud investigation; membership with the Aspen Institute, the liberal think tank that played a major role in the cover-up of investigative reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop; and funding to pass propositions outlawing debt collection efforts and awarding in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants.
Another Arizonan on the commission is Anna Maria Chávez: President and CEO of the Arizona Community Foundation. Chávez was formerly the CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA; director of intergovernmental affairs, urban relations and community development/military affairs advisor, and deputy chief of staff for former Gov. Janet Napolitano; and several Clinton administration positions, including legal counsel for the Federal Highway Administration, attorney advisor in the Office of the Counsel to the President, senior policy advisor to former Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and SBA Administrator Aida Alvaraz.
Chávez has also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer for the National Council on Aging; in June 2020, she became the executive director and CEO of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) and currently serves as an ex-officio director on its Board of Directors; in 2021, Chávez was appointed as the inaugural chief impact officer of Encantos and president of their online presence. Encantos investors include Kapor Capital, Steve Case’s Revolution Rise of the Rest Fund, Chelsea Clinton’s Metrodora Capital, and L’ATTITUDE Ventures.
The third is Teresa Leyba Ruiz, who became the senior vice president and chief advocacy and programs officer for Education Forward Arizona (EFA) in April. Ruiz formerly served as the president of Glendale Community College (GCC), part of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), having worked in various leadership roles with GCC for over a decade. Ruiz also participated in the Aspen Institute’s 2018-19 Presidential Fellows Program (as mentioned earlier in this article, the Aspen Institute played a major role in covering up the Biden laptop scandal).
EFA received millions from AmeriCorps, the Arizona Department of Education, and Helios Education Foundation in recent years. They also received funding from a wide swath of major entities, including MCCCD and NAU: Alliance Bank of Arizona, Arizona State University, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, Maricopa County, the Salt River Project, State Farm, University of Arizona, and Wells Fargo. Leaders from a number of these entities serve on EFA’s board of directors.
Per their agenda, the commission discussed ways they could advance educational equity in K-12 and higher education using Biden’s budget, reviewed federal data on Hispanics, and discussed means of strengthening career pathways for Hispanic advancement.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
An Arizona Democrat leader is receiving pushback for his selective cropping of a memo from the Arizona Department of Education.
On Tuesday, Christine Accurso, the Executive Director of the ESA Program for Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne’s administration, submitted “the annual estimate of the amount required to fund empowerment scholarship accounts” to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee for the 2024 fiscal year.
Accurso’s estimate concluded “that the projected enrollment by the end of Fiscal Year 2024 will be at 100,000 students with roughly $900,000,000 necessary to fund them.”
Andrés Cano, the Democrat Leader in the Arizona House of Representatives, tweeted out the memo – up until the point where Accurso shared the price tag of the program. He added. “without reform, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts will bankrupt our state & our public schools.”
BREAKING: The AZ Dept. of Education is predicting that the state's GOP taxpayer-funded private school voucher program will grow to 100,000 students in '24 at a whopping $900M per year!
Without reform, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts will bankrupt our state & our public… pic.twitter.com/bn4fiuNWBk
Cano left out the last paragraph of the memo, where Accurso wrote: “We have made this projection with the help of our Chief Auditor, John Ward who conducted the analysis. It is important to note that we currently have 57,886 students in the program. For budgeting purposes, it is also important to note that many of the students that are enrolling now are coming from the public school system, which in the end saves the state money because the empowerment scholarship accounts are funded at a lower percentage than the state aid for a pupil in the public school system.”
One of the top school choice advocates in the country, Corey DeAngelis, highlighted the omission from Cano, tweeting, “hey why did you cut off the end of the letter.” DeAngelis included an image of the entire memo.
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 31, 2023
He also asked, “how much would those same students cost in the government schools?”
how much would those same students cost in the government schools?
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 31, 2023
Jason Bedrick, a Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, also weighed in, stating, “$900M is about 1% of the state’s $80.5 billion budget – and the ESA costs about half as much per pupil as the public school system. The sky isn’t falling.”
$900M is about 1% of the state’s $80.5 billion budget — and the ESA costs about half as much per pupil as the public school system.
Grant Botma, a best-selling author also shared his thoughts on Cano’s charge, posting, “The Arizona Auditor General report shows the public school system spends $10,729 per pupil. The $900,000,000 divided by 100,000 from your image is $9000 per student. That is a $1,729 savings. How would that “bankrupt our state”?
The Arizona Auditor General report shows the public school system spends $10,729 per pupil (https://t.co/xyd6BwG1dv). The $900,000,000 divided by 100,000 from your image is $9000 per student. That is a $1,729 savings. How would that "bankrupt our state"?
Members from both sides of the political aisle at the Arizona Legislature quickly piled onto Cano’s controversial tweet. On the Republican side, Representative Jacqueline Parker commented, “This is GREAT! But not enough yet. $900 million is a drop in the bucket to the other $7+BILLION spent on the useless indoctrination camps that are ‘government schools’. Until ESA’s are pulling at LEAST $5 Billion from government schools, our job is not yet finished.”
This is GREAT! But not enough yet. $900 million is a drop in the bucket to the other $7+BILLION spent on the useless indoctrination camps that are “government schools”. Until ESA’s are pulling at LEAST $5 Billion from government schools, our job is not yet finished. https://t.co/IFoomnj7A8
— Rep. Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) May 31, 2023
Representative Joseph Chaplik tweeted, “Simply not true. Just like the state doesn’t fund K-12 enough. This same lie is getting old fast!”
Simply not true. Just like the state doesn’t fund K-12 enough. This same lie is getting old fast! https://t.co/UNiq7namZo
— Rep. Joseph Chaplik 🇺🇸 (@JosephChaplik) May 31, 2023
On the Democrat side, Senator Priya Sundareshan wrote, “During the last few months we were getting estimates that the cost to the state of the universal voucher program had increased to $600M, instead of the $30M originally promised when they passed it last year. Now we see it has already grown to $900M. How high will it climb??”
During the last few months we were getting estimates that the cost to the state of the universal voucher program had increased to $600M, instead of the $30M originally promised when they passed it last year.
— AZ Sen. Priya Sundareshan (@priya4az) May 31, 2023
Twitter provided a community note to provide context for Cano’s tweet: “Cano has cropped out the portion of the letter which explains how this program saves the state money. The cropped out portion directly counters his claim that this program will ‘bankrupt our state.’”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On Tuesday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and the House Freedom Caucus spoke in opposition to Congress’ plan to raise the debt ceiling: the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Under the current plan, the debt ceiling would increase from $31.5 trillion to $36 trillion by 2025, with no cap in place. Without a raise in the debt limit by June 5, the government will be in default.
“Instead of estimating the actual debt ceiling that will be imposed by that date, January 1, 2025, they simply say that will be the date, there will be an unlimited cap,” said Biggs. “There won’t be a cap for 19 months of the Biden administration, and the Biden administration is probably the most profligate we’ve seen.”
Honored to stand with my colleagues in the @freedomcaucus today.
The national debt current growth rate is projected at over $4 trillion in new debt. Biggs forecasted an increase to $5 trillion by 2025.
Biggs claimed that the version of the FRA agreed to under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) would only delay, not prevent the IRS from hiring 87,000 new agents costing $71 billion. Biggs said these agents would not only be weaponized against taxpayers, but presented a significant financial burden.
Biggs further claimed that the FRA establishes Green New Deal tax credits and subsidies for the wealthy. He further criticized the PAYGO program, which would require government bureaucrats to justify how they would afford their expenditures; Biggs noted that a similar program already exists in Congress, yet that program hasn’t slowed spending. He added that Congress also already waives PAYGO provisions.
“How come it is Republican leaders always tell us ‘next year we’ll fight hard’?” asked Biggs.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07) also opposed the FRA, but for different reasons. Grijalva expressed opposition to the FRA in his capacity as Democratic ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee. He argued that the FRA would jeopardize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Watch the full press conference here:
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) criticized the Senate for attempting to corner the House into approving their version of the funding bill.
“[The Senate is] sending us a giant omnibus bill the day before the government funding runs out, and saying, ‘Pass the Senate version or the House will be responsible for the shutdown,” said Massie.
House Republican Conference leadership backs the FRA. The chairwoman, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) claimed the FRA would stop runaway inflationary spending, rescind executive overreach, and improve everyday Americans’ financial status.
With the Fiscal Responsibility Act, House Republicans will:
1. Stop out-of-control inflationary spending. 2. Rein in executive overreach. 3. Lift Americans out of poverty.
McCarthy also characterized the FRA as a win, adding that their version eliminates COVID-19 spending, prevents $5 trillion in new tax proposals, and enacts more work requirements for welfare recipients.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress in January that the U.S. had reached its statutory debt limit and would run out of funding sometime in early June. In a follow-up letter last week, Yellen specified the expiration date as June 5.
She disclosed that her department would fulfill over $130 billion of scheduled payments in the first two days of June, including payments to veterans as well as Social Security and Medicare recipients. Yellen added that scheduled payouts would leave the Treasury unable to satisfy all its fiscal obligations.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A west-valley lawmaker is speaking out after Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed his bill.
On Friday, Arizona Senator Frank Carroll issued a press release following the governor’s veto of his bill, SB 1100, which “would have increased the maximum weight of all-terrain vehicles or OHVs (Off-Highway Vehicles) subject to registration and vehicle license tax requirements from 2500 pounds to 3500 pounds as a way to update the state law definition to coincide with the evolution of safety features, electrification and other modernizations of these vehicles.”
Carroll included the following statement in his release, expressing his disappointment over the first-year governor’s action against his proposal: “It’s disappointing Governor Hobbs vetoed a bill that had strong bipartisan support, as well as support from the sponsor who established the Off-Highway Study Committee. This bill would have promoted small businesses in Arizona and supported electric alternatives to gas-powered OHVs, which would have helped reduce exhaust and noise emissions. A number of states who regulate weights of OHVs have already updated their statute to coincide with the industry’s technological advancements. Hobbs’ veto shows her lack of knowledge on the issue, which is a complete disservice to our state.”
In her veto letter to the Arizona Legislature, justifying her decision, Hobbs wrote: “I encourage the Legislature to work with my administration to explore current challenges with Off-Highway Vehicles (OHVs) and recommend mitigation strategies to minimize the impact and destruction of off-trails before increasing the weight limits. To accomplish this, I suggest working with the Off-Highway Vehicle Study Committee and/or the All-Terrain State Parks Advisory Group to study and propose administrative or legislative solutions.”
Senator Carroll, however, was not buying the governor’s reasoning, saying, “Governor Hobbs’ veto letter stated she believes the Off-Highway Study Committee established last session, instead of the Legislature, should determine whether OHVs with cab systems and electric powertrains can be legally operated in Arizona. However, this study committee was formed to address concerns stemming from improper use of OHVs and enforcement issues, not whether policymakers should amend the state’s OHV definition to allow new products to be available for our outdoor enthusiasts.”
The legislation first passed the Arizona Senate 19-10 (with one member not voting) on February 21. It then cleared the House of Representatives 43-15 (with one member not voting and one seat vacant).
During the legislative process, representatives from the Sierra Club – Grand Canyon Chapter and City of Sedona had opposed the bill.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona Republicans continue to take proactive steps to protect women’s sports.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne recently filed a legal response in the case of Jane Doe, et al. v Thomas C. Horne, et al., asking the federal court to grant his side “an additional 90 days to compile evidence as Plaintiffs did at leisure, and then deny the Motion for Preliminary Injunction.” Horne is seeking to defend an Arizona law that prohibits biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ athletic events at state public schools, colleges, and universities. That law was SB 1165, which was signed by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on March 30, 2022.
Superintendent Horne is defending state law against politically driven out of state law firms. Biological males should not be playing competitive sports with biological females. Thank you @icons_women athletes for joining us and fighting for Title IX. https://t.co/adSYXBa2cG
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) May 24, 2023
Horne’s action comes weeks after Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma filed a Motion to Intervene in the proceedings. According to the Senate Republican’s press release, “On April 17, 2023, plaintiffs represented by a radical organization filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the law from being enforced in Arizona,” and “Attorney General Kris Mayes is not defending the constitutionality of the law.”
The transfer of power from Republican Mark Brnovich to Democrat Kris Mayes in the Attorney General’s Office has forced the Republican-led Arizona Legislature into the lead role when it comes to litigation of federal and state lawsuits. Both Petersen and Toma figure to take many more legal actions over the next year and a half with Democrats occupying the Governor’s and Attorney General’s Office in the Grand Canyon State.
In his most-recent filing to the court, Horne states, “The disruption and the unfairness caused to others by Plaintiffs insisting on unfairly competing against biological girls is undeniable. If the preliminary injunction were to be granted, a number of schools would permit biological males/transgender females to compete against girls. This would be devastating to girls who hope to excel but cannot because they are competing against biological boys and being deprived of scholarships. “
The Republican Superintendent, in his second stint as the state’s top educator, issued the following statement when announcing his filing: “I have sympathy for anybody who feels trapped in the wrong body, but I don’t believe that biological boys should be playing against girls. If there really are no differences between males and females then all sports would already be co-ed.”
Last Wednesday, Horne had joined Marshi Smith, a former University of Arizona swimming star, at a press conference to announce the court filing and to highlight a letter sent to the NCAA from Marsh and dozens of other female athletes in March 2022.
Tune in to Superintendent Horne and women athletes from @icons_women speak about the lawsuit defending Arizona's ban on biological boys playing girls' sports. https://t.co/PyACMfQ3mg
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) May 24, 2023
That letter, also co-signed by Riley Gaines, expresses the ladies’ “anguish” as they watched the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships earlier in the month. They write that they “feel we are witnessing irrevocable damage to a sport that has transformed our own identities for the better,” charging that “the NCAA has successfully failed everyone by allowing Lia Thomas to compete directly with women.” The female athletes state that they “are eager and willing to discuss directly with the NCAA potential steps it can implement to create new solutions for the expanding athletic family.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
