The federal government expects Arizona to do more to conserve its water in the ongoing Colorado River supply crisis while other basin states face far lower restrictions.
Arizona’s elected leaders responded that the state has done more than its fair share to conserve water throughout this historic multi-decade drought, and that they would not accept this federal directive. They indicated that they may challenge the directive in court.
The Final Environmental Impact Statement on Colorado River operations, released by the Bureau of Reclamation on Friday, would require Arizonans to cut water usage by up to 77% in 2027 and 2028.
Arizona, California, and Nevada had proposed water usage reductions that would have reduced Arizona’s supply by about 31%, but the federal government rejected that proposal.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) said the federal decision would “devastate” Arizonans and the state’s economy. ADWR criticized the federal framework for not including reductions to the Upper Basin or sufficient use of water in those upper reservoirs.
The Colorado River Basin provides drinking water and power for more than 40 million people, and irrigation water for more than five million acres of agricultural land. A 26-year drought has reduced the basin to historically low runoff and reservoir levels.
Arizona, California, and Nevada rely on water from the Lower Basin, while Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico rely on the Upper Basin.
Gov. Katie Hobbs expressed hope that the Department of the Interior (DOI) would still accept the Lower Basin alternative plan, but acknowledged the federal restrictions contained “unacceptable options” that included having Arizona take on the majority of water cutbacks, which Hobbs called “draconian.”
As Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Republican nominee for governor, mentioned in his appeal to Congress for Colorado River emergency funding, Hobbs cited Arizona’s unique position as a power player in the agricultural and defense industries.
“Arizona provides the agricultural produce, critical minerals, weapons defense systems and cutting-edge semiconductors that feed America, protect America and fuel America’s high-tech economy. No other state in the Colorado River basin can say the same,” said Hobbs.
The DOI has been unsuccessful in its attempts the past six years to reach consensus with Arizona and the six other basin states concerning long-term operational guidelines. The lack of consensus didn’t stop the federal release of the environmental impact statement, since current operational guidelines expire this year and the government must begin new operations on October 1 of this year.
Danny Seiden, President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, condemned the DOI decision as placing a “deeply disproportionate burden on Arizona” while failing to provide a cohesive conservation solution for all basin states. Seiden said they would stand alongside state leaders to demand a fairer decision.
“[A] plan that imposes severe, enforceable reductions on Arizona while shielding senior users and allowing other states to avoid comparable mandatory commitments is neither fair nor sustainable,” said Seiden. “Arizona will do its part, as it always has, but we will not accept being treated as the system’s default shock absorber. Any sustainable path forward must recognize Arizona’s conservation record, protect the investments our state has already made, and require measurable contributions from the entire Colorado River Basin.”
Rep. Teresa Martinez, an LD16 Republican whose constituents also hail from Pinal and Pima counties, questioned who in Arizona would be expected to cut water usage, and who would be given the better end of the deal.
Martinez said the federal government is forcing communities and farmers to bail out those beginning to feel the effects of the water crisis.
“Pinal County farmers already lost their Colorado River water. That happened years ago. They took the hit without a bailout, without fanfare, and without much sympathy from anybody,” said Martinez. “Rural Arizona cannot keep being treated like the first place to cut and the last place anyone thinks about.”
Martinez said she plans to speak with LD16 community leaders, especially those within the agriculture industry, to gauge the anticipated impact of this latest decision.
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Approximately 100 wild horse advocates gathered at the Arizona State Capitol last week to urge Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) to pause planned removals of Salt River wild horses until an independent scientific review confirms the remaining herd will remain genetically healthy and self-sustaining.
The “Preserve the Herd — Follow the Science” rally brought together conservation advocates, elected officials, wildlife experts and supporters from across Arizona who argued that the state’s current management plan should be guided by independent scientific analysis before any permanent removals occur.
Under AZDA’s current management plan, the Salt River wild horse population would be reduced from approximately 271 horses today to between 120 and 125 by the end of 2030 through continued fertility control and permanent removals to sanctuaries.
Advocates said they support responsible management of the herd but contend that the proposed population target has not been supported by publicly available, independent scientific research.
“Today was not about opposing responsible management,” stated Susie Bell of Friends of the Salt River Wild Horses. “It was about demanding that irreversible decisions be supported by credible, independent science. Arizona should not remove a single healthy horse until the public is shown that the remaining herd will be genetically viable.”
Wildlife ecologist and author Craig C. Downer, who has studied the Salt River herd and its habitat, cautioned that reducing the herd to the proposed level could permanently affect its long-term health.
“It would be a big mistake for Arizona to reduce this herd to 120 horses without independent science showing that the population can remain genetically healthy and self-sustaining,” Downer said. “The total number of horses does not necessarily reflect the herd’s true reproductive strength. Managers must consider how many unrelated breeding animals would remain, whether family lines are adequately represented, the herd’s age and sex distribution, foal recruitment and the continuing effects of fertility control.”
“Once genetic diversity is lost, it can be extremely difficult — if not impossible — to restore,” Downer added. “Before any removals begin, Arizona should require an independent, transparent scientific review demonstrating that the proposed population target will preserve the herd for generations, rather than merely keeping a small number of horses on the landscape.”
Advocates also pointed to the work of Dr. E. Gus Cothran, professor emeritus at Texas A&M University and a nationally recognized equine population geneticist, who has stated that 150 to 200 horses is generally considered the minimum population necessary to help preserve long-term genetic health.
According to organizers, Cothran has also emphasized that herd viability depends on factors beyond total population size, including genetic diversity, breeding-age animals, age and sex distribution, and mortality and reproductive rates.
As a result, rally organizers are calling for herd-specific genetic testing, a population viability analysis, and an independent scientific review before permanent removals move forward.
Supporters noted that the Salt River herd has already declined by more than 40% over the past five years, dropping from approximately 450 horses to around 271, largely through fertility control and natural attrition.
Organizers argued that maintaining the current management strategy could reduce the herd to approximately 165 to 168 horses over the next five years without permanently removing healthy horses or disrupting established family bands.
“There is no emergency that justifies abandoning a management program that is already working,” said Susie Bell. “The herd is declining, fertility control is working and natural mortality is occurring. Why would Arizona choose removals before completing the science?”
Advocates also questioned how the state’s current population target was established.
According to public records cited by organizers, an initial proposal to reduce the heard to approximately 100 horses originated from what they described as an informal straw poll rather than an independent scientific population study.
Although the target was later increased to 120 to 125 horses, advocates said no independent scientific analysis supporting that figure has been publicly released.
“You should not manage a protected Arizona treasure through a straw poll conducted among cattlemen and other interests within AZDA,” Bell added. “A negotiated number is not a scientific number.”
Supporters additionally pointed to public polling indicating widespread backing for preserving the heard. Organizers cited a 2023 Public Policy Polling survey that found 78% of Arizonans opposed removing Salt River wild horses from their habitat, even when respondents were presented with environmental concerns.
Other horse advocacy organizations have reported public support protecting the herd as high as 88%.
The rally also highlighted the Salt River Horse Act (HB 2340), legislation approved overwhelmingly by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law in 2016 to provide legal protections for the herd. Governor Katie Hobbs voted in favor of the measure while serving in the Arizona Senate.
The law prohibits individuals from interfering with, capturing, or euthanizing Salt River horses without written authorization and specifies that such authorization may be granted only for humane purposes. It also clarifies that the horses are not considered stray livestock subject to standard livestock removal laws.
State Rep. Cody Reim (R-LD3), who attended the rally, said the law’s original purpose was to protect the horses — not to justify reducing the herd.
“The Salt River Horse Act was never intended to justify removing these horses,” said Reim. “It was enacted to protect the herd and prevent exactly this from happening.”
Reim also announced plans to introduce legislation that would require science-based protections for the Salt River herd.
Organizers said they have repeatedly requested meetings with Governor Hobbs and asked her administration to temporarily pause removals while independent experts evaluate the state’s proposed population target. According to advocates, those requests have gone unanswered.
During the rally, supporters displayed more than 50 written requests submitted to the governor’s office seeking meetings or assistance, alongside the response they received which organizers said demonstrated the administration’s unwillingness to engage on the issue.
Friends of the Salt River Wild Horses is asking Governor Hobbs to:
Pause permanent removals of Salt River wild horses.
Order an independent genetic study and population viability analysis.
Require AZDA to publicly release the scientific data supporting the 120 to 125 horse population target.
Continue evaluating fertility control as an alternative to permanent removals.
Allow independent wildlife and genetics experts to review the findings before irreversible management decisions are made.
Advocates said a temporary pause would not end responsible management of the herd but would instead ensure that permanent decisions are based on transparent science and long-term genetic viability.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Gov. Katie Hobbs launched a new attack ad accusing Republican challenger Andy Biggs of driving up costs, but one of the ad’s top financial backers is an insurance company that has imposed significant premium increases and is seeking another double-digit rate hike.
The ad, “No Clue,” accuses Biggs of ignoring inflation and planning to raise sales taxes by 23%.
“Biggs does have a plan to raise prices 23% more, a sales tax on everything: gas, groceries, rent,” stated the ad.
The ad disclosed that much of its funding came from Elevance Health (branded as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield), an insurance company which has instituted massive rate hikes in recent years.
Elevance Health was one of the top single donors last year to the heavily indebted Arizona Democratic Party.
Elevance Health has not donated to the Arizona Republican Party.
Although Elevance Health’s headquarters is in Indiana and its political action committee is in Washington, D.C., the company used the address of its corporate office in Cincinnati, Ohio, to disclose donations to various Hobbs-affiliated entities.
Elevance Health raised its premium rates by up to 24% across its Affordable Care Act and Medicare plans, and is requesting another 17% increase for 2027, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Elevance Health also recently reported a raise to its annual profit forecast. They recently announced a second-quarter net income of more than $1.4 billion.
The company also reported a 1.5% decline in membership year-over-year, declining to less than 45 million members.
Elevance Health has also put more affordable health care options on the chopping block. The company is taking steps to exit Medicaid markets, starting with Washington, D.C., this summer.
The Navajo County Democratic Committee (NCDC) paid for the governor’s latest attack ad. Other top donors besides Elevance Health were Marcia Grand, former leader in the consumer technology publication industry, and Uber, the rideshare giant.
NCDC funds have been alleged to be unlawfully sourced from the millions derived from a commingled campaign funding scheme by Hobbs. This alleged scheme involved the political action committee Copper State Values, which serves as the largest single funding entity to Hobbs’ reelection campaign “Elect Katie Hobbs” and to which Elevance Health reported donating $40,000 last year.
Hobbs’ campaign reported that Copper State Values has contributed more than $400,000 in non-contribution income. The heavily indebted Arizona Democratic Party served as the single largest donor to Copper State Values, having given more than $1.7 million to the political action committee.
Though not identified as a top donor on this latest attack ad, another major contributor for Hobbs benefiting from rate hikes is Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest electric utility.
APS is requesting to increase its rates by more than 14% for its residential customers and more than 45% for large load users like data centers and manufacturing companies. Its 31-day rate case hearing that concluded earlier this month is one of the Arizona Corporation Commission’s longest and more contentious hearings in recent commission history. Most rate case hearings conclude within two weeks.
A new data analysis.shows that Arizona is facing more of an affordability crisis than other states as the 2026 elections heats up.
Arizona households presently carry above-average debt across auto loans, credit cards, and mortgages. Arizonans are also falling behind on payments at rates well above the national average, according to new analysis by the Common Sense Institute (CSI).
In Arizona, CSI found that auto loan debt is 7% higher, credit card debt is 8% higher, and mortgage debt is 22% higher than the national average.
Arizona also sits at the bottom half of the nation in terms of average credit score, which is 666. The state ranks 30th overall, having fallen seven points in 2025 and experiencing the 10th-fastest drop in average household credit score among all states.
Arizona experienced the second-largest increase in per-capita debt out of 11 reported states. The state has experienced a rise in per-capita debt amounting to nearly 130% since 2003. Only Texas reported a worse increase in per capita debt, at 148%.
That metes out to an average per-capita household debt of $74,000. CSI reported that this average debt in Arizona has largely been driven by mortgage debt.
The same can be said for households elsewhere on that point. Nationally, household debt neared $20 trillion by the end of last year — much of that driven by mortgage debt ($13.2 trillion, an increase of 4.5%), followed by auto loans and student loan balances ($1.7 trillion respectively, reflecting increases of 0.7% and 3%) and credit card debt ($1.3 trillion, an increase of 5.5%).
Arizona didn’t lead by all negative metrics. Arizona’s higher education-related debt was 3% lower than the national average, and student loan debt was 8% lower than the national average.
And according to CSI, less than 23% of Arizona households have liquidity resilience, or ability to handle potential credit problems — far less than the average household nationwide. CSI attributed this to Arizonans possessing higher-than-average debt, higher delinquency, and a lower cash cushion than the average household in the nation.
The latest data from the Consumer Price Index also reflected that Arizona had more sluggish growth than the rest of the nation. Yet, Arizonans have been spending an average of more than $1,000 more per month than they would have if inflation had risen steadily at 2% since December 2020.
The average Phoenix-area household was spending about $6,900 per month as of June 2026, compared to the projected $5,800 under a 2% inflation trajectory.
In December 2020, the average Phoenix-area household was spending about $5,200.
The findings contrast with Gov. Katie Hobbs’ recent messaging on Arizona’s economy.
In April, Hobbs announced that Arizona ranked second in the nation for economic performance and fifth for economic outlook in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual Rich States, Poor States report. She also argued that her administration’s policies have lowered costs for working families.
The prediction markets say Katie Hobbs is a heavy favorite. The pundits agree. I’ve heard long odds before — I heard them in combat, and I heard them in January when I ran for Party Chair. Here’s what the gamblers and pundits are missing.
This election comes down to one thing: who shows up. And I like our side of that math.
Republicans are the largest voting bloc in Arizona — 1.54 million strong, per the Secretary of State, a 321,000-voter lead over the Democrats. That lead has grown by more than 170,000 voters since 2022: we’ve added nearly 110,000 registrants while Democrats have lost more than 60,000. Their own DNC chair admits Democrats have “been getting our butts kicked” on registration — his words — shedding 2.1 million voters nationwide from 2020 to 2024. He’s right.
Republicans are the most reliable midterm voters in this state — we show up, every cycle, like clockwork. Independents don’t, not in midterms, and 2026 has no presidential race and no Senate race. Governor is the top of the ballot. Hobbs’s entire polling lead is parked with the voters least likely to vote. Ours is built on the voters most likely to show. Monster Republican turnout, uninspiring veto queen, low-turnout independent voters — and her lead evaporates.
And this time, no one has to guess whether their vote counts. The days of Republicans sitting home because they don’t trust the process are over. The RNC and AZGOP already have boots on the ground — Arizona is a priority state in the RNC’s multimillion-dollar election integrity operation, with a state director in place and thousands of trained poll workers, poll watchers, and observers being recruited right now. Eyes and ears on every vote cast and every vote counted. And because we’ve learned the Left doesn’t just campaign — they litigate — our attorneys are on offense: the RNC’s legal team is waging more than 130 election integrity lawsuits across the country, including here at home, where we’ve gone to court to defend Arizona’s early-ballot list maintenance laws and hold Secretary Fontes accountable. Leftist lawfare doesn’t get a free shot at this election. Not on my watch.
Trust the process, bank your ballot early, bring your neighbor. That’s the whole playbook.
Meanwhile, look at the incumbent. Hobbs’s disapproval has climbed to 43% and rising. Most Arizonans have never once said the state is on the right track under her. She squeaked by in 2022 by 17,117 votes. And she’ll spend this fall dodging questions about four separate pay-to-play inquiries — including a criminal probe by her own Party’s attorney general, whose investigators have asked to interview her as they close out a two-year investigation. Hobbs is uncomfortable talking about it. She’s nervous. She vetoed transparency legislation. Twice. Arizonans notice.
Andy Biggs doesn’t have her problems. He has a united party standing fully behind its nominee, the biggest voter bloc in Arizona, and a turnout machine that’s already running.
The gambling markets say Katie Hobbs. I’m the chairman of 1.5 million people who’d like to say otherwise. A lot of people are about to learn that they shouldn’t gamble against Arizona voters.
Sergio Arellano serves as Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party.
