Legislation Archive
Session Summaries
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2023 - Fifty-sixth Legislature - First Regular Session
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2022 - Fifty-fifth Legislature - Second Regular Session
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2021 - Fifty-fifth Legislature - First Regular Session
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2020 - Fifty-fourth Legislature - Second Regular Session
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2019 - Fifty-fourth Legislature - First Regular Session
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2018 - Fifty-third Legislature - Second Regular Session
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2017 – Fifty-third Legislature – First Regular Session
Bill Archive
HB 2017: Assured water supply; commingling
In Brief: Directs ADWR to consider any type of waters that are commingled together when making an AWS determination.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This amended bill passed Senate NREW with a 4-3 vote on February 29th.
Description: This bill would direct the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to consider any type of waters that are commingled together when making an Assured Water Supply (AWS) determination. This bill received an amendment on January 11, 2024 that added a provision prohibiting ADWR from requiring a subdivider to obtain a water supply that is more than 100% of the water needed to meet the subdivider’s purpose when applying for a CAWS or commitment of water service. There are concerns that this amendment could make this bill conflict with ADWR’s upcoming Alternative Pathway to Designation rules which led us to change our recommended position to oppose.
HB 2018: Subsequent irrigation non-expansion area; removal
In Brief: Requires ADWR to periodically review subsequent INAs to determine whether they still meet the criteria to qualify for an INA.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action:
Description: This bill would require the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to periodically review subsequent irrigation non-expansion areas (INAs) to determine whether they still meet the criteria to qualify for an INA. ADWR would also have the authority to rescind an INA’s designation if it no longer meets these criteria. Additionally, the bill would establish a process by which local residents could petition ADWR to rescind a subsequent INA’s designation. Finally, HB 2018 would restrict who can sign a petition requesting that ADWR designate a subsequent INA to registered voters who receive their drinking water from the basin or sub-basin specified in the petition.
HB 2019: Groundwater model; public inspection; challenge
In Brief: Requires ADWR to make publicly available “at no cost” all information related to groundwater models it uses for AWS determinations.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This amended bill passed Senate Third Read with a 16-13-1-0-0 vote on March 27th and was vetoed by the Governor on April 2nd.
Description: This bill would require the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to make publicly available “at no cost” all information related to groundwater models it uses for Assured Water Supply determinations. The House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee adopted two amendments to this bill. The first amendment removed the public challenge process. The second amendment required ADWR to publicly post the assumptions it would use a groundwater model at least 90 prior to its release. ADWR would also be required to invite public comment and provide a response indicating if each comment led to a change in any of the model’s assumptions.
HB 2020: Long-term storage; stormwater; rainwater; rules
In Brief: Allows someone to earn LTSCs by building any infrastructure that leads to increased recharge of groundwater in an AMA.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This bill passed Senate NREW with a 4-2-1 vote on March 14th.
Description: This bill would allow someone to earn long-term storage credits (LTSCs) by building infrastructure—including roadways and sidewalks—that leads to increased natural, incidental, or artificial recharge of groundwater in an active management area. The Arizona Department of Water Resources would be required to develop rules by 2025 that detail the criteria for this infrastructure and formula for determining how much increased recharge the infrastructure will create over its useful life when determining the amount of LTSCs earned.
HB 2024: Lottery; on-farm irrigation efficiency fund
In Brief: Appropriates $50 million from the State Lottery Fund to the On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Fund in FYs 2025 and 2026.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This bill passed out of the House with a 44-14-1-0-1 vote on February 22nd and passed Senate NREW on March 7th with a 4-1-2-0 vote.
Description: This bill would annually appropriate $50 million from the State Lottery Fund to the On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Fund in FYs 2025 and 2026. This appropriation would occur after nearly all distributions from the State Lottery Fund are made, but before any remaining fund monies are deposited into the state General Fund. The On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Program was created in 2022 to provide grants for farmers to adopt water-efficient drip and sprinkler systems in place of flood irrigation. It received an initial appropriation of $30 million in ARPA monies in 2022 and received $15 million more from the state General Fund in 2023. To date, this program (which is administered by the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension) has enabled more efficient irrigation on over 18,000 acres of farmlands, resulting in an annual water savings of about 36,000 acre-feet.
HB 2025: Residential lease community; water; requirements
In Brief: Require applications for building permits within a residential lease community in select AMAs to obtain DAWS service or become a Member Land.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This bill passed out of the House with a 31-27-1-0-1 vote on February 27th.
Description: This bill attempts to implement the Governor’s Water Policy Council’s recommendation to fully incorporate build-to-rent developments (which are called “residential lease communities” in the bill) into the Assured Water Supply Program. It would require applications for building permits for six or more detached single-family within a residential lease community in the Prescott, Phoenix, Pinal, Tucson, and Santa Cruz AMAs to either obtain water service from the water provider with a Designation of Assured Water Supply or be located on a parcel of land that already qualifies as Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD) Member Lands. The applicant must also pay applicable fees to CAGRD. This requirement would not apply to residential lease communities that are existing or that have applied for or received zoning changes before September 30, 2024.
HB 2026: Residential lease community; water; certificate
In Brief: Require applications for permits for six or more detached residences in select AMAs to either obtain a CAWS or water service from a DAWS provider.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: HB 2026 was passed out of the House with a 49-8-2-0-1 vote on February 22nd.
Description: This bill would require applications for building permits for six or more detached single-family residences in the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson AMAs to either obtain a Certificate of Assured Water Supply (CAWS) or water service from the water provider with a Designation of Assured Water Supply (DAWS). The applicant must also pay applicable fees to the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD). This requirement would apply regardless of the proposed lease term for these single-family residences. The bill would be limited to applications submitted after September 30, 2023.
HB 2027: Subsequent AMAs; assured water supply
In Brief: States that any subdivision that has already been shown to have an adequate water supply would be considered to have an assured water supply.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This bill passed Senate Third Read with a 16-13-1-0-0 vote on March 27th and was vetoed by the Governor on April 2nd.
Description: This bill would not require a subdivision that is within the boundaries of a county or municipality that had adopted a mandatory water adequacy ordinance to show an adequate water supply if that subdivision is included in a subsequent active management area. Any such subdivision that has already been shown to have an adequate water supply would be considered to have an assured water supply. This bill received an amendment that made grammatical changes and added an emergency clause.
HB 2028: Groundwater model; unpledged storage credits
In Brief: Require ADWR, in groundwater models, to assume that any LTSCs not pledged to a current water user or AWS application will be available for use.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This bill was held without discussion in House NREW on January 16, 2024.
Description: This bill would require the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), when making a groundwater model to help evaluate Assured Water Supply determinations, to assume that any long-term storage credits (LTSCs) not pledged to a current water user or Assured Water Supply application will be available for use.
HB 2029: Groundwater model; unpledged effluent
In Brief: Requires ADWR to assume that any effluent created within the AMA and not pledged to a specific user will be used to replace groundwater demand.
Sponsor(s): Griffin
Last Action: This bill failed to pass out of the House with a 29-30-0-0-1 vote on February 29th and must now be reconsidered by March 28th.
Description: This bill would require the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), when making a groundwater model to help evaluate Assured Water Supply determinations, to assume that any effluent created within the active management area (AMA) and not pledged to a specific user will be used to replace groundwater demand. This bill is intended to address a criticism that the Phoenix AMA groundwater model, which projected a 4% overallocation of groundwater over the next 100 years, did not fully consider how future effluent will be used. The committee adopted an amendment that clarifies that future effluent created will be assumed to replace groundwater if the effluent is not under contract for a specific end use or is under contract to replenish groundwater and will not be used to generate long-term storage credits. This amendment does not change the basic problem with this bill. Effluent is the property of whoever creates and/or obtains it.