Co-Chairs Dale Wiebusch, City of Maricopa and Rebecca Timmer, Wilson & Company kicked off the first meeting of 2022 for the Government Relations Committee.
Rebecca Timmer started the discussion on the Committee’s 2022 Action Plan. Richard Rosales asked about board advocacy and Tony Smith responded Pinal Partnership does not advocate for every piece of legislation and will write letters of support for the benefit of overall economic development for Pinal County. Chad Guzman of EPCOR indicated he may ask for support on upcoming water proposals that fit Pinal Partnership guidelines and Rebecca suggested the conversation would be included in a joint meeting with the Water Resources Committee in February. The action plan draft was approved. Click Here for final action plan.
Guest Speaker Mitch Basefsky of CAP presented the Colorado River Report. The La Nina weather cycle is exasperating the already low reservoir levels. The December 2021 24-month study measures run-off into Lake Powell that will funnel into Lake Meade at just below 1050 mark, triggering a Tier 2 shortage. A worse case 2B triggers California to leave water in Lake Meade. He provided an overview of the 500+ Plan, a voluntary pledge by water stakeholders to return Colorado River credits to delay hitting Tier 2 shortage below 1050 until at least 2023. Arizona has pledged 512,000 acre-feet to this effort. The goal of the 5-Year Plan is to save enough river water to meet the reconsultation requirements. Mitch requested the board support CAP legislation that would extend the existing four cent property tax and sunset five years to 2035 and extend repayment period to year 2045. To this end, HB 2409 has been introduced by Representative Griffin. Florence, Coolidge, Eloy, and a portion of Casa Grande are served by CAP, as well as some tribal and agricultural interests. Richard asked for clarification on the tax coverage and Mitch confirmed it affects only their service areas.
The committee moved to recommend support of the bill to the Pinal Partnership board. Click on links below for supplemental information on CAP initiatives:
Dale reported we are in day 16 of the legislative session with over 1,000 bills in play. Voting law revisions and COVID-19 are dominating themes. The Governor’s State of the State highlighted the surplus budget and priorities. Upcoming deadlines include January 31st for Senate and February 7th for House bill introductions.
Chad shared information on House Bill 2055 and Senate Bill 1147 adding private water utilities as eligible entities to transport water from the Harquahala non-expansion area to Active Management Areas. This is important for Pinal County because we have a disproportionate number of private water companies that don’t have access to this resource. This will become a critical barrier to economic development as growth explodes in the county. He requested submitting for Pinal Partnership Board of Directors. Rebecca requested the bill summaries for review. Representative Gail Griffin and Senator Sine are the respective sponsors.
Heather Wilkey from Queen Creek indicated EPCOR bills are a benefit for potential users in their community and therefore support it. The Town of Queen Creek is working on infrastructure and contractual agreements with EPCOR.
Liz Recchia asked how the bills would affect the purpose of the INA of preserving existing irrigation for cultivated lands. Chad confirmed these bills would not affect the INA. Mitch asked about the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association and Chad confirmed they are supportive after including all suggested feedback from the group on the bills.
The Committee moved to forward the bills to the Pinal Partnership Board for support. Click on links below for supplemental information on these initiatives:
Heather Wilkey suggested the Committee create policy guidelines to help provide focus through the legislative session. Liz Recchia suggested, when possible, that we get copies of legislation to be discussed early to guide the considerations regarding the Partnership’s interests.
Rebecca indicated that the next PPGRC Meeting will be February 22nd.
