Co-chair Rebecca Timmer welcomed the Government Relations Committee to this joint meeting with the Water Resources Committee. Ron Fleming, board liaison to the Water Resources Committee, led a round of introductions and turned the conversation over to Tony Smith.
Tony indicated the partnership is exploring a lobbying contract for 2025, with the executive board set to review proposals and identify a candidate for this effort.
Ron Fleming shared further the effort will be primarily focused on water resources lobbying:
- With over 80 water bills presented at the last session, the WRC is preparing for the next session to ensure the partnership works more closely with legislators on successfully resubmitting the ag to urban bill
- Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) has been the focus of outreach by the committee to ensure discussions happen timely as it relates to future water legislation
Fred Schneider, committee co-chair, reinforced Ron’s comments and opened up for comments.
Joe Grossman of EPCOR emphasized priorities for Pinal will require more proactive efforts from both the Water Resources and Government Relations committees.
Ron Fleming introduced Meghaen Dell’Artino from Gila River Indian Community and recapped the conversations underway with GRIC to work together on water policy. Terms and implementation are being discussed with the foundation being sound science.
- Working with ADWR on better understanding the model assumptions relative to Pinal County vs. Maricopa County
- Clarifying the differences between the two counties to understand how the tool is being used
- Support growth in Pinal County and working together with other water resource stakeholders to support mutually beneficial policy
- Meghaen reinforced Ron’s commitment to working together and learning more about ADWR’s conversion method for ag to urban.
- GRIC is not actively working on water legislation for the 2025 session, with focus currently on transportation (Hwy 347) and education
- GRIC attended SB 1172 meeting in February ’24 and expressed concerns to legislators on the one to five vs. three to five conversion rates.
- GRIC believes this tool can be used to protect the aquifer, an important goal
Jake Lenderking gave an update on the talks with ADWR to receive more information regarding the data behind their recommendations and how they differ between Pinal County and Maricopa County.
- Ag to urban conversion rate is critical to the conversation going back historically to how developed land converted from agriculture uses less water, land has to have been irrigated 3 of 5 years to be retired
- Early December meeting with the Governor’s Water Council will start to open up this conversation
Joe Grossman of EPCOR added context on how the ag to urban legislation and the conversion rate decision is critical to moving forward successfully for broader water policy for Arizona.
The next Government Relations Meeting will be our Annual Committee Appreciation Breakfast on December 10th 8:00 a.m. at Hideout Steakhouse in Casa Grande.
The next Pinal Partnership breakfast is this Friday, November 22nd and save the date, December 13th for the annual Pollack Economic Forecast for Pinal County at Rawhide. Registration will open after the November breakfast.
Visit https://pinalpartnership.com/meetings-and-events/ for more information.
