Contributed Article/Courtesy Rep. Lupe Diaz (R-19)
PHOENIX – Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs’ latest budget proposal, which proposes to spend over $60 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars toward a variety of projects in the name of “Arizona water security,” is nothing more than a political scheme designed to subsidize the cost of her bad water policies and increase bureaucratic control over the state’s critical groundwater resources. At a time when Governor Hobbs has already spent nearly $360 million over budget, State Representative Lupe Diaz, Chairman of the House Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee and Member of the House Appropriations Committee, is sounding the alarm on the Governor’s recent spending proposal and misplaced priorities when it comes to securing Arizona’s water future.
$12 Million Political Payoff to Buckeye
The Governor’s proposal includes a $12 million payout to the City of Buckeye to subsidize the cost of a new 25% groundwater tax the city will be subject to under the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR)’s illegal Alternative Designation of 100-year Assured Water Supply (ADAWS) Rule – a tax which the City of Buckeye had previously stated “places a substantial financial burden on the city” and was not supported by any “study or justification.”
“In 2023, the Governor shut down economic development in one of the fastest-growing and most affordable housing markets in the nation – Buckeye,” Chairman Diaz said. “The way the Governor has treated the City of Buckeye since she took office in 2023 has been unfair in comparison to other cities and unsubstantiated by credible groundwater data. Her $12 million payout to the city does nothing to address the underlying policy decisions that put Buckeye in this situation in the first place, roll back the illegal 25% groundwater tax that her state agency adopted, or lift the illegal housing moratorium that she unilaterally imposed on this critical part of the state. Hobbs has an agenda. She created the problem, and now she’s throwing money at it to move that agenda.”
$14.6 Million for Feel-Good “Conservation” Gimmicks
We need to direct the state’s limited funds toward effective water conservation measures, like on-farm irrigation efficiency, market-based agricultural conversion, recharge, reuse, new technologies, and developing the 331 sites that ADWR and the State Land Department identified in 2021 would be suitable for stormwater recharge projects that increase local water supplies.
$7 Million and $5.5 Million Demonstrate Hobbs’ Decisions Not Based on Data
Governor Hobbs’ Department of Water Resources has spent years claiming Arizona’s groundwater basins are in perilous condition, even asserting that specific “Priority Basins” need immediate control. After threatening the designation of Active Management Areas (AMAs) throughout the state and shutting down homebuilding in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, Hobbs says she doesn’t have the information she needs to make critical policy decisions.
“If funding to study groundwater is needed now, then why did the Governor impose and threaten to impose regulatory restrictions on Arizonan communities before she had the facts,” Chairman Diaz asked. “The Governor’s allocation of these dollars to gathering additional information proves that she never had sufficient information to shut down Arizona’s critical homebuilding and agricultural industries in the first place. What we need is actual, peer-reviewed science before making critical decisions.”
$3.45 Million for Government Surveillance of Private Water Use
One of the most alarming parts of Hobbs’ proposal is $3.45 million for satellite-based surveillance of Arizonans’ water usage rather than for recharge projects that put more water in the ground. This funding goes toward so-called “monitoring technology” to track personal groundwater consumption from space, giving radical environmentalists and bureaucrats unprecedented access to private well data.
“For years, Democrats and their out-of-state activist allies have pushed for government metering and monitoring of private wells to open the door for future taxation of private groundwater use,” said Chairman Diaz. “Republicans have fought back against this vast government overreach at every turn. Now, Hobbs wants to circumvent the will of the people and spy on rural Arizonans from space instead of working with the legislature to pass laws that rural communities can support.
“This invasive and widespread surveillance of the Arizona people is an attack on personal privacy and poses a direct threat to Arizona businesses that rely on groundwater for private industry. Such monitoring could expose competitively sensitive trade information about how businesses use and conserve water to produce valuable economic commodities, opening them up to attacks from activist groups and government overreach.”
Hobbs’ Water Plan is About Control, Not Conservation
“Republicans in the Arizona Legislature will not stand by while the Governor weaponizes water policy for her personal political gain. Instead of bureaucratic overreach and backroom deals, we will continue to fight for the people of Arizona through real solutions that respect private property rights, promote economic growth, and ensure Arizona’s water future.”
Lupe Diaz is a Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving Legislative District 19 in Southeastern Arizona and is Chairman of the House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee. Follow him on X at @LupeDiaz4AZ.
