The Second Regular Session of the 54th Arizona Legislature is currently underway down at the State Capitol, where our State Senators and Representatives have already introduced more than 1,000 bills for consideration. Yes, one thousand. Of course, some of these proposals will not see the light of day. Others will be debated and rejected (one we are watching already has been rejected). Some of these bills will fail, but then reappear under a new number later. And yes, a couple hundred of these ideas will make it all the way through the Legislature and onto Governor Ducey’s desk, where he usually signs most – but never all! – into law.
Some of the hot topics the Legislature is expected to debate this Session include rural water use, especially by large farms; approximately a half dozen bills on that issue have already been filed. (And our own Grady Gammage, Jr. has voiced some ideas as well, as discussed elsewhere in this newsletter.) Air B-n-B and other vacation rentals have already drawn multiple proposals in the Legislature too. And if you think Arizona could use a sixteenth County, well, there’s a bill for that as well (that’s H2253). No doubt, by the time you read this, the list of major issues under discussion at the Legislature will have expanded and shifted. The Legislature tries to move quickly through all the proposals that interest it, and in an Election year such as this one, they try to move even faster, so they can get out of the Capitol and out on the campaign trail.
How to keep track of it all? How to know whether your interests are being tinkered with? The best way to do that is to contact Camila Alarcon, Gammage & Burnham’s Legislative Affairs partner. Camila is a regular presence at the Capitol during the Session, and has her ear to the ground. Several other Gammage & Burnham partners are also registered State lobbyists. Among them, Stephen Anderson is now a member of the Arizona Planning Association’s Legislative Affairs Committee, and in that role, is also regularly monitoring the Legislative landscape. Within the Real Estate and Land Use practice areas, there are proposed changes to County land division rules (H2589), municipal sprinklering requirements (H2313), and SanTan Valley incorporation (H2276 & H2042), to name a few. Please feel free to contact Camila or Stephen if you have questions about the Legislative Session.