This is your legislative update for April 25, 2008. Last week, the Arizona House and Senate finally reached an agreement on the state budget adjustments for fiscal year 2008. The deal includes: $311.5 million in cuts; $487 million to be used from the Rainy Day Fund; $272 million in K-12 rollover dollars; and $300 million in fund sweeps.  While the agreement did not include bonding for new school construction, there is speculation that the fiscal year 2009 budget could include a retroactive bonding mechanism. The total adjustments agreed to for the fiscal year 2007-2008 budget totaled $1.37 billion. The bill, HB2620: BUDGET; FISCAL 07-08; ADJUSTMENTS, has been transmitted ...
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This bill would make permanent the three-year suspension of the state equalization property tax. [Note: the suspension is due to expire in 2009. This tax is also called the county equalization assistance for education property tax]  To read the bill in its entirety, please visit: http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/48leg/2r/bills/sb1002p.pdf  ...
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  The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) held a hearing on Wednesday, April 16, to receive testimony on H.R. 2421, the Clean Water Restoration Act. The bill is sponsored by T&I Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), who is seeking to overturn two recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding jurisdiction over wetlands. The bill seeks to broaden the scope of federal jurisdiction over waters by removing the term "navigable" and replacing it with the term "waters of the United States," a term that opponents of the legislation would dramatically increase federal jurisdiction. NAR strongly opposes this legislation and is working wit...
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No Nevada water grab, says judgeBob Challinor, ©Desert Valley Times Originally published November 2, 2007 An Arizona administrative law judge recommended denial of Wind River Resources LLC’s application for a permit to transport water from Beaver Dam Wash to Nevada. The long-awaited decision by Judge Thomas Shedden came Tuesday in a 44-page document. Herb Guenther, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, now is on the clock to issue his decision on the application. He has a 30-day period, following Shedden’s recommendation, to make the decision. Wind River Resources, an Arizona company, submitted an application in March 2005 to pump groundwater from Mormo...
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