2008 Legislative SummaryBy Tom Farley, CEO  State Budget Update – Closing a $2 Billion Deficit We started off this year with an Arizona REALTOR® magazine article titled “2008 Legislative Session – Can Ya Spare a Billion $$?” As of June 26, the deficit has grown to approximately $2 billion. The legislature has passed a budget that is designed to close the deficit with some accounting maneuvers such as delaying a payment to K-12 education, agency cuts of approximately $360 million and a lot of bonding – approximately $400 million for school construction. It is very likely that this latest effort to fix the budget deficit was not enough, as most repor...
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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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