On Wednesday, Governor Ducey signed HB2131, a bill that is part of an effort to preserve water and protect private property rights.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. John Kavanagh – Fountain Hills, after he was contacted by valley resident Sherry Lund. The need for such a law was recognized when Ms. Lund and her son Bradford Lund, who lives next door were served with a lawsuit by their HOA after installing artificial turf to reduce their water consumption. Ms. Lund and her son were being assessed a fine of $250 a day each for everyday they failed to remove the artificial turf and replace it with natural grass.
On the signing of the bill into law, Ms. Lund said, “We should all thank Gov. Ducey and Rep. Kavanagh for using common sense in the passage of this bill into law. Arizona is facing a serious drought, and every responsible citizen should be looking to see what we can do to decrease our use of water. It never occurred to me that anyone would be so shortsighted as to infringe on personal property rights and demand water guzzling grass over a high-quality artificial turf. This law fixes that problem.”
The effort to provide protection for water conservation and private property rights in HB2131 received bipartisan support in the legislature and from community management organizations, property rights advocates, and water conservation groups.