
Arizona State Representative Lupe Diaz has introduced two bills aimed at the Arizona Department of Water Resources, saying it’s budget has been used for “overt political activities.”
House Bill 2692 and House Bill 2550 propose targeted reforms to refocus the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) on its core statutory responsibilities, ensuring efficient use of taxpayer dollars while protecting Arizona’s water future.
“As Arizonans, we depend on our state agencies to follow the law, uphold their statutory duties, and stay within their lane – especially when it comes to managing our most critical resource: water,” said Representative Diaz. “Unfortunately, ADWR, under the direction and control of Governor Hobbs, has been sidetracked by extrastatutory activities that lack legislative authorization. The agency has been diverting critical time and resources away from its core functions to frivolous policymaking councils and focus groups, driving up housing costs for thousands of Arizonans. My legislation sends a strong message that the agency must be held accountable to the people it serves. Arizona’s water policies should be guided by the law, not radical political agendas.”
- HB2692 slashes ADWR’s budget, appropriating only $13.3 million to the agency for its ongoing maintenance and operations. It explicitly directs the agency to prioritize its core responsibilities, such as updating its recent groundwater models with the latest information, quantifying the total volume of groundwater available in rural basins (measured in years), and defending Arizona’s water rights on the Colorado River.
- HB2550 accelerates ADWR’s sunset date to July 1, 2026, two years earlier than previously scheduled. This measure is designed to prompt a thorough review of the department’s regulatory overreach and ensure accountability to the people. Last week, the Goldwater Institute sued ADWR for unilaterally adopting an illegal “AMA-Wide Unmet Demand Rule” and “AMA-Wide Depth-to-Water Rule.” In December, the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Study Committee on Water Security adopted a resolution finding that ADWR’s unilateral “25% Groundwater Tax Rule” was illegal. Now, the department is proposing a new “Ag-to-Urban Rule” that also lacks legislative authorization.
Diaz says his legislation is in keeping with the 2025 House Majority Plan, which seeks to “curb executive overreach. The plan recognizes that runaway regulations and unchecked executive authority are putting the American Dream at risk in Arizona.”
“If there is a ‘Deep State’ in Arizona, it is Governor Hobbs’ Arizona Department of Water Resources,” added Representative Diaz. “By the stroke of a pen, unelected bureaucrats in Central Arizona are centralizing control over the state’s water resources by unilaterally adopting rules without proper statutory authority, picking winners and losers, and deciding which uses of land and water are worthy of economic development. Their actions are driving up the cost and limiting the availability of food and housing for thousands of rural and urban residents across the state.”
“The Hobbs’ administration claims it must act unilaterally because it cannot work with the Legislature, but what it fails to understand is that the Legislature represents the will of the people,” Representative Diaz added. “The people of this state decisively rejected the establishment of anti-housing growth boundaries in 2000 with the ‘Growing Smarter’ initiative. Similarly, in 2022, the residents of Willcox overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of an Active Management Area in their basin. Despite this, ADWR has unilaterally moved forward with both initiatives, ignoring the Legislature, and circumventing the clear will of the people. This type of overreach is an affront to everything we stand for as a state and must be accounted for.”
Bureaucrats who overstep their authorization and authority need to be criminally charged because _every_ law, rule, or diktat by government is enforced by threat or exercise of violence.
Slashing ADWR’s budget is not a good move. It’s colossal stupidity in a state where water management is so critical to our future. The politician, not the agency, is motivated by politics. ADWR is like the town crier alerting us we’re in for serious trouble if we don’t address the decreasing water resource availability vs increasing population growth needs.
This is the truth! An ignorant move!
Waterboard the Hobbs Admin.