State Representative Gail Griffin (R-19) issued a statement denouncing Governor Katie Hobbs's (D-AZ) veto of a groundwater data bill that would provide critical information on groundwater supply for rural Arizonans.
In March, Rep. Griffin pushed for House Bill 2271, requiring the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to provide data such as active index wells, depth-to-water averages, and total groundwater volume in its annual supply and demand reports for rural groundwater basins.
The bill responded to the ADWR declaring these groundwater basins as "critical," meaning they are declining, but without providing proof.
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"How many years' worth of water do we have at the current rate of decline? If the Department doesn't think there's enough water to go around, then it needs to tell us how much water 'there is," said Rep. Griffin in March, adding, "If the Department thinks active management practices are necessary to preserve the existing supply of groundwater for future needs, then it needs to tell us what the "existing supply" is."
However, Gov. Hobbs vetoed HB 2271, saying it would not "make a difference in solving the [state's] water policy challenges."
The Sierra Vista Representative strongly disagreed, saying in her recent statement, "The point of HB2271 was that the only way policymakers get to make that important decision is by having the information in the first place— and that means receiving all relevant information, not just small slices of it."
However, Griffin surmised that Gov. Hobbs is "putting the cart before the horse and trying to push through a predetermined outcome on rural groundwater legislation without regard to the basins that actually need it or the tools that would be appropriate for those basins," and "is listening to the most radical wing of the environmental community, who don't have Arizonan's best interests at heart."
"If Governor Hobbs wants to make an informed, science-driven decision, then she should be asking for this information too," Griffin concluded.
HB 2271 marks the sixth bill in recent weeks that Hobbs has drawn Republican ire for vetoing. She began in mid-April with her vetoes on bills on parental rights, vaccine requirements, election reform, and single-sex spaces that State Representative Lisa Fink (R-27) said "reflect what most Arizonans believe."
More recently, State Representative Michael Carbone (R-25) denounced Hobbs's veto of House Bill 2774, which would have reduced the bureaucratic oversight necessary for large-scale industrial energy users, such as advanced manufacturing facilities and data centers, to build small modular reactors (SMRs) for their facilities.
