Hobbs Vetoes Another Groundwater Management Bill, Earns Griffin's Ire

State Representative Gail Griffin (R-19) responded to Governor Katie Hobbs' (D-AZ) latest veto on another groundwater management bill, saying she is "missing an opportunity to provide easy, commonsense groundwater savings without much political effort."

Like the previous House Bill 2089, the latest bill, Senate Bill 1300, would have let residents of the San Simon Valley area vote to establish an irrigation non-expansion area (INA) in the groundwater basin there.

Irrigation non-expansion areas, as their name suggests, mark the boundaries of irrigable land. If SB1300 were signed into law, the INA measure for the San Simon Valley would be temporarily enacted until voters made their final say in the November 2026 elections.

"Whether voted up or down, either outcome would have resulted in at least a six-month pause on new agricultural expansion," said State Rep. Griffin in her press release, adding, "That alone would have provided a net benefit to the aquifer. But the Governor vetoed it, missing an opportunity to provide easy, commonsense groundwater savings without much political effort."

The Sierra Vista Representative further condemned Gov. Hobbs as someone who "talks a big game about local control, but so far she has vetoed every bill on local control for groundwater that has been sent to her."

"What the Governor wants in rural Arizona is to adopt regulations that are more stringent than urban areas like Phoenix and Tucson, where over 80% of the population resides," Griffin continued. "These extreme expectations are simply not achievable for rural Arizona, nor are they consistent with the local customs, culture, and traditions of the area. Our communities want to protect these values, yet the Governor is moving full steam ahead with her radical agenda."

Senate Bill 1300 is now the eighth veto by Hobbs to earn Arizona Republicans' ire, beginning in April with vetoes on bills supporting election integrity measures, single-sex spaces, vaccine requirements, and parental rights, followed by vetoing a bill allowing companies to build small modular nuclear reactors and another groundwater bill backed by Griffin.