The Daily Agenda: An unbalanced balancing act

The haves and have-nots of lobbying ... Check out SB1039 .... And Zoom meetings are liabilities.

Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Monday that her predecessor had ordered the Department of Water Resources to bury a report showing that huge planned residential developments in the Buckeye area don’t have the necessary water to proceed. 

But when asked if she believes the state can or should shut down development in the west Valley in response to the report, Hobbs essentially responded with a shrug. 

“We have housing shortages and we have water shortages, and we need to balance them,” Hobbs said. 

Arizona’s water and housing shortages are two of the most pressing issues facing lawmakers this year. But the two issues, which often have diametrically opposed goals, do not have equal political power and representation at the state Capitol. 

The lobbying force behind water conservation in Arizona is mostly a loose-knit band of nonprofits and organizations like the Sierra Club. The pro-growth lobby is a much more powerful and well-heeled group, largely represented by wealthy individual developers and the Arizona Association of Realtors.

Two lobbying events yesterday perfectly illustrate the dynamic. 

At one event, leaders from the Central Arizona Project invited lawmakers to the vacant Senate chambers in the Old Capitol for a primer on Colorado River water. Terry Goddard, the former attorney general and current CAP board president, offered lawmakers coffee and cold bagels from Einstein’s. It was a nice perk to help get bleary lawmakers through a rather dry 90-minute presentation on water.

But Goddard knew the bagels were no match for the Arizona Association of Realtors, which this year eschewed its annual “lunch on the lawn” event for a more high-end lobbying strategy. Immediately after the CAP event, the Realtors whisked lawmakers away on private shuttles to Chase Field, where they stuffed the elected officials with a spread of upscale Mexican food, served by waiters on tables with tablecloths. 

“It was quite posh,” one lawmaker told us. 

Goddard’s event was on the Legislature’s public calendar; it drew an audience of three reporters and about 20 lawmakers. The Realtors’ event wasn’t open to the public and wasn’t on the Legislature’s official calendar of events. No reporters received an invite. Several lawmakers were skittish even discussing the event, stressing that their votes can’t be bought with a meal and a tour of a baseball stadium. 

But let’s be real: Offering private transportation to a private tour of Chase Field and a nice lunch does help get lawmakers into the room to listen to your message. Lobbyists spend big money on these kinds of events because they work. 

In an ideal world, developers and Realtors would be leading the charge for better water conservation. And some are; it behooves them to ensure that the homes they build and sell have long-term access to water. But in most political fights, development is fundamentally at odds with conservation. 

If Arizona policymakers are going to balance the competing needs of water and housing, as Hobbs suggested, they should remember that the gravity of those needs is not determined by which side spends more money lobbying them. 

Just when it was getting good: The Republican and Democratic leaders of the state House joined KJZZ’s “The Show” yesterday to offer their reactions to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ State of the State speech. House Speaker Ben Toma said it sounded better suited for the Democratic National Convention or the campaign trail than for the Republican-controlled Legislature. And Toma told host Mark Brodie that while he supports lifting the education spending cap, lawmakers have “plenty of time” before the March 1 deadline to stave off huge cuts to schools. But the line cut out during the live interview right as they were getting to his thoughts about the Republicans who protested Hobbs’ speech. Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Andrés Cano praised Hobbs’ focus on education and said Republicans’ dithering on raising the education spending cap is not fiscally responsible. And he slammed Republicans for protesting Hobbs’ speech, saying he never liked Gov. Doug Ducey’s speeches but he didn’t throw a fit. 

Chris DeRose @chrisderose

Arizona legislators - your job requires encountering viewpoints that aren’t necessarily yours. Walking out on the governor or turning your back is the ultimate snowflake move. It’s okay to just sit and not clap.

Build the dang road: Republican Sen. T.J. Shope is attempting to get state money earmarked in the budget to backfill the $360 million that Arizona expected from the federal government to widen I-10 after the U.S. Department of Transportation declined to fork over the money, he told Pinal Central’s Jodie Newell. 

Same judge, new governor: A federal judge on Monday issued a court-ordered overhaul to force the Department of Corrections to hire more health care workers, among other mandates. Judge Roslyn Silver, who previously ruled Arizona’s prison healthcare system is unconstitutionally and “grossly” inadequate, said she didn’t trust Arizona to reform the system on its own because it has failed to do so for years, even in the face of millions of dollars in fines, the Associated Press reports. Hobbs responded to the court order in a blistering press release yesterday declaring Arizona’s prison system is “broken” from years of failed leadership, inadequate staffing and a lack of accountability. 

Keri Blakinger @keribla

If you have a case of the Tuesdays (is that a thing?) and some public records would make you feel better, here is an updated list I just received of all the books/mags/music banned in Arizona prisons. tbh this will probs not make you feel better sry

documentcloud.orgDocumentCloud

They must really want that feedback: The Phoenix Police Department is reviewing its use-of-force policies amid the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into its alleged pattern of civil rights abuses. The city is soliciting feedback from the public, but hasn’t made public comment links available yet, the Republic’s Lillian Boyd writes. 

Not worth it: On his final day in office, former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez vetoed a plan to explore helium mining near two tribal communities. The mining company said could have brought $100 million in revenues to the Nation in the next 10 years, the Republic’s Arlyssa D Becenti reports. Nez said the company had not sufficiently addressed environmental and health concerns. 

All the cool kids are wearing hats: New Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren spoke to the Navajo Times about his policy priorities, staffing up and whether he plans to continue wearing his iconic getup now that the campaign is over. (He does.) 

“Nygren wore his outfit during campaign rallies, conferences, presidential forums, events, and appearances. He’s worn this outfit, along with his tsiiyéél, [a traditional Navajo hair bun] so often that it started to seem like his uniform,” the Navajo Times writes.

The saga continues: The Pima County Board of Supervisors is attempting to strike up a new deal with World View, the space balloon company that U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly helped start, after the previous lease-purchase agreement was struck down for violating the state Constitution’s provision barring government from giving gifts to private companies, the Arizona Daily Star’s Dave Wichner reports. 

We love stories about old laws: Cronkite News’ Shane Brennan checks in on a law passed in 2021 that requires schools to teach about the Holocaust in grades 7-12, writing that teachers can find it emotionally draining to teach but worth the effort. 

Literally the most they can do: Tempe is the latest city to take advantage of the ability to institute some regulations on short-term rentals after lawmakers backpedaled a bit on their laissez-faire approach to Airbnbs. Short-term rental owners will have to register, get insurance and conduct background checks on guests, among other things, Independent Newsmedia reports. 

Now walk into Mexico and wait in line to get back: U.S. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly brought a bipartisan crew of senators to visit the border in Yuma yesterday. Locals asked them to pass immigration reform, the Associated Press reports.

NBC 7 San Diego @nbcsandiego

WATCH: Drivers crossing into the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico, on Memorial Day were facing lines of up to 7 hours at the San Ysidro border crossing. on.nbc7.com/zxlW2TU

But she definitely would have been fired: Jennifer Wright, the conspiracy-stoking assistant AG under Mark Brnovich, apparently wasn’t forced out of the job by new Democratic AG Kris Mayes, despite what the Republic reported last week. She has been tweeting receipts showing she resigned before Mayes took office and is now threatening a lawsuit against the Republic, which updated, but did not correct, its original article. Terri Jo Neff has the details, and Wright’s correspondence with the Republic, in the conservative news blog Arizona Daily Independent. 

Bipartisan and bicameral: Our bill to put up a monument at the state Capitol honoring slain journalist Don Bolles is now in the system. Republican Sen. T.J Shope officially filed Senate Bill 1039 with two Democratic cosponsors, Rep. Jennifer Longdon and Sen. Lela Alston. Longdon has also offered to file a House version, which should get assigned a bill number in the coming days.