The Arizona Legislative Session kicked off yesterday with the State of the State from Governor Doug Ducey.  Similar to previous speeches to the Legislature, he laid out several innovative proposals he hopes to achieve in his 6th year as Governor.  

His commitment to ‘protect our ag jobs’ was duly noted as he spoke of the accomplishments last Session in preserving Lake Mead and his goal to make Arizona world renowned for water innovation.  There have been discussions about Arizona adopting California-style groundwater management and monitoring regulations, but Governor Ducey did not endorse this idea in his speech yesterday.  

He made it clear that he still believes there is work to be done to free the people from government overreach.  He unveiled a new Executive Order issued to reduce regulations by requiring government officials to identify three regulations to eliminate for every one new regulation proposed.  Along those lines, he promoted a bill being championed by Senator Ugenti-Rita to clean up the State’s Boards and Commissions.  The details of the proposal have yet to be revealed and WG staff will follow this issue to ensure that the critical agriculture boards and advisory commissions remain intact.

He announced a plan to increase technology in our rural counties by funding Rural Broadband Grants and broadband capability on the highways throughout the state.   He also voiced his support for a ballot initiative to ban sanctuary cities that is sponsored by Rep TJ Shope.  He emphasized his focus on the free market and allowing citizens to make their own way and finished by citing several values he dubbed ‘The Arizona Way’.