By Joanna Dodder Nellans
The Daily Courier
Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin of Paulden is working on legislation to implement recommendations from the Arizona Water Resources Development Commission and help secure regional water supplies.
Tobin’s bill created the temporary commission in 2010.
He said Friday he’s working on a bill to implement some of the commission’s recommendations, but it’s too early to say which of the commission’s recommendations the bill will include. The next legislative session starts in January.
The commission recommended a new state law to allow the creation of “regional water augmentation authorities.”
The authorities would allow local governments and water providers to pool their resources.
Under the commission recommendation, the authorities would have the power to plan, design, build, own and operate water projects. They also could buy and sell water rights, condemn property for water projects such as pipelines, charge fees for services and water sales, and issue revenue bonds.
