Arizona
Water, climate, justice: Environmental groups outline priorities for 2025 Legislature
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs talks about 2025 legislative session
Gov. Katie Hobbs talks about affordability, safety, Arizona’s water future and building relationships with new members of the state Legislature.
A coalition of environmental organizations has described what it wants to see from Arizona lawmakers this year.
During a news conference on Wednesday, the coalition of 35 organizations laid out its vision for Arizona’s 2025 legislative session. The group, coordinated by the Sierra Club, also released a written set of priorities.
Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, said the organizations are already working on legislation to address most of the stated priorities. Many organizations in the coalition regularly advocate their policy preferences at the state capitol and work with legislators on new laws.
“We will collaborate with our elected leadership at every level to work towards having cleaner air and heat mitigation efforts to ensure a future where Arizonans don’t face extreme heat for longer periods of time in the years ahead,” said Vania Guevara, advocacy and political director at Chispa Arizona.
Organizations and some lawmakers bemoaned what they described as a pattern of inaction from Arizona’s historically Republican-dominated Legislature.
“I call on my Republican counterparts, as the majority in this Legislature, to hear the bills we introduce … and to pass them. Will this session in 2025 be a departure from prior activity?” said Arizona Senate Democrat and Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan of Tucson.
No Republican lawmakers spoke at the conference.
The coalition, which includes some faith-based and social issue groups as well as environmental organizations, called on the Legislature to address climate change, protect the state’s water resources, protect vulnerable populations, and add more environmental considerations to state and local government actions.
Arizona’s legislative session begins Monday. Republicans will have a 17-13 majority in the Senate and a 33-27 majority in the House, making both bodies redder than they were in 2024.
Climate, water, environmental justice are on the list
The coalition’s specific priorities include:
- Support Gov. Katie Hobbs’s Office of Resiliency. The coalition wants legislators to put more money toward the governor’s response to extreme heat and the office’s work to develop a climate action plan for the state. The groups would also like the removal of Arizona laws keeping the state from measuring or limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
- Electrify transportation. The coalition wants Arizona lawmakers to pass bills that promote investment in transportation electrification, including electric school and transit buses and more robust electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.
- Regulate rural groundwater: The coalition wants laws enabling the measurement and limitation of groundwater pumping throughout Arizona, including in rural areas where pumping has contributed to land subsidence and depleted stream flows. Bahr told The Arizona Republic in an email that the coalition is involved with a bill to accomplish this goal.
- Protect riparian ecosystems: The coalition wants amendments to Arizona laws to protect water in Arizona’s waterways specifically to support local ecosystems. Specifically, the groups want the Legislature to modify the state’s surface water quality program to include seasonal streams and washes. The group also wants lawmakers to appropriate more funding for the state to address a backlog of polluted water systems and put them on a path to meeting water quality standards. The coalition is working on legislation to accomplish these goals and to establish “ecological” flows in streams and rivers as a beneficial use, so water rights holders can legally use their water to prop up ecosystems.
- Support vulnerable groups: The organizations want a state-level version of the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, ensuring that 40% of state investments in areas like renewable energy and housing go to communities already grappling with pollution and/or a historic lack of investment. The groups also want the state to pass legislation that defines “overburdened communities” in Arizona as those with “with significant non-white, non‒English-speaking, or low-income populations” and require companies seeking air quality, waste, and water quality permits in those communities to prepare “Environmental Justice Impact Statements.” The coalition is working on a bill to do that, according to Bahr.
- Consider environmental impacts to government actions: The groups want a state-level version of the federal National Environmental Policy Act, which would require the state and local governments to assess the environmental impacts of proposed actions before committing to them. Those processes would involve public participation and consultation with tribes. The groups also want a state-level endangered species program to protect species not addressed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Austin Corona covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Laura Gersony covers national politics for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to austin.corona@arizonarepublic.com or laura.gersony@gannett.com.
Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
Sign up for AZ Climate, our weekly environment newsletter, and follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram.
Arizona
NAU launches first-of-its-kind engineering degree to fast-track Arizona’s future workforce – The NAU Review
As Arizona’s semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries continue to grow at a rapid pace, Northern Arizona University’s Steve Sanghi College of Engineering is launching a new degree program designed to help meet the state’s workforce needs.
Beginning this fall, NAU will offer a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology, a flexible, workforce-focused degree pathway that prepares students for careers in microelectronics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing in as little as three years. The 90-credit bachelor’s degree creates a more accessible pathway into engineering careers through a hands-on, applied curriculum and a streamlined transfer model with Arizona community colleges.
The program follows a 45-45 completion structure, allowing students to complete 45 credits at a community college and 45 credits through NAU. Courses will be delivered through synchronous remote instruction at NAU’s North Valley campus in Phoenix and at Pima Community College in Tucson, increasing access for statewide students.
Addressing Arizona’s growing semiconductor workforce
Designed with workforce readiness in mind, the program emphasizes practical engineering application, systems implementation, testing, quality control, systems analysis, manufacturing, fabrication, process control and project management. Students will gain technical and problem-solving skills aligned with the needs of Arizona’s rapidly evolving manufacturing economy.
“This new bachelor’s degree empowers students to identify real-world engineering challenges and develop practical solutions,” said James Palmer, associate dean for academic affairs at the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering. “We are creating a more accessible pathway into engineering careers while preparing graduates to support Arizona’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry.”
Arizona has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing semiconductor hubs, with more than $200 billion in semiconductor-related investments announced in the Greater Phoenix region since 2020, including expansions from Intel, TSMC and Amkor Technology. TSMC alone has committed up to $165 billion toward Arizona operations, including multiple fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities expected to create thousands of technical and manufacturing jobs.
Industry demand continues to grow for professionals with applied engineering and advanced manufacturing skills in areas such as process engineering, manufacturing systems, equipment operations and yield enhancement. NAU’s new degree program was developed to help students quickly enter these high-demand career fields while supporting Arizona’s long-term economic growth and domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
The program also aligns with NAU’s strategic commitment to expanding access to affordable, student-centered educational opportunities that prepare graduates for meaningful careers and long-term success.
Students interested in learning more about the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology program should contact SCE@nau.edu.
PHOENIX (AP) — The two Republican congressmen running for Arizona governor pitched themselves at a debate Wednesday as the only candidate with broad enough voter appeal to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs amid the state’s affordability struggles.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the GOP primary’s frontrunner and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, portrayed himself as being able to cross party lines and having the right experience to be the state’s chief executive.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind, if you look at the polling data that you’re going to find, I am the most competitive with Katie Hobbs of anybody on this stage in any Republican in the state,” Biggs said.
U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who has survived three tough Democratic challenges in recent years, believes his focus on government finances and his drive to bring new business to the state make him the singular Republican candidate.
“These are wonderful people, but they’ve never actually been in the great battle,” Schweikert said of Biggs and two other Republican opponents.
Businessman Scott Neely, who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2022, said after the debate that if Biggs wins the primary, Republicans will lose the election.
The winner of the July 21 primary will face Hobbs, who’s running unopposed in the primary.
Biggs has served five terms in the U.S. House, representing a heavily GOP district in the eastern Phoenix suburbs and serving at one time as chairman of the ultra-right U.S. House Freedom Caucus.
Before that, Biggs served in the Arizona Legislature from 2003 through 2016, including four years as president of the state Senate. He battled with then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on a Medicaid expansion in 2013 and pushed school choice measures and bills targeting abortion providers.
Biggs is one of Trump’s top defenders in Congress and supported Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Schweikert, a budget hawk known for railing against government debt, has represented an affluent district that includes parts of northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale for eight terms. He served in the Arizona House in the 1990s and as Maricopa County’s treasurer in the 2000s.
Schweikert has focused his congressional career on sounding the alarm about the federal budget deficit and the ballooning U.S. debt, often in late-night speeches to a nearly empty House chamber and bleary-eyed C-SPAN viewers. Schweikert has praised Trump’s 2017 tax cuts but has called for more spending cuts to reduce federal borrowing.
His reputation was tarnished by ethics scandals. In 2022, he received a $125,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for misappropriating campaign funds. Two years prior, he agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and accept 11 campaign finance violations after an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Ethics. In his last three general campaigns for Congress, Schweikert staved off challenges from Democrats. Biggs voiced support for Arizona’s recent passage of a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for new data centers – a move Hobbs also has touted. “They shouldn’t be given a break,” Biggs said, noting the large amounts of power and water that data centers use.
Schweikert bemoaned Arizona’s unfavorable affordability rankings as “pretty miserable,” but said consumer prices don’t come down magically. He vowed to aggressively recruit businesses to Arizona and push for wage growth.
Both congressmen were asked about the expired healthcare subsidies for those getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re going to have to deal with the reality of subsidization of everything in the economy is not going to work,” Schweikert said.
Biggs said he introduced legislation in Congress to bring down healthcare costs and also voiced support for Trump’s proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit.
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