By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- Saying her powers are limited, Gov. Katie Hobbs said she is reviewing whether changes in state law could give her the authority to decide who can lease state lands and what activities can take place there.
In a wide-ranging post-session interview with the governor, she acknowledged that statutes generally require that state trust lands be managed to obtain their "highest and best use'' and maximize their return to the state and the beneficiaries of the trust, mainly public education.
It was that requirement that resulted in Fondomonte being able to lease more than 6,000 acres of land and pump the water beneath it to grow alfalfa in western Arizona to feed dairy cows in Saudi Arabia. That country bans such farming because of its water use.
The lease has generated nationwide publicity and calls on state officials to cancel it.
Hobbs said the issue isn't that simple -- or that discrete.
"Fondomonte is where all the eyes are,'' Hobbs told Capitol Media Services. But she noted the company is not the only one growing crops on state land.
"It would be treating one leaseholder differently than others,'' Hobbs said.
And then there's a separate question.
Can the state refuse to lease land for growing alfalfa for export when it also is leasing land for other crops like vegetables which are shipped out of Arizona and, sometimes, out of the country.
"That's a really valid question,'' the governor said. "We can't just unilaterally yank one lease because we don't like that alfalfa's going to Saudi Arabia.''
What the state was able to do in April is revoke a pair of well-drilling permits it issued last year.
But that was based on a technicality that the company's approval to make improvements on state land had expired. And that does not bar Fondomonte from continuing to pump water with the wells it already has.
None of this deals with the related issue that some of this farming -- including by Fondomonte -- is done on privately owned land where gaps in state laws limit the ability to restrict how much groundwater owners can pump. All that, Hobbs said, makes the questions raised even more complex.
"If you look at curtailing farming in the Yuma region, that's a huge food security issue for Arizonans and for a lot of Americans especially during the winter months,'' she said, with estimates that the area produces 90% of the nation's leafy green vegetables during the winter.
Still, the governor acknowledged, even alfalfa could be considered part of that "food security.''
"We grow a lot of cattle here,'' she said.
A related question is whether there is sufficient water for population growth.
That is addressed somewhat in urban "active management areas'' where developers need to show access to a 100-year assured supply of water. And the state is not issuing building permits in some areas of Maricopa County which cannot meet that goal.
Rural areas, however, generally are unregulated. The governor said there is no simple -- and uniform -- fix.
"I don't think the limits that would work for, say, Mohave County, are the same limits that would work in Cochise,'' she said. "And there should be that local aspect to it.''
That played out earlier this year when voters in Cochise County agreed to establish an active management area in the Douglas Basin. But a similar plan was rejected by residents of the Willcox Basin.
Hobbs separately told Capitol Media Services said she is weighing whether to declare a state of emergency due to the unusual heat.
The governor said such a declaration, like one that might be issued after a fire or flood, would free up state dollars that could be used for everything from cooling centers to helping some people pay their utility bills.
All this comes after Hobbs demanded that the state's utilities provide her with information about how they are prepared to deal with what has been unprecedented warm weather, particularly in the metro Phoenix area. That has included not just a streak of high temperatures exceeding 110 degrees but a series of night where the mercury has not dropped below 90.
"We just want to make sure that the utilities are focused on not turning off air conditioning when people can't pay right now that could result in people dying,'' she said. "There was a really high profile death a few years ago.''
That refers to Stephanie Pulliam, a Sun City West resident who died of heat-related complications after Arizona Public Service Co. cut off her power on a 107-degree day after someone paid only $125 of her $176 bill. The company eventually agreed to an out-of-court settlement with the family.
Much of what the utilities told the governor already was a matter of record, as most have to comply with the rules set down by the Arizona Corporation Commission. They require companies to adopt policies that either stop disconnections from June 1 to Oct. 15 each year or, alternately, when outside temperatures are going to exceed 95 degrees.
And even Salt River Project, which is not subject to commission regulation, agreed not to shut off power when the National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning.
The governor also waded into a multi-year battle over a 2016 law that stripped cities of their ability to regulate vacation rentals. Hobbs said she wants lawmakers to revisit the issue.
The measure was sold to lawmakers as allowing individuals to rent out a spare room to make a bit of extra cash. In fact, that's how Airbnb got its name, the idea being an air mattress set up for a guest.
But the reality turned out to be something quite different.
In some communities, homes and apartments in entire areas have been bought up by investors to be converted into these short-term rentals, drying up the availability of housing for local residents.
Facing a barrage of complaints, lawmakers have previously agreed to let cities have some power to require owners to register and give control over things like noise violations. But efforts to go farther -- like limiting the number of short-term rentals in any neighborhood -- have fallen flat.
"If you go across the state, there's different issues, that short-term rentals affect different communities in different ways,'' the governor said. "I think that cities should be able to regulate them in the way that best works for them.''
And that, she said, means rolling back state-imposed restrictions.
What that can mean, the governor said, is allowing some limits where appropriate. And Exhibit No. 1, for her, is Sedona where estimates are that close to one out of every six housing units is a short-term rental, far higher than any other Arizona community.
"It's affecting the ability for workforce housing,'' Hobbs said.
"It's a tourism economy,'' she continued. "And a lot of people that work in that economy can't live there.''
But should communities be able to outlaw them entirely?
"I don't have an answer for that,'' the governor responded.
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