supply and demand; assessment; groundwater
HB 2101 amends Arizona's water management statute to clarify and expand the director's authority for groundwater and surface water oversight. It directly affects the state's water director and agencies by authorizing them to develop management plans, investigate water resources, acquire water rights, and coordinate with other entities like the Department of Environmental Quality. Key provisions include enabling the director to form plans for groundwater conservation, collect data on water basins, contract for imported water, and collaborate with federal agencies and Mexican authorities on border water planning. The bill does not create new regulations but updates existing powers to improve water resource management coordination. This is a procedural amendment to the state's water code, not a new policy requiring funding or implementation.
Bill status
passed
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Dec 29, 2025
Last action Mar 3, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Introduced Version
→
House Engrossed Version (02/23/2026)
·
3 edits
·
Feb 23, 2026
MINOR
The bill was reformatted from an introduced draft to a final House version, correcting the session year to 2026 and adding a new section of duties for the Water Resources Director. The most significant substantive change is the addition of a mandatory requirement for the Director to conduct water supply and demand assessments for all 51 groundwater basins every five years, replacing a previous one-time deadline.
Scope change
The bill's scope expanded to include a recurring, periodic reporting requirement for all groundwater basins in the state, whereas the introduced version only specified a single deadline for initial assessments.
REQUIREMENT
Added a new Section B requiring the Director to conduct water supply and demand assessments for all 51 groundwater basins at least once every five years, detailing specific metrics like bedrock depth, well density, and water storage volume.
TIMELINE
Corrected the legislative session year from 2025 to 2026 and adjusted the initial assessment deadline from December 2023 to December 1, 2026, to align with the new five-year cycle.
TECHNICAL
Removed internal draft markers, page numbers, and prefiling notes while adding official House Engrossed formatting and headers.
Floor votes · House Feb 23, 2026
How they voted
33–24
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 60
Feb 23, 2026
D
Democratic27
88% Nay
R
Republican33
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
9
Key actions
2
Committee
1
Feb 23, 2026
Lower · Passed
PASSED
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
DP
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Gail Griffin
RRepublican
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