During the 2026 session of the AZ Legislature many harmful energy, water, and wildlife bills died. Thanks to those of you who pushed back through the Request to Speak system or by contacting your legislators. That's good news but there was still no action to protect water or act on climate.
Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, joined by Chispa Arizona and Arizona Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Advocates, Arizona Mountain Mamas, and Mi Familia Vota released the 2026 Environmental Report Card for the Arizona Legislature and Governor.
“We were pleased to see the Legislature put a moratorium on tax breaks for new data centers, but more is needed to hold them accountable relative to water and energy use, as well as transparency,” said Sandy Bahr, director for Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. “While we saw some action on PFAS to protect firefighters and to restrict homeowners associations from blocking backyard shade, the rest of the session was characterized by lack of action to protect our air, water, public health, or communities, plus way too many bills to impede solar and wind and to advance fossil fuels and nuclear, plus a bunch of legislation to weaken groundwater protections. The good news is all of this legislation died in one house or the other or via a veto.“
In the 2026 Legislative Session, the House sent a plethora of bad legislation to the Senate, including HB2267 public nuisance; renewable energy; exceptions (Marshall), which would have established that any utility-scale solar or wind project that is built within four miles of a residence is automatically considered a public nuisance, and HB2331 NOW: electric utility; reliable energy standard (Marshall: Heap) which effectively said that 85 percent of the generating capacity to serve retail load cannot be solar or wind, thus limiting some of the cheapest energy sources. Both of these bills died as they did not receive a hearing in the Senate Natural Resources Committee.
Among the harmful water bills that the House sent to the Senate was HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman). It was some of the worst water legislation and was never brought to the Senate floor as the votes were not there to pass it. The bill would have allowed private water companies and a New York hedge fund, Water Asset Management, to engage in the interbasin transfer of groundwater from the McMullen Valley in La Paz County, which would have harmed the people who live there.
While it is difficult to find a way to grade legislators on the many important issues and bills that were left unaddressed, some of the same people who scored high on the report card are the ones who were advocating for protecting our air and water and advancing clean energy and environmental justice. HB2141 environmental permitting; requirements; burdened communities (De Los Santos: P. Contreras) would have defined “overburdened communities” and required major polluters seeking air quality, waste, and water quality permits in overburdened communities to develop “Environmental Justice Impact Statements,” plus empowered the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to deny or condition permits due to disproportionate impacts based on the statements. This bill never got a hearing, nor did HB2928 working conditions; heat illness; prevention (Sandoval: Abeytia, Aguilar, et al.) to mandate the industrial commission to establish rules that cover indoor and outdoor workplaces in industries such as agriculture, construction, landscaping, oil and gas extraction, and delivery services.
Please check out the environmental report card and keep those grades in mind when election time comes around in November. Also, share your insights with friends and encourage them to vote for legislators who represent their values. Currently, none of the good bills sponsored by Dems are even getting a hearing.
Finally, look out for the upcoming Request to Speak actions as the new session starts in January. If you haven't already, sign up to get a Request to Speak account so you are ready for the actions to come.
https://docs.google.com/forms/
