Arizona

Only state besides MA to charge for a complete lobbyist-client list, and AZ suggests users are fortunate to pay just $25 because “the reasonable charge for a commercial request of this nature is $500.”

The megadrought that has afflicted the southwest for the past two decades is especially challenging for Arizona because of its boom in population; and the state’s water shortage may soon be compounded by a power shortage if falling water levels force the closure of the Glen Canyon hydroelectric dam.

Buckeye, Arizona is one of America’s fastest-growing cities. In 2022-23, the lobbyist for the Buckeye Water Conservation & Drainage District also lobbied on behalf of Invenergy and NextEra Energy Resources. Statewide, there were six public water conservation districts and three private water companies whose lobbyists also worked for the fossil fuel industry.

To what extent are these water lobbyists also promoting further dependence on fossil fuels–a dependence that will make the climate crisis and the state’s water crisis worse? Arizona makes it hard to know, with rock-bottom scores in nearly every category tracked by this report card: poor disclosure of legislative activity, poor disclosure of compensation, and poor access to complete lists of all lobbyists’ clients.

Best feature: client disclosure reports include historical records of lobbyists employed going back to 1997.

Worst feature: no free online list of lobbyists and their clients is available.

Additional Findings