PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed legislation Monday that would have restored water service to Rio Verde Foothills, an upscale, unincorporated community north of Scottsdale whose water service was cut off by the city five months ago.
"This bill fails to provide an immediate solution, as it passed without an emergency clause on the eve of a month-long adjournment which will only cause continued delay," Hobbs said in a letter explaining the veto.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: La gobernadora Hobbs rechaza propuesta que podría restaurar servicio de agua en Rio Verde Foothills
"Instead, I call upon you to take action and send HB 2561 to my desk - a bipartisan solution that was voted out of the House with supermajority support, an emergency clause for immediate effect, and language addressing the long-term issue of wildcat development."
The bill Hobbs supports - HB 2561 - would set up a new "standpipe district" within state government to serve Rio Verde Foothills.
The bill is the only remaining legislative solution on the table.
It passed the House but remains in limbo in the state Senate. Legislators are on break until June 12. The current legislative session is expected to end no later than June 30.
12News reported earlier Monday from two sources with direct knowledge that the governor would veto HB 2441.
The City of Scottsdale had opposed the legislation, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The city said the bill, HB 2441, would have forced it to violate its state-required Drought Management Plan.
The city also cited its drought management plan when it ended decades of providing water to a standpipe where Rio Verde Foothills water haulers filled up.
"There is no Santa Claus," Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega said in a statement last December. "The mega-drought tells us all – water is not a compassion game."
About 500 Rio Verde Foothills water customers have survived the cutoff by taking extreme measures to conserve water and paying exorbitant rates to have water hauled into their community.
The plight of the subdivision's residents has become a national symbol of Arizona's failure to manage its water supply.
Under state law, the so-called "wildcat subdivision" was allowed to develop homes over the last several decades without an assured water supply.
Now, in the midst of a megadrought, the search for a new water supply has hit dead ends.
The Scottsdale City Council had approved a tentative agreement to provide water with Maricopa County's assistance. But the proposed deal fell apart when Scottsdale wouldn't identify a water supply.
A longer-term solution, now before the Arizona Corporation Commission, would provide direct water service to the Foothills. That service wouldn't be in place for about three years.
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