Read and Review:
Proposed 2023 LWVAZ Water Policy
Current LWVAZ Natural Resources Positions 2019-2021 (pages 17-18)
The current water policy statement was last revised in 2009. Since then, water issues in Arizona have become not only more complex but also much more urgent. Our charge was to revise the existing policy to better enable advocacy by League members on legislative and executive proposals affecting water availability and management in the state.
FINAL POLICY DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION
Please use the number lines in this document if you are sending comments to the committee to ask questions or seek clarification of particular statements in the text. This is a draft, and the committee will be adjusting or modifying this draft in early March, based on input we might receive from members.
We have also prepared a narrative summary of the proposed new policy draft identifying what is new in this proposal and what elements of the draft have been taken from or paraphrased from the current LWVAZ water policy. It may help you understand our reasons for including the policy points which we have proposed. While the language is sometimes reworded or expanded a bit, the proposed draft policy includes all the policy recommendations now in the current policy, as well as many new proposed policy statements to update and expand the range of issues on which the LWVAZ takes a policy stance.
Water Policy Revision Committee 2021-2023
Lyn Loveless, Chair
Dawn Abel
Ellie Laumark
Judy Moor
Mary Price
Read about the Committee’s process
What’s Next?
The committee is now developing an educational outreach program to introduce League members to their recommendations, as was specified in the appointment from the 2021 Convention. The goal of the committee is to help members understand how water is currently managed in Arizona and to appreciate the urgent and serious challenges that lie ahead. In its founding resolution, the committee was instructed “to ensure that League members know what is being proposed and why and what they are voting to do.” Members are encouraged to attend meetings being scheduled in each local league area. The committee welcomes the opportunity to inform members about the changes they recommend and why the committee believes these changes should be adopted as part of a revised public policy stance.
The committee will use the input they receive from members during these meetings to make final modifications to the draft public policy on water. It will then be submitted to the LWVAZ Board, which will add its recommendations and include the report and the Board recommendation in the Call to Convention workbook. The State Convention delegates will then vote on whether to approve the recommended changes. If approved, the LWVAZ Public Policy Positions document will be updated and published on the LWVAZ website.
We welcome your comments and input. You can submit questions for clarification, make suggestions, or express your support for the policy draft by emailing your comments to: lwvarizona [at] gmail.com before March 5, 2023.
