subsequent active management area; designation

HB2518 - subsequent active management area; designation

Water

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, Nancy Gutierrez, Mariana Sandoval, Stephanie Simacek, Stacey Travers, Betty J Villegas, Rosanna Gabaldón, Analise Ortiz
Last action: 2026-01-27
Official status: House second read
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

HB2518: Rules for Designating New Groundwater Management Areas

This law requires state officials to create new groundwater protection zones when specific problems like land sinking or water quality loss occur.

What This Bill Does

Requires the director to designate a subsequent active management area if certain conditions exist.
Mandates designation if managing groundwater is needed for future supply needs.
Triggers action if land subsidence or cracking threatens property or storage space.
Sets protection measures when water use causes actual or threatened quality loss.
Requires these areas to cover whole basins, not just parts of them.

Who It Names or Affects

The director responsible for groundwater management
Groundwater basins outside current active management zones

Terms To Know

Subsequent Active Management Area: A new zone created to manage and protect groundwater after the first set of areas was established.
Land Subsidence or Fissuring: The sinking, settling, or cracking of the ground surface due to water loss underground.

Limits and Unknowns

The law does not list specific dates for when reviews must happen.
It allows exceptions only for regional aquifer systems in northern Arizona regarding basin size rules.

Bill History

2026-01-27 House
House second read
2026-01-26 House
House Rules: None
2026-01-26 House
House Natural Resources, Energy & Water: None
2026-01-26 House
House first read

Official Summary Text

HB2518 - subsequent active management area; designation

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB2518 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
subsequent active management area; designation

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2518

Introduced by

Representatives
Stahl Hamilton: Gutierrez, Sandoval, Simacek, Travers, Villegas;� Senators
Gabald�n, Ortiz

AN
ACT

amending section 45-412, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to subsequent active management areas.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section
1.
Section
45-412, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-412.

Subsequent
active management areas; criteria; review of groundwater basins not subject to
active management

A. The
director
may

shall
designate an area
which

that
is not included
within an initial active management area, pursuant to section 45-411, as
a subsequent active management area if the director determines that any of the
following exists:

1. Active
management practices are necessary to preserve the existing supply of
groundwater for future needs.

2. Land
subsidence or fissuring is endangering property or potential groundwater
storage capacity.

3. Use
of groundwater is resulting in actual or threatened water quality degradation.

B. An
active management area designated pursuant to this section may include more
than one groundwater basin but shall not be smaller than a groundwater basin or
include only a portion of a groundwater basin, except for the regional aquifer
systems of northern Arizona.

C. The
director shall periodically review all areas
which

that

are not included
within an active management area to
determine
whether such areas meet any of the criteria for active management areas
as prescribed in this section.
END_STATUTE