Official Summary Text
SB1488 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet
Assigned to
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PASSED BY COW
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh
Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
FACT SHEET FOR
S.B. 1488
appropriation;
coal-impacted workforce; study
Purpose
Establishes the Study Committee on Coal-Impacted Communities (Study
Committee) and appropriates $300,000 from the state General Fund (state GF) in
FY 2027 to the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to conduct a workforce
development study on the communities in Coconino County impacted by the closure
of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS).
Background
The NGS was a 2,250-megawatt coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo
Reservation in northern Coconino County with a lease that was executed with the
Navajo Nation on January 19, 1971, and expired on December 22, 2019. The NGS
had three 750-megawatt generating units, which provided baseload power to
customers in Arizona, Nevada and California. The NGS was owned by four
utilities which included the Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service, Nevada
Energy and Tucson Electric Power. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation also had
ownership in the NGS on behalf of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior under a
1969 delegation of authority.
����������� The
United States' share of the NGS electricity was used to operate the Central
Arizona Project (CAP). The U.S. Congress, through the Colorado River Basin
Project Act of 1968, authorized the federal government's participation in the
NGS with the creation of the CAP which is a 336-mile water distribution system
built to deliver more than 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water
annually to Central Arizona. The revenues from surplus power sales were
deposited in the Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund and were available
to assist the Central Arizona Water Conservation District in repaying the costs
of constructing the CAP and to fund Native American water rights settlements in
Central Arizona (
U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation
).
����������� S.B.
1488 appropriates $300,000 from the state GF in FY 2027 to the OEO.
Provisions
1.
Appropriates
$300,000 from the state GF in FY 2027 to the OEO to conduct a workforce
development study on the communities in Coconino County impacted by the closure
of the NGS.
2.
Establishes
the Study Committee consisting of:
a)
two
members of the Senate;
b)
two
members of the House of Representatives (House);
c)
one
member who is appointed by the President of the Senate and who represents a
nonprofit organization that provides food security, entrepreneurship, youth
leadership and housing to a community impacted by coal;
d)
one
member who is appointed by the Speaker of the House and who represents a
nonprofit organization that works to protect the water of Black Mesa and to
bring power back to Indigenous communities impacted by coal;
e)
one
member who is appointed by the President of the Senate and who represents the
Navajo Nation Economic Development Division;
f)
one
member who is appointed by the Speaker of the House and who represents a public
university in this state that has a program that supports communities impacted
by an energy transition, including communities where fossil energy is being
retired and where new energy is being developed; and
g)
one
member of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors who represents the
supervisorial district where the NGS operated and who is appointed by the
President of the Senate.
3.
Specifies that, of the two Senate members of the Study Committee, one
member is appointed by the President of the Senate and one member is appointed
by the Minority Leader of the Senate, rather than both members being appointed
by the President of the Senate.
4.
Specifies that, of the two House members of the Study Committee, one
member is appointed by the Speaker of the House and one member is appointed by
the Minority Leader of the House, rather than both members being appointed by
the Speaker of the House.
5.
Requires
the Study Committee to:
a)
meet
as often as the co-chairpersons deem necessary; and
b)
investigate
and analyze the social and economic effects on communities heavily reliant on
the coal industry, particularly in communities experiencing job losses or
economic decline due to the transition away from coal power generation, with a
focus on developing strategies to mitigate impacts and support economic
diversification in those communities.
6.
Allows
the Study Committee to use the service of legislative staff to provide
necessary administrative and operational support.
7.
Requires
an agency or a political subdivision of Arizona, on request of the Study
Committee, to provide the Study Committee with services, equipment, documents,
personnel and facilities, to the extent possible, at no cost to the Study
Committee.
8.
Requires
the Study Committee, by December 31, 2026, to submit a report of its findings
and recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House and provide a copy to the Secretary of State.
9.
Repeals
the Study Committee on October 1, 2027.
10.
Exempts the appropriation
from lapsing.
11.
Becomes effective on the
general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by the
Appropriations, Transportation and Technology Committee
�
Reduces the prescribed appropriation to the OEO from $600,000 to
$300,000.
Amendments Adopted by
Committee of the Whole
1.
Specifies that, of the Legislative Study Committee members, the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House each appoint one member
and the Minority Leaders of the Senate and House each appoint one member.
2.
Removes the requirement that the two Study Committee members from both
the Senate and the House be from different political parties.
3.
Makes conforming changes.
Senate Action
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Prepared by Senate Research
March 11, 2026
SB/hk
Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
SB1488 - 572R - S Ver
Senate Engrossed
appropriation;
coal-impacted workforce; study
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SENATE BILL 1488
AN
ACT
ESTABLISHING the study committee on coal-impacted
communities; appropriating monies.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1.
Study committee
on coal-impacted communities; membership; duties; report; delayed repeal
A. The study committee on
coal-impacted communities is established consisting of the following members:
1. Two members
of the senate.� One member shall be
appointed by the president of the senate, and one member
shall be appointed by the minority leader of the senate. The
president of the senate shall designate one of these members to serve as
cochairperson of the committee. The two members shall reside in or
represent a rural or tribal community.
2. Two members
of the house of representatives.� One member shall be
appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, and one member shall
be appointed by the minority leader of the house of representatives
. The speaker of the house of representatives
shall designate one of these members to serve as cochairperson of the
committee.� The two members shall reside in or represent a rural or tribal
community.
3. One member who is
appointed by the president of the senate and who represents a nonprofit
organization that provides food security, entrepreneurship, youth leadership
and housing to a community impacted by coal.
4. One member who is
appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and who represents a
nonprofit organization that works to protect the water of Black Mesa and to
bring power back to Indigenous communities impacted by coal.
5. One member who is
appointed by the president
of the senate and
who represents the Navajo Nation economic development division.
6. One member who is
appointed by the speaker
of the house of
representatives and who represents a public university in this state that has a
program that supports communities impacted by an energy transition, including
communities where fossil energy is being retired and where new energy is being developed.
7. One member of the
Coconino county board of supervisors who represents the supervisorial district
where the Navajo generating station operated and
who is appointed by the president of the senate
.
B. The committee shall:
1. Meet as often as the
cochairpersons deem necessary.
2. Investigate and analyze
the social and economic effects on communities heavily reliant on the coal
industry, particularly in communities experiencing job losses or economic
decline due to the transition away from coal power generation, with a focus on
developing strategies to mitigate impacts and support economic diversification
in those communities.
C. The
committee may use the services of legislative staff to provide necessary
administrative and operational support.� On request of the committee, an agency
of this state or a political subdivision of this state shall provide the
committee with services, equipment, documents, personnel and facilities, to the
extent possible, at no cost to the committee.
D. On or before
December 31, 2026, the committee shall submit a report of its findings and
recommendations to the governor, the president of the senate and the speaker of
the house of representatives and shall provide a copy of this report to the
secretary of state.
E. This section is
repealed from and after September 30, 2027.
Sec. 2.
Appropriation; office of economic opportunity; workforce
development study; exemption
A. The
sum of
$300,000 is appropriated from the state
general fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to the office of economic opportunity to
conduct a workforce development study on the communities in Coconino county
impacted by the closure of the Navajo generating station.
B. The appropriation made
in subsection A of this section is exempt from the provisions of section
35-190, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to lapsing of appropriations.