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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, Second Regular Session
ombudsman;
assistance; surface water adjudications
(NOW: law clinic; stream adjudications; appropriation)
Purpose
Allows a university to offer pro bono assistance to qualified claimants in the general stream adjudication of water rights. Appropriates $500,000 from the state General Fund (state GF) in FY 2021 to the University of Arizona to establish an adjudication law clinic.
Background
One or more water users of a river system and source, of which the water rights have not been previously adjudicated, may file a petition to have determined in a general adjudication the priority of water rights of all persons in the river system. The general adjudication must be brought and maintained in the superior court in the county in which the largest number of potential claimants resides. The clerk of the superior court must notify the Supreme Court where the Supreme Court will assign the adjudication to a superior court judge and appoint a water master for consolidating. The Attorney General must represent the state in connection with all water claims asserted by the state (A.R.S. § 45-252).
H.B. 2620 appropriates $500,000 from the state GF in FY 2021 to the University of Arizona.
Provisions
1. Allows a university under the jurisdiction of Arizona Board of Regents to offer pro bono assistance to claimants in the general stream adjudication of water rights if the claimants:
a) are not represented by counsel; and
b) have an adjusted gross income, for any of three preceding years, less than 500 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
2. Allows a participating university to represent a claimant in the adjudication until the claimant proceeds to an evidentiary hearing or to some other contested proceeding that is similar to a trial.
3. Prohibits the university, if the claimant hasn't settled the claim, from representing the claimant at an evidentiary or similarly contested hearing.
4. Requires the participating university to cooperate and coordinate with the faculty of a cooperative extension in Arizona that has a program to support the economic vitality of rural communities and the use of natural resources in those communities.
5. Requires any participating university, by November 15 of each year, to submit a report of the university's activities to the Governor and the Legislature and provide a copy to the Secretary of State.
6. Appropriates $500,000 from the state GF in FY 2021 to the University of Arizona to establish the adjudication law clinic to assist claimants in the general stream adjudication of water rights.
7. Exempts the appropriation from lapsing.
8. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
NREW 2/11/20 DPA/SE 13-0-0-0
3rd Read 2/25/20 60-0-0
Prepared by Senate Research
March 6, 2020
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