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Challenging Gov. Hobbs Overreach to Secure Arizona’s Housing Future

Home Builders Association of Central Arizona v. Arizona Department of Water Resources

Case Status

Date Filed

January 22, 2025

Last Step

Filed complaint.

Next Step

Await opposing party’s response.

Case Overview

The Arizona Department of Water Resources (“Department”) has imposed  new rules that halt all new home construction in some of the fastest growing and most affordable parts of Maricopa County. The agency has done so without formal rulemaking or legislative authorization in violation of Arizona law.

New residential construction in certain parts of Maricopa County can only start after developers receive a Certificate of Assured Water Supply from the Department. The certificates should issue if a homebuilder or developer can show that an individual development has a sufficient groundwater supply for that development for the next 100 years. But the Department has imposed new, invalid requirements that preclude developers from obtaining a certificate based on demonstrating that water is available for a specific development.

Administrative agencies in Arizona, including the Department, can only impose these sorts of policies through formal rulemaking and with specific legislative authorization. Yet, in an unprecedented act of administrative overreach, the Department has done so with the stroke of a pen, without satisfying either requirement.

The Goldwater Institute is representing the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona (“HBACA”) in a legal challenge to these unlawful rules. We are asking the court to require the Department to follow rulemaking procedures and Arizona law to stop the Department from unlawfully halting new home construction.

Case Logistics

The case is Home Builders Association of Central Arizona v. Arizona Department of Water Resources. The complaint was filed on January 22, 2025, in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Case Documents

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