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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
AMENDED
state land; exchanges
As passed by the Senate S.B. 1150 requires the exchange transaction of state lands for other lands, rather than only public lands, to be approved by the Legislature and the Governor, rather than qualified electors of Arizona by referendum.
The House of Representatives adopted a strike-everything amendment that does the following:
Purpose
Outlines requirements relating to the establishment, decommissioning, location, permitting, operation and conveyance of wind farms. Outlines requirements relating to financial sureties and public hearings and notice for wind farms.
Background
A county board of supervisors (county BOS) may adopt a zoning ordinance in order to conserve and promote the public health, safety, convenience and general welfare. The zoning ordinances: 1) must show the zoning districts designated as appropriate for various classes of residential, business and industrial uses and must provide for the establishment of setback lines and other plans providing for adequate light, air and parking facilities and for expediting traffic within the districts; 2) may establish the percentage of a lot or parcel that may be covered by buildings and the size of yards, courts and other open spaces; 3) must consider access to incident solar energy; 4) may provide for retirement community zoning districts; 5) may provide for the regulation and use of business licenses, adult oriented business manager permits and adult service provider permits in conjunction with the establishment or operation of adult oriented business and facilities; and 5) must designate and zone appropriate areas of reasonable size in which there may be established with reasonable permanency canneries, fertilizer plants, refineries, commercial feedlots, meat packing plants, tallow works and other like businesses. Before adopting any zoning ordinance, the county BOS must consider the individual property rights and personal liberties of the residents of the county before adopting any zoning ordinance (A.R.S. § 11-811).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
Wind Farms
1. Prohibits a wind farm from being located within six miles of any property that is zoned for residential use.
2. Requires the owner of a wind farm, unless prohibited by federal law and before applying for any lease or conditional use permit to a federal agency, this state or a political subdivision of this state, to obtain the approval of:
a) the State Historic Preservation Office;
b) the Arizona Game and Fish Department;
c) the Arizona Geological Survey; and
d) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
3. Requires the state historic preservation office to issue an approval after review of all potential ground disturbances and proposed mitigations, including an assessment of any adverse effect or impact to cultural properties, national registered historic districts, archeological sites and unmarked burial sites associated with the proposed wind farm project.
4. Requires the Arizona Game and Fish Department to issue an approval after review and assessment of the direct, indirect or cumulative impacts of the proposed wind farm project on wildlife.
5. Requires the wildlife impact review and assessment to include a determination of whether the wind farm project will impact:
a) any endangered, threatened or other special status species population or their habitats, including riparian areas and significant topographic features;
b) migratory bird and mammalian species whose migratory routes traverse the project area including any adverse impacts on important bird areas;
c) native resident species of vertebrates and invertebrates and their habitats; or
d) hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities, including the habitat, life cycles, prey and food chain of the wildlife, fish and birds commonly hunted in the areas within and adjacent to the wind farm.
6. Requires the Arizona Geological Survey's approval of the proposed wind farm project to be based on an assessment of known and potential geologic hazards, known areas of earth fissures, bedrock instability and any limit to land use, disturbance and management of the wind farm project.
7. Requires the FAA's approval to be based on a review and determination of whether the proposed wind farm project is within a FAA-designated civilian airport runway clear zone or runway protection zone or a military airfield clear zone accident potential zone.
8. Requires the owner of a wind farm to annually consult with a supervisor of the natural resource conservation district in which the wind farm is located.
9. Requires the consultation to include:
a) prevention and control of soil erosion by water and wind;
b) eradication of noxious growths and invasive vegetation;
c) reseeding of eradicated areas;
d) implementation of soil health practices to improve soil organic matter, soil structure and its water-holding and nutrient-holding capacity; and
e) review of the land, soil, water, plant cover and other natural resources within the perimeter of the wind farm for the purposes of maintaining the land in a healthy status for eventual restoration to its original condition.
10. Prohibits the State Land Department from approving the lease of state land for a proposed wind farm and the Governor from directing the State Land Department to approve the lease of state land for a proposed wind farm if a county BOS denies the issuance of a construction or conditional use permit or if the voters pass a referendum against the approval by the county BOS of a construction or conditional use permit.
11. Prohibits a federal land manager from allowing the construction of a wind farm on federal land without the approval of the county BOS of the county where the federal land is located or if the voters pass a referendum against the approval by the county BOS of a construction or conditional use permit.
12. Requires ADEQ, when a wind farm is decommissioned, to ensure that the cleanup, mitigation, removal and decommissioning is undertaken and completed.
13. Requires the county BOS, if the wind farm is located on state or federal land, to approve any conveyance, transfer, assignment or other divestiture of ownership of a wind farm before the transfer of ownership.
14. Requires the county BOS approval to be contingent on an assessment of the potential buyer's financial, technical, legal and character qualifications.
Public Hearing and Notice
15. Requires a county planning and zoning commission (Commission) to hold a public hearing to consider and act on an application for a permit for construction and conditional use of a wind farm within 90 days after the Commission deems the application complete.
16. Requires the Commission to provide notice of the time, location and purpose of the public hearing to consider the application for a permit for construction and conditional use of a wind farm by:
a) publishing the notice at least 30 days before the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the proposed wind farm is located;
b) posting the notice at least 30 days before the public hearing at one-half mile intervals along the perimeter of the proposed wind farm location and at one-half mile intervals along any public road located along the perimeter of the proposed wind farm location;
c) mailing the notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to all adjoining landowners and all property owners within six miles of the boundary of the proposed wind farm; and
d) regular first-class mailing the notice to all interested people who have requested notice of a public hearing before the Commission.
17. Requires the certified mail and the first-class mail to be postmarked at least 30 calendar days before the date of the public hearing.
18. Requires the county to require the wind farm owner to pay the costs of providing the outlined notice.
19. Requires the owner of a wind farm to provide written notice to the county BOS of a planned conveyance, transfer, assignment or other divestiture of the ownership of a wind farm.
20. Requires the outlined notice of a planned conveyance, transfer, assignment or other divestiture of the ownership of a wind farm to be provided to the county by 20 days before the proposed effective date of the conveyance, transfer, assignment or other divestiture.
Financial Surety
21. Requires a county, when issuing a permit for the construction and conditional use of a wind farm on public land, to adopt the following requirements:
a) that the owner of the wind farm must provide financial surety in a form and amount satisfactory to the county and the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD);
b) that any financial surety or other assurance include a provision for releasing the monies to the county in the event cleanup and mitigation are not completed in a timely manner;
c) that any financial surety or other assurance be maintained for the life of the project; and
d) outlined requirements, if the wind farm is located on state or federal land.
22. Requires the financial surety to be sufficient to cover the costs of cleanup and mitigation in the event of a casualty event, plus a 10 percent contingency.
23. Requires the financial surety amount to be based on a maximum worst-case scenario of extreme damage of one wind turbine by a casualty event on the project site and adjacent land or waterways, death and other adverse health consequences to people.
24. Requires the decommissioning of a wind farm, if the wind farm is located on state or federal land, to include:
a) the removal of all project materials, regardless of their depth below the surface, including turbined, substations, tower foundations, buried cables, transmission lines, roadway paving and any other nonnative materials, and the removal or remediation of contaminated soil, regardless of its depth;
b) the prohibition, during the removal and remediation of the wind farm, on disposing, incinerating or burying on-site or on any land within the county any project materials;
c) that the owner of the wind farm provides financial surety in a form and amount satisfactory to cover the cost of cleanup, decommissioning and restoring the site to its original condition on termination of the project or decommissioning after the life of the project;
d) that the financial surety ensure that the cleanup, mitigation, removal and decommissioning will be undertaken and completed without regard to the then existing ownership of or title to the wind farm facility and the property where the wind farm is located;
e) that the amount of the financial surety be adjusted annually for inflation based on the consumer price index of the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; and
f) that any financial document evidencing the maintenance of the cleanup, decommissioning and restoring monies include provisions for releasing the monies to the county in the event decommissioning, restoring and cleanup are not completed in a timely manner.
25. Requires decommissioning monies to be an amount equal to the total costs for decommissioning the site, plus a 10 percent contingency.
26. Requires decommissioning monies to be maintained in the form of a performance bond, surety bond, bank letter of credit, stable parent company guarantee or other form of financial assurance as approved by the county.
27. Requires financial surety to be maintained for the life of the project.
28. Requires proof of recertification of the financial surety instrument to be annually submitted to the county.
29. Requires the financial surety to be binding on all successors and assigns of the owner of the wind farm project.
30. Requires the financial surety to be structured to survive any bankruptcy, dissolution, insolvency or other termination of the wind farm ownership as a legal entity.
31. Requires the owner of the wind farm on public land, every three years, to retain an independent engineer registered with the Board of Technical Registration and approved by the county to reestimate the total cost of cleanup, decommissioning and restoring the wind farm and property.
32. Requires the engineer to attest that the value of the financial surety instrument is appropriate.
33. Requires the engineer's report to be filed with the county and to incorporate any new industry information the wind farm owner has obtained since the last cost determination.
Miscellaneous
34. Allows a person or organization, on the approval by the county BOS of the issuance of a construction or conditional use permit for a wind farm, to file a referendum petition against the issuance of the wind farm construction or conditional use permit.
35. Allows a referendum petition and election against a construction or conditional use permit to be limited to the supervisory district in which the proposed wind farm is located.
36. Requires the whole number of votes cast at the election at which a county supervisor was chosen last preceding the submission of the application for a petition against a wind farm construction or conditional use permit to be the basis on which the number of electors of the district required to file a referendum petition is computed.
37. Requires the referendum petition to be filed with the county clerk within 60 days after the county BOS approved the wind farm construction or conditional use permit.
38. Requires the ASLD, if the proposed lease is for the construction and conditional use of a wind farm, to cooperate with the cities and towns that are within 15 miles of the outer perimeter of the land to be leased in considering the intended uses.
39. Requires the lease, in addition to statutorily prescribed requirements relating to construction and conditional use permits for wind farms, to include a restoration security instrument approved by the ASLD sufficient to cover the costs of regrading, revegetation and labor to fully restore the leased land to its original condition, including measures necessary to address ecological and visual impacts.
40. Requires the restoration security instrument to specify how state lands will be restored and revegetated.
41. Requires proof of recertification of the security instrument to be submitted to the ASLD annually for the life of the wind farm.
42. Determines that any person who resides within 12 miles of a proposed auction of state land for the construction and conditional use of a wind farm has standing to protest the proposed auction.
43. Requires the ASLD, if the grant of a right-of-way or site is for the construction and conditional use of a wind farm, to grant the rights-of-way or site at a public auction to the highest and best bidder.
44. Requires the Power Plant and Transmission Line Sighting Committee (Committee), if the grant of a right-of-way or site is for the construction and conditional use of a wind farm, to grant the rights-of-way or site at public auction to the highest and best bidder.
45. Requires the Committee, if the application is for the construction and conditional use of a wind farm, to consider the impact of the wind farm on the visual and aesthetic character of the area.
46. Requires the Committee to have the objective of preserving and protecting the natural qualities of the existing scenic areas, historic sites, districts of historical significance, structures and unique geologic features.
47. Stipulates that there is a moratorium on the approval of construction or conditional use permits for six months after the effective date of this legislation to allow counties to develop rules, regulations and ordinances to conform with the prescribed regulations relating to wind farms.
48. Exempts a wind farm project that has been approved and is under construction as of the effective date of this legislation from the prescribed regulations relating to wind farms.
49. Makes technical and conforming changes.
50. Becomes effective on the general effective date, retroactive to January 1, 2025.
Amendments Adopted by the House of Representatives
· Adopted the strike everything amendment.
House Action
LARA 3/24/25 DPA/SE 6-3-0-0
3rd Read 4/23/25 31-28-1
Prepared by Senate Research
April 23, 2025
SB/slp