The Arizona Special Districts Alliance (ASDA) adopted its initial set of policy statements to how the association acts on pressing measures impacting the state’s special districts and delivery of services in their communities.

ASDA’s Board of Directors adopted the 2025 ASDA Policy Platform as a primary element of its mission to strengthen all Arizona’s special districts through advocacy. The living document altogether reflects the broad state and federal interests of Arizona’s most common form of local government.

“From turning on the spicket to emergency response along interstates, Arizona’s special districts are altogether an important element of the state’s critical and essential public services,” said Carol Shrock, ASDA President and Thunderbird (Pinal County) Irrigation Water Delivery District Chair. “For far too long, Arizona’s special districts have lacked a unified voice to advocate on a dedicated set of policy priorities for hundreds of local governments and the more-than 1,000 elected and appointed officials directing these services. We are excited to write this new chapter for special districts advocacy from Phoenix to Washington.”

More than 320 special districts provide a range of critical and essential services, as authorized under Arizona Revised Statutes Tile 48. These special districts are providing public services their peer city and county governments do not otherwise provide to ensure quality of life and public safety – including water, wastewater, fire protection, hospital, library, flood control, irrigation, and electricity.

Within ASDA’s founding policy platform are seven general subjects.

• Preserving Local Control & Strengthening Operations. ASDA’s overarching advocacy efforts are rooted in education for policymakers regarding the importance of special districts’ services and to foster understanding of their specialized, locally-controlled structure. Likewise, ASDA strives to deliver governance and educational resources to its membership.
• Sustaining Local Revenue Resources. In tandem with preserving local control, ASDA supports polices that strengthen and sustain local revenue options, such as property tax and alternative sources. The Alliance is the special districts’ voice at the table for state-administered and state-sourced funding opportunities.
• Cohesive Reporting Standards across Title 48. ASDA firmly supports open and transparent governance principles for the purposes of public trust and confidence, and it is important for these reporting standards to be consistent, sensical, and with little-to-no burden on special districts. This includes ensuring Arizona’s 15 counties are consistently and sufficiently updating special district records they are responsible to collect.
• Centralized District Compliance for Arizona’s Special Districts. ASDA will seek to with the Arizona General Auditor work over the medium and long -term to be the recognized clearinghouse for special districts’ required public posting and filing of records (except for fire districts, which already have a central reporting option). The goal is to educate the general public as well as policy makers while strengthening confidence in special district government.
• A Focus on Water Resources. Water resources, watershed health, and forest management all play a direct or indirect role in so many of Arizona’s special district services. ASDA recognizes this importance and aims to be at the table for water policy discussion impacting districts that have historically not had a voice in this important discussion.
• Public Lands Management & Community Risk Reduction. ASDA supports policies that promote special districts’ involvement in management programs, hazard mitigation, and water infrastructure for firefighting solutions. Generally, the Alliance supports policies that foster intergovernmental collaboration on risk reduction programs.  
• Elections. The Arizona Special Districts Alliance supports efforts to maintain integrity of the local elections process and ensure efficiency in the ballot process. This includes examining uniformity in election dates for special districts. Finally, ASDA supports efforts to reduce election and ballot expenses for special districts holding elections, pursuant to A.R.S. § 16-225.

The Alliance will ramp up its grassroots and legislative advocacy activities in the months ahead, first with an introduction of priorities to state legislative stakeholders during the 2025 state legislative session.

Are you a special district leader serving the Grand Canyon State and interested to get involved with ASDA’s legislative efforts strengthening all of Arizona’s special districts? Contact the Alliance at info.asd.alliance@gmail.com.

Special District Strategies, L.L.C., coordinated development of the ASDA Policy Platform.

The Arizona Special Districts Alliance was established in October 2024 as the ninth nonprofit organization in the country to serve and represent all types of districts in a state. ASDA’s Mission is to “join together to raise awareness of, advocate for, and strengthen all Arizona’s local special districts governments and their essential services to Arizonans.” ASDA works to the fulfill its mission by offering educational opportunities and other resources on best practices for good governance; enhanced connection with governing counterparts at the county, state, and federal levels; more education pool resources for professional services; and enhance the understanding of the general public as well as state and federal legislatures on the importance of Arizona’s special districts in communities across the state.

Learn more at www.azdistrictsalliance.org.