Published on March 01, 2023
The wheels of state government are turning with some significant impact for Maricopa. Infrastructure related projects are amongst the most popular topics within our community and there are several critical bills that will soon be addressed by the Arizona State House and Senate. Here are just a few of the upcoming bills and their importance to the City of Maricopa.
HB2063 (Martinez)- redirects $13 million in funds that can’t be used from an appropriation last session to critical improvements on the SR 238.
SB1229 (Shope)- appropriates $18M in new funds to improve safety and congestion on SR 347 by reconfiguring two intersections at Cement Plant road and Casa Blanca. These improvements would remove cross traffic completely at these intersections, improving both safety and congestion.
Both bills are doing great and have passed out of their original chamber. HB 2063 is even scheduled for Senate Transportation next week. Both are critical as legislative funding is essential to address the SR 347 outside of City limits.
Representatives Teresa Martinez and T.J. Shope each sponsored one of these bills. Their commitment and dedication towards assisting in the development of our infrastructure has been paramount for our recent and ongoing successes.
HB2543 - this bill from the Rural Transportation Advocacy Council appropriates approximately $330M across the state of Arizona for rural transportation projects including three for the City of Maricopa:
This bill is now ready for a vote of the full House. HB2449 - this bill appropriates $9.7M from the state general fund in the 2023-2024 fiscal year to the department of transportation to distribute to Pinal county for engineering and design of the West Pinal Parkway East-West Corridor. It recently passed in the State House and now moves onto the Senate.
HB2061 / SB1063 - in non-infrastructure related news, this bill seeks to eliminate taxes on the sale of food items intended for human consumption. Some Arizona lawmakers are pushing for this to make groceries more affordable to some residents but it could significantly impact the future budgets of local municipalities if this bill is signed into law. SB1063 passed in the State Senate this week and now goes to the House. Stay tuned for more updates regarding these bills and more as they move through the State government.