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Arizona environmental advocates and organizers have laid out their 2025 priorities for Governor Katie Hobbs and the state legislature, which is set to convene Monday.

Sandy Bahr, director of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, said her group's priorities represent what she called "a positive vision on climate and clean energy." She acknowledged while the majority of the legislature has not made environmental protection or climate action a priority in the past, she and others are asking them to do so now.

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"The priorities ask for needed changes to address climate change and extreme heat that is literally killing people in our communities, environmental justice and to limit the depletion of precious water resources," Bahr outlined.

Last year in Maricopa County alone there were 466 preliminary confirmed heat-related deaths and almost 200 heat-related deaths are still under investigation.

As it relates to water, Bahr emphasized urgent action is needed. While legislators have attempted to regulate groundwater use in the Grand Canyon State, they have been unsuccessful. Bahr argued it needs to change. The lack of regulation has attracted out of state ag companies who come to Arizona to set up shop.

Representative Oscar De Los Santos, D-Laveen, the House minority leader, said for decades, "greedy corporations," have poisoned water supplies in Arizona and left working Arizonans to pay the price. He contended as a result of corporate greed, Arizonans' health, jobs and way of life are in jeopardy.

"In a desert, we have no resource more valuable and more precious than water," De Los Santos pointed out. "But these greedy corporations aren't just using our water, they're hoarding it and speculating on it."

Arizona has garnered a business-friendly reputation because of its lack of oversight and for those wanting more government regulation, it could prove to be a challenge as Republicans now hold majorities in both chambers of the Legislature.

Vania Guevara, advocacy and political director for the advocacy group CHISPA Arizona, said people of color are disproportionately affected by climate change, and she argued all Arizonans deserve clean air and healthy water.

"My hope for the legislative session is that our leadership, regardless of political affiliation really listen to the concerns and needs and address climate concerns," Guevara urged. "Because they represent everyone."