PHOENIX, ARIZ. (Jan. 6, 2023) — The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP, the commercial real estate development association, just released its 2023 legislative agenda. This year's priorities focus on fundamental issues crucial to maintaining a stable business environment and making it easier for new development projects to come online.
"With Katie Hobbs as our new governor and many new members of the state Legislature, we are excited to get to work on policies that will bolster sustainable growth and build on Arizona's business attraction successes," said NAIOP Arizona President and CEO Suzanne Kinney. "Even with economic headwinds, our state is positioned to come out on top in the race for new businesses looking for the optimal location to expand."
During the 2022 session, NAIOP realized a long-term goal of reducing Arizona's commercial property tax assessment ratio to 15 percent. Working with legislative leaders such as House Speaker Ben Toma and Sen. J.D. Mesnard, the association looks forward to supporting legislation to accelerate the implementation of this important tax reduction.
As NAIOP expands its membership to multifamily developers, it is actively engaged in the critical debates over how to fast-track the development of projects that will add to the housing stock while addressing affordability challenges.
As demonstrated by Kinney’s recent testimony before the Housing Supply Study Committee, NAIOP is ready to offer fresh ideas on how to break down impediments to increasing the supply of multifamily units and reducing costs in a way that can be passed on to renters.
Water availability is critical to our future considering ongoing scarcity. NAIOP will work collaboratively with Colorado River basin states and Arizona's diverse water stakeholders to ensure municipalities have the water needed to attract advanced manufacturing and other large investments.
Energy policies that maintain reliability, affordability, and choice while moving towards more renewable sources will be essential as the state looks toward a cleaner and more sustainable future. Natural gas, nuclear, and solar should all be part of the mix during a transition that ensures baseload capacity while building reliance on renewables.
"Training the workforce requires near-term solutions to immediate talent shortages in the construction, engineering, and general business workforce combined with longer-term plans to satisfy increasingly complex needs," Kinney said. "Resolving the K-12 aggregate expenditure limit will fix a short-term problem, but NAIOP also supports innovative solutions to meet the workforce needs of tomorrow for skilled crafts and other professionals."
Download NAIOP Arizona's full 2023 Legislative Agenda here.