Southern Arizona Sports, Tourism and Film bill stuck in the House

State Sen. David Gowan - Contributed Photo

PHOENIX — A bill that would create a new authority that could put Graham and Greenlee property owners on the hook to pay for a new sports stadium in Tucson appears to be stalled in committee.

Senate Bill 1710 — the Sports; tourism; film authority; appropriation bill — was introduced by state Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista.

“A few years ago, it came to my attention we were losing our baseball teams down south. We had three of them for the Cactus League. And they all came up here (Maricopa County), and, as such, the Southern region lost a tremendous infusion of dollars,” Gowan told the House Appropriations Committee.

The bill was passed by the House Appropriations Committee, and was assigned to the House Rules Committee March 17, where it continues to languish. It previously passed out of the Senate by a 23-6-1 vote, with all six opposition votes cast by Republicans. The one non-vote was a Democrat.

Under the bill, the state would appropriate $500,000 to the new Southern Arizona Sports, Tourism and Film Authority to use for its mission; however the authority would also have the ability to issue bonds to raise capital, as well as acquire land via eminent domain.

The authority would focus solely on six counties — Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz — however, Gowan told the House Appropriations Committee that Gila and Yuma counties have expressed interest in being part of the authority.

Elected officials in Graham and Greenlee counties have expressed opposition to the bill, citing the lack of return to the two counties, as the focus appears to be solely on sports facilities in Pima County.

Comments

comments