Republican state lawmakers grilled the head of the State Land Department on Tuesday about why her agency is leasing state-owned land for solar development when they believe it should be sold off for needed residential development.
The State Land Department does solar leases for 30 years at a time and has about 150 pending applications from others who also want similar solar leases.
Data from the State Land Department, released Tuesday by the committee, said the agency auctioned off 22 times more trust land for solar in the last fiscal year as it did for residential.
Rep. Gail Griffin (R-Hereford) said regardless of how much income solar farms generate for the state, they’re a bad investment.
“We see it — a move to solar farms that ties up the property for 30 years and whether or not that is in the best interest of the beneficiaries of the trust,” Griffin said. “Because of depreciation around it and, and what’s happening. So, we really would like to know.”
Griffin claimed solar plants lower the values of properties around them.
A 2016 study showed that large-scale solar plants do create a “heat island” effect in the immediate surrounding area. But there’s no data to clearly show solar plants are impacting property values in Arizona.
Griffin did not respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Sarah Liguori (D-Phoenix) said it makes sense for the State Land Department to lease rather than sell land, as Griffin suggested, since the state still holds on to the asset and the value of the land will ideally appreciate over time.
“The State Land Department has a fiduciary responsibility and is a trustee and I don't want the conversations to get bogged down in the picking of winners and losers side,” Liguori said.
GOP lawmakers issued a statement following the hearing highlighting how much the State Land Department has leased to solar and indicating that more land should have been sold for housing.
The lawmakers cited a conservative-leaning think tank, the Common Sense Institute, which opines that many parcels the land department has identified as viable for solar development could be used for homes.
“During a housing shortage, the Department auctioned nearly 22 times the number of acres of State Trust Land for utility-scale solar development than for new home construction. That was seven auctions for solar but only two for homes: more than three times as many for solar as for new home construction,” Griffin said in the statement. “I also think it’s interesting that five of those seven solar leases were located in Maricopa County — the same county where the Governor issued a housing moratorium that illegally halted nearly 162,000 Phoenix-area homes planned for State Trust Land.”
Griffin went on to say that the department is tying land up in solar leases while preventing homebuilding, which drives up housing prices.
Rep. Chris Lopez (R-Casa Grande) said the department’s actions show Gov. Katie Hobbs’ preference for solar.
Commissioner Robyn Sahid is the head of the department. She said it is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to addressing Arizona’s housing shortage. She said infrastructure is a big factor in whether developers want to bid on state land, and so is local zoning.
Sahid said the department's job is to get the land to auction.
Sen. David Gowan (R-Sierra Vista) said a planned solar project on the edge of his city is going forward in an area where residential growth has been capped.
"You should have heard the thoughts from the local community,'' Gowan told Sahid.
More to the point, he said the parcel should have been made available for outright sale for commercial use, including residential development.
"We're going to take a plot of land that's perfect for housing right next to our city, out for 30 years,'' Gowan said. "It's frustrating to my community.''
Hobbs in 2025 ordered the State Land Department to expedite energy projects on state lands. The agency was told to prepare a map of the sites among its extensive holdings that make the most sense for large-scale solar projects.
That also disgruntled GOP lawmakers.
Earlier this year, Rep. Ralph Heap (R-Mesa) introduced legislation to kill the solar maps and instead direct the agency to prepare similar maps, this time for residential and mining. He pushed the issue through the House but it stalled in the Senate.
But the dispute remains, with Republican gubernatorial hopeful Andy Biggs vowing to repeal Hobbs' executive order if he is elected in November.
The solar scores map is one of multiple overlays. There’s another for oil/gas parcels and another for minerals, for example.
Sahid noted in the hearing that solar is under a lease whereas residential auctions are for land sales.
“They’re just inherently different structures,” she said.
Sahid said the department is generating a lot of revenue. In the last fiscal year, the department made $641.9 million for public schools — the main beneficiary of the state land trust. That’s the highest amount on record.
Land department implements reforms
Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a bill with nearly unanimous support to continue the State Land Department and add some new requirements for the agency to meet.
This is partly to tackle a backlog of applications.
Sahdi assured lawmakers that the department is in the process of implementing those changes, which include requiring the department to clearly outline all the information applicants need to provide, and issuing a final notice to applicants if they aren’t responsive.
Sahid said the department is working to ensure that applicants have a clear point of contact with the department. She said they’re building a tracking system to follow applications more closely.
