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Council adopts 2025 legislative agenda prioritizing transportation, local control and water
Summary
By unanimous vote the Surprise City Council adopted its 2025 legislative agenda, listing priorities including transportation funding, preservation of local decision‑making, protection of key state funding streams, water and sustainability measures, and support for the Luke Air Force Base mission.
The Surprise City Council unanimously approved its 2025 legislative agenda on Jan. 21, directing city staff to represent those priorities at the Arizona State Legislature and with federal partners.
City staff described the agenda as organized under several pillars intended to protect the city’s “quality of life” and to preserve local funding and local decision‑making authority. The agenda highlights transportation improvements and regional coordination, protection of state shared revenues and Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF), public safety support, economic development tools, water and sustainability measures and advocacy for the long‑term mission of Luke Air Force Base.
“Our purpose here is to define your priorities as a body, and then I represent those at the state capitol,” the staff presenter, Jody, said during the presentation. He reviewed the city’s three state legislative districts, noted recent session statistics—1,663 bills introduced in 2024 with 258 signed by the governor—and described multi‑year efforts behind several transportation appropriations in Surprise.
Transportation ranked prominently on the agenda. Staff described a multi‑year sequence that led from tours and feasibility studies to near‑term improvements and state appropriations; the presenter said Surprise retained $750,000 for near‑term improvements in 2024 and is seeking additional appropriations in 2025 to advance design for a traffic interchange in a high‑growth area.
The agenda also urges protection of local funding streams such as HURF, the vehicle license tax and state shared revenues, support for orderly, growth‑paying‑for‑itself land‑use policies, and collaboration on water‑resource conservation. The city indicated it will monitor several housing bills and related proposals that could affect local zoning and growth management.
The council moved, seconded and approved the agenda by unanimous vote; staff said the legislative agenda provides counsel with a clear mandate for advocacy during the 2025 session.
