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State Land nominee outlines audit response, staffing and tech plans to clear backlogs
Summary
Robin Sahid told senators she has implemented procedural reforms after a February 2024 Auditor General report, is conducting a market rent study for agricultural leases, is revamping the minerals program and is assessing staffing and technology needs including insurance-management software and remote monitoring for non‑urban lands.
At her confirmation hearing, Robin Sahid, nominee for commissioner of the Arizona State Land Department, described steps the department has taken in response to a February 2024 Auditor General special audit of agricultural operations and the department's broader reform plans.
Sahid told senators the audit produced eight recommendations; the department concurred with the findings and is working to implement them. "We concurred with all the audit recommendations… we are still, currently in process of addressing six of those eight," Sahid said. She described most open items as internal procedural reforms and two recommendations as outward-facing: updating agricultural rental rates and ensuring lessee compliance with efficient water use.
To address rates, the department has contracted a consultant to perform a market-rent study and planned outreach to ag lessees for input. On water-use compliance, Sahid said the department is seeking subject-matter input from the agricultural community to design practicable approaches.
Sahid also told senators the department cleared a decade-long backlog of reviewing agency rules in a matter of months and eliminated roughly 10% of rules to increase transparency. She said the department is "completely revamping our minerals program" with stakeholder input and referred to a Kaizen process to streamline minerals permitting and processes that may require statutory cleanup.
On staffing and technology, Sahid said the department has about 100 employees on any given day, with about one-third eligible to retire in the next five years, and that succession planning and written procedures are priorities. She said the department is evaluating off‑the‑shelf technologies, including satellite monitoring for agricultural leases and third-party insurance‑management software to reduce staff time spent processing insurance instruments.
Sahid said these efforts are intended to improve application-processing times, make auctions and leases more predictable and position the department to better manage non‑urban trust lands. Committee members asked for updates and documents on specific property matters, and Sahid agreed to provide requested materials.
