Key points: 

• Arizona municipal leaders have just concluded an annual conference discussing the development of legislative proposals

• Many of those proposals were related to short-term rentals, including support for a ballot referral that allows cities to take the issue to local voters

• The relationship between cities and lawmakers remains “adversarial,” according to the Senate’s majority leader

Arizona municipalities will push regulations on short-term rentals during the next legislative session, including a ballot referral that would send the issue to local voters. 

The League of Arizona Cities and Towns’ Resolutions Committee passed its municipal policy statement — a list of policy priorities that municipal leaders want the Legislature to approve —  this week during its annual conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix. 

Half of the league’s eight policy priorities are related to short-term rentals, including the ballot referral goal. Cities are also seeking a statutory increase to short-term rental license fees, updated definitions related to mobile home parks and multifamily complexes, and lien authority that cities can claim for unpaid penalties or fines after they’ve become delinquent. 

The league’s conference this week brought nearly 2,000 local government leaders, state legislators, university officials, and policy experts together to discuss statewide issues and how cities can address the needs of their residents.

“Local leaders stand on the front lines of our state’s biggest issues, and this conference provides critical knowledge and practical solutions,” said René Guillen, the League’s executive director. “Bringing people together with a wide range of expertise builds an important platform to help solve problems and leverage opportunities.”

Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, discussed the Legislature’s role in municipal housing and zoning policy during a conference panel. He has opposed the expansion of short-term rentals and said he believes city zoning rights have been “trampled” by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats at the Legislature who believe affordable housing is a statewide concern. 

“The reason why you’re being kind of screwed in this area is you have an unholy alliance of liberal Democrats, who worship the god of affordable housing, and libertarian-minded Republicans who think the government shouldn’t tell you what to do with your property, even if you want to turn your one-family home into a coke smelter,” Kavanagh said.

It’s been a decade since Senate Bill 1350 prohibited cities from banning short-term rentals within their jurisdictions. Efforts to update or change the law since then have largely been unsuccessful. 

The friction between the Legislature and cities on the issue reflects “adversarial” stances on zoning, Kavanagh said. 

The cities also opposed House Bill 2721 from the 2024 legislative session. That measure requires cities of 75,000 people or more to allow the development of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes within a mile of a city’s central business district. 

Adam Baugh, a zoning and land use attorney who participated in the housing panel, advised city leaders to get ahead of housing issues before a statewide law forces them to act. He said the middle housing law was a problem because of a loose definition of a central business district.

“If cities and towns were more proactive and creative, I think legislators probably would be less quick to propose things,” Baugh said. 

Each of the League’s legislative policy proposals will need a legislative sponsor, and no bills will formally be introduced until after the November election. Sen. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, and Kavanagh agreed that housing would be a top priority for Democrats. 

“We care so deeply about this issue because of the single mom who called me from a park with her son because she had nowhere to stay and needed a hotel voucher,” Ortiz said, “or the veteran who called an affordable housing complex, specifically for veterans, and was told he had to wait two years on the waiting list.”