Arizona HB 2456: environmental quality programs; terminations; repeal

Bill Text

HB2456 - 572R - S Ver 

 Senate Engrossed 
 House Bill

 small 
 modular reactors; zoning; co-location

 (now: nuclear-ready 
 communities; comprehensive plans)

 State of Arizona

 House of Representatives

 Fifty-seventh Legislature

 Second Regular Session

 2026

 HOUSE BILL 2456

AN 
ACT

amending section 11-804, arizona 
revised statutes; amending title 40, chapter 2, article 6.2, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, by adding section 40-360.14; amending title 41, chapter 10, 
article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 41-1530; relating 
to electricity generation.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona: 

Section 1. Section 11-804, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE11-804. Comprehensive 
plan; contents

A. The commission shall formulate and the board of 
supervisors shall adopt or readopt a long-term comprehensive plan for the 
development of the area of jurisdiction in the manner prescribed by this 
article. The comprehensive plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, 
charts and descriptive matter, shall show the commission's recommendations for 
the development of the area of jurisdiction. The comprehensive plan 
shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a 
coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the area of jurisdiction 
pursuant to the present and future needs of the county. The 
comprehensive plan shall be developed so as to conserve the natural resources 
of the county, to ensure efficient expenditure of public monies and to promote 
the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the public. The 
comprehensive plan may include studies and recommendations relative to the 
location, character and extent of highways, railroads, bus and other 
transportation routes, bicycle facilities, bridges, public buildings, public 
services, schools, parks, open space, housing quality, variety and 
affordability, parkways, hiking and riding trails, airports, forests, wildlife 
areas, dams, projects affecting conservation of natural resources, air quality, 
water quality, and floodplain zoning and electric power production and demand, including small modular 
reactors and data centers. In the preparation of the 
comprehensive plan, the commission shall make surveys and studies of the 
present conditions and prospective future growth of the area of the 
jurisdiction. The comprehensive plan shall be a public record, but 
its purpose and effect shall be primarily as an aid to the county planning and 
zoning commission and to the board of supervisors in the performance of their 
duties. The comprehensive plan shall include provisions that 
identify changes or modifications that constitute amendments and major 
amendments to the plan.

B. In addition to the other matters that are 
required or authorized under this section and this article, for counties with a 
population of more than one hundred twenty-five thousand persons, the 
comprehensive plan shall include, and for other counties the comprehensive plan 
may include:

1. Planning for land use that designates the 
proposed general distribution and location and extent of uses of the land for 
housing, business, industry, energy, mining, agriculture, 
recreation, education, public buildings and grounds, open space and other 
categories of public and private uses of land appropriate to the county. The 
land use plan shall include:

(a) A statement of the standards of population 
density and building intensity recommended for the various land use categories 
covered by the plan.

(b) Specific programs and policies that the county 
may use to promote compact form development activity and locations where those 
development patterns should be encouraged.

(c) Consideration of air quality and access to 
incident solar energy for all general categories of land use.

(d) Policies that address maintaining a broad 
variety of land uses, including the range of uses existing in the county at the 
time the plan is adopted, readopted or amended.

(e) Currently identified sources of aggregates from 
maps that are available from state agencies, information from the Arizona 
geological survey on how to locate existing mines, consideration of existing 
mining operations and suitable geologic resources, policies to preserve 
currently identified aggregates sufficient for future development and policies 
to avoid incompatible land uses, except that this subdivision does not affect 
any permitted underground storage facility or limit any person's right to obtain 
a permit for an underground storage facility pursuant to title 45, chapter 3.1.

(f) Designation 
of the proposed general distribution, location and extent of the uses of the 
land for the construction and operation of Extra high load factor customers, 
including data centers and data center facilities that 
are appropriate to the county.

2. Planning for circulation consisting of the 
general locati