Press Release
Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
April 29, 2025
PHOENIX – Democratic State Senators, joined by former corporation commissioners and environmental policy experts, gathered to highlight the dangers of HB 2679 (power; public utilities; UCC; securities). HB2679 shifts from historical uses of securitization, a financing mechanism, by expanding how it can be used by Arizona utilities with no assurance of sufficient oversight and with serious implications for local communities.
Senator Lauren Kuby (LD8) stated, “The Arizona Corporation Commission, the Attorney General, grid experts, energy-efficiency experts, environmental and consumer groups are united in opposing this bill. It forces the public, not the shareholders to pick up the tab for bad investments. It is written by and for utilities and prioritizes utility profit over consumer protection. Let us work toward solutions that protect ratepayers, promote clean-energy investment, and ensure financial accountability. Let’s slow down this rushed process, bring it before stakeholders and ratepayers in an ACC-led process and then come back to the Legislature with a more robust plan, because Arizonans deserve energy policies that are transparent, fair, and accountable.”
Sandra Kennedy, former corporation commissioner and current SRP Board Member, provided comments in her personal capacity, “Today, I want to highlight the serious concerns surrounding House Bill 2679. This bill would allow utility companies to move their bad debts off their books through a financial tool called securitization — essentially forcing ratepayers to pay off their mistakes through bonds, with no real accountability. While securitization can sound harmless, in this case it acts more like a Ponzi scheme: older debts are paid off with new charges, yet locking ratepayers into decades of payments without addressing the root causes of the debt while guaranteeing profits for the utility companies and Wall Street investors and leaving the distressed ratepayers…to pick up the tab. We cannot accept financial shell games that reward corporate mismanagement while shifting the burden onto our hardworking families. House Bill 2679 is wrong for our ratepayers and it’s wrong for our future.”
Robert Burns, former corporation commissioner, added, “House Bill 2679 has the potential to negatively impact millions of Arizona ratepayers and deserves a thorough evaluation not the fast-track treatment it has received in the legislature. A delay of a few months seems to be a reasonable price to pay to ensure that the millions of rate payers in Arizona are protected…The framers realized that regulated monopolies operate with a special privilege, a captured clientele and no competition. The good intentions of Arizona utilities, may not always also benefit the ratepayers and a bill of this size fast tracked through the legislative process puts millions of Arizona utility customers at possible risk.”
Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan (LD18) concluded, “Securitization can be an important tool in the energy transition, if it’s done correctly. However, this bill does not yet contain the necessary safeguards. In the Senate Natural Resources Committee, Democrats voted no and explained our concerns including the lack of a transparent stakeholder process, lack of just transition support for affected communities, and above all the failure to limit this tool only to assets that are retiring. We would unabashedly support this bill if it was limited to retiring assets, because this is the critical component that makes securitization a powerful tool to facilitate the closing of polluting coal-fired power plants and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. But the utilities have rejected my amendment to do so – precisely because APS wants to sell their Four Corners coal-fired power plant and allow it to remain in operation while saddling the purchaser with a bad asset. Our state government does not need to step in to help our utilities shuffle their bad debts onto less sophisticated purchasers.”
While unable to attend the press conference in-person, the following written comments were provided to add further context on HB2679:
Senator Theresa Hatathlie (LD6) added, “HB2679 is concerning in its expansive scope, it is described as more extensive than any other securitization legislation, raising red flags about potential unintended consequences. This bill will adversely impact ratepayers when this legislation removes the ACC’s decision-making responsibility to set guard rails to cap rates for consumer protection; it will also provide utilities a blank check as they would have no set parameters to continue securing finances for their use. Lastly and most importantly, this initiative did not provide our constituents an opportunity to have a say in its impact to tribal communities as it relates to utilities located on tribal lands. The represents the long practice of using tribal lands as sacrificing grounds to exploit and monetize native resources for capitalistic gains and greed. This needs to stop! We continue to suffer and mourn the effects of the federal government’s desecration of our homelands. These actions have brought to our community’s generational harm, such as cancer clusters, birth defects, drinking water contamination, air pollutants, and rare illnesses resulting in premature deaths, and adverse health impacts. Overall, these entities create existential harm to certain Arizona populations some of which live in homes that do not have services that are not provided by quasigovernmental entities. These entities do not provide long-term sustainable community benefits that outlive the life of utilities. An example of reality, SRP is long gone yet there are still homes that exist near its vacant site and many still do not have electricity. This is only scratching the surface of why I do not support HB2679.”
Nicole Horseherder, Executive Director of Tó Nizhóní Ání, added, “As a Navajo Organization with over 25 years experience, working in the environmental justice and economic justice capacity, Tó Nizhóní Ání “Sacred Water Speaks” (TNA) urges legislators to vote no on HB2679.
When developed and executed correctly, securitization can be of great benefit to utility ratepayers through reduced costs. It can set communities facing the closure of utility projects towards replacement power that is less expensive and cleaner. It can be an opportunity for reinvestment in the host community towards more efficient replacement power and therefore continuing jobs, new economic opportunities, job training in a new energy field and so on. It’s an opportunity to move towards investments that are better for the community. However, HB2679 does not provide assurance that utility consumers will receive tangible, financial benefits.
Securitization should not result in the abandonment of aging projects in rural and tribal communities but instead needs proper reclamation and clean up provisions. Utilities should have to retire an asset to securitize it. The bill as written allows them to sell, transfer a coal plant to someone else and securitize it, even if the plant continues to operate. This will allow utilities to shirk their responsibilities and continue to treat tribal lands as dumping grounds…A Vote of No on HB2679 is a yes vote for the people, beautiful Arizona and the planet.”
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Press Contact: Calli Jones
Director of Communications | Arizona Senate Democratic Caucus
