AZ Dept of Ag Rule – Posted for Comment with Public Meeting on May 15, 2019

The rules changes proposed by the Department of Agriculture were published on the Arizona Administrative Register of the Secretary of State website on 5 April. The draft is now open for public review and comment until 5 June.

A public meeting will be held on 15 May at 10am at:

Arizona Department of Ag, Conference Room 206, 1688 Adams St., Phoenix

If you would like to see the published document and make any suggestions you can find the document here: http://apps.azsos.gov/public_services/register/2019/14/contents.pdf

The Noxious weed section is between pages 820 and 824; instructions for comments are on Page 849 and the contact person is Jamie Legg (jlegg@azda.gov).

Comments received during the public review period will be openly discussed.

If no changes need to be made the rule changes will proceed into the process of legislative approval which may take until the end of the year. Any changes will incur extra time.

Up to now all of our Noxious Weed changes from SWVMA have gone through exactly as we have proposed them. At this time there is no need for any additional endorsements. However as the process moves into the hands of the state legislature we will certainly need as much support as we can get.

This has been a very long process starting in 2007. But finally we are in sight of real changes!

— The SWVMA Noxious Weed Working Group

John Scheuring, Patti Fenner, John Brock, John Richardson