This document is intended to give an overview of the Federal-Aid Program and its impacts on Arizona. There are four major sections in the report: (1) Overview of the Federal-Aid Program; (2) Arizona Federal funding highlights for the fiscal year; (3) Federal-aid Highway Program Characteristics; and (4) Federal-Aid Highway Program descriptions. The first section gives a general overview of how the Federal-Aid Program is financed, the authorization process and a discussion of the apportionment, allocation and obligation authority processes. The second section deals with Arizona Federal funding highlights the for fiscal year. The last two sections are devoted to characteristics of the core programs, including eligibility, limitations, apportionment formulas and descriptions of the funding categories.

Since 1986, the Arizona Department of Transportation has used a comprehensive regression-based econometric model to estimate Transportation Excise Tax revenues for Maricopa County. These revenues, which flow into the Regional Area Road Fund (RARF), are the major funding source for the Maricopa County Freeway Program. This document contains the official forecast of expected values for the Maricopa County Transportation Excise Tax as developed by the Arizona Department of Transportation in cooperation with the Maricopa Association of Governments, Valley Metro and Valley Metro Rail.

The Maricopa County Transportation Excise Tax, often referred to as the “1/2 cent sales tax” is levied upon business activities in Maricopa County, including retail sales, contracting, utilities, rental of real and personal property, restaurant and bar receipts, and other activities. Transportation excise tax revenues are deposited in the Maricopa County Regional Area Road Fund (RARF) which is administered by the Arizona Department of Transportation. These revenues were the principal source of funding for the Regional Freeway System in Maricopa County and were dedicated by statute to the purchase of right-of-way, design and construction of new freeways, widening of existing freeways and highways, improvements to the arterial street system, regional bus service and high capacity transit services such as light rail.

The State of Arizona taxes motor fuels and collects a variety of fees relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles in the state. These collections include gasoline and use fuel taxes, motor carrier fees, vehicle license taxes, motor vehicle registration fees, and other miscellaneous fees. These revenues are deposited in the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund and are then distributed to the cities, towns and counties of the State and to the State Highway Fund, which is administered by the Department. These taxes and fees represent a source of revenues available to the state for highway related expenses.

A Fraud Fighter Account lets you choose from several security options to better protect your money. These provisions can help protect you from becoming a victim of high-pressure sales, financial scams, overreaching by caregivers and family members or identity theft. The options include:
• Setting fixed limits on daily and monthly withdrawals from your checking or savings accounts.
• Notifying you and/or a trusted third party before suspicious transactions are processed.
• Limiting or preventing electronic access to your accounts.

This new, updated, and expanded Public Service Orientation Guidebook is developed to give public officers an overview of Arizona’s laws concerning ethical standards. Although the Attorney General’s Office offers this Guidebook and a training program to assist you, the Office also is responsible to investigate and prosecute violations of public service laws. Accordingly, it is important that public officers understand that they are each responsible for complying with the law.

Hundreds of Arizona consumers called the Attorney General’s Office to investigate whether illegal conduct was responsible for Arizona’s gasoline prices jumping 48 cents in the days following Hurricane Katrina. On September 9, 2005, Attorney General Terry Goddard launched civil antitrust and consumer fraud investigations into the causes of Arizona’s high gasoline prices. The Antitrust Unit issued 45 Civil Investigative Demands to a cross-section of Arizona’s gasoline wholesalers, distributors, retailers and related parties. The CIDs requested information and data regarding supply, demand, sales, prices and industry communications from August 1, 2005 through September 9, 2005. ATU thoroughly examined all of the information provided by the CID recipients, conducted interviews and performed independent market research to determine whether Arizona’s abnormally high prices were the result of collusion or other anti-competitive or fraudulent practices prohibited by law. The investigation did not uncover any illegal conduct.

Housing discrimination is particularly serious because our nation was founded on the ideals of individual
freedoms, and one of the most fundamental freedoms in a democracy is the freedom to move about and live where you choose. Whether that choice involves transferring from one city to another, or just moving across the street, a person’s ethnicity, family situation, or disability should never be a barrier to selecting
a home, apartment, or any other kind of dwelling. This guide to fair housing is designed to help you if you believe you have been subjected to unfair housing practices.

Water banking is one of Arizona's most important water management strategies, and its success depends on effective planning. This joint plan helps advance the objective, articulated in the intergovernmental agreement among CAP, ADWR and AWBA, to develop a coordinated and cooperative planning process that includes distribution and recovery of water stored by the AWBA.

The primary purpose of the Inventory is to identify storage capacity available to the Arizona Water Banking Authority to meet its water storage goals. Inclusion of a facility in the Inventory does not equate to a commitment by the AWBA to utilize any specific facility in the future. The AWBA will continue to determine annually which facilities will be used through the development of the Annual Plan of Operation. Conversely, not including a facility in the Inventory does not preclude the AWBA from utilizing that facility in a future Annual Plan. It does, however, preclude the facility from being utilized for interstate water storage, until such time as it is included in an updated Inventory.