The Arizona Department of Transportation was authorized in 1996 to administer a State Infrastructure Bank under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration. The Highway Expansion and Extension Loan Program (HELP) was established. The financial statements present only the funds comprising the Fund and are not intended to present fairly the financial position or results of operations of the Department.

The HELP program is meant to be a funding tool to accelerate needed highway projects throughout the state. Board Funding Obligations are an important part of the HELP capitalization and the current stress on the State's General Fund has impacted our ability to use BFOs as a funding source for new loans. Though $140 million of BFOs are authorized by statute to capitalize the HELP, the State Treasurer was required to call all outstanding BFOs in April 2009. Consequently, the State Transportation Board and the Department have suspended the HELP program given the uncertainty of a long term funding source.

This report of the Indian Firming Study Commission will provide as background an overview and description of the State’s obligation for Indian Firming and an overview of the modeling efforts completed by Arizona Department of Water Resources staff to determine the estimated volumetric obligation for Indian Firming. Additionally, this report will summarize the solution elements reviewed by the Study Commission, including the water supply availability analysis and a review of the estimated cost and availability of funds to meet the obligation. Finally, the report will provide the recommendations from the Study Commission to the Arizona Legislature.