State Affordability Infrastructure Districts
Landowner Control Built Into Every SAID
On most special district financings, the developer carrying the infrastructure cost does not decide when the bonds go out. Instead, a city council or a county board makes that call, on their calendar and their priorities. As a result, a developer often waits for capital long after the project needs it, and that gap shows up in carried equity and delayed reimbursement.
Arizona’s State Affordability Infrastructure District statute handles governance differently.
Governor Katie Hobbs signed HB 2999 into law on June 5, 2026, and the act took effect on September 12, 2026, the general effective date for the 57th Legislature, Second Regular Session. It allows landowners to establish State Affordability Infrastructure Districts (SAIDs) to finance eligible public infrastructure with tax-exempt, non-recourse special assessment bonds, limited tax general obligation bonds and/or revenue bonds.
Three Seats, Landowner Held
Under A.R.S. § 48-7004(A), a SAID is governed by a board of three directors. The initial directors are named in the formation petition and appointed through the formation order, so the board is identified before the district exists. The Arizona Finance Authority publishes the petition requirements that establish those seats.
Section 48-7004(B) then sets who may serve. Each director must hold fee title to real property within the district, or else a fee-title holder must designate or appoint that person. Subsection C narrows this for elected seats, requiring that a subsequently elected director own real property in the district. A director who stops qualifying resigns, and so does a director whose appointing owner sells out of the district.
The designee provision matters in practice. A homebuilder or development entity does not have to seat an individual owner. It can appoint the person who actually runs the project.
Section 48-7004(H) bars a director from serving as an elected official of a municipality in which the district is located, or of a Tribal Nation or community, or as an employee or agent of a municipality or Tribal Nation or community. A director may serve on more than one district board. Under § 48-7004(I), directors receive no compensation.
Terms and Vacancies
Initial directors serve staggered terms of three, four, and five years, as the petition specifies. After that, every director serves a three-year term, must own real property in the district, and wins the seat in an at-large vote of the district’s qualified property owners.
If a seat opens through death, resignation, or inability to serve, then the remaining directors fill it by appointment within thirty days and notify the Arizona Finance Authority. If no owner or owner designee will serve, the AFA appoints someone who need not own property. Still, that appointment is not permanent. Under § 48-7004(J), a fee-title owner can submit a written request to the AFA and the board to replace an AFA appointee, and the AFA must then appoint that owner as soon as practicable.
Who Votes, and How
Only fee-title owners and their designees may vote on a district tax or assessment, a board election, or dissolution. Section 48-7004(D) limits the franchise to those parties, so the people deciding whether the district levies against the land are the people who own it.
Section 48-7004(E) then addresses entity owners. Corporations, partnerships, and other business entities vote as property owners, and under the acreage system every one-seventh of an acre earns one vote, while any smaller fraction of ownership still earns a full vote. Where an election runs solely on that system, whichever side represents a majority of the acreage voting wins.
For a single-owner or small-group district, therefore, voting power tracks the land actually carrying the debt.
What the Board Decides
Section 48-7004(G) assigns the board a defined set of duties. These include adopting and amending the district’s general plan, authorizing and approving district bonds, levying ad valorem taxes and assessments within the chapter’s limits and election requirements, managing the district’s affairs and maintaining any infrastructure it owns or operates, adopting annual budgets, and administering district elections or contracting out that administration.
Of those duties, bond authorization affects project timing most directly, because the body that approves the issuance is the body with capital in the ground. The DASH process sequences that authorization alongside AFA approval, district formation, and bond issuance.
Control Carries Obligations
A SAID is a political subdivision, and the statute treats it as one.
Under § 48-7004(K) and § 48-7005(B), the board follows Arizona’s open meeting law as a separate political subdivision. Section 48-7005(A) also requires the district clerk to keep records open to public inspection, including board minutes, all resolutions, accounts showing monies received and disbursed, and the annual budget.
Formation does not override local agreements either. The AFA issues the formation order, so neither a city council nor a county board votes on it. However, the affected municipality or county receives notice of the petition and then has thirty days to identify a basis for denial. Under § 48-7003(D)(4), the AFA may deny a petition if formation would materially violate a recorded development agreement covering public infrastructure.
Landowner control of the district, in other words, is not a route around commitments the owner already made to a jurisdiction.
What This Means for Your Project
A landowner-controlled board shortens the distance between a financing decision and the people whose capital is at stake. Because fewer external calendars govern a bond issuance, developer equity spends less time sitting in horizontal infrastructure.
Whether a SAID improves the economics of a specific project still depends on the land, the infrastructure program, the value supporting the debt, and the financing structure. Launch’s infrastructure finance practice runs that analysis project by project, before anyone assembles a petition.
Where DASH Fits
DASH (Districts for Arizona Sustainable Housing) is run by the team that helped write HB 2999. DASH connects landowners, developers, and homebuilders with the District/Infrastructure Finance Advisor (Launch Development Finance Advisors), District Bond Counsel, Investment Banker (D.A. Davidson & Co.), and District Manager (Blackwood Advisors) needed to get a SAID formed and funded.
Board composition is set in the petition, not after formation. Projects evaluating a SAID should work through director seats, designee structure, and staggered terms while the petition is being assembled.
Visit The Arizona DASH Program at dashaz.com or contact the DASH team to learn more.
To begin evaluating a SAID for your project, contact:
Arizona SAID Board FAQs
How many directors govern an Arizona SAID board?
Three. A.R.S. § 48-7004(A) sets the board at three directors, appointed initially as set forth in the petition and formation order.
Who can serve on an Arizona SAID board of directors?
Each director must hold fee title to real property within the district or be an individual designated or appointed by a fee-title holder. Under § 48-7004(H), a director may not be an elected official of a municipality in which the district is located or of an Indian tribe or community, nor an employee or agent of a municipality or Indian tribe or community.
Can a homebuilder or developer serve on a SAID board?
A company does not serve as a director. An individual does. Under § 48-7004(B), a fee-title holder may designate or appoint an individual to serve, which lets an entity owner seat the person running the project.
Can a city council member serve on an Arizona SAID board?
Not for a district located in that municipality. Section 48-7004(H) prohibits it.
How long are Arizona SAID board terms?
Initial directors serve staggered terms of three, four, and five years, as specified in the petition. Directors elected afterward serve three-year terms and must be owners of real property in the district.
Must an elected SAID director own property, or can a designee serve?
Section 48-7004(B) allows a director to hold fee title or serve as the designee of a fee-title owner. Section 48-7004(C) states that a subsequently elected director shall be an owner of real property in the district, so the designee route is expressly provided for appointed seats and the statute is narrower on elected ones.
Who can vote in an Arizona SAID district election?
Only fee-title owners of real property in the district and their designees or appointees. This applies to elections on a tax or assessment, elections for the board, and dissolution elections.
How are votes counted in a SAID election?
Under the acreage system, every one-seventh of an acre earns one vote, and any smaller fraction of ownership still earns a full vote. Where an election runs solely on that system, whichever side represents a majority of the acreage voting wins. Section 48-7004(E) sets this out in addressing how corporations, partnerships, and other business entities vote as property owners.
What happens when an Arizona SAID board seat becomes vacant?
The remaining directors appoint a replacement within thirty days and notify the AFA. If no owner or designee is willing to serve, the AFA appoints a director who need not be an owner. A fee-title owner may later request in writing that the AFA replace the AFA appointee, and the AFA must do so as soon as practicable.
Are Arizona SAID board meetings open to the public?
Yes. The board complies with Arizona’s open meeting law as a separate political subdivision, and the district clerk maintains minutes, resolutions, financial accounts, and the annual budget as records open to public inspection.
Are SAID board members paid?
No. Section 48-7004(I) states that board members are not eligible for compensation for their service.
Does a city or county have to approve Arizona SAID formation?
No council or board vote is required. The AFA issues the formation order. The affected municipality or county does receive notice of the petition and has thirty days to identify a basis for denial, and the AFA may deny a petition if formation would materially violate an existing recorded development agreement relating to public infrastructure.
When does the Arizona SAID program expire?
Under § 48-7050(A), the AFA may not issue a formation order for a new district after June 30, 2036.
