Advocacy Center

Assisting Counties

AACo works diligently to be a resource both for and about county government. AACo works to connect county officials with state officials in Phoenix and to serve as an informational resource with all levels of state, federal, tribal and local government. We are committed to helping county leaders work collaboratively with their peers and other levels of government to serve Arizona's citizens in the most responsible, efficient and effective manner. Legislators and state agency leaders often turn to AACo to learn how county officials feel about important policy issue that affect county government, while county leaders from across the state rely on AACo legislative liaison to provide them with relevant information and voice county concerns when needed.

Determining Association Positions

Staff at AACo never determine the positions of the Association on pieces of legislation. Our association is unique in that we work with elected officials and thus all positions are determined by our membership using the standard “majority rule” method. During a legislative session, there are two voting bodies of the Association that can take positions and give guidance to staff: (1) Board of Directors or (2) the Legislative Policy Committee (LPC). Since the Board of Directors only meets once a month, the full Board votes to empower the Legislative Policy Committee to make decisions since the LPC meets weekly during session and things at the legislature tend to evolve quickly. 

Here is a general outline of how AACo determines a position:

  • Staff identifies a bill that impacts counties
  • Staff sends that bill to the appropriate affiliate groups for feedback (Assessors/Treasurers receive property tax legislation, Sheriffs receive law enforcement legislation, etc)
  • Elected officials (or their designee) submit feedback from their office
  • Staff collects the feedback and once a majority position within the affiliate group is determined that feedback is shared with the Board of Directors and/or the Legislative Policy Committee
  • A member of the Board of Directors and/or Legislative Policy Committee (usually a member of the group impacted by the legislation) makes a motion for the Association to take a position and there is a formal vote
  • Staff shares that position at the Legislature 


Learn more about AACo's advocacy efforts by exploring our Advocacy Center.

2021 Proposed County Government Platform (PDF)