The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority is clapping back at state leaders who stripped them of cash in this year’s budget.

But you might not hear it over the din of angry tweets and lawsuits that flew over other parts of the process.

Still, it would be a mistake for the governor and legislative leaders to overlook what WIFA is telling them, even if it is cloaked in formal “whereas” statements.

Because the resolution its board of directors passed this week points out something we all overlooked:

That state leaders ignored the law to claw back at least some of that cash.

Lawmakers expanded the authority in 2022 with the charge to find Arizona more water.

They promised to pump $1 billion over three years into a long-term water augmentation fund that was earmarked mostly to import water from elsewhere.

But they also put millions into funds for water conservation and rural water infrastructure.

And stipulated in state law that any effort to raid those funds would require a three-fourths vote of the Legislature — precisely because they wanted to keep future lawmakers’ hands off the money.

Unfortunately, those promises didn’t last long.

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