As the old saying goes, "time flies" proves true once again. So, another year is behind us and AZSA has a full agenda for its members.

With long-time founding board member and Legal/Legislative Chair Richard Marmor retiring, AZSA will be positioning for the future.

The Legal/Legislative agenda has always been at the forefront of AZSA's mission for its members. AZSA has tackled all kinds of legislative issues, such as property taxes, lien foreclosure and tenant/landlord initiatives. AZSA takes great pride in helping Arizona self-storage operators adopt best business practices at their storage operations.

As 2023 gets off to a start and our state legislature comes into session, the many freshmen congressman and state senators are just learning their ways around the capitol. Likewise, the AZSA board has adopted a new policy that the sitting board Vice President will preside over the Legal/Legislative agenda. This means that the current Vice President and future Vice Presidents will serve in this role as long as they hold the position of Vice President on the AZSA board.

My name is Ray McRae and I am the first AZSA Vice President serving in this new capacity. I have been in the self-storage business since 1983. I am the Vice President of Storage Solutions, a Chandler, AZ-based self-storage operator and management company with 30 locations, 29 in AZ and one in Carson City, NV. It is my goal to keep AZSA working for its members as it always has and work toward implementing a framework that can be carried on for decades to come.

As the new Vice President, I will be working closely with Triadvocates.

Triadvocates has provided assistance with lobbying, public affairs, policy and advocacy for the past many years.

Triadvocates is AZSA's registered lobbyist. Triadvocates also watch for legislation that may negatively and positively impact self-storage operators. They monitor the bills going through the legislature and provide a tracking list of any bills that could have an influence on the self-storage industry. Last year Triadvocates helped us in supporting legislation for tougher penalties on catalytic converter thefts. As a member of AZSA, if you have concerns about certain issues that you would like Triadvocates to keep a watch for, please let us know so that we can provide this information to Triadvocates.

AZSA is a first-stop resource for self-storage operators in Arizona and as such, we would like to provide the resources for members to find the information they may need. We have a volunteer board made up of board members with various backgrounds in the self-storage industry. If you have questions or concerns, we are here to help.

Looking to the future, on the legislative side, we will be monitoring consumer privacy laws that could enforce substantial responsibilities on self-storage businesses that may require additional investment in staffing, procedures, or technologies to keep in compliance, including an improved level of oversight and the management of a consumer's personal information. Other legislative initiatives in the future could include towing as a remedy in addition to the vehicle sales already in the statute and value limits on stored contents. Finally, as AZSA moves into the future, we will continue to work on putting together a legal hotline for members and increasing access to information and resources that are important to the members.

I look forward to serving you, and I hope to see everyone at our upcoming tradeshow on February 14-16th at WeKoPa Casino and Resort at Fort McDowell, AZ.