The Arizona Legislature recently zeroed-out funding for the Arizona State Geological Survey (AZGS) and has moved it into the University of Arizona.  This includes the survey vacating its current facility and moving into a much smaller university facility, and will result in the loss of its store, rock core storage, and other critical assets.. The University of Arizona has guaranteed one year of continued funding, but will be looking to apply its overhead rate on existing grants and contracts, reducing the effective operational budget.  After next year, the AZGS will need to be wholly self-supporting. The AZGS used approximately 0.01% of Arizona's $9 billion budget, annually. A statement released today on the AZGS Facebook Page outlines the way these cuts will affect staffing, data collection and general operations of one of the oldest state surveys in the U.S. (6/22/2016 - Updated)

 Tuscon.com Op-Ed covers the hurried dismantling of the AZGS Library, and in the author's view, a loss of public access. (7/6/2016 - Updated) Science writer, and geoscientist Dana Hunter blogged about the how to help save AZGS in Scientific American. (7/18/2016 - Updated) Randy Showstack, writing for AGU's EOS explores how Arizona legislators are seeking to reverse the funding cuts for AZGS.