OZ 2.0 Recommendation Process
The ACA hosted numerous in-person and online engagements with municipalities, counties, tribes, landowners, investors and the general public throughout the spring in anticipation of the OZ 2.0 recommendation process. ACA opened the official recommendation process in late May, reaching out to jurisdictions and tribes with instructions for submitting tracks for OZ 2.0 consideration. Recommendations were due to ACA by June 19, 2026.
Who recommended tracts?
In most counties, the county was asked to speak for the entirety of the county, except for tribal areas. Tribal nations were asked to weigh in on tracts in their territory statewide. In Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties, incorporated communities of 10,000 or more population (per the Office of Economic Opportunity’s 2025 population estimate) were asked to speak for their areas. The counties spoke for smaller jurisdictions and unincorporated areas outside tribal areas.
Generally, jurisdictions were asked to recommend one quarter of their areas’ eligible tracts. Jurisdictions that had only one, two or three eligible tracts in their areas could recommend one, and the ACA rounded in determining how many tracts a jurisdiction may recommend; for example, a jurisdiction with seven eligible tracts could recommend two. Accordingly, the ACA received more recommendations than the number of tracts the state could nominate. ACA staff and leadership reviewed the recommendations, trimmed the submissions to a list of 125, the maximum the state could submit, and presented them to Gov. Hobbs. She and her team reviewed them and approved the list of tracts for nomination. On Gov. Hobbs’ behalf, ACA submitted the nominations.
Next steps
The ACA will work with landowners, business owners, municipalities, counties and tribes to attract Opportunity Fund investment to Arizona’s Opportunity Zones. The 2.0 tracts become effective on January 1, 2027, and remain in effect through 2036.
This map shows Arizona census tracts that were submitted to Treasury for OZ 2.0 designation. Of the 125 tracts submitted, 122 were on Treasury’s list of clearly eligible tracts, which was released in April. Three of the census tracts are “off-list tracts,” tracts that did not obviously qualify for OZ 2.0 status via the standard American Community Survey 2020-2024 data, but that Arizona believes are strong candidates for consideration based on other information. Treasury is expected to make decisions about off-list tracts later this year.
If you have additional questions regarding Arizona’s Opportunity Zones, please contact us at [email protected].