Standing Together: A Year of Advocacy in Action
This month, we recognize last year’s efforts that had the biggest impact on Government Affairs and your Government Affairs Team (GAT). At the Convention in August, we gathered to recognize all the fantastic work of the volunteers and members who made AANR effective in our attempts to bring nude recreation and nudism into mainstream awareness as responsible citizens who care about wholesome attitudes toward nudity.
We have already reviewed over two thousand bills and regulations that mentioned or impacted nudity in some way in 2026. This year, our efforts involved more activity than usual, requiring us to engage paid lobbyists to represent our interests in bills and regulations before government bodies across the continent. No area had more of these challenges than AANR-West.
From the introduction of HB2133 in Arizona to proposed new regulations in Hawaii impacting Little Beach through a proposal called the Makena Improvement Plan, AANR-West faced attacks on nude use of both public and private spaces. We raised the alarm, and many stepped forward.
Past AANR Vice President Patty Faber and Past AANR-West President Cyndi Faber arranged meetings at the State Capitol in Phoenix with the party leaders representing the area where their Shangri-La Ranch Resort in New River, Arizona, is located. Those meetings helped us realize we were going to need more than constituent help to present our position on the bill. AANR committed to a lobbyist and then sent the word out that we needed member support to have the capital we needed to pay for that support. Members stepped up. The club owners of Mira Vista in Tucson, Wayne and Suzanne Schell, and Patty lent their financial support along with direct member support to the cause. The AANR-West Board voted financial support to the cause thanks to the efforts of Board members Debra Sue Stevens and GAT Chair Steven Schubert.
This was followed by the Makena Plan introduction in Hawaii by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). This is a master plan for expanded beach improvements according to the DLNR. DLNR is tasked with protecting Hawaii’s Beaches and public lands. However, it seems their true goal is to keep people from using and enjoying those resources while extracting funds from them for the privilege of being proximate to the lands.
We again found ourselves looking for partners to present our position on keeping Little Beach available for nude use. We approached the Friends of Little Beach (FoLB) group to see what they were doing. In what seems to us an odd stance for the nudist group representing the beach, they are taking the approach of fighting the proposal but do not want their group named or advocacy for nude use used in that effort. They took the approach that they would fight the plan without saying they represented any organization, including their own.
AANR felt we needed to make sure nudist and nude use was acknowledged in the fight against the land use plan proposed. So we again found ourselves looking for someone local who could represent our interests in front of the DLNR and at the Maui Planning Commission hearing on the Makena Plan. Once again, AANR-West stepped up with financial support. These two efforts have so far been successful, but the fight is not over. We continue to need to have our presence be known as these two attempts to block nude use will continue to need attention into the next legislative session.
For the efforts made by the club owners, the AANR-West Board, and the individual members who have contributed to these efforts, the AANR Government Affairs Memorial Award for 2026 is awarded to the AANR-West Region as a whole. Without all these efforts, we would not have been successful to this point, and we look forward to being successful as the challenges go forward.
-Tim Mullins
Government Affairs Chair