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| Political Action |
Legislative Update #10, March 16, 2001SIERRA CLUB - Grand Canyon Chapter To: Conservation Friends Hi all! Thank you for calling your senator regarding SCR1005 trust lands proceeds and income (Bowers, Flake, et al.); it failed in the Senate 13-16-1. Of course, it's not over yet. They could bring the bill back on Monday. Please call the following Senators and thank them for voting "no" on SCR1005: Aguirre, Bee, Blanchard, Cummiskey, Gerard, Hartley, Jackson, Lopez, Mitchell, Nichols, Richardson, Rios, Solomon, Valadez, Verkamp, and Gnant. Please call your senator and ask her/him to oppose SCR1004 state land exchanges; school lands (Bowers, Hamilton, Bundgaard, et al.) It refers to the ballot a measure that allows for the exchange of state trust lands and also allows them to be donated for new school sites. SCR1004 states that the exchanges must be in the best interest of the trust and must be for preserving open space, agricultural lands or military airport buffer zones. The Legislature has tried four times to amend the Constitution in this manner – three times as stand-alone measures and most recently as part of Proposition 100. The voters rejected all of these measures. SCR1004 promises more of the same. It is clear the public does not trust the government with land deals, especially without adequate checks in place. While the proponents of SCR1004 have promised they will eliminate the provisions allowing for state-private exchanges, that is an empty promise. All the state has to do to facilitate a private exchange is use the federal government as the "middle man." The federal government is not limited in its land exchanges. SCR1004's focus on urban agricultural lands could also result in opening up more Sonoran Desert, more grasslands, and more forest lands for development. The measure says that conservation of agricultural lands or other open space lands must be part of the exchange, but it provides no details, so an exchange could allow for preservation of a couple of acres while opening up the rest for development. Please call senators and ask them to support SB1530 confidentiality agreements; restrictions (Bundgaard, Cummiskey, Jarret, et al.) This limits confidentiality in settlements when the action was for injury, wrongful death, or financial loss caused by a defective product, environmental hazard, or financial fraud. It is definitely in the public interest to have these settlements be public. The most recent case of abuse in this area is the Firestone tire case where the company knew about the problems back in 1996 and settled several lawsuits, but the details were kept confidential until last year. As a result, many more people died or were injured. The business interests are lined up against it lock step. Also, please ask senators to support SB1330 S/E ballot analysis (Mitchell). It establishes a Citizen Ballot Measure Committee to write the impartial ballot analysis for ballot measures. Appointments to the commission would be made by the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, leaders of the minority party in the House and Senate, with each appointing two members. Lobbyists and officers and members from political committees would not qualify. This is a move in the right direction.
One more call to ask senators to oppose SB1355 community facilities districts (Bennett, Bee, Rios) couldn't hurt either. The bill failed on Wednesday, but there was a motion to reconsider, so it will be back. It removes restrictions for counties to establish Community Facilities Districts. It allows for the creation of a special taxing district for financing urban infrastructure at tax-exempt rates. This means more leapfrog development like Anthem and more subsidies for Del Webb, Suncor, Don Diamond and our friends in the master planned community business. WE OPPOSE IT. Finally, please call House members and ask them to oppose HB2426 environment; NPDES program (Huffman, Blendu, Graf, Landrum, et. al.). It provides the foundation for ADEQ to pursue primacy for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for discharges to surface waters. We do not believe the legislature will provide adequate funding for the program and the bill specifically prohibits fees for the program. We object to provisions that prohibit ADEQ from doing anything more stringent than the Clean Water Act. Really, what is the point if the Department cannot do this? In order to meet the goals of the CWA, the agency will have to adopt more stringent standards over time. We are also concerned about the level of enforcement -- in the bill everything is discretionary -- and about how ADEQ will address endangered species issues. We think the agency should be required to consult with U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Here's what's up in the legislature this week. Monday March 19th House Committee on Transportation @ 1:30 p.m. in HHR2 SB1364 all terrain vehicle exemptions (Bowers, Guenther) exempts all-terrain vehicles operating on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management dirt roads from registration and financial responsibility requirements. Do we really need to encourage more irresponsibility with these vehicles? Tuesday March 20th House Committee on Counties and Municipalities at 9:30 a.m. in HHR5 SB1544 County road construction finance (Verkamp, O'Halleran, Sedillo, et al.) allows the counties to establish road construction revolving funds and to advance monies from this fund to improvement districts to finance the construction of utilities, roads, street lighting, sidewalks, and parking lots if the cost for each is $300,000 or less. Rather than address the problems with wildcat subdivisions, the counties are going to ensure that the development is further subsidized. This means more sprawl. WE OPPOSE IT. Senate Committee on Appropriations at 9:00 a.m. in Room 109 HB2360 state forester; wildfire emergency enhancement (Flake, Cooley, Gleason et al) gives the land department more money and more discretion regarding fire suppression. It establishes the Fire Suppression Fund as a revolving fund. I doubt whether this is necessary, and we do have concerns about fire suppression becoming another excuse to log forests, but we do not have a position on this bill. We need to keep an eye on the land department regarding this issue, however. Wednesday March 21st House Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture @ 9:30 a.m. in HHR4 SCM1002 Glen Canyon Dam (Guenther, Bowers, Bennett,) urges Congress to oppose efforts to breech Glen Canyon Dam. Thursday March 22nd Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee @ 8:24 a.m. in SHR1 HB2123 biodiesel; government fleets (Carpenter) allows biodiesel to be used by government fleets to meet alternative fuel goals. HB2144 structural pests; integrated pest management (May) allows a person buying property to request information from the Structural Pest Control Commission (SPCC) regarding the number of times it has been treated for termites in the previous three years. There are important health issues related to many of these pesticides and they can be especially detrimental to those who already have chemical sensitivities. It also requires the SPCC to prepare guidelines for an integrated pest management program. WE SUPPORT IT. HB2247 state butterfly (Knaperek, Cooley, Gleason) designates the two-tailed swallowtail butterfly as the official Arizona butterfly, and because they are so darn paranoid about the possibility of providing any additional protection for any critter, the bill specifically says the designation of a state butterfly will not be grounds for protection of the butterfly or its habitat. In a way, it's kind of sad. HB2360 state forester; wildfire emergency enhancement (Flake, Cooley, Gleason et al) See above. HB2362 state land department business enhancements (Flake, Cooley, Gleason, et al) makes a number of changes regarding the power and duties of the Land Department, like allowing the Commissioner to ask the Selection Board to reject or approve proposed inclusion of state land within a municipality’s boundary. We really don't like this provision, but it already exists in law under title 9. In the House they addressed publication of grazing leases, so we really don't have any issues with this bill. HB2481 now: crop destruction (Gleason) requires that someone who knowingly destroys a crop that is grown for personal or commercial purposes or for testing and research be liable for twice the value of the crop damaged. This bill is regarding concerns about people destroying biotech crops. The existing statutes regarding trespass and destruction of property address this, but we are not in the business of destroying crops, so we have no issues here. Monsanto is supporting the bill. For Discussion Only: HB2364 northeastern Arizona environmental projects; appropriations (Flake, Brown, Allen, et al.) appropriates $350,000 to the state land department for distribution to a private nonprofit, the Environmental Economic Communities Organization (EECO), formed by the eastern Arizona counties for planning and implementing of "environmental programs." This is an inappropriate use of the public's dollars. They've already used tax dollars for the incorporation costs and fundraising costs of this private non-profit and for opposition to Proposition 202. Dr. Martin Moore was campaign chair of "Arizonans Against Proposition 202," and is also the director of EECO. EECO promotes anti-environmental propaganda -- surely it can find private funding for that. WE OPPOSE IT. HB2431 NOW: environment; electronic reporting; chemicals (Landrum, Weason, Avelar, et al.) requires businesses that have reporting requirements under the Uniform Fire Code and have enough hazardous chemicals on site, to file and update their data electronically. This way, if there is a fire, an accident, etc. the firefighters will have the most up-to-date information about a facility. They can better protect themselves and the community. WE SUPPORT IT. HB2432 NOW: delinquent property tax reduction; contamination (Landrum, Huffman, Avelar, et al.) allows a county board of supervisors to reduce the lien for delinquent taxes, interest and penalties up to the amount of the actual costs of remediation for contaminated property. Facilitating the clean up is a plus, but has anyone noticed how they have shifted the clean up costs to the public? HB2449 NOW: air quality fee; diesel (Allen) establishes a tiny fee ($10) for diesel powered vehicles of more than 8500 pounds. This goes into the voluntary vehicle repair and retrofit program. I guess this is their idea of doing their part for air quality. Hardly. Thanks for all your help! For more information on legislation go to the web page http://www.azleg.state.az.us. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislator's office toll free at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 542-3559 (Senate) or (602) 542-4221 (House). Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890. To email legislators use first initial + 7 letters of surname@azleg.state.az.us. Page updated: 03/16/01Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |