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| Political Action |
Legislative Update #13, April 6, 2001SIERRA CLUB - Grand Canyon Chapter To: Conservation Friends Howdy! Demonstrating that they learned very little from the alternative fuels fiasco, on Monday the Senate adopted an amendment on the Floor that very few people had seen and even fewer knew what it did. HB2362 state land department business enhancements (Flake, Cooley, Gleason, et al) was amended to undercut county, city, and town authority to enter into conservation agreements with the federal agencies. It also pre-empts local control of ordinances, rules or taxes which relate to the management or conservation of wildlife, the management of state land, or the use transfer or management of water rights or water resources. The bill requires written consent of the governor, the Game and Fish Commission, the State Land Commissioner, and the Director of the Department of Water Resources if it relates to those agencies' respective issues. HB2362 will allow Governor Hull and her agencies to veto ordinances that seek to provide more protection and habitat for wildlife, such as the proposal in Pima County involving the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan or even Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve. This amendment came from the governor's office, where it appears they are on a mission to really stick it to conservation efforts. The governor should be ashamed of herself. Please call as soon as possible and ask your senator to say no to this anti-conservation, anti-local control amendment and to reject HB2362. While HB2362 may not come back, HB2524 may be amended in the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee on Thursday to include a "new and improved" amendment on this issue. They have not asked for input from conservationists and they have not talked to Pima County about it, so I suspect it will be more of the same. Please tell your senators to oppose these efforts as well. Please call your House members and ask them to oppose SCR1004 state land exchanges; school lands (Bowers, Hamilton, Bundgaard, et al.), because it does not contain adequate protections against abuse nor adequate public review and comment opportunities. This bill refers to the ballot a measure that allows state trust land to be exchanged for other lands, provided the exchange is in the best interest of the trust and the purpose is for preserving open space on the trust lands offered. It also provides some public notice and hearing requirements. The Legislature has tried four times to amend the Constitution in this manner; 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 eliminated the provisions allowing for state-private exchanges, that is pretty meaningless. 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. If we are to consider land exchanges, there should be complete identification and exposure of the exchange components –appraisals, sponsors, owners, participants, etc. – to the public before the exchange proceeds. Exchanges should include a complete analysis by the state land department where it looks at the alternatives and gives the public opportunity to review and comment. There should be no three-way exchanges and no out-of-state exchanges. Please call your House members and ask them to oppose SB1472 S/E municipal zoning protests. It makes it more difficult for neighbors to raise an objection to a rezoning and to trigger a 3/4 vote of the city council. This is very seldom invoked. This change is unnecessary and anti-neighborhood. Finally, please ask your House members to oppose SB1455 county air quality; procedures (Guenther, Bowers, Huffman, et al.). It allows the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality or a county to renew an order of abatement requiring compliance with air quality laws, rules or permits for an additional year upon a showing of good cause. Right now, the law requires compliance within one year. If this bill passes, it means that an entity could continue to violate our air quality laws up to two years. We should not be giving them a two-year license to pollute. Here is a bill update: It looks like SB1530 confidentiality agreements; restrictions is dead, thanks to Senators Bennett, Blanchard, Bowers, Brown, Burns, Cirillo, Daniels, Guenther, Hamilton, Hellon, Martin, Petersen, Smith, Solomon, and Gnant. Because of these senators, many people will not have the information available to them that will help them to protect themselves and their families. It is especially disappointing to see Senator Blanchard doing the bidding for the same interests that called the shots when Jeff Groscost was speaker. This bill would have limited confidentiality in settlements when the action was for injury, wrongful death, or financial loss caused by a defective product or environmental hazard. It is definitely in the public interest to have the information related to these settlements open to the public. Here's what's up in the legislature this week. Monday April 9th Senate Government Committee at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3 HB2072 S/E state land lease; municipality allows a state trust land lease to be assigned to a municipality if the lessee consents to the assignment or if the lessee defaults on the lease. We have no problem with this. HB2556 S/E Growth Management Task Force establishes a 13-member Growth Management Task Force that actually includes environmentalists. The Task Force will conduct hearings on and study growth management issues facing Arizona. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. Tuesday April 10th Senate Appropriations Committee at 8:00 a.m. in Rm 109 HB2426 environment; NPDES program (Huffman, Blendu, Graf, Landrum, et. al.) provides the foundation for ADEQ to pursue primacy for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for discharges to surface waters. We remain unconvinced that the legislature will provide adequate funding for the program and 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? 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 regarding the impact on any endangered species and ADEQ does not. WE OPPOSE IT. HB2523 state trust land; appraisal (Binder, O'Halleran) brings more accountability to the state land department relating to the use of proper appraisal standards. WE SUPPORT THIS. HB2538 Brown cloud study; air quality (Allen) provides $500,000 in FY 2001-2002 and $2,000,000 in FY 2002-2003 to the Voluntary Vehicle Repair and Retrofit Program, expands the Area A boundaries to include areas west of Goodyear and Peoria, as well as a small piece of land on the north end Lake Pleasant. It requires ADEQ to establish and administer a roadside diesel testing program in Area A or Area B. It includes some voluntary programs and additional funding for roadside testing of diesels and other programs. It clarifies which pollutants are eligible for the emissions trading program. We are opposed to the trading program, because it does not includes adequate enforcement and public accountability. WE SUPPORT THIS. Thursday April 12th Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee @ 8:24 a.m. in SHR1 HB2442 agricultural composting (Gleason) prohibits cities from regulating activities related to agricultural composting. I suspect the cities will have a problem with this as it restricts local control of these activities. HB2524 municipal development fees (Flake) may have a strike everything amendment which is directed at local conservation efforts. I can't imagine that anything good will come of it.
Thanks for all your help! For more information on legislation go to the web page at 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: 04/06/01Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |