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| Political Action |
Legislative Update #14, April 13, 2001SIERRA CLUB - Grand Canyon Chapter To: Conservation Friends Howdy! Well, it's baaack! HB2362 -- last week's anti-conservation bill -- is back in a new and not improved form as HB2524. HB2524 NOW: Management of state land and resources (Flake) will undermine county, city, and town authority to enter into conservation agreements with federal agencies and also severely limit local governments' ability to pass ordinances relating to land management and protection in their communities. With this measure, state agencies can effectively veto ordinances that seek to provide more protection and habitat for wildlife, such as Pima County's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan or even Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve. This bill is on the Senate Rules and Caucus Agendas for Monday, so they are trying to move it along quickly. Please call your senator and ask him/her to say no to this anti-conservation, anti-local control bill. Also ask your senators to oppose HB2426 environment; NPDES program (Huffman, Blendu, Graf, Landrum, et. al.). It is ADEQ's attempt to take charge of 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. 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. Finally, the bill limits citizens' ability to appeal agency actions related to issuing a NPDES permit. WE OPPOSE THIS BILL. Please keep up the pressure on House members and ask them to oppose SCR1004. We are making some headway on this bill -- it was scheduled for the House Committee of the Whole, but after some negative discussion on the floor and some excellent comments by Representative O'Halleran, its supporters asked that it be retained on the calendar. SCR1004 state land exchanges; school lands (Bowers, Hamilton, Bundgaard, et al.) 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. HB2431 NOW: environment; electronic reporting; chemicals (Landrum, Weason, Avelar, et al.) requires the Arizona Emergency Response Commission to allow reporting of certain hazardous chemicals reports required under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know law to be done electronically to the Commission's internet site. It also requires the State Fire Marshal to establish standards under the state fire code for a statewide database that includes hazardous material management plans and hazardous material inventory statements. This bill is currently stuck in Appropriations. Please call the president of the Senate, Senator Randall Gnant (602-542-4138), and the chair of Appropriations, Senator Ruth Solomon (602-542-5993), and ask them to let this bill move forward.
SB1455 county air quality; procedures (Guenther, Bowers, Huffman, et al.) is headed for Final passage in the Senate; it passed out of the House 42-16-2. This bill 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. This is a special bill to allow APS to fire up two older units (that pollute more) at its west Phoenix facility. We should not be giving them a two-year license to pollute. Please ask your senator to oppose this bill. Most of the committee work is completed at the Legislature with the exception of Appropriations and Rules. In the coming week, they will begin conference committees in earnest -- this is where a lot of bad legislation gets worse and good legislation deteriorates. My experience is that not much good comes out of conference committees. Here is a brief update on a few other bills: SB1472 S/E municipal zoning protests, a bill that made it more difficult for neighbors to raise objections to rezonings and to trigger a 3/4 vote of the city council, has been dropped by the bill's sponsor. Thanks for your calls and for helping to kill this bad idea. 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. The bill was revived and awaits a Third Read in the Senate WE SUPPORT IT. 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. This is a good opportunity to cut a little fat out of the budget. It awaits Senate Appropriations. WE OPPOSE 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? It awaits a Third Read in the Senate. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. HB2523 state trust land; appraisal (Binder, O'Halleran) brings more accountability to the state land department relating to the use of proper appraisal standards. This was held in Appropriations this week. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. 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. This was also held in Appropriations this past week. WE SUPPORT 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. This is scheduled for the Senate Caucus on Monday. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. 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. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to www.vote-smart.org or call the House or Senate information desks. Page updated: 04/13/01 Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |