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| Political Action |
Legislative Update #18, May 11, 2001SIERRA CLUB - Grand Canyon Chapter To: Conservation Friends Hi all! The Legislature took Sine Die action on Thursday without overriding any of the governor's veto. Here is a brief update on action the governor took on environmental bills. Also, attached is the environmental report card. If you have trouble opening the attachments, just go to the Sierra Club website at arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/ and you will find it there. If you would like a hard copy of the report card, please call or email and leave your address and I will mail it to you. Governor Hull vetoed HB2420 referendum; required signatures. This was an insidious bill that moved quietly through the process. HB2420 allowed cities and towns to change the method for calculating the number of signatures needed on a referendum petition to 10% of all registered voters instead of 10% of those who voted in the last general election. This would have made it more difficult to qualify a referendum at the local level as it increased dramatically the number of signatures needed on petitions. Please thank the governor for vetoing this anti-neighborhood bill. You can reach her office at 602-542-4331 or toll free 1-800-253-0883, email her at azgov@azgov.state.az.us, or fax her at 602-542-7601. Any communications should be addressed to:
Just to make sure we did look on favorably, the Governor also vetoed HB2431 NOW: environment; electronic reporting; chemicals (Landrum, Weason, Avelar, et al.). The governor's office never communicated any concerns about this bill, but vetoed it nonetheless. This is characteristic of the governor's style and the governor's staff and makes it almost impossible to work with them. It was a good bill and a good effort by Representative Landrum to do something positive for the community. It's too bad the governor doesn't get out more -- she might have realized that. The bill required 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 required 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. Please call Governor Hull and express your disappointment regarding this veto. The governor signed HB2426 environment; NPDES program (Huffman, Blendu, Graf, Landrum, et al.). It's not over however. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) must still convince the Environmental Protection Agency to grant the state primacy for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. We will oppose that if the current conditions prevail. This bill is supposed to give ADEQ the foundation for taking over control of these permits, which are supposed to limit discharges to surface waters. We remain unconvinced that the legislature will provide adequate funding for the program for the long haul 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. Finally, the bill limits citizens' ability to appeal agency actions related to these permits. I will send you periodic alerts and updates on other matters, but let's hope that this all we hear from the legislature this year. Thanks again for all your help! I really appreciate it. Your calls, letters and emails do make a difference. 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: 05/11/01 Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |