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Legislative Updates 2002To: Conservation Friends Hi all! I wanted to start out with a bit of good news this week -- unfortunately it does not come from the Arizona Legislature. Yesterday, the U.S. Senate rejected a motion for cloture which would have allowed a vote on opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. Please take a moment to thank Senator McCain for voting against cloture and therefore helping to keep oil drilling out of ANWR. You can reach Senator McCain at the following numbers (202) 224-2235, (602) 952-2410, and (520) 670-6334. As expected, SB1274 state land; leases and improvements (Martin, Brown, Arzberger, Guenther) passed out of the House Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee on a 9-1 vote with only Representative Cardamone voting against it. This bill imposes additional roadblocks on those who would bid on grazing leases for conservation purposes. It says that if they win a lease, they have to pay the existing lessee for so-called improvements -- fences, structures, etc. -- irrespective of whether public dollars were used to construct them. It limits what can be done with the improvements once they are acquired -- so first you have to buy them and then you cannot remove them to accommodate wildlife and restoration. The bill also says the State Land Department can now consider who has the best right "and equity" to a lease. Equity is not defined but if the Land Department interprets it as they are currently then it is a clear attempt to shut out competition for these leases and give the existing lessee even more of an advantage. This will probably go to the Floor this coming week, so please call your House members one more time. At the very least, they should reject it because it is premature. The Land Department has not considered even one grazing lease from a conservation interest. Also, please call House Members and ask them to oppose SB1329 referendum; required signatures (Mitchell: Arzberger, Brown et al). It authorizes the use of an alternative basis for computing the number of necessary signatures required to file a referendum petition in a municipal election. It would effectively allow cities and towns to change the basis for calculating the number of signatures from 10% of the people who voted at the last election to 10% of ALL registered voters in the city or town. These numbers would be overwhelming. It takes away one more tool that citizens' have to stop measures at the local level. And please call Senators and ask them to oppose HB2162 state land; planning and administration (Flake, Gleason, Guenther, et al). The end result of this bill will be more sprawl on state trust lands -- as if we need that. It says leapfrog development and sprawl are fine with the land department as long as it is in the cities' or counties' plans. So if Buckeye wants to sprawl on, the state land department will help them. And how is more sprawl in the best interest of the trust? UPDATE ON A FEW BILLS: HCR2012 State lottery; continuation (Allen, O'Halleran, Huffman et al) refers to the ballot a continuation of the Arizona State Lottery and the Commission that oversees it. The Sierra Club supports the lottery because of the important programs it funds; all of the state's Heritage Fund dollars come from the Arizona Lottery. This passed out of the Senate 18-11-1 and now goes back to the House for concurrence and a final read. SB1117 school buses; alternative fuels (Smith: Bennett) was amended in the House Environment Committee to include provisions that say the schools must still try to phase out the buses that pollute the most. Unfortunately, the amendment says that they only have to convert one third of their fleet and it allows them to use low sulfur diesel with particulate traps. That should be the minimum requirement for any diesel in Arizona; the school buses should be burning on something much cleaner. This is a basic public health issue for one of the most vulnerable populations --children. WE STILL OPPOSE IT. SB1354 protected development rights; procedures (Guenther, Brown, Weiers, et al) allows cities and towns to establish an ordinance to give a protected development right without indicating it is a protected development right up 2 front. This will give developers additional leverage in a process where they already have enormous power and will not serve the interests of the public and the public's need for information. This bill passed out of the Counties and Municipalities Committee, but apparently there is a hope for an amendment to limit its impact. Coming up in the legislature this week: MONDAY Senate Committee on Finance at 9:00 a.m. in SHR1 HB2106 property tax classification; conservation easement (Huffman, Hershberger, Gullett, et al) lowers the rate at which property will be taxed if it has a conservation easement. WE SUPPORT IT. Senate Committee on Government at 9:00 a.m. in SHR3 HB2104 county acquisition of development rights (Huffman, Hershberger, O'Halleran, et al) allows counties to purchase or lease development rights. This is a tool Pima County would like for use in the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. WE SUPPORT THIS. HCR2018 initiative and referendum; filing requirements (McClure: Huppenthal, Andersen, et al) is another bill to limit citizen participation in the initiative process. It requires the committee working on the initiative to gather a certain percentage of signatures from three different counties. At first, the requirement would have been five separate counties, but it was amended to three, and then passed by the House Committee of the Whole. This still would create hardships for grassroots organizations, adding to the expense and time it takes to gather not only the required number of signatures, but also the correct percentages from each of three separate counties. This may be an unconstitutional limit on the exercise of initiative and referendum rights. WE OPPOSE THIS. TUESDAY Senate Committee on Appropriations at 9:00 a.m. in SHR109 HB2560 air quality fund; control measures (Gullett, Huffman, Loredo, et al) continues the new vehicle emissions in lieu fee and puts it into the air quality fund. The funds can be used for air quality research for improving or maintaining attainment status and specifically reducing emissions of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous air pollutants. The measures that are included in the bill include a voluntary lawn and garden equipment emissions reduction program, a voluntary vehicle repair and retrofit program, the diesel vehicle low emission incentive grant program, and other measures that have been evaluated by ADEQ. WE SUPPORT IT. House Committee on Ways and Means at 9:00 a.m. in HHR4 SB1228 has a strike everything on natural gas; use tax. This may be related to getting the merchant power plants to pay taxes on the natural gas they bring into the state. I have not seen the striker yet. WEDNESDAY Senate Committee on Commerce at 8:30 p.m. in SHR1 HB2693 clean power development (Graf, Chase, Flake, et al) establishes a renewable energy study committee to evaluate state and federal policies that hinder or encourage the use of renewable resources. We hope this will help move along renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in Arizona. WE SUPPORT IT. THURSDAY Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment 8:30 a.m. in SHR1 There is no agenda posted, but it is my understanding that they will be meeting. To email legislators go to http://www.arizonasenate.org/members.html for the Senate and to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/members/45leg/house.htm for the House. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to www.vote-smart.org or call the House or Senate information desks. 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. For more information on legislation go to the web page at www.azleg.state.az.us. Page updated: 04/19/02Back to 2002 Legislative Updates page Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |