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Legislative Updates 2003"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." To: Conservation Friends Brother can you spare $10 million? This was not a good week at the legislature for environmental protection or much else for that matter. First of all, the Senate passed by just one vote (16-13-1), SCR1012 the land exchange measure that is being cloaked as a "military base preservation initiative." This is disappointing as it is one of the more outrageous attempts at deception I have seen from the legislature. "Growing Smarter" was pretty close. Nonetheless, please do thank the senators who voted against SCR1012. They include senators: Aguirre, Allen, Arzberger, Brotherton, Cheuvront, Garcia, Giffords, Jackson Sr., Mead, Miranda, Mitchell, Rios, and Soltero. We are planning to do what we can in the House, but may have to count on the voters to reject it for a sixth time. In addition to that, there was strike everything amendment on HB 2364 in the House Commerce and Military Affairs Committee. It allows billboards to have electronic displays. The bill is the result of two billboards in Phoenix (I-10/32nd St & I-17/Camelback) that recently had such displays installed in violation of state regulations and without Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) permits. ADOT cited them and now the billboard industry is turning to the legislature to "fix" it. The last thing we need on our roadways are more distractions for drivers, not to mention more light pollution. Please help our friends with the neighborhood groups and ask your house members to oppose this measure. If you are waiting for the good news, you may have to wait until next week. Representative McClure's takings bill, HB2411, advanced and goes to Rules next. This is the bill aimed at stopping the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and every other bit of planning and zoning. One of the bad initiative bills -- HCR2017 -- passed out of the House and will be heard in the Senate this week (see below for details). And to top it all off, the Governor and the Legislature have agreed to Fiscal Year 2003 budget adjustments that take $10 million of the Game and Fish Heritage Fund acquisition dollars. While it is true that Game and Fish was not acquiring land with these dollars as it should have been, a much better idea is for the Governor to direct them to spend these dollars as the law (and the electorate) dictates. This gives the Commission and the Legislature exactly what they want -- no money for acquisition of habitat for threatened and endangered species. If they get away with this for 03, we can just double it for 04, and then like all the other environmental funds that have been hit over time by the legislature, we can say bye-bye to Heritage Fund. Please help us flood the offices of the governor and the legislature with phone calls. Don't let this be the first successful of 28 attempts to raid the Heritage Fund. Please contact Governor Napolitano and ask her not to raid the Heritage Fund. To email her, go to http://www.governor.state.az.us/post/feedback.htm. Calls go to 602-542-4331 or toll free 1-800-253-0883. You can fax her at 602-542-1381. Any communications should be addressed to: The Honorable Janet Napolitano Please contact your legislators and ask them to oppose this raid on Heritage Fund dollars. For contact information go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp. As always, calls are best and they do make a difference. Here's what's up at the legislature this week: Monday, March 3rd Senate Committee on Finance at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1 HB2322 sales tax; contractor's solar exemption (Graf, Pearce, Anderson, et al) makes clarifications in the sales tax exemption for solar contractors - both the sale and installation are exempt up to $5,000. We support this. Tuesday, March 4th House Committee on Appropriations at 1:00 p.m. in HHR1 HB2264 WQARF; technical correction (Hart, Allen: Jarrett) has a strike everything that makes primarily technical changes relating to reporting requirements and the frequency. It does make one significant change however and that is it re-establishes joint and several liability for cost recovery in any pending legal action filed and served on or before April 1, 1996. This relates to the Pinal Creek site and is a battle of the mines. It is hard to know whether this is a good or a bad thing, but it is clear that Phelps Dodge is using its considerable clout to push through a special law from which it benefits. Senate Natural Resources and Transportation at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1 HB2084 state claims to streambeds (O'Halleran, Huffman, Carruthers, et al) makes a minor change to give the land department more time to issue a notice relative to the finding of navigability. It clarifies that an appeal can occur after the Arizona Navigable Streambed Adjudication Commission makes it determination. We are neutral on this now. HB2090 state parks board; sunset continuation (O'Halleran) continues the state parks board for 10 years. We support it. Wednesday, March 5th Senate Committee on Judiciary at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1 HCR2017 initiatives filing date (Quelland, Allen J, Johnson, et al) moves the date when signatures must be filed from four months before the election to seven months before the election. It gives folks a more limited amount of time to gather the signatures and it also gives the legislature more time to muck around with your initiative. It passed out of the House 39-21. We oppose this. House Committee on Natural Resources, Ag, Water & Native American at 9:30 a.m. in HHR4 A briefing on the Law of the River (that's the Colorado) from Dept of Water Resources Please join us for an Environmental Advocacy/Lobbying Workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the Historic YWCA, 738 North 5th Avenue, Tucson. To RSVP or to learn more about the workshop, please contact Lee Oler at 520-791-9246 or cloler@mindspring.com Thanks! To email senators go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp and for house members to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp#house. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml 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 http://www.azleg.state.az.us/.
Page updated: 02/28/03 Back to 2003 Legislative Updates page Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |