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Legislative Updates 2003To: Conservation Friends From: Conservation Outreach Director, Sierra Club Date: May 16, 2003 Re: Legislative Update #18 Hi all! Well the House finally passed a budget early this morning and the Senate will likely pass it later this afternoon. It looks like they will finish the session next week, but it seems pretty clear that they will have to come back in a special session on the 2004 budget, as it is almost certain that the governor will veto what they send her today. The $10 million hit to the Heritage Fund is still in the budget and they plan to use $1.8 million of it for the Commission on the Arts. While the Commission on the Arts is important, it should not be funded with Heritage Fund. These dollars are for parks and wildlife and that is where they should remain, per the voters. Please continue to call, write and email legislators on this. The Governor has said she will not agree to a Heritage Fund raid in the 2004 budget, so please let her know you appreciate it as well. Another issue of concern in this budget is the state selling its interest in Spur Cross Ranch to Maricopa County. Spur Cross Ranch is a beautiful area of upper Sonoran Desert, just north of Cave Creek. First of all, this deal to sell it was apparently negotiated between the House Republican Leadership and Maricopa County Supervisors and did not include the State Parks Board, not to mention any members of the public. Second, the money that was put into Spur Cross Ranch originally came from the State Parks Heritage Fund, so if Parks is to give up its interest in Spur Cross, the dollars should come back to the Heritage Fund, not the general fund. This is backdoor raid on the fund to the tune of $7.5 million. Finally, as it is currently drafted, the conservation easement owned by the state would dissolve if the County buys it and instead we would have to rely on an Intergovernmental Agreement to keep this area preserved. I am not convinced that is enough. An amendment that includes a reversionary clause was to go on the bill last night. There are many problems with this budget and hits environmental programs very hard - the Water Protection Fund is zeroed out for the third year in a row, five million from the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund is diverted, and they take most of the State Parks funds that are used to operate and maintain the parks -- but these two hits to Heritage Fund are the most outrageous. As most of you already know, Governor Napolitano vetoed HB2436 municipal ballot measures; required signatures (Arnold: Chase, Flake, et al). If you have not done so, please thank her for doing this. You can phone her at 602-542-4331 or 1-800-253-0883. To email her go to http://www.governor.state.az.us/post/feedback.htm (this is a link not an email address). The bill authorized the use of an alternative basis for computing the number of necessary signatures required to file a referendum petition in a municipal election in cities and towns with 50,000 or fewer people Please call senators and ask them to oppose SB1138 (NOW: outdoor advertising; electronic messages) (Martin, Blendu, et al.) It overturns 33 years of sound public policy by deleting the prohibition on electronic billboard displays adopted in 1970 Arizona Highway Beautification Act. The level of brightness of the proposed electronic message displays are not limited by the bill and as such will result in more light pollution in our night skies. Yes to seeing the stars, no to this bill. Here is an update on other bills: HCM2006 Healthy Forest Restoration Act (Johnson, Flake, L Gray, et al) was introduced (late) and passed this week. It is just a postcard to Congress -- meaning it is merely a message and has no impact in law, but as they had time on their hands and a willingness to waste taxpayer dollars, they moved this through rather quickly. It asks Congress to pass the so-called "Healthy Forest Restoration Act," HR1904. While calling it the Healthy Forest Restoration Act is clever, I am not sure how it could be more misleading. It cuts the public out of the process so big timber interests can once more control our forests and continue to create the conditions that have brought them to this point. HR1904 poses a major threat to environmental protection and public involvement in public land management. This measure does virtually nothing to protect homes and communities from wildfire. Rather than provide any new funding authorization or mechanisms for fuels reduction on public or private lands, the bill relies on scaling back environmental safeguards to reduce fire risk. The bill seeks to cut out the public from public forest management. It promotes new subsidies for "biomass" logging, federal assistance for private forest owners and the ability of Forest Service managers to plan 1000 acre logging projects with the sparsest of environmental impact analysis. It even gives lawsuits challenging Forest Service projects priority over virtually all other civil and criminal litigation. HCM2006 has already passed through the House, but the bill to which it refers has not yet passed through congress. Please call your congressman and ask him to oppose this HR1904. Call 1-800-839-5276. Ask for the staff that handles National Forest issues and ask them to vote NO on HR 1904, "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003." SB1071 (NOW: land conservation fund; grazing; agriculture) (Brown) shifts $2 million dollars per year of the Growing Smarter dollars to a new fund called the "Livestock and Crop Conservation Fund." This new fund will be administered by the Department of Agriculture. Currently the State Parks Board administers these dollars. This bill highlights a bad program and an example of the legislature trying to pull one over on the voters, violating the Voter Protection Act, and giving handouts with no public benefit. The bill went to conference committee, where they added additional public review and also some minimal requirements for the ranchers who get these dollars. This program diverts dollars away from conservation of state trust lands (as the voters intended) and from the Trust beneficiaries (primarily the public schools). It should be eliminated. This passed the Senate 16-11-3 and awaits Final Read in the House. If you are willing to make another call, please do call your House members in the Arizona Legislature and ask them to repeal this program instead of supporting SB1071. SB1347 recreational corridor channelization districts (Blendu, Burns, Brotherton, et al) establishes a task force that can look at establishing these districts to construct and operate recreational facilities in a floodway during and after mining activities. They have to come back for legislation in order to actually establish a special taxing district. This was signed by the Governor. HB2478 water status report; DWR (O'Halleran, Flake, Carruthers et al) requires the Department of Water Resources to brief the committee responsible for water regarding drought, water supplies, etc. This was amended to include a measure that allows for additional groundwater pumping in the Yuma basin and transfer into the Colorado River. It passed the House and was signed by the Governor. HB2479 forest status reports (O'Halleran, Flake, Laughter, et al) requires the state forester (land commissioner) to brief legislators on forest management. It passed the Senate and goes to the Governor. 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 http://www.azleg.state.az.us/. Sandy Bahr Page updated: 05/16/03 Back to 2003 Legislative Updates page Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |