Legislative Updates 2004

Hi all! The Sabino Canyon mountain lion issue continues ­ our hope is that people will take the concerns about these three or four animals and begin to get involved in working for better management of all wildlife and protection of wildlife habitat from urban encroachment. For now, we also hope the lions will continue to do what they do best ­ elude humans.

We commend the governor for engaging on this issue and for asking Game and Fish to make its case and be accountable to the larger public. We do not think having the Game and Fish director appointed directly by the governor is the answer to making the agency more accountable, however. (Currently the Commission appoints him/her.) Words like J. Fife Symington, III and Jane Hull will make you think twice about that idea. Both had Joe Lane make their appointments and he specifically looked for commissioners who were hostile to wildlife and very friendly to the livestock industry. The current chair of the Game and Fish Commission is part of the livestock industry in southern Arizona. She has repeatedly voted to protect the industry at the expense of wildlife. She is also hostile to wildlife advocates. My personal favorite quote was when she referred to us at “rattlesnake loving, rancher hating, rural cleansing activists.” And there you have it.

Please call your senator this week and ask her/him to vote no on HCR2011 voter approved expenditures; limitation (Konopnicki, Barnes, Gray C, Hubbs, et al). It refers to the ballot a measure which undercuts voter approved ballot measures by requiring that any measure involving a mandatory expenditure also include a new revenue source that cannot be the general fund. It does not matter if the dollars required are only for start up or if it is a relatively small expenditure. It also allows the legislature to proportionately reduce an appropriation for a specific purpose if the monies approved for the purpose are insufficient to cover all of the costs and it allows them to use that amount to compute future expenditures. It is retroactive to 1998. There are significant questions about how it would affect school funds from Proposition 301 and also whether or not it would impact the funds appropriated in Growing Smarter on the 1998 ballot. That was referred by the legislature, approved by the voters, and uses general fund dollars.

This week, in an unusually obvious move, President Bennett withdrew HCR2009 initiatives; filing date (Quelland, Biggs, C. Gray, et al) from the Judiciary Committee and assigned it to Appropriations. The bill has no fiscal impact to the general fund, no appropriation on it, and no reason to be assigned to that committee. Well, almost no reason. When asked by Senator Brotherton if it was pulled and reassigned because they did not have the votes in Judiciary but did in Appropriations, Bennett replied yes. In the House, Representative Quelland went back on his word regarding this bill ­ he had committed to several groups to amend the bill to reduce the number of required signatures as a trade off for pushing back the filing date by three months for filing signatures. The bill got out of House Judiciary with the signature reduction amendment and then it was stripped off on the House Floor. He now has his friendly committee assignment. This measure hurts grassroots organizations and further advantages wealthy interests relative to initiatives as the grassroots entities usually need the time to get the signatures, especially as they usually use more volunteer signature gatherers. Between this, the bill above, the land exchange measure, the coming state trust lands measure, and the repeal on Clean Elections, the “just vote no on everything” campaign is shaping up nicely.

SB1081 animal and ecological terrorism (Verschoor, J. Allen, Harper, et al) was assigned to House Environment Committee. It is not scheduled for this week.

HB2278 assured water supply certificate; assignment (Hart) allows transfer of assured water supply certificate under certain conditions. It eliminates any kind of public notice on this. We oppose that and would like to see public notice reinstated in the bill.

Here is what’s up in committees this week:

Monday, March 29th

House Committee on Transportation at 1:30 p.m. in HHR3

SB1158 transporting hazardous materials; routing requirements (Waring, Barnes, Hershberger, et al) allows the Governor to waive the rules associated with the transportation routing requirements for transporting hazardous materials for up to fifteen days if the Governor declares a state of emergency. This seems overly broad.

House Committee on Commerce and Military Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5

SB1330 regulatory reform; enforcement study committee (Bennett, L. Aguirre, Burns, et al) sets up another study committee, but this one goes until 2014. Apparently the attorneys for the so-called regulated community are not getting enough billable hours.

Senate Committee on Finance at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1

HB2507 regional transportation authority; excise tax (Huffman, J. Burns, Cajero Bedford, et al) gives authorization to the Pima Association of Governments to ask the voters to impose a ý cent sales tax for transportation and directs them to develop a 20-year regional transportation plan. It is a controversial measure and could mean more Maricopa-style planning for Pima. After 60 years of unbridled road-building while spending microscopic amounts on public transit, we now need transportation plans that lean heavily to public transit. A regional PUBLIC transportation authority with plans that reflect that name would be worthy of enthusiastic support. If they really need more dollars for roads, why not raise and use the gas tax?

Tuesday, March 30th

Senate Natural Resources and Transportation Committee at 1:30 pm in SHR1

HB2158 shooting range preservation (Nelson, Arnold, Hanson, et al) requires Phoenix to include protections from encroaching development for the Ben Avery Shooting Range. It requires a unanimous vote by the Game and Fish Commission and an executive order by the governor for them to close a shooting range. The provisions dealing with encroaching development are quite reasonable. We have supported keeping existing ranges as they help limit shooting in the more pristine areas. We support this bill.

Senate Committee on Government at 1:30 pm in SHR3

HB2126 will have a strike everything on public participation in government. The striker was not on line yet.

Wednesday, March 31^st

Senate Committee on Judiciary at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1

HB2400 vested property rights (Farnsworth) establishes vested rights when a zoning application is approved or when a site plan is submitted and meets the zoning requirements. That is truly ridiculous. As if we need more land speculation or as if the developers didn’t have enough influence.

Senate Committee on Commerce at 9:00 a.m. in SHR3

HB2009 NOW: regulatory reform; amendments (Huppenthal) makes some changes to the legislature’s quest to ensure zero accountability from the business community. It clarifies the burden of proof in administrative hearings if an agency has taken an action to revoke or terminate a license or permit or imposition of sanctions. The burden of persuasion is with the applicant if deals with an agency’s denial of license or permit.

Thanks again for all you do! 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) 926-3559 (Senate) or (602) 926-4221 (House). Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890. For more information on legislation go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/. To reach the Governor, call 602-542-4331 or toll free 1-800-253-0883. To email her, either click on this link or cut and paste it into your server http://www.governor.state.az.us/post/feedback.htm