Legislative Updates 2004

Hooray! The legislative session is over and while it could have been a lot better, I guess it also could have been a lot worse. They did not take the Heritage Fund. They did not succeed in tagging everyone with the “terrorist” label. They did not pass most of the really bad bills. They also did not do much positive for the environment either. They passed a lame forest bill and then touted it as “monumental” and they referred yet another anti-initiative measure. They did nothing real to address air quality, water quality, or environmental justice.

HCR2009 initiatives; filing date (Quelland, Biggs, C. Gray, et al) passed in the Senate 17-12-1 and the House 33-25-2 and will be on the ballot in November. Unfortunately, a couple of legislators switched their votes on this in each house, so it squeaked through. That is two anti-initiative measures on the ballot for this fall. This may be a year to “just say no” to everything on the ballot. Please thank the following Senators and House Members for voting no. They include Senators: L. Aguirre, Arzberger, Brotherton, Brown, Cheuvront, Garcia, Gifford, Mead, Miranda, Mitchell, Rios, and Soltero. The State Representatives include: A. Aguirre, Alvarez, Bradley, Burton Cahill, Bustamante, Cajero Bedford, Carruthers, Chase, Clark, Downing, Gallardo, Hershberger, Hubbs, Jackson, Jr., Landrum Taylor, Lopes, Lopez, Loredo, McClure, McCune Davis, Meza, Miranda, O’Halleran, Prezelski, and Straughn. Go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp to contact members or see information at the bottom for calling or writing legislators.

Unfortunately, however, we may not have seen the last of the 46^th Legislature. They are already talking about doing a special session the third week in June to jam through the ill-conceived state trust land package. We can still stop this from happening. Your calls and letters will help make a huge difference. In addition to contacting the Governor and your legislators, you might also try your city council members, county supervisors, and other elected officials. Let them know that you think this is a bad land deal for Arizona. EVEN IF YOU HAVE CALLED ALREADY, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CALL THE GOVERNOR AND YOUR LEGISLATORS AND ASK THEM NOT TO SUPPORT A SPECIAL SESSION ON STATE TRUST LANDS AND NOT TO SUPPORT THIS PROPOSED “REFORM”. This is too important of an issue and far too complicated to try and jam through at the end of a long session or to try and pass quickly in a special session. No one wants the alternative fuels of land deals. What is the hurry? We can do a whole lot better — a reform package that provides funding for conservation of these lands and addresses education needs should be considered. Do we really need one that promotes even more development, plus will likely rip off the public and the Trust? 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 . To reach legislators go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp

Despite the promises made in the Senate, HB2549 NOW: healthy forests; tax credits did not go to conference committee. Representative Cheryl Chase went back on her commitment to refuse to concur on the bill. That meant it went straight to a Final Vote in the House. Please thank the following twelve House members for voting against it. They include Representatives: Alvarez, Bradley, Clark, Gallardo, Jackson, Jr., Landrum Taylor, Lopes, Lopez, Loredo, McCune Davis, Straughn and Prezelski. The bill authorizes significant tax incentives without any fiscal analysis and without adequate checks in place. The measure establishes tax incentives for qualified businesses including exemptions from sales tax and use tax on machinery and equipment, individual and income tax credits for employing state residents, for industries where at least one-half of the forest product is from biomass and one-half of the biomass is from Arizona. Biomass is poorly defined as “dead standing and fallen timber, and forest thinnings associated with the harvest of small diameter timber, slash, brush and other woody vegetation removed from federal, state and other public forest land and from private forest land.” This leaves it pretty wide open. Where does the other half of the forest product come from? Arizona’s (or even New Mexico’s) remaining old growth forests and large diameter trees? What is “other woody vegetation”? And why include snags (important for wildlife habitat) and possibly burned areas (standing dead trees) which of course do not present a large fire risk? Without limitations on logging of large trees and old growth, it means this program could promote the same kind of logging that has contributed to unhealthy conditions in the forests currently. Luckily, the Arizona Legislature has limited impact on our national forest. Unfortunately, however, the Bush Administration does.

Next week, look for the Environmental Report Card for Legislators and the Governor. We are aiming for a Wednesday release. Details to follow soon.

Wild At Heart Burrowing Owl Project

Hi all - this weekend, volunteers including Sierra Club members and their families, helped complete 24 burrows, providing homes for 32 birds.  You are great!  Thank you! Greg Clark of the Wild at Heart Burrowing Owl Project still needs to place 50 owls recently rescued from the Mesa development site.   Volunteers are needed at Reach 11 this Saturday.  We will construct the burrows in pre-dug holes, and/or construct acclimation tents over the burrow sites.   Work from 8 am to approx 2pm. This workday will be a Sierra Club wildlife service outing.  We'll have refreshments, water, tools and hopefully even some artificial shade. Shoveling, getting dirty, learning about the natural history of burrowing owls and general good fun are all on the agenda. Volunteers should bring water bottles, hats, sunscreen, and wear closed shoes. The parking lot for Reach 11 is on the east side of Tatum, between Union Hills and 101.   If you are coming from the North, you pass the Arizona Horse Lover's Park on the west side and u-turn back north.  We will meet there at 8am.  Halina can provide some carpooling from North Central Phoenix.  Please RSVP to Halina at 602-749-2063 or e-mail her at hkubus@yahoo.com   Hope to see you there!

Thanks again for your help and support this session! I know it can be discouraging, but your calls and letters do make a huge difference. You can make an even bigger difference by helping to elect environmentally friendly candidates to the legislature. If you are interested in helping with that, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks again!

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/ .