Legislative Updates 2005

Howdy! Well, it was a really busy week at the legislature. For a body that prides itself on being “conservative”, it sure does seem to be anxious to amend the Arizona Constitution, pass laws that pass judgment, and hand over the reins of power to big business interests that are accountable to no one ­ not even their shareholders. If even half the proposed constitutional amendments make it through the process, the 2006 ballot will be long and complex.

The state trust land reform was declared officially dead, but as we all know, nothing is really dead until the legislators go home. It comes as no surprise to most people that the legislature could not pass a measure to help education or promote conservation. The irony is that the livestock industry pointed fingers at conservation for the deal falling apart. Bas Aja with the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association ought to look in the mirror if he wants to see who is responsible for repeatedly scuttling any real reform on state trust lands. He says conservation interests are “greedy” yet these ranchers control over 8 million acres of state trust land, pay almost nothing for the privilege of using it, and leave a lot of the land in poor condition. They also have tried repeatedly to keep competition out of the system ­ especially that from conservation interests.

There was good news this week. The healthy schools bill moved forward, a bad energy bill died, and at least one bad transportation measure went down in flames. The other good news was that we were able to rescue a baby bat that was injured. It was flopping around near the House entrance. Special thanks to Karen and Chris Michael with the Animal Defense League of Arizona for coming to the Capitol to rescue it and also to Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation for agreeing to take it and help it recover. Contrary to popular belief, bats do not carry diseases more than other critters. They also are pretty interesting and serve an important ecological role. As with any animal that appears to be sick or injured, it is important to proceed with caution and contact people who are trained in dealing with them.

I am asking you to call again this week on the following bills and also to call on one additional measure. Some people have asked if it makes a difference and if the legislators pay attention. It does and they do. I will tell you that it makes the biggest difference if you call your own legislators. Some do not record or pay attention at all if a message does not come from their district. Also, because of the volume of email some legislators get, I do urge you to make a phone call rather than email whenever possible. If you cannot call, do send the email. Thanks so much for continuing to take action!

This week, please call your House members again and ask them again to oppose HCR2045 voter-approved expenditures; adjustment (Konopnicki). (Sorry about the typo on this last week.) It refers to the ballot a constitutional amendment to undermine the initiative process by allowing the Legislature to reduce funding for ballot measures if it decides there is not enough money to fund a program. It applies retroactively to 1998. They should respect the voters, the initiative process, and reject this measure.

Also call your House members and ask them to vote no on HB2053 S/E municipal ballot measures; signatures (Huffman). It has appeared in various forms over the last several years and has either been rejected by the Legislature or vetoed by various governors. There was also an identical measure —HB2351—earlier this session, which was not heard in Judiciary Committee. This bill makes it more difficult for citizens to put a zoning referendum on the ballot in smaller cities and towns. It allows cities and towns of less than 50,000 people to change the signature requirement for a referendum from a percentage of those who voted in the last city general election for mayor or council to a percentage of those who voted in the last presidential or gubernatorial election, whichever occurred last. Because people only have 30 days to gather signatures for a local measure, this change and the increased number of signatures required will raise the hurdle significantly.

Please call Senators and ask them to oppose SB1333 animal and ecological terrorism. It creates this category of crime and places it in the racketeering statutes. These crimes are already covered under existing laws, so this bill is unnecessary. It appears to be intended to suppress legitimate advocacy work rather than afford any greater protection to the public. This is the same bill the Governor vetoed last year. It was a bad idea last year and it still is. Someone who “recklessly” breaks a window has committed a crime, but should they be labeled a terrorist? We already have strong laws against damaging property, trespass, arson and damaging agricultural or lab facilities. The Sierra Club has long condemned violence, including that done in the name of protecting the environment. We use lawful means to accomplish our goals.

Please also call your House members and ask them to oppose HB2295 animal and ecological terrorism. It does the same as the measure above. 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) or go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp for email addresses and individual phone numbers.

Quick updates:

SB1009 school buildings; air quality (Gray) provides for improving air quality in schools. It was amended In K-12 Education Committee to remove the inspection provisions and will instead require the School Facilities Board (SFB) to provide information on improving the indoor environment to schools at least every two years. It still includes the requirement that the SFB require a Phase I Site Environmental Assessment. SUPPORT.

SB1067 appropriation; Zuni tribe water settlement (Flake, Bee, Blendu, et al) has not moved yet, but could do so next week. We may be sending a special alert. This bill swipes Heritage Fund dollars for the Zuni Tribe water rights settlement. Some people are still working to reinstate the general fund provisions.

SB1392 municipal planning; aggregate mining (Flake: Arzberger, Jarrett, et al) was held and appears to be dead ­ at least for now. It could come back in another form on another bill. It requires a land use element that protects the rock products industry. OPPOSE.

SB1504 regional transportation plans; development ballot (Verschoor: Biggs) was defeated in the Senate Transportation Committee It requires light rail to be listed a separate component if there is vote on a regional transportation plan. Again, if they also let us vote separately on individual roads, we might consider it. OPPOSE.

SCR1029 constitutional amendments; single subject (Huppenthal: Gould, Verschoor) refers to the voters a measure to eliminate the separate-amendment provision of the Arizona Constitution and replaces it with the standard for statutes. This is one of the worst ideas I have seen in recent days and there have been many. That means we could be looking at 100-page constitutional amendments that throw in everything but the kitchen sink. I hope it does not move forward, but if it does, I hope the voters defeat it overwhelmingly. OPPOSE.

HB2570 tax credit; renewable energy (Mason) was defeated in the House Environment Committee. It provides tax credits for renewable energy including biomass, livestock waste, geothermal and small irrigation power. We have concerns about including animal waste and municipal solid waste in this bill as they both contribute significantly to pollution. OPPOSE.

Here’s the schedule of key issues for this coming week:

Monday, February 28^th

House Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room (HHR) 5

HB2177 assured water supply; permits; fees (O’Halleran) establishes an assured and adequate water supply administration fund from application fees paid to the Department of Water Resources. The details are sketchy on how the fund would be used. MONITOR.

HB2720 general industrial use permits; extension (Boone) allows the extension of these permits in order to accommodate an exchange of groundwater for CAP water. This appears to be a proposal to once again bail out the golf courses. Maybe we could ask them to actually conserve water. MONITOR.

House Committee on Public Institutions and Retirement at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5

HB2340 S/E on clean elections fundraising expenses (Nelson) was not posted.

House Committee on Federal Mandates and Property Rights at 1:30 p.m. in HHR3

HB2131 county islands; annexation; property rights (Biggs) says that cities and towns that annex these county areas cannot change the land use or septic sewage requirements without the consent of the land owner. This would make it difficult to install public sewer systems and protect public health and is likely to result in these county islands remaining county islands. It makes land use planning, such as it is, very difficult. OPPOSE

HB2364 county development rights; transfer (Nelson: O’Halleran, Flake) allows counties to establish a transfer of development rights program. This can be used to help protect sensitive areas. SUPPORT.

HCR2004 S/E trust land; airport lease (Gray C.) was not posted yet, but it is likely a reincarnation of an earlier bill which proposes to allow the state land department to lease trust land for an airport without appraisal, advertisement, auction or competitive bidding for a term of 25-50 years.

Tuesday, March 1^st

House Committee on Counties, Municipalities and Military Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5

SB1023 solar energy advisory council; continuation (Tibshraeny) continues this council through 2015. This is a good council and an important issue. They should continue it. SUPPORT.

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 4:00 p.m. in SHR109

SB1393 aggregate mined land reclamation act (Flake: Johnson, Soltero et al) establishes a new division of mined land reclamation at the mine inspector’s office and puts the reclamation for sand and gravel solely under the purview of the state mine inspector, a person who has traditionally been a cheerleader for mining rather than any kind of regulator. It gives broad authority for variances to the inspector. It does not appear to have a lot of accountability included. OPPOSE.

Wednesday, March 2^nd

House Committee on Appropriations (P) at 1:30 p.m. in HHR1

HB2326 emissions testing; in lieu repeal (Gray C., Biggs, Chase, et al) eliminates the in lieu fee for emissions. This would eliminate a lot of funding for Clean Air programs. OPPOSE.

HB2374 solar equipment; taxation (Mason, Downing) requires the School Facilities Board (SFB) to develop renewable energy guidelines by June 30, 2006. The guidelines must require the use of solar cooling and solar hot water heating instead of “conventional” methods for all replacements and upgrades if the SFB determines they are appropriate for the school project. It allows the SFB to include other forms of renewable energy in the guidelines as well. It provides for tax credits of 15% of the cost of a residential photovoltaic system not to exceed $3,000 and increases the maximum per residence accumulated tax credits for solar energy devices from $1,000 to $5,000. It provides for tax credits for commercial solar photovoltaic system of 15% of the cost up to $10,000 and for other commercial solar 25% up to $5,000, among other things. It is retroactive for the commercial aspects of it to January 1, 2005. SUPPORT.

HB2643 lower Colorado river multispecies conservation (O’Halleran, Robson, Weiers J., et al) provides for an additional registration fee on watercraft and an additional charge on trout stamps to help fund this multispecies conservation plan. This plan is pretty weak and does not provide for protection of any of the species south of the border.

HCR2029 taxpayer bill of rights (Pearce, Boone, Gray C., et al) refers to the ballot a measure which places maximum limits on state revenues and expenditures for FY 2008 and every year after that. It establishes that the revenue limit for the fiscal year shall not exceed the lesser of either the maximum allowable amount of revenues or the actual amount of state revenues for the preceding year. Again, it is intended to keep Arizona at the bottom for many important issues including protecting aspects of our environment.

Thanks again for your help and support! To email legislators go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to http://www.vote-smart.org (You will need your 9-digit zipcode.) 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/.