Legislative Updates 2005

Hi all! As expected, the budget got the deep six from the Governor and she is now meeting with House and Senate leaders to discuss issues of disagreement. This week the Senate rejected a bill to keep the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). They later reversed this and passed it on to the House. The legislators who voted against continuing the agency and the so-called leaders in the business community ought to be ashamed of themselves for their failure to support protection of our water, air, and the public’s health. For years, the ADEQ has had weak directors who saw the agency’s role as being a lapdog for industry. If the agency did try to promote enforcement, the big business interests ­ often hiding behind the cloak of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce ­ would go the governor or the legislature to get their “relief”. Now, the agency is doing some enforcement against some of the worst polluters and scofflaws in the state and they are accused of being too aggressive. It would be funny if it were not so sad and if the implications for our quality of life were not so significant.

This week, please call members of the House Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee and ask them to oppose SB1067 appropriation; Zuni tribe water settlement (Flake, Bee, Blendu, et al). It appropriates $1,596,000 for the state to comply with the Zuni Tribe water rights settlement, but unfortunately it also diverts $800,000 in FY 2005-2006 and $796,000 in FY 2006-2007 from the Arizona Game and Fish Heritage Fund. We oppose this Heritage Fund raid which represents the 33^rd attempt to take these dollars since its inception. It is an inappropriate and unnecessary diversion of these dollars which are directed to providing and protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat. The State should meet its commitment with general fund dollars as it has with previous water rights settlements. The Heritage Fund was created by a voter initiative passed in 1990 by a nearly 2-to-1 vote. Money for the Heritage Fund comes from the state lottery; up to $20 million in annual lottery revenue is to be divided evenly between the Game and Fish Department and the State Parks Department. These monies maintain miles of trails, including the Arizona trail, acquire important habitat for endangered and threatened species, preserve historic and archaeological sites, create and improve community and state parks, and provide funding for environmental education. Most of these programs were significantly underfunded or not funded before enactment of the Heritage Fund.

Members of the Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee include Representatives: O’Halleran (Chair) tohaller@azleg.state.az.us 926-4079, J. Allen jallen@azleg.state.az.us 926-3395, Brown jbrown@azleg.state.az.us 926-4129, Chase cchase@azleg.state.az.us 926-5030, Jones rjones@azleg.state.az.us 926-5273, Kirkpatrick akirkpat@azleg.state.az.us 926-5160, Mason lmason@azleg.state.az.us 926-5874, Nelson jnelson@azleg.state.az.us 926-5872, JP Weiers jpweiers@azleg.state.az.us 926-5894. All phone numbers are (602). If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislator's office toll free at 1-800-352-8404.

Yes indeed, a few good things did happen at the legislature this week.

SB1009 school buildings; air quality (L. Gray) passed out of the Senate 20-6-4. It makes changes relating to the responsibilities of the school facilities board and school district governing boards to help improve the learning environment for Arizona school children. It requires that the School Facilities Board (SFB) provide information to school districts on how they can limit exposure to pollutants and other harmful emissions. This information must be provided at least every two years. It also requires the SFB to ensure that a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is conducted prior to approval of a new school building project. It prohibits the SFB from approving a project site if that site cannot meet, with reasonable expenditures, the same criteria established for residential properties. It requires that the schools operate their HVAC systems up to standard 62 recommendations or the applicable standard at the time the system was installed.

Please thank the following Senators for supporting this bill and special thanks to Senator Gray for sponsoring it and helping to move it along: Aguirre laguirre@azleg.state.az.us 926-3830, Bee tbee@azleg.state.az.us 926-5683, Brotherton bbrother@azleg.state.az.us 926-4485, Burns rburns@azleg.state.az.us 926-5993, Cannell rcannell@azleg.state.az.us 926-4139, Garcia jgarcia@azleg.state.az.us 926-4171, Giffords ggifford@azleg.state.az.us 926-5262, Gray lgray@azleg.state.az.us 926-3376, Hale ahale@azleg.state.az.us 926-4323, Hellon thellon@azleg.state.az.us 926-4326, Huppenthal jhuppent@azleg.state.az.us 926-5261, Jarrett mjarrett@azleg.state.az.us 926-5288, Leff bleff@azleg.state.az.us 926-4486, Martin dmartin@azleg.state.az.us 926-5284, Miranda rmiranda@azleg.state.az.us 926-5911, Mitchell hmitchel@azleg.state.az.us 926-4124, Rios rrios@azleg.state.az.us 926-5685, Soltero vsoltero@azleg.state.az.us 926-5342, Tibshraeny jtibshra@azleg.state.az.us 926-4481, and Waring jwaring@azleg.state.az.us 926-4916. All phone numbers are (602). If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislator's office toll free at 1-800-352-8404.

HB2390 energy efficiency appliance standards (Mason) passed in the House 42-17-1. It sets the minimum level of energy efficiency for 13 products such as commercial refrigerators and freezers and traffic signals not covered by federal standards.

HB2374 solar equipment; taxation (Mason, Downing) passed in the House 45-12-3. It provides for residential and commercial tax credits for solar energy devices. There are limits on the credits. This helps open the door for more solar development in Arizona which would benefit public health and the economy and create more energy independence.

And, of course, a few bad things were on the agenda this week too.

HB2461 beautification; highways; advertising (NOW: outdoor advertising; regulation) (Gorman: Pierce) and HB2462 highway beautification; outdoor advertising (NOW: outdoor advertising) (Gorman: Pierce) both passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee 3-2. To make matters worse, there are two billboard industry strikers on the following agendas. Why would they want to make Arizona cities uglier? We have a beautiful state. Let’s keep it that way.

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

Monday, March 28^th

House Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture at 9:00 a.m. in HHR5

SB1067 appropriation; Zuni tribe water settlement (Flake, Bee, Blendu, et al). See above.

SB1336 rural water legislative study committee (Flake, Arzberger, Bee, et al) creates a rural water study committee which consists of who’s who of people who want use it up, dam, divert, and destroy. MONITOR.

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

HB2328 local ballot questions; full disclosure (Gray C.: Anderson, Chase, et al) requires legislative council to prepare an “impartial analysis” for county ballot measures. While the legislative council staff does a good job of drafting these analyses, very often the legislators on the legislative council interfere and produce a biased analysis. On several occasions ballot measure committees have successfully challenged these analyses (the courts have found that they were anything but impartial.) This has resulted in several successful lawsuits. Our experience with the growth management initiative is just one example. The legislature accepted the entire analysis presented by the Homebuilders. Now if you think the Homebuilders are impartial on growth management, well, I have some nice coastal property in Arizona to sell you. They should not apply this flawed process to additional measures. OPPOSE.

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

SB1193 income tax returns; rounding (Martin) S/E regulations; outdoor advertising remedies; definition will gut billboard enforcement powers for cities. The striker is an attack on all municipal billboard enforcement and, more particularly, is another way for Clear Channel to get special protections for its illegal billboards in the City of Tucson after the Arizona Supreme Court reversed dismissals by the lower courts. OPPOSE.

SCM1002 endangered species act; urging reform (Flake, Blendu, Jarrett) is just a postcard to Congress, but it should be opposed because it contains inaccurate and misleading information. The memorial urges Congress to reform the Endangered Species Act because “since its enactment thirty years ago, the Endangered Species Act has created unreasonable regulatory hurdles for property owners while failing to help many species.” Where is the evidence of that? The Endangered Species Act provides a critical lifeline for species in trouble. Clearly, no one likes to see a species listed. We would like to see action taken to protect them before they are endangered. When that doesn’t occur, however, then the Endangered Species Act provides a safety net and has helped us keep numerous species. Through the Endangered Species Act and other protective measures, we have recovered our national symbol ­ the American bald eagle, brought back the California condor from the brink of extinction and to the canyons and cliffs of the Greater Grand Canyon area, plus returned the Mexican gray wolf to the wilds of eastern Arizona. OPPOSE.

House Committee on Ways and Means at 1:30 p.m. in HHR4

SB1201 municipal tax incentives; prohibition; penalty (Cheuvront, Garcia, Harper, et al) prohibits a municipality in or within 25 miles of a metropolitan statistical area of two million or more people from offering or providing a tax incentive to a retail business for locating in the municipality. This is in response to all of those incentives being offered to Wal-Mart, one of the wealthiest corporations in the world. MONITOR. There are also two additional bills related to this issue. SB1274 and SB1287.

Tuesday, March 29^th

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109

HCR2045 voter-approved expenditures; adjustment (Konopnicki) refers to the ballot a measure that undercuts voter approved ballot measures by allowing 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. The legislature is likely to always say there is not enough money to cover the costs and easily divert dollars for conservation, health care, and education to other purposes. It applies retroactively to 1998. This would gut the Voter Protection Act and shift even more power to the Arizona Legislature. OPPOSE.

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

SB1201 municipal tax incentives; prohibition; penalty (Cheuvront, Garcia, Harper, et al) See above.

SB1318 flood control; omnibus (Flake, Arzberger, Brown, et al) makes numerous changes related to flood-related erosion prone areas. It defines a “flood-related erosion area” as a land area adjoining the shore of a lake or watercourse and likely to suffer flood-related erosion damage. It allows flood control districts to enter into flood control enhancement solutions, including flood-proofing assistance to property owners. MONITOR.

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

HB2380 air fund; CNG school buses (Boone, Barnes, Gray, et al) allows the diesel low emissions incentive grants to be used for compressed natural gas. MONITOR.

Wednesday, March 30^th

House Committee on K-12 Education at 9:00 a.m. in HHR3

SB1009 school buildings; air quality (L. Gray) See above.

Senate Committee on Government Accountability and Reform at 1:30 p.m. in SHR2

HB2144 homeowners’ association penalties; notice; hearing (Gray C) S/E outdoor advertising; remediation. The striker is not posted, but it cannot be good.

Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Rural Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109

Executive Nominations ­ Robert Hernbrode (Game and Fish Commission) and Kirk Rowdabaugh (State Forester)

HB2277 water providers; water plans (NOW: water providers; community system plans) (O’Halleran, Hershberger, Landrum Taylor, et al) requires drinking water providers to prepare a system water plan that addresses water supplies, drought preparedness and conservation strategies.  The plan must be submitted to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.  SUPPORT.

HB2323 tax credits; water conservation systems (C Gray: Giffords) authorizes a tax credit not to exceed $1,000 per year for residential installation of water conservation systems. SUPPORT.

HB2520 chemical fire response; task force (Landrum Taylor) requires hazardous materials training programs to address notification and coordination of services for protection of the public health during and after a chemical or other toxic fire event. It establishes the Arizona Chemical Fire Response Coordination Task Force. SUPPORT.

HB2613 forest health amendments (Chase, Brown, Gray C., et al) further promotes various kinds of tax subsidies including transaction privilege tax, income tax, and property tax for the forest products industries. It also cuts the use tax in half for vehicles that are transporting forest products. The key problem with the bill is it does not promote or subsidize the products for which there is no market —small diameter trees—instead it leaves it wide open for subsidies for logging old growth and larger diameter trees. OPPOSE.

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 species south of the border.

HCM2007 CAP water priority (Mason, Chase, Landrum Taylor, et al) is a postcard to Congress which among other things encourages Congress to take actions to construct or improve regulatory storage facilities in the lower Colorado River system, operate the Yuma desalting plant and augment the flow of the Colorado River to protect Arizona's Colorado River water supplies. We oppose this because of the folly of operating the Yuma Desalinization Plant. It does not make economic sense as it is very costly and it will harm the environment by destroying the Ciénega de Santa Clara, located at the eastern edge of the Colorado River Delta. It is an open water wetland that covers more than 40,000 acres and is the largest remaining wetland in the Delta. OPPOSE.

House Committee on Environment at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5

SB1231 fire districts; annexation (NOW: state land transfer; game and fish) (Flake) transfers a small amount of property to Game and Fish. MONITOR.

SB1455 agency inspection report; deficiency correction (Flake) will have a Strike Everything amendment on the Department of Environmental Quality continuation. It is likely to just continue the department for a couple of years rather than the 10 years in the bill that just passed the Senate. This is just more shenanigans. Frankly, I think those lawyers over at Gallagher and Kennedy (they represent the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and a who’s who list of big polluters) have too much time on their hands.

House Committee on Government Reform and Government Finance Accountability at 1:30 p.m. in HHR3

SB1218 election laws; secretary of state (Jarrett, Blendu: Harper) makes various changes to the election laws including stating that voters who move from one county to another county during the 29 days prior to a primary, general or runoff election as residents of their previous county for voting purposes in the upcoming election. It looks like the bill is fine.

SB1502 channelization districts; interim zoning protection (Jarrett: Arzberger, Johnson, et al) freezes the zoning for these recreational corridor channelization districts in order to protect the sand and gravel companies. As if they need more protections. 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 to replace it with the much lower standard for statutes. According to the Arizona Supreme Court (regarding the separate amendment provision), “The clear import of this provision is that voters must be allowed to express their separate opinion as to each proposed constitutional amendment.” Changing this is a really bad idea. OPPOSE.

Thursday, March 31^st

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

HB2323 tax credits; water conservation systems (C Gray: Giffords) authorizes a tax credit not to exceed $1,000 per year for residential installation of water conservation systems. SUPPORT.

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/ .