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Legislative Updates 2006Sierra Club 2006 Legislative Update #4 February 3, 2006 Hello Conservation Friends! Thanks for all your support this past week. It looks like we will have a good turnout at Environmental Day at the Legislature on Tuesday, February 7, 2005 from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., 2nd Floor Conference Room, Executive Tower at the Capitol. If you have not already, please let me know immediately if you plan to attend. Also, let me know if you have an appointment with one or more of your legislators that day. Check out the Legislative Tracker at http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/ for more details on some of the bills below. This week, please call your senator and ask him/her to oppose SCR1008 constitutional amendments; single subject (Huppenthal). It 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 most recent Arizona Supreme Court decision regarding the current constitutional standard, “The clear import of this provision is that voters must be allowed to express their separate opinion as to each proposed constitutional amendment.” The Arizona Constitution is the foundation for our laws. It should be clear, concise, and easily understood by the citizens of this state. If this should pass, that means that in the future, we could be looking at 100-page constitutional amendments that throw in everything but the kitchen sink. This is likely to go to the Senate Floor early next week. Please also call members of the Senate Health Committee and members of the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee and ask them to please support SB1350 pesticides; child care facilities; notifications (Allen). The bill requires that a pesticide applicator notify a child care facility at least seventy- two hours in advance of any pesticide application and requires that the child care facility notify parents, guardians, children, and personnel at least forty-eight hours in advance of any pesticide application. Currently notification laws are in place for school aged children attending schools, but not child care facilities. It provides some exemptions for the least toxic substances. Members of the Health Committee include senators: Allen, Chair 926-4480, callen@azleg.gov; Arzberger 926-4321 marzberger@azleg.gov; Cannell, 926-4139 rcannell@azleg.gov ; Garcia 926-4171, jgarcia@azleg.gov ; Hellon 926-4326 , thellon@azleg.gov ; Leff 926-4486, bleff@azleg.gov ; and Waring 926-4916 , jwaring@azleg.gov . Members of Natural Resources and Rural Affairs include senators: Flake (Chair) 926-5219, jflake@azleg.gov ; Arzberger 926-4321 marzberger@azleg.gov; Bee 926-5683, tbee@azleg.gov ; Blendu 926-5955, rblendu@azleg.gov ; Cannell, 926-4139 rcannell@azleg.gov ; Jarrett 926-5288, mjarrett@azleg.gov ; and Rios 926-5685, rrios@azleg.gov . Coming up this week at the Legislature (note that agendas often change throughout the week and that not all bills are listed for the committees below, just the ones we are following):
Monday, February 6 House Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture at 8:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2294 cooperative forestry fund; gifts (O’Halleran) will have a strike everything amendment (that means that the original bill is eliminated and replaced by a completely different bill) on regional water planning. The striker will require the cities and towns that must include water resources in their general plans to project water demand for the next 20 years. It requires that cities outside Active Management Areas plan for water use in coordination with other governing bodies in the same groundwater basin with regards to water supplies, conservation efforts, and drought management efforts. SUPPORT. HB2435 water protection fund; funding (O’Halleran, Kirkpatrick, Meza) provides for full funding of this program which is focused on protecting riparian areas. SUPPORT. HB2463 inadequate water supply; notice (O’Halleran, Hershberger, Jones) will have a strike everything on groundwater basin plans; funding. HB2639 earth fissure maps (Nelson, Nichols) requires Arizona Geological Survey to submit earth fissure maps to the land department. SUPPORT. HB2775 statewide groundwater level monitoring (O’Halleran, Jones, Kirkpatrick, et al ) requires the Department of Water Resources to set up a system for monitoring groundwater levels. It includes an appropriation. SUPPORT. Senate Committee on Health at 1:30 p.m. in SHR109 SB1350 pesticides; child care facilities; notifications (Allen) See above. Senate Committee on Judiciary at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1 SB1360 initiative; referendum; recall; signatures (Mitchell, Aguirre, Brotherton, et al) requires that a qualified elector who is signing a petition must be a registered voter in the town, city, county, or state where the petition is circulated. It is unclear if this would affect people signing a petition for Maricopa County on a statewide issue, while they are in Flagstaff, for example. WATCH.
Tuesday, February 7 Environmental Day at the Legislature, 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., 2nd floor conference room, Executive Tower. Senate Committee on Transportation at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1 SB1248 appropriation; highway construction (Blendu) appropriates $100 million to help accelerate highway construction. Why? You might ask. We can’t seem to fund education or ensure clean air in our cities. Perhaps we should take care of that first. These freeways and highways only exacerbate the rampant urban sprawl and are enormous subsidies for developers. OPPOSE.
Wednesday, February 8 House Committee on Commerce at 9:00 a.m. in HHR5 HB2463 inadequate water supply; notice (O’Halleran, Hershberger, Jones) provide for including information with an affidavit of disclosure in a lot split that indicates if the property is served by an inadequate water supply. This will help ensure that those beyond the first time property owners will know whether or not it has been determined if adequate water is available. SUPPORT. HB2562 weights and measures; civil penalties (Anderson: Alvarez, Bradley, et al) allows for application of a maximum penalty if refiners or distributors violate the fuel quality standards. SUPPORT. Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 SB1349 low sulfur diesel fuel (Harper) says that diesel fuel manufactured in Arizona will have to be low sulfur diesel. This seems okay. WATCH W/ POSSIBLE SUPPORT. SB1350 pesticides; child care facilities; notifications (Allen) See above. SUPPORT. SB1468 Arizona trail (Allen, Arzberger, Flake, et al) appropriates $500,00 for the Arizona trail and memorializes Bob Stump. It is difficult to see what the connection is here. SB1470 state permits; approval by default (Martin) says that permits for short-term use or for specific use of products, or permits for plan approvals on state trust lands are automatically approved if the commissioner does not approve disapprove them within 12 months. This seems contrary to the constitution and the trust responsibility of the commissioner. OPPOSE House Committee on Environment at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5 HB2291 chemical fire response; task force (Landrum Taylor: A. Aguirre, J. Allen, et al) sets up this response task force and requires that it establish a hazardous material tracking process program for municipalities to identify buildings that use or have hazardous materials on site. It requires coordination of public health and risks associated with a chemical or other toxic fire event. SUPPORT. HB2427 tax credit; renewable energy (Mason, Burton Cahill, Chase, et al) provides for a tax credit for the production and sale of renewable energy. The credit is equal to the total kilowatt-hours produced multiplied by one and one-half cents. Unfortunately, it includes municipal solid waste as well as animal waste in the definition of sources that would qualify for this. These are not clean resources. OPPOSE w/current definitions. HB2711 tax incentives; biodiesel; ethanol E85; motor (Boone, Barnes) exempts these fuels from motor vehicle fuel and use fuel taxes. WATCH. House Committee on Appropriations (P) at 1:30 p.m. in HHR1 HB2129 game and fish; enforcement; penalties (JP Weiers, Mason: Biggs, et al) provides higher penalties for poaching of wildlife. It includes a stronger penalty for taking “trophy animals” as defined in the bill. It allows for a five-year or permanent revocation of licenses for illegally taking trophy animals or endangered species. SUPPORT. HCR2022 taxpayer bill of rights (Pearce, Murphy, Rosati, et al) artificially limits annual growth in allowed state revenues to overall state population growth and inflation and sets inflexible constraints for what can be done with revenues above the TABOR limit. The bill would allow the state to cut taxes while at the same time cutting educational opportunities, healthcare, environmental and public safety programs. TABOR didn’t work in Colorado (The voters repealed it last year.) and it won’t work in Arizona. OPPOSE. HCR2037 emergency management; border wall; appropriation (Pearce, Murphy, Gould, et al) directs the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to enter contracts to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico. It will appropriate dollars, but that is currently blank. This is a bad idea on several levels and would have enormous detrimental impacts on the border environment. It would make it impossible for wildlife to move along the north south routes and could significantly affect jaguars, Sonoran pronghorn, and other species. OPPOSE.
House Committee on Government Reform & Government Finance Accountability at 1:30 p.m. in HHR3 HB2475 electric generating facilities; coal; development (Konopnicki, Downing) has a strike everything amendment to set up a task force to identify and promote plans to develop emissions control technologies for clean coal-fired power plants or other technologies for the generation of electric power. Clean coal is an oxymoron. WATCH. Thanks 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 legislators’ offices 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/
Sandy Bahr Back to 2006 Legislative Updates page Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |