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Legislative Updates 2006Sierra Club 2006 Legislative Update #8 March 3, 2006 Hello Conservation Friends! This week the most disturbing actions did not come from legislators. They came from a handful of disgruntled people in the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee their message to senators was women, especially young women, and in particular young women with children need not apply -- for the Game and Fish Commission. The Game and Fish Commission nominee, Jennifer Martin, has become somewhat controversial as the National Rifle Association is supporting her and this new organization, Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife, is against her. The latter organization apparently doesn’t like her because she isn’t their guy guy being the critical part of that. While many of us sat and thought “And what year is this?” it was clear that several of the senators were uncomfortable with the direction in which the testimony was going. When an individual said that Ms. Martin underestimated how much time serving on this commission would take away from her “young family”, that was quite enough for Senator Rebecca Rios, mother of two. She let the person know how offensive and sexist his comments were. No matter what your position is on this nomination, or any other nomination, these kinds of attacks are inappropriate. Good for the senators who were appalled by this behavior, and said so. The nominee was recommended to the full senate 4-3. The Committee also recommended confirmation of an industry lobbyist for the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund no questions asked and a rancher to the State Parks Board, among others. Check out the Legislative Tracker at http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/ . This week, please call your senator and ask him/her to support SB1438 unlawful feeding of wildlife (Hellon: Cannell, L. Lopez). This measure makes it a petty offense to feed wildlife intentionally in Pima and Maricopa Counties, thus targeting the more urban areas of our state. The bill excludes tree squirrels and birds and people who are in the process of hunting or fishing or people who are engaged in wildlife management activities. We support this wildlife feeding ban measure because the feeding of wildlife promotes human-wildlife conflicts where both people and the animals are at risk. Animals become habituated to humans and associate them with food. Feeding prey species like deer and javelina can also attract their predators. SUPPORT. To find senators’ contact information, go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp Quick Bill Update: SCR1019 S/E Private Property Rights Protection Act awaits action by the Senate Committee of the Whole (C.O.W.) and HCR2031 S/E Private Property Rights Protection Act was held in House Rules and still awaits action there. These bills refer to the ballot measures that require governments to compensate property owners for nearly every zoning or land use decision they make. If adopted, these measures would either have a huge negative financial impact, draining funds from important public services, or, more likely result in no enforcement of land use protections. If people think we need more irresponsible and rampant growth, these are the just the bills for them. OPPOSE. SCR1035 food and agricultural security (Flake, Arzberger, Jarrett, et al) awaits action by the Senate C.O.W. It refers to the ballot a measure that says only some unnamed agency that the legislature designates has the authority to enforce or adopt both laws and administrative rules that govern agriculture. The measure includes a ban on any law or rule that would limit or restrict production of agricultural products except for those laws or rules that are for the protection of public health and safety, necessary to comply with federal law or laws or rules, etc. Most environmental laws are either to comply with federal law and/or to protect the public health and safety. Irrespective of that, this measure is just plain bad. OPPOSE. SB1221 structural pest control: licensure exemption (Leff: Harper) exempts from licensure people who apply herbicides that are not labeled for restricted use and that are commercially available to the public. This is not a good idea people who apply poisons for a living should be trained. This passed out of the Commerce Committee 8-1. OPPOSE. HB2129 game and fish; enforcement; penalties (JP Weiers, Mason: Biggs, et al) provides higher penalties for poaching wildlife, including a stronger penalty for poaching “trophy animals”. It passed out of the House 49-4-7. SUPPORT. HB2294 NOW: regional water planning (O’Halleran) requires cities and towns to include information about projected water demand for the next 10 years in the water resource element of their general plans. It requires that towns that do not have general plans do water use planning in coordination with other governing bodies in the same groundwater basin with regards to water supplies, conservation efforts, and drought management efforts. It also sets up a process for the Arizona Department of Water Resources to establish priority regional planning areas. It passed the House 53-2-5. SUPPORT. HB2429 solar energy tax incentives (Mason, Boone, Chase, et al) raises the amount of residential tax credit for installation of solar devices from $1000 to a maximum of $2000 and up to $5000 in solar tax credits per residence. It establishes commercial solar tax credits that allow a 10% credit for the installation of solar energy devices for commercial or industrial purposes in Arizona and includes a $7 million annual cap. It passed the House 43-13-4. SUPPORT. HB2431 NOW: affidavit of disclosure; water service (Mason, J. Burns, Burton Cahill) provides additional information on an affidavit of disclosure for a lot split that indicates if the property is served by a private water company, a well, or a municipal provider, and that the Department of Water Resources may not have determined the water adequacy. It passed the House 56-0-4. SUPPORT. Coming up this week at the Legislature (agendas often change throughout the week and not all bills are listed): Monday, March 6 House Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 5 Fire presentations by Kirk Rowdabaugh, Arizona State Forester and Tom Klabunde, National Forest Service SB1086 parks board reservation revolving fund (Burns) allows parks to keep more of this fund. Currently they can keep up to $12,000; this raises it to $40,000. OKAY. SB1256 multispecies conservation programs; fees (Flake, Blendu, A. Aguirre, et al) makes a minor change regarding who must pay the Colorado River waster use fee. WATCH. SB1334 well drilling; time extension (Flake, Chase) allows the Department of Water Resources Director to extend the amount of time someone has to drill their well, per their permit. WATCH. Senate Committee on Judiciary at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1 HB2373 NOW: Supreme Court opinion; single subject (Knaperek, Pearce: Biggs, et al) directs the Attorney General to request that the Arizona Supreme Court determine whether an initiative that proposes an amendment to the Constitution contains a single subject. This and the measure below could really clog up the courts. OPPOSE. HCR2019 NOW: initiative; single subject; court review (Knaperek, Pearce: Biggs, et al) refers to the ballot a measure which requires the Arizona Supreme Court to determine whether a citizen initiative contains more than one proposed amendment before the proposed measure goes to the ballot. OPPOSE. Wednesday, March 8 Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 - Agenda was not yet posted. House Committee on Environment at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5 SB1144 drinking water systems’ equipment (Flake, Blendu, Cannell et al) indicates that any material used in a drinking water system must meet the national sanitation foundation standards unless it is specifically exempted by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in Rule. SUPPORT SB1433 tax exemption; liquid natural gas (Martin, Huffman) is another industry tax break. 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 |