Legislative Updates 2006

Sierra Club 2006 Legislative Update #10

March 17, 2006

Hello Conservation Friends!  Top o’ the mornin’ to ya.  This week there was a fair bit of good news.  Several of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) bills including Son of TABOR, TABOR’s Revenge, and TABOR meets Godzilla, all went down to defeat.  Don’t count on that being the last of them however.  There are still plenty of opportunities to bring them back and there are still several that have yet to come to the floor.  SCR1035 food and agricultural security (Flake, Arzberger, Jarrett, et al), a measure that said only some unnamed agency designated by the legislature has the authority to enforce laws that govern agriculture, went down to defeat in the Senate Committee of the Whole.  Really bad bills tend to be resurrected repeatedly, however, so we will be vigilant.

They also passed a couple of good bills including SB1350 pesticides; child care facilities; notifications (Allen), which passed out of the Senate 28-1-0-1.  Unless your senator is Jack Harper, you can call and thank him or her for supporting this.  This bill is an important step in protecting the health of young children.

As most of you probably know by now, Senator Marilyn Jarrett died last week.  Our thoughts are with her family and friends during this difficult time.  There is a viewing Sunday afternoon from 4pm-7pm at the Capitol and a service on Monday.  The legislature will reconvene at 2pm on Monday in order to allow legislators to attend.  Chuck Gray has been appointed to fill her seat.  The now vacant House seat has not yet been filled.

SB1508 regulation of off-highway vehicles (Flake, Bennett) was defeated on the Senate Floor 12-17-1, but will be back as Senator Martin moved for reconsideration.  As amended in the Committee of the Whole, it establishes an off-highway vehicle (OHV) advisory commission that is totally stacked with OHV users.  The commission is not balanced in the least nor does it require that the members have expertise in the areas for which it is responsible.  It does not require expertise with OHV laws, mitigation of land damage, or necessary environmental, historical, and cultural clearance or compliance activities yet says the commission members allocate the money for doing all of these.  The amendment also swipes the OHV dollars from Arizona State Parks and would risk the jobs of more than a dozen Parks’ employees.  This agency is already underfunded and struggling.

Please call the following senators and thank them for voting no on this bill and ask them to please vote no again when it is reconsidered:  Aboud 926-5262 paboud@azleg.gov ; Aguirre 926-3830, laguirre@azleg.gov; Allen 926-4480  callen@azleg.gov ; Brotherton 926-4485, bbrotherton@azleg.gov; Garcia 926-4171 jgarcia@azleg.gov; Gould 926-4138 rgould@azleg.gov; Hale 926-4323 ahale@azleg.gov , Harper 926-4178 jharper@azleg.gov; Johnson 926-3160 kjohnson@azleg.gov; Leff 926-4486 bleff@azleg.gov ; R. Miranda 926-5911, rmiranda@azleg.gov; Mitchell 926-4124 hmitchell@azleg.gov ; Rios 926-5685,  rrios@azleg.gov , Soltero 926-5342 vsoltero@azleg.gov ; Verschoor 926-4136 tverschoor@azleg.gov; and Waring 926-4916 jwaring@azleg.gov . (All phone numbers are 602.)  Also call Senators Cheuvront 926-5325 kcheuvront@azleg.gov and Hellon 926-4326 thellon@azleg.gov and ask them to please vote no when this measure is reconsidered.

Please call senators again and ask them to oppose SCR1019 S/E Private Property Rights Protection Act and ask House members to oppose HCR2031 NOW: compensation; land use regulation (C. Gray).   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.  Please let them know we want and need stronger land use protections, not a measure that guts what we have.    Legislator contact information is at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp

Check out the Legislative Tracker at http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/ .

Coming up this week at the Legislature (agendas can change throughout the week, not all bills are listed):

Tuesday, March 21

Governor Napolitano’s Forest Health and Safety Conference at 9:00 a.m. at Embry-Riddle in Prescott.  Register on-line at http://www.governor.state.az.us/FHC/Registration.asp

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

William J. Feldmeier, Jr. for State Transportation Board. He has supported a number of bad transportation projects, worked against the Citizens’ Growth Management Initiative, and opposed pretty much everything that would bring some sensibility to transportation planning.  OPPOSE.

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109

HB2591 compressed natural gas; particulate program (Boone, Barnes) allows the emissions in lieu fees (scheduled to sunset) to be used for converting school buses to compressed natural gas, to install particulate traps or to buy school buses with particulate filters. SUPPORT.

HB2639 earth fissure maps (Nelson, Nichols) requires Arizona Geological Survey to submit earth fissure maps to the land department.  It no longer includes the immunity language.  WATCH.

Wednesday, March 22

Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development at 9:00 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room 1

HB2281 registrar of contractors; recovery fund (Paton) will have a strike everything amendment on development fees; counties which is not yet posted.  WATCH.

Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109

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”.  SUPPORT.

HB2508 mines and mineral resources department (Jones, A. Aguirre, Barnes, et al) continues this department until 2016. This agency is a cheerleader for the mining industry, as if they need one.  WATCH.

HB2518 gray water use; incentives (C. Gray, Boone, Chase, et al) allows gray water to be considered in the assured water supply determination.  While the idea of promoting the use of gray water is a good one, this bill does not currently get us there as it really will not result in more conservation, but will just allow the builder to construct more homes with the current water supply.  WATCH.

HCR2050 save Fantasy Island (Paton, Prezelski, Bee, et al) is a resolution to protect this popular mountain biking area.  SUPPORT.

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

HB2381 NOW: development fee; capital improvements plan (Paton, Bee) requires municipalities to jump through even more hoops in order to assess development impact fees.  The problem is not that developers are paying too much, it is that they are paying too little.  Why make it more difficult to assess development impact fees and why did they exclude arts facilities?  OPPOSE.

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/ .