Legislative Updates 2006

“We owe at least this much to future generations, from whom we have borrowed a fragile planet called Earth.”  — Maurice Strong, environmentalist, author, Secretary General of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development

Sierra Club 2006 Legislative Update #21

June 2, 2006

Hello Conservation Friends!  Will it ever end?  The Arizona Senate voted out a budget last night, but it is different from the House budget, so they will have to reconcile their own differences and then, of course, work with the Governor.  As I noted last week, this is not an environmentally friendly budget.  The Legislature once again diverts the Water Protection Fund dollars; harms the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality so it would have to severely cut several programs; and does not adequately fund Parks, and in fact the House Budget would mean Parks is out of money by the end of October.  This is somewhat ironic as the Legislature is also proposing to give Parks a brand new park to operate.  There is nothing in the budget that really says they care in the least about future generations and the kind of quality of life they will have. 

On a brighter note, SB1350 pesticides; child care facilities; notifications (Allen) passed out of the House 41-12-7, the Senate 28-0-2, and was signed by the Governor.  Thank you all for supporting this throughout the session and for making the calls.  It will become law 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.  The measure requires that child care facilities use licensed applicators for pesticide application.  Furthermore, it 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 Department of Health Services work with child care facilities, personnel and the pesticide applicators to develop a policy to notify parents, guardians, children, and personnel at least forty-eight hours in advance of any pesticide application.  SUPPORT.

To reach the Governor, call 602-542-4331 (toll free 1-800-253-0883), fax 602-542-1381, or email by clicking on the following link or cutting and pasting it into your server http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp.  Her address is 1700 West Washington, 9^th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85007.

Please ask Senators to support HB2429 solar energy tax incentives (Mason, Boone, Chase, et al).  It establishes commercial solar tax credits that allow a 10% credit for the installation of solar energy devices for commercial or industrial purposes in a trade or business located in Arizona, which is limited at $25,000 with respect to the same building annually and $50,000 annually per company.  There is an annual cap of $1.5 million on the commercial tax credit. The bill also changes the law so the value of solar systems will not be added to property tax valuation. SUPPORT. 

Please ask your House members to support SB1323 S/E: tax credit; cogeneration (Bee, Aguirre, Bennett, et al).  It provides a new individual and corporate income tax credit for 2008 and 2009 for a taxpayer who produces and sells electricity from combined heat and power.  The credit is equal to one and a half cents multiplied by the total kilowatt hours of electricity or one and one tenths cents multiplied by the total horsepower hours of power.  It includes an overall cap of $2 million dollars and a limit of $500,000 on the maximum tax incentive for any single installation.  (This will be amended on the floor to reduce this to $150,000.)  The tax credit for a 1 megawatt (MW) project would amount to about $100,000 and it is likely that most projects in Arizona would be less than 1 MW and would include facilities like hospitals, hotels, schools, and industrial users.

The key to a more sustainable energy future is for us to become as efficient as possible and also invest heavily in renewable energy.  Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is a major efficiency measure and is significantly more efficient than generating electricity and thermal energy separately.  Some CHP systems are capable of an overall efficiency of over 80 percent.  This is double that for conventional systems.  Rather than just have the thermal energy wasted, it is recovered and can be used for space heating, hot water, steam, air conditioning, water cooling, product drying, or other thermal energy needs.  SUPPORT.

Please ask your legislators to oppose SB1550 copper state park (Flake, Brown, Chase, et al) on final passage.  This went to conference committee and will have to go back to both houses for final passage.  We believe this bill is premature, at best.  The measure to facilitate the congressional land swap, which is part of this park deal, has not even been heard in the Congress yet.  That land swap bill will allow a foreign-owned mining company, Resolution Copper Company (Rio Tinto—55% owner— headquartered in the United Kingdom, and Broken Hill Properties —45% owner—headquartered in Australia) that acquired the old Magma Mine near Superior and is planning to resume mining in the area, to acquire Oak Flats Campground via a congressionally legislated land swap so that they can mine in the area.  This bill establishes a state park near Kearny that is contingent on the conveyance of BLM lands and state trust lands, but not the private parcels belonging to Asarco, a mining company that is currently in bankruptcy.  What kind of park has mining lands in its midst?  OPPOSE.  

To find your legislators’ contact information, just go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp

For more information on these and other bills go to http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/.

Quick Updates:

SB1441 S/E: wildlife habitat restoration fund; appropriation (Allen, Arzberger, Bee, et al) gives money to the Game and Fish Commission, but it comes with strings including requiring them to use it for the pet projects of the bill supporters. OPPOSE.  It still awaits House Rules action.  I have heard it is back in the mix.

SB1468 Arizona trail (Allen, Arzberger, Flake, et al) appropriates $500,000 for the Arizona trail and memorializes Bob Stump. SUPPORT.  It looks like they will get $100,000 for it in the budget.

SCR1019 NOW: Private Property Rights Protection Act (Bee, Bennett, R. Burns, et al) refers to the ballot a measure that requires governments to compensate property owners for nearly every zoning or land use decision they make. OPPOSE.  It is still unclear what they are going to do with this.

HCR2045 state trust land reform (Nelson, Boone, Brown, et al) is a measure to counter the Conserving Arizona’s Future Initiative.  While we are not supporting the initiative, we do not think it is appropriate for the Legislature to try and confuse voters in order to defeat it.  HCR2045 protects very little land and does not adequately protect the identified lands.  OPPOSE. It still awaits action by the Senate Rules.

There are still some executive nominations awaiting Senate action, including the Game and Fish Commission appointment.

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/.