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Legislative Updates 2007Sierra Club 2007 Legislative Update #3 January 19, 2007 Hello Conservation Friends! It is looking like there may be another record number of bills this session. Many of the bills introduced are “vehicle” bills. That means they may use them later for a strike everything amendment. Strike everything amendments allow them to completely change the bill and make it into a brand new bill. If you see a bill that says “technical correction,” it is probably a vehicle bill. Please mark your calendar for February 6, 2007 from 10:00am to 1:00 p.m. for Progressive Lobby Day and for March 20 from 9:00 a.m. to Noon for Environmental Legislative Day, both are at the Capitol out on the lawn. Call me if you want more details. This week, please call or email your senators and ask them to oppose SB1049 appropriation; highway construction (Burns). This bill appropriates $450,000,000 from the Budget Stabilization Fund (Rainy Day Fund) for expediting freeway construction. This is not the kind of “emergency” for which this fund was established and is about the last thing we need to address traffic congestion and poor air quality. How about expediting a little mass transit? You can reach senators by going to http://azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S and clicking on your senator’s email address. You will also find phone numbers there. For those outside the Phoenix area, just call 1-800-352-8404 and ask for your senator. If you are unsure of who your senator is, go to http://www.vote-smart.org and enter your address or you can ask the person at that senate information desk. Monday, January 22 Subcommittees on Education and Natural Resources at 9:00 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 Budget presentations on the State Land Department, Navigable Stream Adjudication Commission, Arizona Geological Survey and the Arizona State Parks Board House Committee on Ways and Means at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 4 HB2380 charitable organizations; tax credit (Anderson, Barnes, Biggs et al) clarifies what a charity must provide to the Arizona Department of Revenue and also how much a married couple can deduct on their taxes. WATCH. Tuesday, January 23 House Government Committee at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 4 HB2208 open meetings; minutes; redacted information (Adams) will have a strike everything amendment on it, so we will need to keep an eye on it. WATCH. Senate Transportation Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 SB1161 HOV lanes; motorcycles; buses (Tibshraeny) clarifies that motorcycles and buses can travel in the high occupancy vehicle lanes at any time. I see no problems with this. NO POSITION. Wednesday, January 24 Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee at 9:00 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 SB1083 waste tire disposal (Flake, O’Halleran, Brown, et al) extends the waste tire disposal program through 2017. This includes a fee on new tires to help pay for disposal of old tires. SUPPORT. House Environment Committee at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2309 solid waste; statewide planning (Barnes: Anderson) requires the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to notify facility operators before amending the statewide plan. It requires review every two years. This bill, like the two bills below, tend to be vehicle bills for strike everything amendments each year. NO POSITION. HB2311 water; maximum daily loads; report (Barnes: Anderson) requires a report every two years on the progress and effectiveness of this program. Again, I think this is a vehicle bill and will be used later for a strike everything amendment. NO POSITION. HB2312 state air quality rules; hearing (Barnes) requires 30 days instead of 20 days notice on a public hearing relating to a rule regarding air toxics. I think this is probably a vehicle as well, but we support having additional notice for these hearings. SUPPORT. Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 SB1112 toxic fire response (Landrum Taylor, Miranda, Rios, 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. SB1119 water; overlapping service area providers (C. Gray, Aguirre, Arzberger, et al) states that a landowner’s right to use water from a service provider cannot be limited by another entity with an overlapping service area. This sounds like a power struggle between entities, but could have some significant negative consequences. WATCH. SB1175 agricultural protection fund; revenue source (Flake, Aguirre, Arzberger, et al) allocates up to four million dollars for this fund from dollars received from sale of abandoned property and other sources. These dollars can be used to purchase agricultural easements, among other things. NO POSITION. SB1182 Summerhaven fire; assured water supply (Bee, McClure) exempts this area from the assured water supply requirements. WATCH. Thursday, January 25 House Water and Agriculture Committee at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 1 Presentations Arizona Water Institute, Rural Water Issues HB2487 agricultural management practices committee; continuation (Mason: Bradley, Clark, et al) continues this committee which has virtually no impact whatsoever. It adopts voluntary grazing best management practices. It also eliminates the position of hydrologist on the committee and replaces that person with two people involved in grazing cows. It replaces the aquaculture person with a person grazing sheep. For these reasons alone, we should oppose this. It eliminates the responsibilities relative to application of nitrogen fertilizer. OPPOSE. HB2488 drought emergency groundwater transfers (Mason, Alvarez, Brown, et al) allows temporary transfers during drought. It is an annual bill which allows only limited transfers during the drought times. WATCH. House Judiciary Committee at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4 HB2403 election law revisions (Yarbrough: Murphy) makes minor technical changes including allowing the Secretary of State to amend a campaign committee name to replace an initiative number with the actual ballot proposition number after it qualifies. NO POSITION. For more information on these bills go to http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the issues and to contact your legislators. 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/.
Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |