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| Political Action |
Legislative Updates 2007 “It is not the function of our Government
to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is
the function of the citizen to keep the Government
from falling into error.” Sierra Club 2007 Legislative Update #10 March 9, 2007 Hello Conservation Friends! The week was a bit disappointing at the Legislature. They failed to step up and amend the water bills, nothing substantial happened on air quality, and they resurrected and passed several bad bills in the Senate. SB1119 water; overlapping service area providers (C. Gray, Aguirre, Harper, et al.) was one such bill. This bill prohibits water providers (primarily municipalities) in an area that overlaps with an irrigation district from limiting a landowner’s right to use water that is supplied by an irrigation district. This bill will significantly hinder cities’ water conservation efforts, drought plans, efforts to address groundwater contamination, and more. The amendment they added to get this through is meaningless. It says the irrigation districts have to abide by conservation requirements from the Arizona Department of Water Resources. That is pretty easy to do as these irrigation districts are exempt from nearly all conservation requirements. Please contact the following senators and thank them for voting no and sticking with their no vote on this bill. They include Senators: Aboud, Burton-Cahill, Cheuvront, Garcia, Landrum Taylor, McCune Davis, Miranda, O’Halleran, Pesquiera, Rios, Soltero, and Tibshraeny. Senators Allen and Hale were absent, but everyone else voted yes on this. For those in Senator Leff’s and Senator Linda Gray’s districts, please let them know how disappointed you are that they switched their votes on this bill and helped it pass 16-2-2. To reach senators go to http://azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S and you will find their contact information including their email address and direct office phone number. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call senators’ offices toll free at 1-800-352-8404 and ask to be connected. In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-3559 and ask to be connected to the senator. Here are some additional updates on what happened this week. For more information on what happened with bills we are tracking, go to http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/. HB2693 water adequacy provisions (Mason, Ableser, Saradnik, et al.) passed out of the House Committee of the Whole and awaits a Third Read. It authorizes cities and counties outside of active management areas to adopt, by a unanimous vote, an ordinance requiring a determination of water adequacy from the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) before a subdivision may be approved. There are numerous exceptions for these water adequacy requirements including for developers who have made a substantial capital investment when the adequacy provisions are adopted. The bill allows a county, city or town to provide an exemption for subdivisions that will be served by projects under construction provided the construction will be completed within a twenty year timeframe, if the current supplies can sustain the subdivision for that time period. It also provides an exemption for subdivisions that will be hauling water by truck or train. These are known as “dry lot subdivisions.” While the bill provides additional consumer protection, it does not provide any additional protection for surface water rivers, streams, springs, etc. WE CONTINUE TO BE NEUTRAL ON THE BILL, BUT ARE ASKING THAT THE LEGISLATURE AMEND IT TO RECOGNIZE PLANNING EFFORTS TO PROTECT RIVERS AND STREAMS. THE UNANIMOUS APPROVAL PROVISION SHOULD BE REMOVED OR FEW COMMUNITIES WILL ENACT THE ADEQUACY REQUIREMENTS. SB1575 water adequacy amendments (Arzberger, Aguirre, Landrum Taylor, et al.), nearly identical to HB2693, passed out of the Senate 26-2-2. Senator O’Halleran gave a very compelling speech on eliminating the unanimous approval provisions, but it fell on deaf ears. They just wanted to get a bill. See above for bill details. HB2443 off-highway vehicles; user fee (JP Weiers) passed out of Committee of the Whole and awaits a Third Read. It establishes a user fee for off-road vehicles and a program for using those fees. The Sierra Club is currently neutral on HB2443 as we support several of the provisions, but there are others that continue to be an issue. We support increasing funding for law enforcement and the safety provisions in the bill as well as the language that prescribes where these vehicles are allowed and where they are not allowed. Our main concern about the legislation continues to be the allocation of the 60 percent of the dollars that will go to grants which can be used for various activities including to fund enforcement of off-highway vehicle (OHV) laws; to establish off-highway vehicle information and environmental education programs; to mitigate damage to the land; to designate, construct, maintain, manage and acquire land for OHV recreation facilities, OHV use areas, and OHV trails; and for necessary environmental historical and cultural clearance or compliance activities for proposed OHV recreation facilities, OHV use areas, and OHV trails. Because the committee that makes recommendations to the Arizona Parks Board and that determines the direction of the dollars is stacked with off-road vehicle users, we are very concerned is that these grant dollars will be used primarily to build trails and other facilities a stated purpose of several of the proponents of the legislation and will open up even more areas for off-road vehicle use, which will mean more loss of wildlife habitat and more destruction of vegetation, soil erosion, and negative impacts to water quality. Here is what is coming up in Committee this week: Tuesday, March 13 House Counties, Municipalities & Military Affairs Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Hearing Room 5 SB1311 channelization districts; formation (Flake) continues the ongoing power grab by the sand and gravel companies via the Arizona Rock Products Association the entity which has been pushing for formation of these districts. It removes the requirement that allows a county to form a channelization district that includes a city or town, only if that city or town has also approved it. It replaces it with a notification requirement and allows a city or town to disapprove the portion of a district located within its boundaries within 45 days of the notice. If the governing body does not disapprove within 45 days the formation is deemed approved. Cities have more power to regulate these entities than do counties, so they want to further limit their impact. OPPOSE. SB1313 state trust lands; planning (Flake) narrows the provisions the urban land planning oversight committee can consider regarding the final conceptual land use plans and the final five year state trust land disposition plans. WATCH. SB1602 city permits; waste regulation (Gould: Gorman, Harper, et al.) was amended in the Senate, so we no longer oppose the bill. It claries that the measure does not affect overall solid waste issues, but addresses only construction debris. It further states that the measure does not limit the city, town or county’s ability to regulate the health, public safety and general welfare of construction sites. MONITOR. Wednesday, March 14 House Environment Committee at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 SB1112 toxic fire response (Landrum Taylor, Miranda, Rios, et al.) sets up the Arizona Chemical Fire Response Coordination Task Force in order to better limit the exposure of the public and first responders to hazardous chemicals during an emergency. It requires that the task force 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 protection and risks associated with a chemical or other toxic fire event. SUPPORT. SB1455 low sulfur diesel fuel standards (Allen) establishes standards for low sulfur and ultra low sulfur diesel. SUPPORT. SB1602 city permits; waste regulation (Gould: Gorman, Harper, et al.) See above. Thursday, March 15 House Transportation Committee at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 3 SB1531 vehicle emissions inspection; sunset extension (Allen) continues the vehicle emissions inspection program in both Area A (Phoenix and surrounding area) and Area B (Tucson) through January 1, 2019. SUPPORT. SB1591 performance audits; light rail (Gould: Harper) requires an audit of the light rail system 12 months after the minimum operating system is it is not completed by 01/012009. If only they would audit freeway operation. WATCH. House Water and Agriculture Committee at 10:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 1 SB1001 general election ballots; technical correction (Bee) S/E Upper San Pedro Water District will be amended with this strike everything that is supposed to help protect the San Pedro River and Fort Huachuca. WE HOPE TO SUPPORT THIS. SB1557 water; municipal conservation requirements (Flake) eliminates specific conservation requirements for certain municipal water providers under the non-per capita program located within Active Management Areas (AMAs) and instead requires them to adopt Best Management Practices, which are generally not enforced. This would allow backsliding on water conservation in the AMAs. OPPOSE. To email legislators go to http://www.azleg.gov/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.gov.
Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |