Legislative Updates 2007

Sierra Club 2007 Legislative Update #25

“We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things.” — John Wesley Powell

June 22, 2007

Hello Conservation Friends!  The 2008 Legislative Session finally has adjourned sine die (meaning “without day”).  We can all relax a bit ­ until next January.  Thank you for taking the time to make the calls, send the emails, and to talk to your legislators.  It does make a difference.  We will be developing and issuing the 2008 Environmental Report Card for legislators and the governor in the next couple of weeks and will get that out to you with a more complete overview of the session.  Until then, here are some updates on a few bills.

While the budget was not all we wanted, it was certainly better than most from an environmental perspective.  It did not include any Heritage Fund raids and gave a little better funding to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.  State Parks was not decimated by the budget.  It included $1 million in funding for the Arizona Water Protection Fund, there was $300,000 for Valley Fever research, and $2.5 million for a pilot program to provide grants to existing schools to help them become more efficient relative to energy and water.  The bad news is it included more funding to expedite freeways and established several new funds including the Roads of Regional Significance Congestion Mitigation Account (RRSCM) as a sub-account of the state transportation acceleration needs (STAN) account.  This is just one more way to reward fast growth communities that plan poorly.

SB1552 air quality program (Allen, Huppenthal) passed out of the Senate 23-3-4 and the House 47-8-5.  It is now on the Governor’s desk.  The bill includes:

• Dust Training and Dust Coordinator requirements (areas larger than 5 acres);
• Cleaner Burning Gasoline summer provisions for a new Area C (western Pinal County);
• Requirements for development of off-road vehicle ordinances and limits on where off-road vehicles can drive;
• An additional Agricultural Best Management Practices (basically nothing);
• Leaf Blower use, training and public education provisions ­ only use vacuum mode on high pollution days and prohibitions on blowing debris into the roads;
• Increased open burning penalties;
• Restrictions on parking on unpaved lots; and
• Requirements for cities and towns to pave or stabilize unpaved road shoulders, roads, and alleys.

Please thank Arizona legislators who supported SB1552 and encourage them to do more to clean up the air next year.  In the Senate, only Senators Gorman, Gould, and Johnson voted no.  Senators Burton Cahill, Hale, Harper, and Pesquiera were absent.  In the House, Representatives Biggs, Farnsworth, Groe, Nelson, Nichols, Pearce, Jerry Weiers, and Yarbrough voted no.  Representatives Anderson, Clovis Campbell, Crandall, McComish, and Robson were absent.

To contact your Arizona House Members, please go to http://www.azleg.gov/memberRoster.asp?Body=H.  In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-4221-House.  For senators go to http://azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S .  In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-3559 ­Senate.  In Tucson, for both houses, you can call (520) 398-6000 or for any area outside the Phoenix area, call toll free 1-800-352-8404 and ask for your legislators’ offices.  

SB1254 NOW: real property; signage; solar devices (Leff) passed 23-0-7 in the Senate and in the House 60-0.  This bill includes provisions that make it more difficult for Home Owners’ Associations (HOAs) to block installation of solar energy panels.  It states that homeowners associations can't prohibit solar panels, but they can have reasonable restrictions on placement of them provided the restrictions do not block the installation, impair the function, restrict the use, or adversely affect the cost or efficiency of the device.  SUPPORT.

HB2300 NOW: water district; upper san pedro (Burns J) passed out of the Senate 22-4-4 and in the House 55-5.  It was signed by the Governor.  It authorizes the formation of an Upper San Pedro Water District, Board of Directors and transaction privilege tax (sales tax) authority on the sale of water in the District.  The district and any tax must be approved by the voters in the area.  The key provision in the bill is that the goal of the district.  The bill states, “The purpose and goal of the district are to maintain the aquifer and base flow conditions needed to sustain the upper San Pedro river and to assist in meeting the water supply needs and water conservation requirements for Fort Huachuca and the communities within the district.”  The reason this is so important is that it establishes protections of the river’s base flows ­ the flows that sustain the riparian vegetation and what keeps the river flowing during the driest times of the year.  It also makes clear the connection between ground and surface water ­ something that is acknowledged by nature, but not in our laws.  The bill also further defines water adequacy for development to include protection of river flows and would not allow dry lot subdivisions in the district.  While there are aspects of the bill we find problematic, we are supporting this small step forward.  Additional actions will be needed to protect the river, however.  SUPPORT

HB2443 NOW: user fee; off-highway vehicles (JP Weiers) failed on reconsideration 15-10-5 when several of the yes votes were absent.  The bill established a user fee for off-road vehicles, included language on clarifying where the vehicles are allowed, and included some additional safety provisions.  It set up an open-ended grant program at State Parks.  We would have liked to have seen the dollars for these grants targeted to restoration and only for trails in areas that are currently used and appropriate. NEUTRAL. 

HB2690 clean elections; amendments (Reagan, Boone, Kirkpatrick, et al.) passed in the Senate 24-2-4 and in the House 59-0-1 and awaits the Governor’s signature.  It was a consensus bill on making some clarifying and technical changes to Clean Elections.  They backed off on removing the cap on cumulative individual contributions to candidates or doubling it and instead increased it by 50%.  Overall, it looks like the bill will make some needed improvements in the system.  SUPPORT.

HCR2039 NOW: state trust lands; public use (Nelson) and its companion bill HB2312 deal with state trust lands.  They were never heard in Senate Rules and so the bills died.  There will likely be another attempt to move something on this next year.

For more information on bills we are tracking, go to http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/.

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.