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Legislative Updates 2008Sierra Club 2008 Legislative Update #5 “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” — Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism February 8, 2008 Hello Conservation Friends! Thanks to everyone who came to environmental day. We had a great turnout over 100 people and all the speakers were excellent. We appreciate the participation of everyone including Governor Napolitano, Commissioner Kris Mayes, Representatives Lucy Mason and Kyrsten Sinema, and Amanda Ormond, as well as all of the group representatives. Next week, on Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., is Progressive Lobby Day. Please attend if you can. Go to www.progressivelobbyday.com for more information on that. This week, please contact members of the House Water and Agriculture Committee and ask them to support clean renewable energy and to vote yes on HB2766! HB2766 omnibus energy act of 2008 (Mason, Ch Campbell, McClure, et al.) is a multi-faceted bill to help promote energy efficiency and clean renewable energy. It includes a renewable energy standard and requires that 15% of the electricity come from renewable by 2025 (not all utilities are regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission) and a limited net metering provision. It establishes reporting requirements, goals, and standards for new residential and commercial construction 15% more efficient than the International Energy Conservation Code by 2012, 30% by 2016, and 50% by 2020 and also expands the energy savings goals for state buildings to 20% by 2015 and 30% by 2020. It requires school districts to reduce their energy consumption and requires that school districts, universities and state agencies purchase 10 % of their energy from renewable and nonpolluting energy sources. HB2766 requires that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in cooperation with the Department of Weights and Measures conduct a study on reducing greenhouse gas emission from fuels and gives ADEQ authority to adopt a low-carbon fuel standard in 2011 if the federal government and the state legislature have not. It includes other provisions as well. Members include Representatives Alvarez malvarez@azleg.gov, Brown jbrown@azleg.gov, J. Burns jburns@azleg.gov, Groe tgroe@azleg.gov, Kavanagh jkavanagh@azleg.gov, Mason (Chair) lmason@azleg.gov, Pancrazi lpancrazi@azleg.gov, Paton jpaton@azleg.gov, Stump bstump@azleg.gov, and Tom atom@azleg.gov. You can find complete contact information by going to this site http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call legislators’ offices toll free at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-3559 (Senate) or (602) 926-4221 (House). Just ask them to connect you to the various legislators’ offices. Coming up this week: Monday, February 11 House Committee on Homeland Security and Property Rights at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 1 HB2221 county subdivisions; notification (Paton) requires notification on termination of public reservations for parks, school sites, fire stations, etc. This seems fine. HB2440 condominiums; planned communities; political petitions (Nichols) prohibits these associations from regulating or prohibiting the circulation of political petitions, including candidate nomination petitions or petitions in support of or opposition to an initiative, referendum or recall. SUPPORT. HB2459 university trust land management; exchanges (Robson: McComish, Nelson, et al) gives the board of regents the power to direct the management, sale, lease and other disposition of the university state trust lands. These changes would be conditional on changes to the constitution and enabling act. OPPOSE. END_STATUTE HCR2027 trust lands; universities; beneficiary exchanges (Robson: McComish, Nelson, et al) changes the constitution, subject to an enabling act change, to allow conveyance of lands to the universities without auction and also allows the legislature to exchange lands between trust land beneficiaries. It does not limit it to state trust land. Why not transfer all the lands to the beneficiaries? This is not the appropriate way to address this issue. OPPOSE. END_STATUTE Tuesday, February 12 House Committee on Counties, Municipalities & Military Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2094 highway project advancement notes (Biggs) allows a county to issue Highway Project Advancement Notes and increases the total amount they may issue from $100 million to $300 million. WATCH. HB2132 county water authority; Colorado river (McLain, Burges, Groe, et al) gives authority for delivery of additional Colorado River water for municipal use in Mohave County. It shifts it from industrial use. WATCH. Senate Committee on Transportation at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 SB1455 sponsored highway safety signs (Gould: Harper, Groe) directs ADOT to contract with a third party for highway safety signs. SB1468 ADOT continuation; five years (Gould: Harper, Groe) continues the agency for five years. SB1473 logo sign programs; ADOT (Gould: Groe) disallows these if there is a private billboard available. Wednesday, February 13 House Committee on Natural Resources and Public Safety at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 1 HB2251 game and fish omnibus (JP Weiers: Burges, Clark, et al) requires people who have had their hunting or fishing licenses revoked to take a training course, adds an apprentice hunting license, and gives authority for permanent suspension of a guide’s license after the third offense. HB2573 off-highway vehicles; user fees (JP Weiers, Boone, Mason, et al.) establishes a user fee for off-road vehicles, increases funding for law enforcement, includes important safety provisions, clarifies where it is unlawful to drive off-road vehicles, and establishes a grant program. There have been several improvements added to this year’s bill, which we think help ensure responsible use of the grant dollars our key concern from last year was there were not adequate protections in the grant program. It is a step in the right direction. SUPPORT. House Committee on Environment at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2426 waste tire collection sites (Barnes: Anderson, M. Garcia, et al.) makes a nuisance of storage of waste tires that create conditions for breeding of mosquitoes and conditions that are likely to result in accidental fires. SUPPORT. HB2620 biofuels conversion program (Boone) sets up a biofuels conversion program and fund. HB2621 biofuel standards (Boone) clarifies the standards for biofuels including biodiesel, ethanol, etc. SUPPORT. Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Rural Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in SHR 109 SB1168 department of agriculture omnibus act (Arzberger, Aguirre, Landrum Taylor, et al) includes a multi-state pest insurance fund provision where states would commit to taking aggressive actions to eradicate pests, includes a notice provision for when livestock is confiscated. WATCH. SB1289 flood protection districts; financing (Flake) establishes an assessment option to fund construction and repair of flood protection facilities. WATCH. SB1338 state forester; wildfire suppression funding (Flake, Arzberger) raises the cap from $2 million to $3 million. SB1380 drought emergency groundwater transfers (Arzberger, Hale, Miranda, et al) allows groundwater transfer outside a basin if there is a declared drought emergency. They do this bill nearly every year. SB1384 Arizona emissions bank (Blendu) adds greenhouse gases to the list of pollutants that can be traded and banked. It also eliminates the sunset. Senate Committee on Finance at 1:30 p.m. in SHR 1 SB1276 transportation financing; revenue anticipation bonds (Huppenthal) allows the issuance of revenue anticipation bonds to fund projects in high traffic corridors for capital improvements - $3 billion, for highway improvements $3 billion, for street and intersection improvements - $3 billion, mass transit - $3 billion, and $8 billion for private contracts. Apparently the budget problems will not stop the concrete, asphalt, etc. Thursday, February 14 House committee on Water and Agriculture at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room HB2766 omnibus energy act of 2008 (Mason, Ch Campbell, McClure, et al.) See above. 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.
Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |