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| Political Action |
Legislative Updates 2008Sierra Club 2008 Legislative Update #10 “The Irish forgive their great men when they are safely buried.” Irish Proverb March 14, 2008 Hello Conservation Friends! Thanks for all your efforts to help give us better public policies in Arizona. There were a few positive actions this week at the Legislature. Representative Ray Barnes, Chair of the House Environment Committee, allowed HB2766 omnibus energy act of 2008 to be withdrawn from committee, so it will likely go to the Floor next week. As soon as we see the Floor amendment we will send out a memo on it. While we are extremely disappointed in how they have weakened key provisions, the school and public building programs are still worth supporting in the bill. Several of the bills to promote solar energy advanced this week as well. We also saw the abandoned mine bill amended to remove the provisions on old tires. Unfortunately, however, Senator Gould’s bill to reduce park fees and further harm the park’s system is still advancing. Also advancing is one of the most ridiculous bills of the session (see below) the competition is certainly stiff in this arena. In other bad news, Senate President Tim Bee assigned the off-road vehicle bill to the Senate Transportation Committee which is chaired by Senator Gould, the biggest opponent to reining in irresponsible off-road vehicle use. That means the bill is in trouble. It will be heard in Natural Resources and Rural Affairs on Wednesday, however. Please ask senators to support it. To find your senator’s contact information just click on Senators or you can call (602) 926-3559 or outside the Phoenix area 1-800-352-8404 and just ask to be connected to your senator’s office. 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, including prohibiting their use to build new trails on sensitive lands. It also includes mitigation and restoration provisions. It is a step in the right direction. SUPPORT. This week, please also call your senator and ask her/him to oppose SB1264 NOW: public rights-of-way; claims (Johnson). A Strike Everything Amendment (this means the original bill is replaced by a totally different bill) was added to the bill in the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee. It asserts and claims, on behalf of the state and its political subdivisions, rights-of-way across public lands acquired after the effective date of Revised Statute 2477. This relates back to an 1866 law known as "Revised Statute 2477" (RS 2477), which stated “the right-of-way for the construction of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted,” effectively granting a right-of-way allowing highway construction on federal public lands. The statute was repealed by Congress in 1976, when Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Title V of FLPMA replaces RS 2477 with a new process for permitting rights-of-way for roads and highways. State and county governments can also obtain new rights-of-way through the Federal Aid Highway Act. The Bureau of Land Management has conveyed thousands of miles of rights-of-way to states, counties, and local government via these processes. This bill is likely to just create confusion rather than open up any roads, but it is a bad message, and could slow down efforts to protect our public lands from irresponsible off-road vehicle use and to protect resources by closing certain roads. Senator Johnson says this bill is needed because the Forest Service is closing 80 percent of the roads on the national forests and specifically has referenced the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. She is wrong about that.
The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is currently working on its Travel Management Plan and recently released its proposed action and a set of maps. In it the Forest Service is proposing to:
There are many issues with this proposed action, but closing too many roads is not one of them. The Legislature should support resource protection as well as the protection of quiet recreation. The last thing we need is more roads, more disruption, and more habitat fragmentation in our national forests. Again, please ask your senator to oppose this bill. Here is an update on a few bills: HB2614 renewable energy valuation; expiration extension (Mason, Miranda, O’Halleran, et al) passed out of the House 54-6. It extends the date for the property tax incentive for the valuation of renewable energy equipment from 2011 to 2040. HB2615 NOW: solar construction permits (Mason, Ableser, Reagan) passed out of the House Committee of the Whole. It specifies the standards municipalities and counties must adopt regarding permits for solar energy devices and creates the Local Government Solar Equipment Permit Process Improvement Study Committee. HB2772 groundwater transfers; drought emergency (Mason) had a strike everything ground transfers; Coconino plateau in the Water and Agriculture Committee last week and has not yet advanced. The groundwater code was established to try and limit groundwater pumping and to try to better manage our water resources in Arizona. It prohibits the transportation of groundwater across a groundwater basin boundary, except under limited exceptions, one of which was the terrible exception that Carol Springer got through to allow Prescott to pump groundwater in the Big Chino Sub-basin. This is an issue because it affects the flows of the Verde River. Unfortunately the code did not, and still does not, recognize the impacts of groundwater pumping and groundwater transfers on the surface water. HB2772 was introduced because the Town of Williams drilled two wells in the Verde Valley Sub-basin rather than the Coconino Plateau Basin apparently no one can read a map and they did not use GPS. Under current law, they could not transfer that water to the town. This bill ratifies this mistake and allows them to transfer the water. That is a bad idea and a truly bad precedent. We would like to see, at a minimum, the bill amended to say that this transfer can only occur provided that it is demonstrated that there will be no harm to the Verde River. We cannot rely on Salt River Project alone to protect the Verde it belongs to all of us and to future generations. The Legislature should reject this bill as well. It appears that state trust land conservation efforts at the legislature have hit another wall thanks to the Central Arizona Homebuilders and the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association. There are other efforts afoot on that. Meanwhile, the legislature is proposing HCR2033 legislators qualifications; technical correction (Nelson) which was amended with a strike everything on trust land exchanges; wildlife conservation in the Natural Resources and Public Safety Committee. It refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the State Land Department to trade state trust lands for public or private lands. While it indicates that the exchanges must be for wildlife, this provides little if any assurance that the end result will be good for wildlife. Land Exchanges are invariably driven by development, not wildlife conservation, and the public usually gets the short end of the stick when the exchange is consummated. Please ask your representatives to oppose this measure. HCR2037 constitutional rights; game and fish (JP Weiers, Adams, Barnes, et al) passed out of the House Natural Resources and Public Safety Committee last week. It has not advanced as there are some negotiations on it. Despite opposition from the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and concerns about how it would affect its ability to manage wildlife, Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife supported the bill. It is hard to believe that this group would so cavalierly give up what Arizona hunters and anglers have fought to keep, a commission system that limits some of the direct day-to-day political influence. At a minimum, this proposal would create inconsistent provisions regarding initiative rights within the Arizona Constitution. Please continue to ask legislators to oppose this power grab. HCR2044 voter-protection; temporary budgetary suspension (Pearce, Barnes, Biggs, et al) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the legislature to reduce appropriations for measures approved by the voters in any year where there was a projected budget deficit. This would eviscerate the Voter Protection Act. It has not yet advanced to the Floor. Please ask your legislators to oppose this one too. HCR2045 county officers; elections; technical correction (Adams) had a strike everything amendment on initiative and referendum. It refers to the ballot yet another constitutional amendment that provides for circulating an initiative based on a short paragraph description and requires that the signatures for it be turned into the Secretary of State on December 31 of the year before the election. It requires someone proposing an initiative to submit it to the Legislature for consideration. The Legislature can amend and adopt language as if it were any other bill or do nothing and it goes to the ballot. It changes the voting requirements from a 3/4 vote to a 2/3 vote relative to the Voter Protection Act, says it must further the intent of the people versus further the purposes and it allows changes to “correct problems.” You can only guess what the legislature might see as a problem. It mandates any constitutional amendment passed by the voters be resubmitted to the ballot after eight years. The bill has not advanced and needs a lot of work to be acceptable. In the meantime, please ask your legislators to oppose this measure too. HCR2069 state budget; continuation (Murphy: Anderson, Pearce, et al) is yet another proposed constitutional amendment that says that the current budget continues if a new budget has not been enacted by June 30 and requires the agency to reduce its budget if the dollars are inadequate. This is another really ridiculous proposal that would make the budget even more of a nightmare. Please ask your legislators to oppose it. Coming up this week: Tuesday, March 18 Senate Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 JLBC update and projection on Long-term Budget Projections Wednesday, March 19 House Committee on Natural Resources and Public Safety at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 1 SB1338 state forester; wildfire suppression funding (Flake, Arzberger) Authorizes the State Forester to incur a total of $3 million for the purposes of fire suppression and equipment pre-positioning. This is fine. Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Rural Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in SHR 109 HB2068 private enterprise; game; fish; fund (JP Weiers) sets up a special fund from the sale of proceeds of items at shooting ranges. This is fine. It is to allow them to sell bullets and such at the shooting range. HB2132 county water authority; Colorado river (McLain, Burges, Groe, et al) gives authority for delivery of additional Colorado River water for municipal use. This is to address issues in Mohave County. WATCH 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. HB2333 county powers; outdoor fires (Mason) allows a county to regulate outdoor fires during times of emergency when the conditions are especially dry. SUPPORT Hb2420 flood control districts; property (Nelson: Ch Campbell, Crandall, et al) allows a flood control district to sell property to the state or a county. I see no issues with that. HB2425 underground storage tanks; energy act (Barnes, M. Garcia, Ableser, et al) provides additional regulation and disclosure relative to underground storage tanks in order to address leakage. SUPPORT 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. HB2524 agricultural improvement districts; amendments (Crandall) allows Salt River Project to conduct its elections entirely by mail, allows someone who is the holder of an irrevocable trust to vote in the SRP elections (currently only the property owner can vote), requires nominating petitions to be filed 60 days prior to the election (it is currently 20), and makes other changes. MONITOR. HB2573 off-highway vehicles; user fees (JP Weiers, Boone, Mason, et al.) See above. 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. 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 |