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| Political Action |
Legislative Updates 2008"By the pricking of my thumbs, Sierra Club 2008 Legislative Update #13 April 4, 2008 Hi all! It is shaping up to be a truly ugly week at the Legislature next week. It is the time of the season for the worst of the strike everything amendments including one to undercut the Clean Car rule and one to make it hard for cities to enact green building programs. The automakers are responsible for the anti-clean air striker and the homebuilders for promoting inefficiency. The Central Arizona Homebuilders are a huge impediment to any progressive positive policy in this state. They use the economy as an excuse now, but in the best of times they stand in the way and block good bills and promote policies that will ensure that the next generation will be saddled with even more and bigger problems than we have now. There is also a strike everything amendment to limit application of nuisance provisions in law relative to product liability. I am not sure which of the big polluters is pushing this. I am sure there is more to come. Please call House members and ask them to oppose SB1264 NOW: public rights-of-way; claims (Johnson). The Legislature should support resource protection as well as the protection of quiet recreation, not promote more roads on every blessed inch of our public lands. This is being promoted by off-road vehicle and timber interests in eastern Arizona. The last thing we need is more roads, more disruption, and more habitat fragmentation in our national forests. It asserts and claims rights-of-way across public lands acquired after the effective date of Revised Statute 2477 and if implemented would mean even more roads ripping through our sensitive public lands. It passed out of the House Natural Resources and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday 7-3. It is ironic that Representative Jerry Weiers, the sponsor of the off-road vehicle bill and someone who says he wants to help protect the land and wildlife, put this on his committee agenda at the last minute and also voted for it. There are some inconsistencies here to say the least. To find your House members’ contact information just click on HOUSE or paste this website into your browser http://www.azleg.gov/memberRoster.asp?Body=H or you can call (602) 926-4221 or outside the Phoenix area 1-800-352-8404 and just ask to be connected to your senator’s office. Also please call and ask your Senator to support SB1167 NOW: user fee; off-highway vehicles (L. Gray) a measure relating to off-road vehicle use. It provides funding for law enforcement and mitigation and restoration of areas damaged by off-road vehicles, plus limitations on where new trails can be built with the grant dollars. It is a step in the right direction to help ensure better protection of important public and private lands from irresponsible off-road vehicle activities. 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. Coming up this week: Monday, April 7 Senate Committee on Government at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 HB2221 county subdivisions; notification (Paton) will have a strike everything on Green Building. It limits the ability of cities and towns to implement green building programs and requires them to prepare a green building impact analysis that includes documentation that they examined a range of alternatives, explanation and basis for the preferred alternative, estimated materials costs, estimated water and energy savings, and impact on new home buyers and low income homes. It pre-empts them from requiring green building as a condition of land use. We should be promoting green building not erecting roadblocks. OPPOSE. HB2235 administrative rules oversight committee (DeSimone, Burns, Cheuvront, et al) reestablishes the Administrative Rules Oversight Committee (AROC), a committee that has oversight on rules and consists of 10 legislators and a representative from the governor’s office. This committee was not an effective mechanism for addressing concerns when it existing previously and just adds more bureaucracy to an already cumbersome process. There were good reasons that Governor Hull vetoed the bill that would have kept the AROC and that no one has really missed it since. OPPOSE. HB2615 NOW: solar construction permits (Mason, Ableser, Reagan) passed out of the House 48-8-4. It specifies that counties and municipalities adopt standards for issuing permits for the use of solar photovoltaic systems and creates the Local Government Solar Equipment Permit Process Improvement Study Committee. SUPPORT. House Committee on Ways and Means at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 4 SB1027 elections; conflicting amendments (now: municipal incentives; technical conforming changes (Tibshraeny) will have its second strike everything amendment on toll roads; public highway authorities which resurrects a bill that provides the authority for toll roads. On the floor of the senate, Senator Gould indicated that they needed toll road authority to build roads such as the I-10 Bypass and the I-17 alternative, both of which would be devastating from an environmental perspective. OPPOSE. Tuesday, April 8 Senate Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 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. The Voter Protection Act was enacted in 1998 after years of the legislature diverting dollars and undermining citizen initiatives. You only need to look at measures that do not have this protection to see what can happen. OPPOSE. House Committee on Counties, Municipalities & Military Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in HHR5 SB1406 NOW: municipal development fees; procedures (Bee) prohibits the assessment of a new or increased development fee against a development within 24 months after final approval of the development. They have already significantly limited the application of development impact fees via a bill last year and we already heavily subsidize sprawl development. I see no reason to give the homebuilders even more. We will also watch this for additional efforts to limit the ability of cities, towns, and counties to use impact fees for conservation of lands. OPPOSE. Wednesday, April 9 Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development at 10:00 a.m. in SHR3 HB2078 manufactured housing office; powers (Konopnicki) has a strike everything on public nuisance; limitations that limits product liability actions under the nuisance statutes. This is a bad idea as nuisance provisions allow cities and towns and others to get at more of the environmental concerns. OPPOSE. Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Rural Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in SHR 109 HB2017 joint underwriting and reinsurance organizations (Konopnicki) will have a strike everything amendment on Greenhouse emissions; regulations; fuel economy. While it is not yet posted, I would bet that this is a bill to pre-empt the Clean Car rule in Arizona. Be prepared to call legislators and ask them to oppose it. OPPOSE. HB2766 omnibus energy act of 2008 (Mason, Ch Campbell, McClure, et al.) promotes energy efficiency and clean renewable energy in Arizona. It requires school districts to reduce their energy consumption by 10% by July 1, 2011, 15% by July 1, 2015 and 20% by July 1, 2020; and it requires that school districts, universities, community colleges, and state agencies purchase 10 percent of their energy from renewable and nonpolluting energy sources. The bill gives schools flexibility to use the dollars they save on utilities to pay for capital investments that would help save energy. It requires state agencies to reduce energy use by 20% by 2015 and 30% by 2020. (The baseline year remains fiscal year 2001-2002.) HB2766 also makes changes to Arizona’s procurement code to provide for Energy Performance Contracting and requires the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in cooperation with the Department of Weights and Measures to conduct a study on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fuels. It includes a statewide standard to reduce idling of vehicles with diesel engines and a section to limit school bus idling. HB2766 includes a renewable energy standard and requires that 15% of the electricity come from renewable by 2025 (not all utilities including Salt River Project are regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission) and a limited net metering provision. Unfortunately, the definition of renewable was completely removed, so this provision is unlikely to have any real impact other than sending a message. SUPPORT. HB2772 NOW: groundwater transfers; Coconino plateau (Mason) allows the Town of Williams to transfer water from one basin to another – from the Verde Valley Sub-basin to the Coconino Plateau Basin, thus codifying a mistake into law and granting a special exception to the groundwater code. This bill ratifies a mistake and sets a bad precedent. Every time someone drills a well in the wrong location, will they be able to expect special legislation? In an age when we have much better mapping, GPS coordinates, and all kinds of ways to verify locations, this should not be happening. OPPOSE. HB2822 pest control; department of agriculture (Crandall: Biggs, Boone) eliminates the structural pest control commission and incorporates it into the Department of Agriculture. We are concerned about provisions which eliminate the requirement to prepare guidelines for an integrated pest management program for structural pest control practices at schools. Many people fought hard to get the notification requirements and recommends on IPM for schools and daycare facilities. We should make sure this is not lost in the absorption of this commission. WATCH. House Committee on Environment at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 SB1288 NOW: local stormwater pollution prevention programs (Flake, Rios: Barnes) authorizes establishment of local pollutant discharge elimination system stormwater programs (county, town or agency of the state), collection of fees, and authorizes, but limits penalties for violations. It includes language that says the program can be no more stringent than the Clean Water Act and also any new ordinances or changes in ordinances can only comply with the “minimum requirements” of the Clean Water Act. This gives no flexibility to local communities to work to address local conditions that might require more protective standards. For example, many of our important washes and ephemeral waters have limited protection under the Clean Water Act. OPPOSE. SB1438 NOW: mine inspector; abandoned mines; donations (Flake O’Halleran, Konopnicki, et al) allows the State Mine Inspector to accept in-kind donations, authorizes the use of inert material for the purpose of closing abandoned mines. They took out the used tire provision. WATCH. Senate Committee on Finance at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 1 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. SUPPORT. Thursday, April 10 House Committee on Water and Agriculture at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 1 SB1168 department of agriculture omnibus act (Arzberger, Aguirre, Landrum Taylor, et al) changes procedures for handling seized and stray livestock and modifies the use of commercial fertilizer inspection fees. MONITOR. House Committee on Transportation at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 3 SB1041 HOV lane usage; hybrids (Harper) allows hybrids that have “at least forty-five percent fuel efficiency in combined city-highway fuel economy” to drive in the HOV lanes. This bill makes no sense. Forty-five percent of what? This should include a miles per gallon requirement and definitely should not eliminate the requirement that the federal government sign off on it. Thank you for taking action on these important issues! 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 |