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| Political Action |
Legislative Updates 2008Sierra Club 2008 Legislative Update #15 “Never separate the life you live from the words you speak.” Paul Wellstone April 18, 2008 Hi all! After months of twiddling their thumbs, legislative leadership finally sat down with the governor and worked out a deal to address the $1.2 billion shortfall in the FY2008 budget – that is the budget that goes through June 30 of this year. As expected, some of the cuts are pretty deep. Arizona State Parks and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality got hit pretty hard. You will be happy to know that they protected the abstinence only program while sweeping dollars for clean air. The good news is there were no direct hits to the Heritage Fund, but there was a significant cut in the lottery, so it could be affected indirectly. There is still no resolution on bonding for schools and it was not addressed in this budget. Now they have to figure out the FY2009 budget. The utilities (Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service Company, Tucson Electric Power, and Southwest Gas), the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (represents all of the big auto makers including General Motors and Toyota) and dealers, the Western States Petroleum Association (represents the big oil companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell Oil, among others), and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce (representing a big list of big businesses) were all up to no good in working to undercut efforts to address global warming. They were joined by the Homebuilders Association of Central Arizona, the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association, and, of course, our friends at Peabody Coal. While the utilities are spending our ratepayer dollars to advertise how “green” they are, they have joined forces with the dirty car lobby to make it impossible to implement a clean car standard that would both reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. Furthermore, they seek to tie the hands of the governor to do anything to limit greenhouse gases unless it is expressly authorized by federal law. If you heard President Bush’s speech, you know that is unlikely to happen anytime soon. He says we should sit on our hands until 2025.
Please continue to call and email Senators and ask them to oppose the strike everything amendment titled Greenhouse emissions; regulations; fuel economy that was added to HB2017 joint underwriting and reinsurance organizations (Konopnicki) in the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee. Tell them you do not want these provisions added to HB2766, a bill to increase energy efficiency and renewable in public buildings and schools. Tell senators that Arizona wants cleaner cars, cleaner air, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. HB2017 will undercut Clean Car and clean air programs and significantly restrict the Governor’s ability to act to limit greenhouse gas emissions as well as other pollutants. OPPOSE. Also ask Senators to oppose HCR2044 voter-protection; temporary budgetary suspension (Pearce, Barnes, Biggs, et al). It 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 of at least one percent. 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. To find your senator’s contact information just click on Senators or paste http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S into your browser 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. Call House members and ask them to oppose SB1264 NOW: public rights-of-way; claims (Johnson) and to ask you to please vote no. SB1264 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. SB1264 is likely to just create confusion rather than open up any roads as its proponents would like to do, 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. This bill is contrary to and at odds with SB1167 and HB2573 the off-road vehicle bills that passed through the House previously. Supporters of this bill say it is needed because the Forest Service is closing 80 percent of the roads on the national forests and specifically have referenced the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. That is flat wrong. OPPOSE. 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 House members’ offices. Most of the committee work is done, although there are some gubernatorial nominations that are supposed to be heard in the Senate after they figure out the budget and the Appropriations Committees continue to meet. Here is an update on a few bills we are following: HB2156 NOW: railroad projects; review (Paton, Pancrazi) awaits action by the Senate Rules Committee. It requires railroads that are considering potential sites for a major rail project to notify the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). The railroad has to provide ADOT with the various alternatives for sites and routes and an assessment on the potential impacts to air quality, water resources, areas of historical or geographic significance, and the economic effects on the surrounding communities. It requires ADOT to review the existing or proposed major rail project and hold at least one public hearing to record public comments. We support this measure as we support having analysis and public review of all major projects involving state lands or resources. SUPPORT. HB2221 county subdivisions; notification (Paton) had a strike everything on Green Building in the Senate Government Committee and passed out 4-3. It still awaits action by the Rules Committee. 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) passed out of the Senate Government Committee 4-3 and awaits a Final Read in the Senate. It 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. An identical bill in the House, SB1255, passed in the House on Third Read 31-27-2. We will be requesting a veto of this. OPPOSE.
HB2614 renewable energy valuation; expiration extension (Mason, Miranda, O’Halleran, et al) passed out of the Senate Finance Committee 5-1-2 and awaits action in Rules. It extends the date for the property tax incentive for the valuation of renewable energy equipment from 2011 to 2040. SUPPORT. HB2615 NOW: solar construction permits (Mason, Ableser, Reagan) passed out of the Senate Government Committee 7-0 and awaits action in Rules. 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. HB2766 omnibus energy act of 2008 (Mason, Ch Campbell, McClure, et al.) passed out of the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee 6-1 and awaits Rules action as well as shenanigans from the dirty car and utility lobby. It 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. SUPPORT. HB2772 NOW: groundwater transfers; Coconino plateau (Mason) passed out of the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee 6-1 and awaits action in Rules. It 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. SB1027 elections; conflicting amendments (now: municipal incentives; technical conforming changes (Tibshraeny) passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee 4-3-1-2. It had its second strike everything amendment on toll roads; public highway authorities which resurrects a bill that provides the authority for toll roads. It was not heard in Transportation so is dead unless the Speaker withdraws it from that committee. 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. SB1167 NOW: user fee; off-highway vehicles (L. Gray) awaits action by the full Senate where Senator Gould is preparing to filibuster. 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 better protect important public and private lands from irresponsible off-road vehicle activities. SUPPORT. SB1288 NOW: local stormwater pollution prevention programs (Flake, Rios: Barnes) awaits action in Committee of the Whole. It is supposed to be amended to take out the language that limits it to no more stringent than the Clean Water Act. If so, we will be neutral on it. The bill 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. 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 |