"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." – John Muir
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credit: Arizona Tourism Center
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This week, the Arizona Legislature did very little. After 131 days, they still have not passed a budget out of both houses. Last week, the Senate passed a budget, but that deal did not get consideration in the House, where they spent a few moments pledging and praying and arguing over what constitutes prayer and whether it was okay to talk about appreciating life and each other rather than praying.
While the actions were limited this past week, the Senate did find time to do harm to public lands, wildlife, wildlife habitat, and cultural resources. Senators passed HB2551 NOW: off-highway vehicles; use; authority; enforcement (Gowan) by a vote of 19-10-1. Unfortunately, with both Senator McGuire and Senator Pancrazi supporting the bill, it was impossible to get the 15 votes needed to stop it. HB2551 has not yet been transmitted to the Governor, so we will hold off on the veto request until next week.
HB2551 is an attempt by Arizona Game and Fish to sanction lawlessness by off-highway vehicles (OHVs). It says law enforcement can ignore damage to wildlife habitat from OHVs and do no OHV enforcement on federal public lands that have been closed to OHVs. Unmanaged OHV use significantly harms wildlife, wildlife habitat, and cultural sites. This bill is just plain irresponsible.
Please thank legislators who voted no on HB2551.
It is still unclear what the Senate is going to do with SB1493 elections; omnibus (Biggs, Driggs, McComish, et al.) It passed out of Appropriations with the budget package, but has not been considered in the Rules Committee. SB1493 combines many of the worst elections bills. It shifts the review standard for initiatives from substantial to strict compliance, meaning that it would be next to impossible to get a measure on the ballot as it could be thrown out for any number of technicalities. This bill requires that petitions filed for an initiative be organized by county, circulator, and notary. If they are not, the signatures can be thrown out. SB1493 would also make it more difficult for people to be included on the Permanent Early Voting List and more difficult to stay on that list once they are added. Why are they trying to discourage voting?
Please ask your state Senator to oppose SB1493 and to protect our constitutional rights.
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HB2404 NOW: building codes; energy efficiency (Carter) has not appeared on a Final Read Calendar in the House. That means they probably do not have the votes for it, although this week, as I noted above, the House did not take action on many bills and spent very little time on the floor.
HB2404 prohibits local government from adopting more energy efficient building codes, which is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy use and save ratepayers money. This bill is being pushed by the Homebuilders of Central Arizona and supported by Arizona Public Service (APS) as it apparently wants its ratepayers to continue to use more electricity than they need. We expected this from the Homebuilders, but it is disappointing to see APS do this about-face on energy efficiency.
Keep reminding your representatives to vote NO on HB2404!
