REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS on (mostly) bad bills for the environment and citizens' rights

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This week at the Arizona State Legislature, some Senators are trying (again) to silence us by making it harder for us to vote or to get a citizens initiative passed. We need to protect our constitutional rights.  

Tuesday, in the House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water, Griffin is sponsoring yet another bill (HB2691) to weaken rules protecting water quality. They are also hearing a bill (HB2737) that threatens the Arizona Corporation Commission - just when the ACC has approved a plan for utilities to get all of their energy from carbon-free sources like solar and nuclear energy by 2050.

Also, there are a couple of good bills to support: SB1009 state vehicle fleet; electric vehicles and SCR1046 Arizona's outdoors; recreation; supporting

Please, weigh in on these bills while they are in committee by signing into the Request to Speak system.

Sign on to Request to speak: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon  

Sign up for a Request to Speak account here:  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdjBMoAJrjHD57GGegmdUCKAowcr93K4vQA6a7_AjyElBtrQ/viewform        

Monday, February 8th

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM.

• SB1106 voting residency; intent to remain (Mesnard) makes it a class 6 felony for someone to register another person to vote solely for the purpose of voting in an election and without intent to stay. This is ridiculous. People may plan to move in six months, but still should be able to vote in an election here and the person registering them should be considered a felon. OPPOSE. 
• SB1531 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard: Leach) voids the signature of any initiative or referendum petition signer that signs the petition without either hearing or reading the initiative or referendum description printed on the petition. This is another ridiculous requirement. What if you actually had read the measure. Why should you have to read or hear the description? OPPOSE.
• SCR1034 voter protection act; court determinations (Leach) allows the Legislature to amend, supersede or appropriate or divert funds created by an initiative or referendum measure approved by the voters if the measure is found to be illegal or unconstitutional by the courts. This would allow the legislature to throw out an entire measure, even if a small part was successfully challenged. OPPOSE.

Senate Committee on Transportation and Technology at 2:00 PM

• SB1009 state vehicle fleet; electric vehicles (Steele) requires state fleets to be electric vehicles starting in 2022. SUPPORT.

Tuesday, February 9th

House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water at 2:00 PM

• HB2691 groundwater permits; technical correction (Griffin). This bill will have a strike-everything amendment on it relating to a water quality program. Without strengthening amendments, it would be unacceptable as it leaves nearly all ephemeral waters unprotected. OPPOSE.
• HB2737 corporation commission actions; investigation (Parker: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) allows any legislator to petition the attorney general to review any Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) decision that the legislator believes is beyond its constitutional mandate and allow the AG to force a review by the Supreme Court. If the Court disagrees with the ACC, the budget of the ACC would automatically be reduced by 10% for a year. This is clearly intended to chill actions by the ACC due to the threat of lost budget. OPPOSE.

Wednesday February 7th

House Committee on Government & Elections at 8:30 AM 

• HB2358 voter registration update; address change (Kavanagh: Bolick, Chaplik, et al.) mandates, rather than allows, the county recorder to use the national change of address system of the USPS and cancel registrations that have changed counties. This will purge a lot of otherwise eligible voters. OPPOSE. 
• HB2373 voter registration groups; forms; identifiers (Dunn) says that anyone who requests or receives 10 or more voter registration forms to place their unique identifier on each form. This will likely cause issues for those who register people more casually such as at high schools and in their neighborhood. It is unnecessary and punitive as it will make the registration invalid if someone forgets to include the identifier. OPPOSE
• HCR2016 initiatives; supermajority vote requirement (Dunn: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) refers to the ballot a measure to require a 60 percent vote to approve any ballot measure. OPPOSE.

Senate Committee on Finance at 9:00 AM

• SCR1024 Initiatives; tax increases; vote requirement (Petersen) has a strike everything amendment on supermajority vote requirement; initiatives. The amendment is not posted, but we will certainly oppose any supermajority requirements for ballot measures. OPPOSE.

Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM

• SB1224 agricultural operations; nuisance; liability (Kerr) is the same as HB2372. OPPOSE.
• SCR1046 Arizona's outdoors; recreation; supporting (Engel: Alston, Bowie, et al.) is a memorial recognizing the value of outdoor recreation. SUPPORT.  

House Committee on Appropriations upon adjournment of Floor

• HB2394 appropriation; north-south corridor study (Cook) appropriates $5 million for a tier 2 north-south transportation study in Pinal County. More money for freeways. OPPOSE.