Request to Speak on Bills that Hurt the Environment

This week our Arizona Legislators have proposed several bills that can hurt our environment or our ability to advocate for it.

One tool that can help us protect our environment is repealing or rewriting zoning laws that allow anyone to sell their land even if it hurts the neighborhood or the environment. I believe SB1409 zoning ordinances; property rights; cost will make it harder for cities to pass laws that protect their citizens from bad development and encourage unnecessary development.

SB1531 petition signatures is just another bill to make it harder for us to pursue citizens' initiatives - including those that would protect the environment. In our current political reality it is almost impossible to get a 2/3 vote. 

HB2309 violent; disorderly assembly; public order will increase penalties related to a "violent or disorderly assembly." Who gets to decide that? If someone determines that a protest you attended is disorderly you can be charged with a class 6 felony and end up in jail for a minimum of 6 months with no flexibility in sentencing. (Did we learn nothing from the "three strikes" laws?) One of the founding principles of our country is freedom of speech and the ability to protest this kind of tyranny.  

 

There are also several bills that weaken our ability to vote and can impact our ability to pass bills that protect our environment. If you would like to weigh in on them as well, you can find them on this blog.

Please, weigh in on the following bills being heard in committee this week before they go to a vote.

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, you can set one up through Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. (Someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol.)

Coming Up This Week at the Arizona Legislature Monday, March 15th House Committee on Land, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs at 2:00 PM SB1384 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) appropriates $3 million from the state lottery funds to the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund for local parks, trails, and protection of historic and cultural resources. We would love to see the full $10 million included, however. SUPPORT. SB1448 Arizona department of agriculture; continuation (Kerr: Gowan, Shope) will have a S/E: agricultural operations; nuisance; costs; damages that is a slightly different version of the agricultural nuisance bills, HB2372 and SB1224. This version would have a chilling effect on any nuisance actions by small farmers or property owners against these big concentrated animal feeding operations by giving further deference to these facilities and forcing a plaintiff to risk having to pay attorneys' fees. OPPOSE.  Wednesday, March 17th House Committee on Government & Elections at 9:00 AM SB1409 zoning ordinances; property rights; costs (Petersen) requires cities to consider impacts on the costs of housing before adopting any zoning ordinance or zoning ordinance text amendment. While not as bad as it was, it is still intended to limit protective actions by the cities. 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? It also says the circulator has to cross out a signature if they think the person did not read or listen to the description. OPPOSE. Senate Committee on Finance at 10:00 AM HB2714 environmental technology; biomass; forestry (Nutt) allows a company to qualify for the Arizona Commerce Authority's Environmental Technology Assistance Program if it locates or makes additional capital investment in a facility that processes biomass and forestry industry products. This is a subsidy for biomass, which is not carbon neutral, pollutes, and does not focus on forest health. OPPOSE. Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM  HCM2003 Colorado River; urging augmentation (Griffin) indirectly encourages the feds to operate the Yuma Desalination Plant, a plant that is old and inefficient. They have no effective means of dealing with the brine and operation of this would redirect water from the Cienega de Santa Clara. OPPOSE. HCM2004 floodwater harvesting; study; urging Congress (Dunn: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) asks the feds to fund a study to build a dam and pipeline to redirect water from the Mississippi to Arizona. They forgot to mention build power plants to pump it uphill. This is ridiculous. It would be unbelievably expensive to pump water uphill for that distance and build a pipeline. The cost of the Central Arizona Project would pale in comparison. Why not ask the government to invest those dollars in conservation and living within our means? It is much cheaper and makes a lot more sense. OPPOSE.  House Committee on Transportation at 2:00 PM SB1345 neighborhood electric shuttles (Shope) includes requirements, safety standards and operating restrictions for neighborhood electric shuttles. This seems like a good idea. SUPPORT. Thursday, March 18th  Senate Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 AM HB2309 violent; disorderly assembly; public order (Roberts: Barton, Biasiucci, et al) defines a violent and disorderly assembly as when a gathering of seven or more people, with the intent of engaging in a riot, causes damage to property or injures another person; makes participating in a disorderly assembly a class 6 felony; and targets protesters by increasing the penalties of lower level offenses to a felony if part of a gathering. This is clearly targeting the movement for Black Lives and people of color. OPPOSE.