Request to Speak on border wall funding heard at 2 Wednesday (plus 2 bills for tomorrow at 2)

Sorry I am just now getting this out to you. I was sick yesterday. Also, I think that the Request to Speak website is probably being serviced on Sundays. It seems to be much faster today.

HB2317 is being heard in two committees Wednesday at 2 p.m. If you are signed up for Request to Speak please sign in NOW to oppose this bill. I was able to post pretty quickly today. 

Griffin wants to us use our tax dollars to pay for a useless wall that is an environmental and human justice disaster. They built sections of the wall right through the San Pedro hurting the river and wildlife habitat. They chopped down our iconic saguaros. It doesn't keep smugglers out. It just forces the undocumented to travel farther and die in the desert.

HB2317 appropriation; border fence construction (Kavanagh: Chaplik, Griffin, et al.) appropriates $150 million to build border wall.

An altered watershed: Where the border wall crosses the San Pedro River:

https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/04/14/border-wall-san-pedro-river-trump-photos/4744000001/

Trump's border wall scarred sacred lands, displaced wildlife and drained water. Can it be taken down?

https://www.azcentral.com/in-depth/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/04/15/arizona-mexico-border-calls-removing-wall-and-repairing-environmental-impacts/4589493001/

I will try to get some more Request to Speak actions out soon. In the meanwhile, here's two more bad bills being heard in committee tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. If the system is working well, you might wanna go ahead and do these at the same time.

• HB2536 corporation commissioners; qualifications (Griffin) requires corporation commissioners to be at least 30 years old and have five years experience in business, accounting, finance, economics, or professional engineering. This would disqualify a lot of people who have been or would be excellent commissioners. OPPOSE.
• HB2549 stored water; certificates; impact; accounting (Griffin) requires the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), when determining if groundwater will be physically available to be withdrawn through future wells for an assured water supply determination, to assume the service area is the same as the boundaries of a municipality or other water provider. It limits ADWR oversight relative to physical availability if it is stored water within the area of impact. It is about stored water and the determinations the ADWR can make about ground water. OPPOSE 
  
  NOTE: It looks like Realtor Gail Griffin is trying to limit the ability of the ADWR to regulate ground water – this time in areas outside of municipal areas (like in the Sierra Vista area where she would like to profit from more development.)  

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:HB2317). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.

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Request to Speak on Bad Voting Bills (still) being heard at the Arizona Legislature... ARGH!

Last week numerous ridiculous and harmful bills that would impede our ability to vote passed out of committee along party lines. Please, sign into the Request to Speak system to oppose the bad bills while they are still in committee. See the hearing times below.  

Also, oppose HB2498 COVID-19; vaccination requirements; prohibition that prohibits any government entity from requiring COVID vaccines. We are in the middle of a COVID surge! 

On the bright side...I included SB1270 state parks; lottery; heritage fund - the one good bill to support. 😀 It is being heard in two committees. 

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week.

Monday, January 31st

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM 

• SB1055 election process; contractors and contracts (Townsend) makes contractors that provide election-related equipment or services and fail to perform under the terms of the contract liable for liquidated damages. OPPOSE.
• SB1056 misplaced ballots; invalidity; misdemeanor; damages (Townsend) says any misplaced ballots not included in the initial tally at a polling place to be invalid and makes misplacing a ballot a class 2 misdemeanor. This disenfranchises voters and will also make it impossible to get poll workers. OPPOSE
• SB1094 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard) requires the signer of the petition to read or listen to the initiative or referendum description printed on a petition. If they do not, their signature is void. This is outrageous and intended to merely disqualify signatures. What if I do not want to read it? What if I already read it at home or read the whole measure? OPPOSE 
• SCR1005 federal ballot voters; identification (Townsend) refers to the ballot a measure to require federal-only voters to show proof of citizenship at the polls, stricter than the voter ID requirements for all other voters. OPPOSE. 
• SCR1025 initiative; referendum; legislative districts; signatures (Leach) refers to the ballot a measure to require an initiative petition to be signed by 10 percent of the qualified electors for an initiative measure or 15 percent for a constitutional amendment in each Legislative District, rather than statewide. This would make it more cumbersome and expensive to do ballot measures. OPPOSE

Tuesday, February 1st

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM 

• SB1120 ballot fraud countermeasures; paper; ink (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al) is more holograms on ballots, among other requirements. OPPOSE.
• SB1270 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) appropriates $3 million annually from the State Lottery Fund to the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund. We would like to see this bumped up to the $10 million that voters had approved originally. SUPPORT.

Wednesday, February 2nd

House Committee on Government &  Elections at 9:00 AM

• HB2236 voter registration; request required (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) says no one can register someone to vote unless they have affirmatively said they want to register. This appears to be a preemptive strike against automatic voter registration. OPPOSE
• HB2241 early ballot drop off; identification (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) requires additional ID for dropping off your early ballot. Apparently your signature is not enough for them  OPPOSE.
• HB2453 governmental entities; mask requirement; prohibition (Carter: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al.) prohibits government entities from requiring face masks for COVID. They require them for other purposes. I think they should say they are doing it for the flu or colds and do it anyway. Ridiculous!
• HB2498 COVID-19; vaccination requirements; prohibition (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) prohibits any government entity from requiring COVID vaccines. Argh! OPPOSE 
• HCR2001 racial discrimination; public education (Kaiser: Bolick, Dunn, et al.) is a resolution that bans affirmative action and other programs to address the impacts of historic systemic racism. OPPOSE

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM 

• SB1120 ballot fraud countermeasures; paper; ink (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al) is more holograms on ballots, among other requirements. OPPOSE.
• SB1270 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) appropriates $3 million annually from the State Lottery Fund to the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund. We would like to see this bumped up to the $10 million that voters had approved originally. SUPPORT

More Information:

Arizona Republicans Continue Voter Suppression and Election Subversion Efforts -January 25, 2022

Lawmakers in 47 states have introduced bills that would make it harder to vote -  CNN, April 3, 2021

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:SB1055). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.

Learn how to use the Request to Speak system to weigh in on bills at the State Legislature

Wanna weigh into bills before they go to a vote in the state legislature? Using the Request to Speak system, you can weigh in FOR or AGAINST and leave a short comment while the bill is still in committee. First, you need to get signed up on the system. 

I will be posting Request to Speak actions on some environmental and voter suppression bills (among others). The simplest way is to sign in and then cut and paste the bill number that I supply and follow the directions on the call to action.

If you would like to go deeper into the process, you might wanna attend the Request to Speak training being offered by the Sierra Club and Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. You can RSVP by using the link below.

This training focuses on the Request to Speak System at the Arizona Legislature, including what it is, why we should use it, detailed features, and how it supplements our activism around our cause. Approximate time 25-30 minutes, including questions.

Request to Speak virtual training
Mon, Jan 31, 2022; 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM (Local Time)

RSVP here:  https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002GVLfAAO&id=70131000001Lp1FAAS

Community Choice Energy (CCE) for Tucson and Pima County

Community Choice Energy (CCE) for Tucson and Pima County Petition

Community Choice Energy (also called Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA) is a powerful tool that enables communities to choose their own sources of energy and to rapidly transition to renewables. We're calling on the City of Tucson and Pima County to incorporate CCE as a key component of their climate action and sustainability plans, and to advocate for CCE at the state level. Please consider signing our petition via the link below.

 
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/community-choice-energy-for-tucson-and-pima-county

How do CCEs work?

Once CCEs are enabled at the state level (the Arizona Corporation Commission has jurisdiction in this case), a city or county can form a nonprofit CCE entity, which is comprised of community members and CCE industry experts. The CCE determines the community's energy mix (kind of like picking a stock portfolio) and purchases power wholesale from energy producers. Renewable energy is considerably cheaper than fossil fuel generation currently, and cost savings are passed on to ratepayers saving them 2-9% on their energy bills. The pre-existing energy utility continues to handle energy transmission infrastructure and billing.

What would CCE mean for Tucson and Pima County?

If CCEs were enabled at the state level, establishing one locally is likely the most impactful action the City or County could take to reduce carbon emissions in Southern Arizona, since it would affect residential and commercial customers across this community, and going beyond local government operations. Tucson is the 3rd fastest warming city in the US, and we're already experiencing the effects of the climate crisis with longer, hotter summers and extreme weather events becoming increasingly commonplace. Our regional energy monopoly, TEP, continues to build expensive oil and gas facilities, pushing a transition to renewables further down the line and leaving ratepayers on the hook when these fossil facilities will need to be retired.

We need the City of Tucson and Pima County to champion CCE at the state level, since it's currently under attack by Republican Legislators who're in the pocket of the large energy monopolies. Please help us send a message to our local elected officials that we want cheaper, cleaner renewable energy in Southern Arizona, and we want it now.

Contact us at energychoice4soaz@gmail.com.
For more information on CCEs, visit Arizonans for Community Choice or Lean Energy.
This campaign is an initiative of the Tucson Climate Coalition

REQUEST TO SPEAK on (mostly) environmental bills at the Arizona Legislature

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There some good bills and some bad bills being heard in committees at the State Legislature starting Monday. There are some good bills in support of EVs. (Also see my previous post that includes the many bad bills that make it harder to vote.)  

Why do Request to Speak? Bills have to go through certain committees before they can be heard and voted on the floor of the House or Senate. Sometimes, just sometimes, we can stop bad bills from going to a vote on the House or Senate floor by killing them in committee. One way to do that is to weigh in on the Request to Speak system on the Arizona State Legislature website by choosing FOR or AGAINST. You need to weigh in before or while the bills are still in committee. That is why I include when the bill is being heard in a particular committee below. 

(See Request to Speak directions at the bottom of this page.) 

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week

Monday, January 24th

Senate Committee on Transportation & Technology at 2:00 PM 

SB1150 electric vehicles; pilot program; appropriation (Steele, Jermaine) establishes an electric vehicle (EV) pilot program, appropriates $500,000, requires EV ready homes. SUPPORT.
SB1151 charging station; pilot program; appropriation (Steele) appropriates $500,000 for a pilot program administered by Arizona Department of Administration. SUPPORT.
SB1152 zero emission vehicles; plans (Steele) requires state agencies to prioritize zero emissions vehicles when they purchase vehicles. SUPPORT.
SB1154 transportation electrification study committee (Steele) establishes a study committee to review laws and consider ways to promote EVs. SUPPORT.

House Committee on Military Affairs & Public Safety at 2:00 PM 

HR2004 border wall; construction materials; repurpose (Blackman, Payne) says the Arizona House of Representatives supports transferring unused federal border wall construction materials to the states to construct a border wall along the southern border. OPPOSE.

Tuesday, January 25th

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

HB2411 coal combustion residuals program (Griffin) authorizes the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to seek assumption of the coal ash program from EPA. The Sierra Club opposes ADEQ getting additional programs while the agency is not implementing the ones it has and are concerned about its coziness with utilities. OPPOSE.

Wednesday, January 26th

Senate Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM 

SB1275 fireworks; use; overnight hours; prohibition (Mesnard, Shah) prohibits fireworks from 11:00 PM to 8:00 AM except on New Year's and July 4th. The Sierra Club thinks they should be prohibited altogether, but this is an improvement. SUPPORT

Thursday, January 27th

Senate Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 AM 

SB1215 missing and murdered indigenous peoples (Steele, Dalessandro, M. Hernandez, et al.) establishes a study committee and directs them to look at ways to reduce and end violence against Indigenous people. SUPPORT.

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:SB1150). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.

REQUEST TO SPEAK: Oppose voter suppression bills at Arizona Legislature

Arizona GOP making hurdles for voters 

Why do Request to Speak? There some good bills and some bad bills being heard in committees at the State Legislature starting Monday. Bills have to go through certain committees before they can be heard and voted on the floor of the House or Senate. Sometimes, just sometimes, we can stop bad bills from going to a vote on the House or Senate floor by killing them in committee. One way to do that is to weigh in on the Request to Speak system on the Arizona State Legislature website by choosing FOR or AGAINST. You need to weigh in before or while the bills are still in committee. That is why I include when the bill is being heard in a particular committee below. 

(See Request to Speak directions at the bottom of this page.) 

There are some bad bills that make it harder for Arizonans to vote being heard in Senate Committee on Government on Monday AND in the House Committee on Government & Elections on Wednesday. I suggest you weigh into all these at the same time. 

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week

Monday, January 24th

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM

 
SB1012 registration database; federal voters; report (Townsend) requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to provide access to the statewide voter database to a legislative designee and the attorney general's election integrity unit to assess compliance with federal laws regarding voters who are registered as eligible to vote only for federal offices. This is unnecessary and feeds more of the paranoia about elections. OPPOSE.
SB1013 secretary of state; federal form (Townsend) requires the Secretary of State, by the end of this year, to submit a request to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to include Arizona's proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form. OPPOSE.
SB1028 ballot paper; security measures (Rogers) requires "fraud countermeasures" for ballots to include at least 3 of 10 on the list including ultraviolet numbering or designs, holographs, etc. OPPOSE.
SB1054 election equipment; security; legislative review (Townsend) requires a detailed review of election equipment security for Maricopa and Pima counties every two years.
SB1055 election process; contractors and contracts (Townsend) makes contractors that provide election-related equipment or services and fail to perform under the terms of the contract liable for liquidated damages.
SB1056 misplaced ballots; invalidity; misdemeanor; damages (Townsend) says any misplaced ballots not included in the initial tally at a polling place to be invalid and makes misplacing a ballot a class 2 misdemeanor. This disenfranchises voters and will also make it impossible to get poll workers. OPPOSE
SB1119 electronic ballot images; public record. (Borrelli: Fann, Townsend, et al) requires online copies of any digital ballot images to be made searchable and asserts that ballot images are public records.
SB1120 ballot fraud countermeasures; paper; ink. (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al) is more holograms on ballots, among other requirements. OPPOSE.
SB1133 schools; cities; all mail prohibited (Rogers) prohibits a city, town or school district from conducting a mail ballot election. Ridiculous. OPPOSE.
SCR1005 federal ballot voters; identification (Townsend) refers to the ballot a measure to require federal-only voters to show proof of citizenship at the polls, stricter than the voter ID requirements for all other voters. OPPOSE.

Wednesday, January 26th

House Committee on Government & Elections at 9:00 AM 

HB2237 same day voter registration; prohibition (Hoffman) prohibits same day voter registration, even though we do not have it anyway. We should. OPPOSE.
HB2238 ballot drop boxes; prohibition (Hoffman) prohibits counties from using unmonitored drop boxes for early voting. This is unnecessary. OPPOSE.
HB2243 voter registration; state residency; cancellation (Hoffman) requires insertion of a statement on the voter registration form that if someone moves to another state, their registration will be canceled. OPPOSE

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:SB1150). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.

What's happening at the State Capitol and how to get involved

As I mentioned in the last post, our state legislature is back in session. Please, sign onto Request to Speak so you can weigh into environmental bills (some very bad) while they are still in committee. Does it make a difference? Sometimes. I have seen committee members - who were on the fence on a bill - ask to see the request to speak comments. Sometimes our support is enough to empower them to do the right thing. In the coming days, I will be sending out more request to speak actions. To stay involved, please sign up now. It may take a day or two because someone has to sign you up at the Capitol. Here's the link to have someone sign you up for Request to Speak.

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

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK. It's really easy once you've done it once or twice. It only takes a couple of minutes to weigh in on a bill - once you've got it. 

http://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2018/03/request-to-speak-time.html

Another way to support environmental bills at the state legislature is to attend Environmental Day at the Capitol.  (Either on Zoom or in person.) 

Please, find the link to RSVP below.  The Sierra Club will send you one-sheets on each of the bills they are lobbying for so you can prepare.  They also have a Zoom meeting before the event - if you need more information. 

Environmental Day at the Capitol 

Wednesday, Feb 9 

 hybrid event. RSVP here

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002FwnfAAC&mapLinkHref=https://maps.google.com/maps&daddr=Environmental%20Day%20at%20the%20Capitol!@33.448097,-112.097024

One last point on reaching out to your legislators. They have so much on their plates, that they aren't always aware of what is in certain bills. I've found that some legislators appreciate a friendly heads up.

Request to Speak Action: Say no to utility monopolies

The Arizona state legislature is back in session.  On Tuesday HB2101 will be heard in the House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee. The point of the bill is to allow changes to the public policy of the state of Arizona from one of competition to a monopoly for the utilities that already serve a particular area. Customers will have no choice on their utility – if they don’t agree with its policies regarding transitioning to clean energy or rate increases.

Please, sign into Request to Speak system and express your opposition for this bill.

HB2101 - electric energy; reliability; public policy – Sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin

Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee – Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022

This bill changes the Arizona Constitution that encourages competition and hands over the keys to existing utilities who already aren't factoring in the needs of their constituents.

Also… on the docket for the same committee meeting and worthy of comments in opposition are HB2126, which would eliminate the public comment period and legislative review of changes in hazardous waste disposal fees putting too much power in the hands of an appointed director and HB2055, which would allow utilities to pump groundwater from the Harquahala non-expansion area.

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:SB1150). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.