This week's actions at the State Legislature (1/28/2022)

This week at the State Legislature, both the House and Senate focused on moving bills through the process and to the other house. There is some good news and some bad news.  The Sierra Club would like you to call your legislators about some bad bills that are mentioned below.  Also, find a few Request to Speak actions below.  Here's the good news... SB1152 and SB1154 passed on reconsideration in the Senate 16-14-1. SB1152 zero emission vehicles; plans (Steele) requires coordination by the Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona Department of Administration, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, to develop a zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) Plan that will increase the number of ZEV vehicles. SB1154 transportation electrification study committee (Steele) establishes a study committee to review laws and consider ways to promote EVs and to collaborate to identify the best ways to encourage an economy-wide transition from carbon-fueled vehicles to EVs. More good news, HB2836 interim groundwater review areas (Griffin), a bill that allows these interim groundwater review areas to be established, was retained on the calendar and did not advance after Rep. Cobb successfully added her rural management areas for water provisions to the bill. Rep. Griffin responded by saying to her, "You killed the bill." We say "Good!" Another of Rep. Griffin's bad water bills, HB2549, was retained on the calendar as well, but we expect it will be back.      And now for the bad news, HB2055 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transportation  (Griffin: Bowers) passed out of the House 32-26-1-1 with Democratic Representatives Chavez, Espinoza, A. Hernandez, D. Hernandez, Longdon, Meza, Shah, and Sierra joining 25 Republicans to pass this harmful water policy. Please express your disappointment to these representatives and thank the remaining Democrats plus Representatives Barton, Biasuicci, Cobb, Fillmore, Finchem, Kavanagh, and Payne for voting no. HB2055 allows private water companies to import water from the Harquahala Valley and into active management areas (AMAs) for development. Creating groundwater sacrifice zones and further privatizing water is a bad idea.    HB2101 electric energy; reliability; public policy (Griffin: Abraham, Blackman, et al.) was reconsidered in the House and passed 37-21-1-1. Its twin, SB1631, also advanced in the Senate and we expect it to come to the Senate floor early next week. These bills repeal provisions in the law that create parameters for retail competition of electricity. We are still opposed to the bills as we have concerns about how they will affect community choice aggregation of electricity overall and rooftop solar in Salt River Project (SRP) territory. Let your legislators know you have concerns about these bills too and ask them to vote NO. You can find senators phone numbers here. Please keep calling your representatives and asking them to oppose HB2536 corporation commissioners; qualifications (Griffin). It requires corporation commissioners to be at least 30 years old and have five years of experience in business, accounting, finance, economics, administrative law, or professional engineering. This would disqualify a lot of people who have been or would be excellent commissioners. It was again retained on the Committee of the Whole calendar this week and will likely be back on the calendar early next week. HB2492 voter registration; verification; citizenship (Hoffman: Blackman, Carter, et al.) was amended to make it less onerous to register to vote, but it still requires additional ID for Tribal ID, birth certificates, etc. We still think it should be rejected.   HCR2025/SCR1012 voter identification; affidavit; procedure is another referral to the ballot. This one would force voters to provide extra forms of identification when returning their early ballots, something they already did to get the ballot. In Texas, a similar law, led to a large number of mail-in ballots being rejected. This has already passed out of the Senate along party lines. Ask your representatives to vote no on HCR2025/SCR1012! You can find representatives phone numbers here. To find out what district you are in, fill in ZIP here:  https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/ Request to Speak Actions at the Arizona Legislature this Week. Tuesday, March 1st House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM  SB1376 codes; ordinance; use of refrigerants (Gray) allows acceleration of the phase out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by limiting local government's ability to prohibit the alternatives. This means a simple change in some building codes. HFCs contribute significantly to climate change. SUPPORT Wednesday, March 2nd House Committee on Government and Elections at 9:00 AM  SB1094 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard: Leach) voids the signature of anyone who signs an initiative or referendum petition without either hearing or reading the initiative or referendum description printed on the petition. What if the person had previously read or knew about the measure and specifically went to sign the petition? Why would they need to read a short description? We don’t require anyone to read about or know anything about an elected official before signing their petition, why for a ballot measure? When you sign a petition, you are merely saying you think it should be considered by the voters and not that you fully endorse it. This bill will result in more signatures being tossed and again make it more difficult and more expensive to put a measure on the ballot. OPPOSE House Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 AM  SB1092 product liability; civil action; limitation (Leach) limits product liability against a product seller that is not also the manufacturer of the product. This will weaken consumer protections. OPPOSE Thursday, March 3rd Senate Committee on the Judiciary at 9:00 AM in SHR1 HB2130 recreational users; property (Griffin) limits a landowner's liability for injuries to recreational or educational users that occur on the owner's land and declares that these users are liable for any damage they cause to the owner's land. It says the land owner has no responsibility to warn people of dangers on the land. This is way broad and could result in more harm to people. OPPOSE - Condensed from Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter legislative report 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: HCR2014). 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. ----ANNOUNCING--- MARCH FOR CLIMATE  Friday, March 4th at 9:30 a.m.  Meet at Senator Sinema's office and march to Senator Kelly's office. Sign up here bit.ly/March4thClimate

Urge Legislators: Oppose bills making Citizens' Initiative process more difficult

This week in the state legislature there are bills being heard in the House and Senate floors making it even harder to pass citizens initiatives. HCR2014 AND SCR1025. Please, take a minute to reach out to your Senator and Representatives using the two Sierra Club forms included below. If you are signed up for the Request to Speak system you can also weigh in on SB1094 by Wednesday morning. 

The Arizona House is proposing to pass HCR2014 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Dunn). It 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 just statewide. This would make it more cumbersome and expensive to do ballot measures.

Please ask your representatives to oppose HCR2014!

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0353601

Please ask your Senator to oppose SCR1025 initiative; referendum; legislative districts; signatures (Leach). It 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.

Please send a message to your senator today to opposed SCR1025!

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0353602

There is another bill making more difficult to enact a Citizens Initiative being heard in the House Committee on Government and Elections at 9:00 AM Wednesday, March 2nd. Log onto the Request to Speak system to weigh in on SB1094. 

• SB1094 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard: Leach) voids the signature of anyone who signs an initiative or referendum petition without either hearing or reading the initiative or referendum description printed on the petition. What if the person had previously read or knew about the measure and specifically went to sign the petition? Why would they need to read a short description? We don’t require anyone to read about or know anything about an elected official before signing their petition, why for a ballot measure? When you sign a petition, you are merely saying you think it should be considered by the voters and not that you fully endorse it. This bill will result in more signatures being tossed and again make it more difficult and more expensive to put a measure on the ballot. OPPOSE

MORE INFORMATION:

For decades, Arizona legislators have run measures aimed at decimating our state’s initiative and referendum process that allow voters to make law directly. These bills from the Legislature not only dismantle our rights, harm education and workers, but they can potentially harm animals, including wildlife, parks and natural areas on a large scale.

Arizona’s ballot measure process is a constitutional right enacted at statehood in 1912. One of our founders’ biggest concerns was the right to pass laws through initiatives. The first initiative passed in Arizona recognized women’s right to vote.

Thanks to grassroots ballot measures, the Arizona Heritage Fund to provide dollars for parks and wildlife was passed in 1990, and leghold traps, snares, and poisons were banned on public lands in 1994. Cockfighting was outlawed in 1998. In 2006, voters prohibited the cruel confinement of pregnant pigs and calves raised for veal in industrial agriculture operations. All of these measures failed in the Legislature, yet were passed by Arizona voters, most by large margins. Voters have also approved increases to minimum wage and funding for healthcare and education.

Unfortunately, HCR2015 initiatives; supermajority vote; requirement (Dunn) passed out of the House 31-28-1. It refers to the ballot a measure that would require a super-majority (60%) approval rather than simple majority approval for all ballot measures. This is a high threshold and will limit opportunities to address important environmental, animal, and social justice issues via the initiative process. This bill will go through the committee process in the Senate.

URGENT: Comments needed for Clean Air Regulations For Springerville Generating Station!

Please, leave a comment regarding the Springerville SO2 permit either on this Sierra Club form or by emailing (see address below) by 5 p.m. today, Wednesday, Feb. 23rd. I will attach the Sierra Club's talking points. 

Form: 

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0353276

Talking points here: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aU_CFDSwWIgVOJZlCEa4HHHvL68ehXUseArMxn-thsk/edit?usp=sharing

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is working with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to revise the permit for their three units at the Springerville coal plant - a permit that would require stricter control of asthma-causing sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. This might sound like a great idea at first, but there is more to this issue.

Under the Clean Air Act, ADEQ was required to submit a State Implementation Plan (SIP) in 2021 as part of the second round of the Regional Haze process. This process is intended to regulate haze-causing emissions from many sources around the state, including the Springerville coal plant! But it hasn't yet done so and is way behind, and now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may have to intervene. So why is ADEQ addressing emissions from this plant alone and separate from that process? 

Springerville is one of the most polluting coal plants in Arizona, and the emissions controls that will be required in the Regional Haze plan will likely be extensive and expensive and we are concerned that ADEQ may see this permit revision as a workaround. It appears to be an attempt to keep outdated, health-harming coal plants alive despite renewable energy being a much more economic and viable power source. Creating a permit now will result in a more lax permit and confuse matters once the state implementation plan is out. ADEQ should wait on this relatively lenient permit and instead get on with the important regional haze regulation that will then inform a much more stringent permit. The proposed SO2 limits for Units 1, 2, and 3 are too lax and fall short of what the Regional Haze Program requires.

As part of the permit application, ADEQ must hold a public hearing and comment period. That's where we come in! ADEQ has opted to be less than transparent by having in-person participation only in St. Johns, Arizona, despite our request to give everyone virtual access. Not to worry! While spoken comments are the most visible, we can still have an impact by submitting written comments. 

Please support clean air, environmental justice, and clear skies over our national parks and wilderness in Arizona. Submit your comment to ADEQ using our form. The deadline is February 23rd. You can also submit a letter directly to ADEQ at  airpermits@azdeq.gov

Request to Speak by 8 a.m. Monday on tax breaks for the rich and gun lobbyist and a bad environmental bill

HB2656, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-12), would ban financial institutions and their contractors from "discriminating" against someone based on their political affiliation or social or environmental values. This would force the continuation of the Trump-era push to ensure that polluters and gun makers get equal access to financial services. This is absurd. Unlike race, religion or gender, someone’s political opinion isn’t covered by fair lending statute. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

SB1372, sponsored by Tyler Pace (R-25), would create a loophole allowing anyone who lives outside of Arizona to buy a vehicle free of sales tax. Currently vehicles must be shipped out of state to be eligible for a sales tax waiver, which is bad enough. Nearly 400,000 new vehicles are purchased in Arizona each year, and the average price of a vehicle is now over $40,000, meaning each tax credit would cost the general fund an average of $2500. However, this loophole is targeted to the wealthy (those who could afford to fly to Arizona, buy a car and drive it home), so the cost of the cars they purchase, and thus the cost to Arizona's general fund, is likely higher than that average. Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2166, sponsored by Steve Kaiser (R-15), would exempt guns and "firearm safety equipment" from sales tax. The sponsor calls them “necessities” and wants them subjected to the same tax rate as food. America’s self-destructive gun fetish has produced a record of home-grown violence unheard of in any other industrialized society. The bill’s fiscal note says the exemption would cost the state $6.4 million a year, most of which is the firearms exemption; the note also warns the estimate may be on the short side of what it would actually cost. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2646, sponsored by Travis Grantham (R-12), would require the average fair market value of private aircraft to be tied to inflation, benchmarks that value to rates in 2019, and qualifies people who currently pay aircraft license tax if they paid more. The bill currently has no fiscal note to estimate the cost to the state general fund, and thus to taxpayers. Grantham also introduced a bill last year to waive all private planes from taxation. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HCR2028, sponsored by Walter Blackman (R-6), would ask voters to amend the Arizona Constitution to set a minimum amount that cities and counties could collectively spend on law enforcement, adjusted only for population and inflation. Very similar to the public school spending cap that’s causing so much trouble right now. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HCR2031, sponsored by Regina Cobb (R-5), would ask voters to amend the Arizona Constitution to make the regulation of employee benefits, including wages, a statewide issue, and ban cities and towns from further regulating them. Legislators have been trying to penalize the city of Flagstaff for years for setting a higher minimum wage than the state-mandated one. They imposed a $1.1 million fine for the city in last year’s budget. Several months ago, a judge blocked that fine from taking effect. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

REQUEST TO SPEAK DIRECTIONS:

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: HB2728). 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.

Request to Speak actions for Bills heard on Monday and Tuesday

This week sign in on the Request to Speak system to weigh in on a bill that starts a pilot program for funding EV charging stations or to strengthen a bill on affordable housing. And don't forget to OPPOSE those bad voting bills that keep on coming. 

It appears that the Request to Speak System has been fixed, so signing in on bills should be easier this week. If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. Civic Engagement Beyond Voting (CEBV) is graciously volunteering to sign you up for the Request to Speak system if you have not done so already. To get an account set up, follow this link:

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

NOTE: See CALL-IN  ACTIONS for this week too. 

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week

Monday, February 21st

House Rules Committee at 8 A.M 

HB2656, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-12), would ban financial institutions and their contractors from "discriminating" against someone based on their political affiliation or social or environmental values. This would force the continuation of the Trump-era push to ensure that polluters and gun makers get equal access to financial services. This is absurd. Unlike race, religion or gender, someone’s political opinion isn’t covered by fair lending statute. OPPOSE.

SB1631, sponsored by Sine Kerr (R-13), would repeal current law allowing electric retail competition, block cooperative community choice for electricity, and interfere with the Arizona Corporation Commission’s planning process. The bill has attracted opposition from sources as divergent as consumer advocate Stacy Pearson, who calls it “a rooftop-solar killing, monopoly preserving bill,” and conservative columnist Rob Robb, who points out, “It would be a mistake to cut off what would amount to a small pilot project in retail electricity competition.” See also mirror bill HB2101.  OPPOSE.

House Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM

HB2726 S/E: ballot fraud countermeasures; ink; paper requires holograms, specific paper, ink, etc. for ballots. This is more of the big lie nonsense from 2020. This would make the election nearly impossible and unwieldy to conduct. OPPOSE
HB2728 appropriations; ADOT; tier 2 studies (Wilmeth) appropriates $25 million for the Tier 2 study of I-11 in Maricopa County. We are very much opposed to this harmful freeway, so oppose spending more on studies to accommodate it. OPPOSE
HB2789 Arizona trail; fund; purpose (Diaz: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al) authorizes Arizona Trail Fund to be used for constructing, maintaining, and improving water sources, signs, gates and public access. This seems like it is probably okay.

Tuesday, February 22nd

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 9:00 AM

SB1151 charging station; pilot program; appropriation (Steele: Jermaine) appropriates $500,000 for a pilot program for charging stations administered by ADOA that allows state agencies to apply for funding to cover the costs of installing charging stations. This is a two-year pilot. SUPPORT
SB1458 S/E elections prohibits early ballots from being tallied prior to election day. 
SB1571 ballot drop boxes; surveillance; appropriation (Townsend) prohibits voted early ballots from being returned by mail. Outlines requirements for ballot drop-boxes, including a monitoring camera. This is ridiculous. OPPOSE
SB1634 S/E affordable housing; municipalities requires a municipality with a population of more than 100,000 persons to develop at least 4 out of list of 22 strategies to incentivize affordable housing. How about just requiring developers to provide affordable housing?

REQUEST TO SPEAK DIRECTIONS:

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: HB2728). 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.

Bills going for a vote on the floor this week: Contact your Reps

Arizona State Legislators advanced a number of bills to hinder voting and ballot measures, and even are seeking to make it more difficult to register people to vote. This hinders our ability to vote in legislators who represent our values on the environmental or social justice issues.

If you have a few minutes, please, call your state legislators (Reps and Senators). If you have a few more minutes, please, email them. For a fast way to reach out, see the Sierra Club's petition below.

You can find your representatives' phone numbers here: (https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=H)

You can find your Senators phone numbers here: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

If you don't know what district you are in you can find out here:

https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/

Petition to help stop attacks on ballot measures: Send a message to your Senator here. Send a message to your Representatives here.

As Bills Move to the Floor, Call and Email your Legislators!

In the bad news/good news category, two bills to advance electric vehicles, SB1152 and SB1154 failed in the Senate 14-14. The good news is they will be reconsidered and should pass as there were a couple of people who would vote yes missing. SB1152 zero emission vehicles; plans (Steele) requires coordination by the Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona Department of Administration, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, to develop a zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) Plan that will increase the number of ZEV vehicles. SB1154 transportation electrification study committee (Steele) establishes a study committee to review laws and consider ways to promote EVs and to collaborate with local governments, electric utilities, environmental groups, the transportation industry and interested communities to identify the best ways to encourage an economy-wide transition from carbon-fueled vehicles to EVs. Please, ask your senator to support both bills.

Ask your House members to oppose HB2055 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transportation (Griffin: Bowers). It allows private water companies to import water from the Harquahala Valley and into active management areas (AMAs) for development. Creating groundwater sacrifice zones and further privatizing water is a bad idea. There is still a chance to stop this bill. Use the link below to send a message to your representatives.

SIERRA CLUB PETITION: Take Action on HB2055!

HB2101 electric energy; reliability; public policy (Griffin: Abraham, Blackman, et al.) failed on the House floor, but will be reconsidered. Its twin, SB1631, passed out of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee 5-4, along party lines. These bills repeal provisions in the law that create parameters for retail competition of electricity. We are still opposed as we have concerns about how it will affect community choice aggregation of electricity overall and rooftop solar in SRP territory. Let your legislators know you have concerns about these bills too.

Please call and ask your representatives to oppose HB2536 corporation commissioners; qualifications (Griffin). It requires corporation commissioners to be at least 30 years old and have five years experience in business, accounting, finance, economics, administrative law, or professional engineering. This would disqualify a lot of people who have been or would be excellent commissioners. It was retained on the Committee of the Whole calendar this week, so will likely be back on the calendar early next week.

HB2492 voter registration; verification; citizenship (Hoffman: Blackman, Carter, et al.) erects barriers to voter registration and confusing requirements for county recorders to follow. It could go to the floor in the House next week. Please, ask your representatives to vote NO!

Good News! Speedier Request to Speak Actions!

I want to thank all of you who persevered with the Request to Speak System when it was running soooo slow.  The good news is that it was slow because they were making improvements! I sped through the many voter suppression bills and environmental bills I sent you last night . 

At the recent Request to Speak training I learned a handy little trick to speed up the RTS experience when you don't intend to leave a comment  - like I did with the many voter suppression bills (some are being heard today at 2.) 

If you don't have a comment to leave, you can go to My Bill Positions page, cut and paste the bill number into that box, click on thumbs up or thumbs down, and push the blue ADD button. You won't have to wait between each step. 

Here are the new features they just installed to make it easier for Legislators (and us) to view RTS...

Reminder: There are some bills being heard in committee at 2 today.   If you have the time, I recommend that you leave comments for the environmental and border bills.  But you might want to try the short cut for the bad voting bills. If you can't get to it today, there are some being heard in committee tomorrow and Wednesday. 

Request to Speak & Call Reps on bills that affect the environment

In addition to the Request to Speak Actions (below), there are three bad bills (HB2055, HB2101 and HB2536) that made it through committee. Please, take a few minutes to call your Representatives this week.

Keep calling your House members, asking them to oppose HB2055 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transportation (Griffin: Bowers). The bill has not moved out of the House, so our efforts are making a difference. HB2055 allows private water companies to import water from the Harquahala Valley and into active management areas (AMAs) for development. Creating groundwater sacrifice zones and further privatizing water is a bad idea.

HB2101 electric energy; reliability; public policy (Griffin: Abraham, Blackman, et al.), which repeals provisions in the law that create parameters for retail competition of electricity, is likely to go to the floor of the House next week. We are still opposed as we have concerns about how it will affect community choice aggregation, rooftop solar in SRP territory, and have not seen what additional amendments they may be adding to it. Let your House members know you have concerns about this bill too. Its twin is up in the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee on Wednesday.

Please call and ask your representatives to oppose HB2536 corporation commissioners; qualifications (Griffin). It requires corporation commissioners to be at least 30 years old and have five years experience in business, accounting, finance, economics, administrative law, or professional engineering. This would disqualify a lot of people who have been or would be excellent commissioners. It is ready to go to the House floor.

You can find your representatives' phone numbers here.

Some of us have been experiencing great frustration with the Request to Speak System -- it has been super slow and sometimes will not allow you to sign in on a bill at all. It was supposed to be fixed today.

REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS FOR THIS WEEK:

Monday, February 14th

House Committee on Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs at 2:00 PM

• HB2151 land division; acting in concert (Kavanagh) authorizes a county or the State Real Estate Department to deny a building permit or certificate of occupancy if a group is under investigation for attempting to violate land division laws. It increases penalties for selling or leasing subdivided lands without obtaining a public report. This is a way to crack down a bit on wildcat subdivisions. SUPPORT
• HB2181 technical correction; game; fish; facilities (Cook) will have a S/E amendment on game and fish; taking wolves that forbids the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from prohibiting anyone from killing a wolf that is actively threatening or attacking a person, livestock or other domestic animal. The first of these is clear cut, although not necessary. People can kill wolves if they are threatened -- which almost never happens -- but allowing endangered wolves to be killed for taking livestock or other animals is not appropriate. OPPOSE

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

• HB2591 border security fund; administration (Grantham) is an emergency measure to authorize the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to use up to $250,000 from the Border Security Fund to pay for additional full-time equivalent positions. This is more border militarization. OPPOSE

Tuesday, February 15th

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

• HB2128 rulemaking; exemption; limitation; corporation commission (Griffin: Carroll) subjects the Arizona Corporation Commission to the rulemaking process that is followed by agencies. This is an effort by the legislature to assert more control over the ACC. OPPOSE
• HB2560 appropriation; DWR; water efficiency projects (Dunn) appropriates $1 million to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to identify water efficiency projects that have significant potential for water savings and that also have legal impediments hindering implementation. SUPPORT
• HCR2038 supporting proper forest management (Griffin) contains revisionist history regarding the history of national forests. It fails to recognize the impacts of commercial logging on forest health -- most of the larger trees were logged in Arizona, leaving more opportunities for the dense growth of smaller trees -- fire suppression, and livestock grazing. There is no mention of climate change. It seeks to repeat the mistakes of the past that have contributed to unhealthy forests. OPPOSE

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM

• SB1032 border fence construction; appropriation (Rogers) appropriates $700,000,000 to the Border Security Fund for the construction and maintenance of a physical border fence. OPPOSE
• SB1718 appropriation; border security fund (Gowan) appropriates $1,140,800 and 14.5 full-time equivalent positions from the state General Fund to the Border Security Fund. OPPOSE

Wednesday, February 16th

House Committee on Judiciary at 8:00 a.m.

• HB2750 prisoners; forest restoration projects; expungement (Cano: Abraham, Andrade, et al.) allows prisoners who participated in forest restoration projects to petition for expungement of their record. SUPPORT

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

• SB1631 electric energy; public policy; reliability (Kerr: Fann, Gray, et al) eliminates the requirements for retail competition. The bill may have a negative impact on rooftop solar in SRP territory. OPPOSE
• SB1656 water and energy; improvement district (Pace: Shope, Abraham, et al) establishes a property assessed clean energy program for commercial property. This provides a mechanism for financing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. SUPPORT

House Committee on Transportation at 2:00 PM

• HB2728 appropriations; ADOT; tier 2 studies (Wilmeth) appropriates funding for various freeway studies, including $25 million for I-11. OPPOSE

REQUEST TO SPEAK DIRECTIONS: 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: SB1032). 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 on More Voter Suppression Bills

Bad voting bills coming up in the Arizona Legislature this week.

Monday, February 14th Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM SB1338 paper ballots; hand count; precincts (Rogers) prohibits the use of electronic voting and tabulating devices, unless required to comply with accessibility requirements. It requires paper ballots to be used in all elections and counted by hand. It prohibits a county board of supervisors from using voting centers. Why do they object so much to voting centers? OPPOSE SB1465 voting equipment; requirements; records; origin (Rogers) requires the Secretary of State to revoke the certification for vote recording, vote aggregation and vote tabulating machines that do not meet certain requirements. Requires at least one of the members of the Equipment Certification Advisory Committee to hold an industry-recognized cybersecurity certification. Again, more stop the steal paranoia. OPPOSE SB1571 ballot drop boxes; surveillance; appropriation (Townsend) prohibits voted early ballots from being returned by mail. Outlines requirements for ballot drop-boxes, including a monitoring camera. This is ridiculous. OPPOSE      SB1572 voting list; images; cast votes (Townsend) requires a county recorder to publish a list of eligible voters, with certain identifying information redacted, on the county recorder's website 10 days before a primary and general election. Requires a county recorder to digitally publish on the county's website all ballot images and a sortable cast-vote record. Requires early ballots, provisional ballots and election day ballots to be separated, tabulated and stored by precinct as applicable. OPPOSE SB1609 election contests; invalidated election; sanctions (Townsend) says a court will order a new election if it determines the initial outcome was determined not to be the outcome. I am not sure what she is getting at with this one. Hoping that Trump appointed judges will help in the next round? SB1629 registration; verification; images; audits; boxes (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al) outlines requirements for "election integrity audits" by the Office of the Auditor General, the posting of digital ballot images, registration of voter registration collectors with the Secretary of State, voter list maintenance procedures, signature verification training and testing, ballot drop boxes and hand count audits. OPPOSE SB1638 early ballots; visually impaired voters (Pace: Shah) requires any Arizona election to provide for voting by the use of a remote accessible vote by mail system for persons with a visual impairment. SUPPORT SCR1012 legislature; ninety house districts (Mesnard) will have a strike-everything amendment on voter identification that refers to the ballot a measure to require an early voter to provide the voter's date of birth and a copy of certain early voter identification when returning an early ballot. Removes the authorization for a person to provide two different forms of identification without a photograph in order to receive a ballot at a polling place. OPPOSE SCR1032 plenary legislative authority; elections (Townsend: Borrelli, Gowan, et al.) says the Legislature reaffirms the Legislature's plenary power with respect to elections and opposes any attempt by the federal government to usurp or otherwise interfere with state legislative sovereign authority over elections. This is objecting to much needed measures such as the Freedom to Vote Act. OPPOSE Tuesday, February 15th Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM SB1411 early ballots; tracking system (Mesnard) requires counties with a population of more than 100,000 persons to provide an early ballot tracking system and provide voters with access to the system on the county's website. Appropriates $700,000 to the Secretary of State for establishing a grant program for counties to establish an early ballot tracking system. This seems fine and is similar to what we have in Maricopa County. Wednesday, February 16th House Committee on Government & Elections at 9:00 AM   HB2041 ballot fraud countermeasures; paper; ink (Biasiucci: Blackman, Chaplik, et al) requires certain types of paper, ink, watermarks, etc. for ballots, furthering the big lie related to voter fraud. OPPOSE HB2240 elections; voting centers prohibited (Hoffman: Barton, Burges, et al) prohibits voting centers. This is another measure to discourage early voting. OPPOSE HB2242 voter registrations; validation requirement (Hoffman: Barton, Biasiucci, et al) requires elections officials to independently verify the accuracy of the name, address, date of birth, and driver's license number on every voter registration form. This will create significant delays in new voter registrations. OPPOSE HB2491 elections; signature matching requirements (Hoffman: Martinez, Parker) requires a multi-factor (there is a blank in the bill) signature verification for early ballots and makes it a Class 5 felony if a person does follow that. OPPOSE HB2492 voter registration; verification; citizenship (Hoffman: Blackman, Carter, et al) requires proof of residency to register to vote -- an ID with a current address, creates new restrictions for federal-only voters, even though the state has no authority to do so, and provides new ways to punish non-citizens who may register to vote. OPPOSE HB2703 auditor general; audits; county elections (Bolick: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al.) provides for "election integrity" audits. Again, more of the same. OPPOSE HCR2025 government-issued voter identification (Fillmore: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al) refers to the ballot a measure relating to voter ID. OPPOSE 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: HCR2014). 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. Wanna speed up your Request to Speak experience?  If you don't have a comment to leave, you can go to My Bill Positions page, cut and paste the bill number into that box, click on thumbs up or thumbs down, and push the blue ADD button. You won't have to wait between each step.