Request to Speak on voting rights, farming irrigation and inclusivity on housing committee

weigh in on RTS to protect voting rights

This week there are several bills that make it more difficult to vote - especially HB2289 that prohibits all in-person early voting and eliminates vote by mail. 70% of us vote by mail! Please, weigh in on the voting bills as well as the farming irrigation, housing and hydrogen studies.

 
I've included a couple of bills that the Sierra Club suggested we monitor. One of the concerns I have is that they are Strike Everything bills. Strike Everything means legislators can make huge changes at the last moment (without public comment) after a bill has already gone through most of the process.

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:HB2554). 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.

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week. Monday, March 21st Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM HB2238 ballot drop boxes; prohibition (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) prohibits unmonitored drop boxes for ballots. OPPOSE  HB2289 will have a strike-everything amendment on elections; identification; revisions; tabulation; mail-in that prohibits all in-person early voting and eliminates vote by mail, except for people who are visually impaired, are serving in the military overseas or who are hospitalized or out of the state on Election Day. This would affect most Arizonans as more than 70% of us vote by mail. OPPOSE HB2493 election integrity fund (Hoffman; Blackman, Chaplik, et al.) establishes an Election Integrity Fund to pay county recorders for election security measures and appropriates $12 million for it. This is so unnecessary. OPPOSE HB2602 polling places; emergency voting centers (Bolick: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al.) restricts the use of emergency voting centers to emergencies, such as war, civil unrest or natural disaster. This is ridiculous. OPPOSE HB2780 voter lists; images; voting records (Kavanagh: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) 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. It requires that they digitally publish a list of everyone who voted and their voting method, all ballot images and a sortable cast vote record. These are more unnecessary requirements feeding the conspiracies. OPPOSE HB2786 voter registrations; ballot requests; source (Hoffman: Barton, Biasiucci, et al) prohibits a county recorder from using the signature on a request to amend a voter's registration or a request for an early ballot that is not on an official form printed by a county recorder. It removes the ability for a candidate, political committee or other organization to distribute early ballot request forms or Active Early Voter List request forms to voters. OPPOSE Tuesday, March 22nd House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water at 2:00 PM HB2554 domestic water districts; wastewater; annexation (Shope) will have a strike-everything amendment on farm irrigation efficiency; fund; appropriation that establishes an on-farm irrigation efficiency pilot program opporated by the UArizona Coopertive Extention and appropriates $30 million for it. This could be positive in that it may help reduce agricultural water use. SUPPORT   House Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM SB1396 hydrogen study committee (Shope) establishes a hydrogen study committee. It includes studying a pipeline and blending hydrogen with fracked gas infrastructure. There is no specific provision for studying green hydrogen -- hydrogen derived from water, not methane gas. There are also some other troubling provisions in it. OPPOSE Wednesday, March 23rd House Committee on Government and Elections at 9:00 AM SB1259 recounts; requests; procedures; audits (Mesnard) Increases the minimum number of precincts included in post-election hand counts and allows the attorney general, secretary of state, or Legislative Council to request an election recount. Again, this is unnecessary and harmful tinkering with election processes. OPPOSE SB1638 early ballots; visually impaired voters (Pace: Shah) requires all Arizona elections to provide for voting by the use of a remote accessible vote by mail option for persons who are blind or have a visual impairment. SUPPORT SCR1032 plenary legislative authority; elections (Townsend: Borrelli, Gowan, et al.) opposes any attempt by the federal government to "usurp or otherwise interfere" with state legislative authority over elections. This is intended to target voting rights bills at the federal level. OPPOSE Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM Presentation Economic Benefits of Glass Recycling in Arizona - Alex Cameron and Heidi Erm, Owens Corning HB2554 Now: counties; land divisions; surveys (Griffin) prohibits counties from requiring surveys as a condition for approving land divisions. This is the last thing we need as it will encourage more lot splits and harmful unregulated development. OPPOSE  HB2619 will have a strike everything amendment on rainwater harvesting program, but it is not yet posted. The original bill required the State Dept. of Health to post a vaccine injury data report on their website that passed the House on a party line vote. What does this have to do with rainwater harvesting? That's the beauty of Strike Everything. You might want to check back.  MONITOR   HCR2024 30x30 land program; opposing (Griffin) expresses the legislature's opposition to the Biden Administration's 30 by 30 program and other efforts to protect public lands from development, including as wilderness, conservation lands, etc. OPPOSE 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 House Committee on Transportation at 2:00 PM SB1377 (now: off-highway vehicles; fund; instruction; operation) (Kerr: Rogers) says that landowners and lessees do not have a duty to keep lands safe for entry and use by recreational users or to warn of or maintain lands and trails against unsafe conditions. Don't we all have a duty to try to address unsafe conditions? OPPOSE Senate Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM HB2674 Now: housing supply study committee (Kaiser: Chavez) establishes a housing supply study committee. This is better than the bill they were proposing, but the committee is not very inclusive. (You could make a commment to that effect.) All the members of the committee are appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate (who are both Republicans.) The President of the Senate is the same one who rarely lets any bills sponsored by Democrats be heard on the floor.  MONITOR (Neutral)