Request to Speak on Bills that Hurt the Environment and Water

Among the bad bills in committee at our state legislature this week are some misguided bills that either distract from or exacerbate the problem with over-pumping water. Other bad bills prohibit banks from considering environmental or social issues when making investments.

Please, use the Request to Speak ap to OPPOSE the bad bills (below) and SUPPORT the good bills like HB2373 (that facilitates a faster transition to clean energy.)

Sign in to RTS system here: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

If you have not registered for the Request to Speak system to voice your position, we encourage you to do so now as it will take a day or two for your account to be activated at the Capitol. Here is a link for signing up. To learn more about how to use the Request to Speak System, you can sign up for one of the trainings sponsored by Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. Here is their sign up link.

 

Written directions for RTS here:

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

There are also several bills designed to make it more difficult to vote. If you are interested in opposing those bills, a list can be found here:

https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2023/01/legislative-update-and-request-to-speak.html

Weigh into the following bills before they go to a vote in committee. The dates and times are listed below. 

 Monday, January 30th

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

• HB2376 agricultural land; foreign ownership; prohibition (Biasiucci: Bliss, Cook, et al.) prohibits selling, leasing or subleasing agricultural state land to any foreign entity. This seems to miss the point of the problem regarding over pumping water on state trust lands. It’s not just the Saudi’s that are over pumping. Big ag and development are using up water too. SUPPORT with a comment regarding domestic over-pumping

Senate Transportation and Technology at 2:00 PM

• SB1100 all-terrain vehicles; definition (Carroll, Gowan, Shamp, et al) increases, from 2,500 to 3,500 pounds or less, the maximum weight of an all-terrain vehicle. The bigger vehicles do even more harm to trails and the land. OPPOSE
• SB1122 transportation tax; election; Maricopa county (Farnsworth: Cook) directs Maricopa County to hold an election for the sales tax for transportation and prescribes how much it will be and what it will be used for, including that 80% will go to freeways. Shouldn’t public transit options be included to get people off of freeways?  OPPOSE

Tuesday, January 31st

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

• HB2444 natural resource conservation districts; revisions (Griffin) establishes a Natural Resource Conservation District Commission and sets up a whole system for them to get more money. Most of these entities represent industrial agriculture. OPPOSE.

House Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM

• HB2472 social credit; use; prohibition (Montenegro) says a state cannot require the use of a social credit score for bank lending. Again, this would limit requiring banks to look at the environmental harm or public health impacts of the dollars they loan. OPPOSE

Wednesday, February 1st

Senate Committee on Government at 8:30 AM

•  SB1103 administrative review; approvals; developments (Petersen: Borrelli, Kavanagh, et al.) provides for no hearing on certain aspects of development, including plats, development plans, etc. and also for expedited review. Encourages rushed development when we really should be cutting back on development because there isn’t enough water. OPPOSE
• SB1115 land sales; foreign entities; prohibition (Kern: Rogers) prohibits sale or lease of state land to foreign entities. They focus on foreign rather than the over pumping of water from domestic users as well. SUPPORT with comment
• SB1138 banks; discrimination prohibition; social criteria  (Hoffman: Borrelli, Kern, et al.) says banks can't discriminate based on social credit, environmental, social, governance, or other impact criteria. That would mean a bank could not say no to a developer based on the harm of that development. OPPOSE
• SB1139 government investments; products; fiduciaries; plans (Hoffman: Borrelli, Kern) requires the state treasurer to post investments and prohibits any investments to consider social implications. OPPOSE
• SCR1015 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Mesnard: Bennett, Kaiser, et al.) refers to the ballot that would require a proportionate percentage of petition signatures from each legislative district to put a measure on the ballot. This would be extremely difficult and expensive and put ballot measures more in the hands of the wealthy. OPPOSE

House Committee on Regulatory Affairs at 2:00 PM

• HB2373 permits; automated permitting platform (Biasiucci: Contreras, L. Hernandez, et al.) allows for online solar permit compliance and removes requirement for a diagram when using it. Facilitates a faster transition to clean energy.  SUPPORT

House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure at 2:00 PM

• HB2411 water supply; elimination; reduction; damages (Cook: Martinez, Toma, et al.) tries to make Scottsdale liable for termination of water service to Rio Verde. What they really should be doing is tightening regulation, not proposing this kind of bill to reward wildcat development. OPPOSE

Thursday, February 2nd

Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 9:30 AM

• SB1224 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) restores the $10 million from lottery dollars for the State Parks Heritage Fund for trails, protecting cultural sites, education, etc. SUPPORT
• SB1257 water resources; assistant director (Petersen) requires the Department of Water Resources director to appoint an assistant director that only works with the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority on augmentation (external water sources, like desalination in the Gulf of California). This would put even more resources into augmentation versus conservation. Why not have this person focus on that? OPPOSE

Legislative Update and Request to Speak actions on bills that make it harder to vote

This week, legislators exempted themselves from the public records law and will now destroy emails to and from them and their staff after 90 days and texts immediately, passed a bill to try to allow for the destruction of desert washes on private property, and also advanced a bill to refer to the ballot a measure to make it more difficult to pass citizen initiatives that are constitutional amendments. The legislative majority also passed rules to limit debate on bills and vote explanation to shut down the minority party. It seems like some of these legislators forget that they are supposed to represent and work for the people.

Several bad bills were proposed that make it more difficult to vote or to enact a Citizens Initiative. Please, use the Request to Speak app on the state legislature website to register your opposition while they are still in committee. 

Sign in here: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

If you have not registered for the Request to Speak system, we encourage you to do so now as it will take a day or two for the account be activated at the Capitol. Here is a link for signing up. To learn more about how to use the Request to Speak System, you can sign up for one of the trainings sponsored by Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. Here is their sign up link.

Or check out these written instructions: 

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

Monday, January 30th

Senate Committee on Elections at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

Presentation • Election Mechanics Part 2 by Shelby Busch, We the People AZ Alliance (more election conspiracies)

• SB1066 election mailings; third-party disclosures (Kavanagh) requires any nongovernmental entity that mails an official election-related document or looks like one to include the disclosure "not from a government agency" on the outside of the envelope. This is indirect way to try to discredit legitimate mailings from the League of Women Voters and others who do voter registration. OPPOSE
• SB1135 spoiled early ballots; election day (Kavanagh) requires an early ballot not delivered or mailed to the county recorder to be exchanged by the voter at a polling place by 7:00 p.m. on election day in order to be counted and valid and removes a voter who exchanges an early ballot for a regular ballot from the Active Early Voter List. It repeals a county board of supervisors' authority to establish the use of emergency voting centers. This would result in more people getting purged from the early voting list and having fewer voting opportunities. OPPOSE
• SB1141 early ballot drop off; identification (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) requires additional voter ID to drop off an early ballot. This is unnecessary as they already have the signature verification. OPPOSE
• SB1170 ballot drop boxes; prohibition (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) prohibits unmonitored drop boxes. OPPOSE

Wednesday, February 1st

Senate Committee on Government at 8:30 AM

• SCR1015 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Mesnard: Bennett, Kaiser, et al.) refers to the ballot that would require a proportionate percentage of petition signatures from each legislative district to put a measure on the ballot. This would be extremely difficult and expensive and put ballot measures more in the hands of the wealthy. OPPOSE

House Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2233 election contests; procedures (Harris: Jones, McGarr) allows early ballots to be challenged due to any inconsistencies in personal information or signature. This is unnecessary and will result in more delays as people frequently have changes in their signature due to illness, age, etc. Elected officials follow up on those and should not have to now also deal with a flood of individual challenges from election deniers. OPPOSE
• HB2304 voting locations; precinct-based (McGarr: Biasiucci, Jones) allows only precinct-based polling locations, so no early ballot locations that allow any county to vote. OPPOSE
• HB2307 elections; hand counting; machines; prohibition (McGarr: Biasiucci, Griffin, et al.) requires all ballots to be hand counted. This would take forever and be less accurate. OPPOSE
• HB2415 active early voting lists; removal (Biasiucci: Bliss, Carbone) removes voters from the active early voting list if they fail to vote early in one election cycle, instead of two. This will result in a significant purge of this list and in fewer people voting. OPPOSE 

To weigh in on bills that affect our environment and water, go here: 

http://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2023/01/request-to-speak-on-bills-that-hurt.html

Help the city determine improvements to create a more equitable, effective and efficient transit network!

Sun Systems Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) study beginning, public input requested!

Public is encouraged to attend the pop-up meetings, join the virtual public meeting, and provide comments through February 17, 2023.

 

The City of Tucson, in partnership with the Pima Association of Governments (PAG), is evaluating all aspects of Sun Tran, Sun Link, Sun Express, and Sun Shuttle services throughout Tucson and the greater Tucson area to determine potential improvements to create a more equitable, effective and efficient transit network. This analysis is called a Comprehensive Operational Analysis, or a COA. The City and PAG are requesting public input on these systems to ensure the future transit network better responds to community needs.

How to Get Involved

Whether you are a rider or not, the study team wants your input, and there are several ways you can get involved. Attend a pop-up event, view the virtual meeting or visit the online meeting website to learn more about the COA process, ask questions, and share your thoughts. Comments will be accepted anytime between January 23 and February 17, 2023, using any of the options below. You will also be asked to take a quick survey on the current state of Sun Systems and your feedback will be critical to the COA process and the future of transit in the Tucson and greater Tucson area. 

Here’s how you can participate:

• Attend an event: Attend a pop-up event or join the virtual meeting.
• Visit the project website: Take the survey and provide comments at www.tucsoncoa.com
• Email the project team: SunTranInfo@tucsonaz.gov  
• Call the project team: (520) 792-9222 | (520) 628-1565 (TDD)
• Send a note: Sun Systems COA Project Team | c/o HDR, Inc.

                                20 E. Thomas Rd., Suite 2500 | Phoenix, AZ 85012

 

Attend a Pop-Up event

Tuesday, February 7, 2023:

·        Roy Laos Transit Center | 205 W Irvington Rd, Tucson, AZ 85706 | 8 a.m.

·        Tohono T’adai Transit Center | 4540 N Stone Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705 | 8 a.m.

·        University of Arizona | UA Mall close to the Student Union | 11 a.m.

·        Ronstadt Transit Center | 215 E Congress St Tucson, 85701 | 3 p.m.

·        San Xavier Del Bac Bus Stop #1 | Route 440 | 3 p.m.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023:

·        Pima Community College East | Sun Tran Bus stop located at Fred Enke Dr. just North of Irvington | 9 a.m.

The virtual Webex meeting, on Thursday, February 9 at 6 p.m., is open to all and will provide an option to participate and learn more about the COA for those who cannot attend an in-person pop-up event. The meeting details and login information are below.

 

How to Join the Virtual Public Meeting:

·        Phone: +1-408-418-9388

·        Link: bit.ly/tucson-coa

·        Webinar number: 2492 406 9654

·        Password: TCOA (8262 from phones)

To request reasonable accommodations, language interpretation, or translated materials, please contact (520) 792-9222 ext. 03 by Jan. 26, 2023.

 

Public transit services are provided without regard to race, color or national origin. If you would like additional information on Sun Tran, Sun Van, Sun Shuttle and/or Sun Link’s nondiscrimination obligations or would like to file a complaint, please call (520) 792-9222 (or TDD: (520) 628-1565) or visit suntran.com/titlevi-ada/.​

Urge President Biden and his EPA administrator Michael Regan to move faster on climate pollution from power plants

Climate pollution from the power sector is driving disasters that upend our lives. Toxic air and water pollution from these same facilities is sickening our families, especially in low-income, Black, Indigenous, and Brown communities. Meanwhile, far too many critical EPA standards have been delayed or stalled, and we have less than two years until the end of President Biden's first term.

President Biden promised to get the U.S. to 100% clean power by the year 2035. But so far, he isn’t using his most powerful tool to get there.

Urge President Biden and his EPA administrator, Michael Regan to use their authority under sections 111B and 111D of the Clean Air Act to take on climate pollution from power plants.

As soon as possible, EPA must:

• Propose carbon standards for new gas-fired power plants
• Propose carbon standards for existing coal- and gas-fired power plants
• Propose the risk and technology review for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
• Propose a stronger National Smog Standard
• Make progress on and announce a timeline for strengthening the Regional Haze Rule
• Make progress on and announce a timeline for closing loopholes in the Coal *Ash Rule, including loopholes for legacy landfills
• Announce a final rule for closing Title V startup, shutdown, and malfunction loopholes
• Utilize all tools and resources to stringently enforce the current National Ambient Air Quality Standards for sulfur dioxide

Charles Harper, Evergreen’s power sector policy lead, explains in this Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBedMbWSOBo&t=2s

Petition here:
https://www.evergreenaction.com/actions/epa-further-faster-v2?akid=13245.178836.TTBv9b&rd=1&source=ema_2023-01-25_111b_111d_video_petiion_&t=3&utm_source=ema_2023-01-25_111b_111d_video_petiion_

The Sierra Club shared:

The current standards for deadly and dangerous soot pollution (also known as particulate matter pollution or PM 2.5) set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are outdated and insufficient to protect our health and environment. EPA just came out with its new proposed standards and they are not nearly strong enough to adequately protect public health. Once they are published, please look for opportunities to comment and to testify. 

Stronger soot pollution standards will save lives. EPA must set the strongest science-based soot standards to protect our health, advance environmental justice, and ensure clean air for all. By tightening public health protections from soot, EPA could save nearly 20,000 lives a year.

Sierra Club video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg7FhxryfSk

Request to Speak on bill endangering washes and Citizens Initiatives

The State Legislature is back in session. Among the bills being proposed is one that makes it more difficult to advocate with citizens’ initiatives and another that puts our desert washes in jeopardy.

Please, make sure you are registered on the Request to Speak system so you can weigh in on bills while they are still in committee. Here is a link for signing up. 

NOTE: It may take a couple of days since someone has to go to the capitol to sign you up. 

Once you’re signed up, you can sign onto the Request to Speak system on the State Legislature website and select for or against a bill and write a short one or two sentence comment explaining your response. This becomes a part of public record. I have seen committee members ask to see RTS responses before voting on a bill. Sometimes it gives them courage to do the right thing when they know their constituents support that. Advocates like us stopped some bad water bills from going through in the past.

You can weigh in anytime before the bill is heard in committee. For example, you can do RTS on SCR1002 any time before it is heard at 2 p.m. on Monday. I suggest you get them all done at once while you’re on the site.

Here’s the written directions:

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

To learn more about how to use the Request to Speak System, you can sign up for one of the trainings sponsored by Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. Here is their sign up link.

It can be a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty quick and easy. Copy the bill number so you're ready to paste it into the Search Phrase box. (Example: SCR1002) 

Ready? If you've registered for Request to Speak sign in here:
https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon


Monday, January 23rd, Senate Committee on Elections at 2:00 PM 

SCR1002 constitutional amendments; sixty percent approval (Kern) continues the legislature’s attack on citizen ballot initiatives after they successfully got a ballot measure passed in the last election that would require any initiative that imposes a new tax to pass by a super-majority vote (60%). This, of course, is nearly impossible in the current political environment in Arizona. This bill would extend the supermajority requirement to ALL ballot initiatives – effectively killing the citizen initiative process. OPPOSE.

Tuesday, January 24th, House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM

HB2056 dry washes; permit program exemption (Diaz: Carbone, Dunn, et al.) says that "dry washes" on private property are exempt from the Clean Water Act and state permitting. This is a bad idea as desert washes provide important benefits to our rivers and streams, recharge groundwater, provide flood protection, and limit sediments downstream. Besides, state law cannot exempt waters from federal law. OPPOSE

 
HB2442 temporary non-expansion area (Griffin) allows for establishment of temporary non-expansion areas that would limit new irrigated agriculture, but that would expire after five years. We don't need temporary measures that create the illusion that we are really doing something to address the serious groundwater issues we have. OPPOSE

Wednesday, January 25th

House Committee on Government at 9:00 AM

HCR2004 legislators; minimum age of eighteen (Gress: Aguilar, Austin, et al.) refers to the ballot a measure to change the minimum age to be a legislator from 25 to 18. This seems like a fine idea to get more young people engaged at the legislature. SUPPORT

House Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections at 2:00 PM

HB2305 ballots; signature verification; observers (McGarr: Biasiucci, Carter, et al) requires county recorders to allow representatives of the two largest parties to have observers for every stage of the signature verification process. So unnecessary. OPPOSE

HB2308 secretary of state; election; recusal (Jones: Harris, McGarr, et al) limits the secretary of state from administering the election portion for which they are a candidate. OPPOSE

Weigh in on Tucson's water future on the One Water 2100 Survey - by January 31

As Colorado River water grows increasingly scarce, the City of Tucson is working to secure our water future. Tucson Water is currently developing a plan to manage the city’s water resources. The goal of the One Water Master Plan is to foster a shared vision for providing a reliable source of the highest quality water for our community in the decades to come. As part of the planning process, the city developed a survey to gather input from its customers by January 31, 2023.

Sustainable Tucson applauds the City’s efforts to reach out to the community. To aid in that effort, members of the water committee have reviewed the survey and developed an INFORMATION SHEET clarifying and sharing some considerations for the different strategies..

Please, take advantage of this opportunity to weigh in on one of the most important issues of our time.

INFORMATION SHEET on proposed water strategies: https://bit.ly/ST-one-water

The survey is available at https://tucsononewater.com

NOTE: If you have a suggestion for a strategy that isn't included on the survey, you can leave a comment using the contact sheet on the One Water website: 

https://tucsononewater.com/contact/

More information on the One Water process can be found here: 

https://tucsononewater.com/why-a-master-plan/

Here’s a way to help Tucson prepare for the next 80 years of water use - 13 News

Urgent Action: Ask City Council to include Community Choice Energy on City’s Climate Action Plan

Photo credit: Frank Staub 

Sustainable Tucson has lobbied for TEP and the City of Tucson to reduce community carbon emissions. In 2018, we fought for solar-plus-storage instead of 200 megawatts of new gas-fired electricity generation. Since then, we have offered formal energy-related proposals for inclusion in the City's forthcoming Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP).

 
Drafts of the CAAP will be released in two parts, on January 10th and 20th. Public comments will be accepted through Feb. 21. Despite not yet having a roadmap for decarbonizing the City, the City Council and Administration have begun negotiating a new 25-year franchise* agreement with TEP.

Act Now on City’s Climate Action Plan

Mayor and Council will meet January 11 (Wednesday)

 
Ask Mayor Romero and the City Council to: 

• Include Community Choice Energy as an option in the CAAP.
• Adopt the CAAP before negotiating a long-term energy franchise agreement.
• Take whatever time is required to integrate provisions of the CAAP into any new energy franchise agreement. (The current franchise agreement with TEP does not expire until 2026, and we are not obliged to renew that agreement ahead of schedule.)
• Include exit clauses and performance clauses based on a predetermined de-carbonization timetable.

The Sustainable Tucson Board has already signed on to this public letter addressed to Tucson's City Council.
 
Please send your City Council Member an email today! Council will meet January 11 (Wednesday) and they need to hear from us.
 
Sample email: Dear Council Member ______, Climate Change is a major threat to our desert city. As your constituent, I'm asking you to approve the Tucson CAAP and integrate community choice energy and carbon reduction goals into all city planning, negotiations, and agreements, including any future TEP Franchise agreement. Please, don't approve a new agreement with TEP until the appropriate CAAP-based elements are considered in the City's long-term energy planning processes.
 
Note: If you live outside the City and are not represented by a Council member, please send your email about this issue to the Mayor and the City Manager.
 
Mayor & Council and City Manager | Official website of the City of Tucson (tucsonaz.gov)
 

* Franchise – Allows TEP to use all the road rights-of-way for their power lines.  Must be approved by voters every 25 years (by 2026). 

Planning and Development Services Process Update

Last June M&C asked staff to begin outreach with the hope some of our internal processes and code provisions needing a tweak could be addressed. We’re expecting some recommendations later this spring. In the meantime the outreach to the public continues.  

So far staff has heard input on these general areas:  

• Improve PDSD Processes 
• Remove Barriers to Small-scale Infill 
• Simplify Development Standards 
• Correct Minor Code Errors 

Our PDSD team is still gathering input and to that end will be hosting one more virtual, and one more in-person meeting. They’ll share what has been offered to this point and will continue to take feedback on potential code updates. You can learn more about the project here:  available on the project webpage.    

Whether you’re taking part virtually or in-person, you need to register. Here’s the information on the virtual meeting. 

VIRTUAL VIA ZOOM

 Tuesday, January 10, 2023 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. 

Please register in advance for the virtual meeting: https://bit.ly/UDCVirtualPublicMeeting 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

The in-person meeting will take place on Thursday, January 12th from 5:30pm until 7pm. It’ll be held at the Sentinel Building, 310 N. Commerce Park Loop. You can use this link to sign up for the session:  

https://forms.office.com/g/6q48LpQjHe