Call Legislators on bad transportation and investment bills

 

Next week, few committees are meeting as well as the House and Senate continue to move bills from one chamber to the other. And a bit of good news from this week, SB1502 corporation commission; electric generation resources (Carroll: Kerr, Griffin), which seeks to pre-empt the renewable energy standard or any subsequent clean energy standard at the Arizona Corporation Commission by codifying a weak standard, failed on Third Read in the Senate 14-15-1. It may come back for reconsideration, however, so we are keeping an eye on it.  Both HB2471 and SB1500 (government investments; plans; fiduciaries; products) are moving in the House and Senate. They require a fiduciary to take into account only pecuniary factors when evaluating an investment, so they cannot consider environmental, social, or governance factors. The bills also prescribe requirements and prohibitions relating to the State Treasurer's investments, again prohibiting consideration of anything social or environmental. If you have not done so already, please send a message to your state senator and representatives and ask them to oppose HB2471 and SB1500 by using this link. NOTE: Some legislators may be more inclined to open personal emails or keep tabs of their phone messages.  Here are the links for reaching out to them.  How to find out who your new legislators are: 1) Look up your district by putting in your address here: https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b 2) Use that district to find your state Senator and contact info here: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S 3) Use that district to find your two state Representatives and contact info here: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=H It is irresponsible to not include ways to reduce motor vehicle traffic and accommodate other transportation, including bicycles, in our planning and it runs contrary to our air quality plans, which include goals for reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Unfortunately, the Arizona Legislature is seeking to limit local government and the Arizona Department of Transportation's (ADOT) ability to plan for transit and bikes and reduce vehicle travel. Already, the Arizona Senate passed the following two bills along party lines (16-13-1) this past week. SB1313 general plan; transportation; independent study (Hoffman) prohibits general plans from including policies or projects that reduce vehicle traffic and removes element from the general plan regarding multimodal transportation.  SB1314 transportation system performance; ADOT (Hoffman) changes performance factors to de-emphasize congestion relief and connecting with multi-modal transportation, plus prohibits adopting a motor vehicle travel mile reduction target or any other demand-management policy or project.  Still coming up are the following two bills. Please ask your senator to oppose both of these bills by using the link below. Or you can call or email them. Make sure to mention that you are from their district. SB1697 highways; bicycle paths; walkways; prohibition (Hoffman) prohibits the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) from planning, designing, or constructing bicycle paths or pedestrian walkways and accepting federal monies conditioned on the design and construction of a bicycle path or pedestrian walkway.  SCR1018 prohibit tax; monitoring; vehicle (Hoffman) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit any fees based on vehicle miles traveled. As we reduce reliance on gasoline and gasoline-powered vehicles, gas tax revenues will decrease and other ways to fund road maintenance are needed such as looking at vehicle miles traveled. https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0382066&id

Ask your senator to oppose bills to hinder reduction of vehicle travel!

It is irresponsible not to include ways to reduce motor vehicle traffic and accommodate other transportation, including bicycles, in our planning and it runs contrary to our air quality plans, which include goals for reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

Today, the Arizona Senate is considering bills to hinder transit and accommodations for bikes and pedestrians in planning, or any effort to limit vehicle travel. Say no to this cars only approach. Contact your Senator today!

Vehicles in the Phoenix area particularly contribute to air quality issues and reducing VMTs is a key part of our state implementation plans for ozone. In the Phoenix area, more than 50 percent of the ozone is created from vehicles. Cities and counties need to be able to use this tool to reduce VMTs and accommodate bicycles and pedestrians as a way to address reducing emissions. Children, elderly and people with asthma or other respiratory diseases are most vulnerable to ozone pollution. Reducing vehicle travel can make a difference for all of these folks and even those who are otherwise healthy and are not in an at-risk category.

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0381747

At Environmental Day, my Representative mentioned that she only reads personal emails, not petitions. You might want to contact yours individually.

(To find out who your your new legislators are and their contact info, use links below the bills.)

It can be a quick call to their staffer. Just say your name, and that you are in their district and to vote "No" on the following bad transportation bills.

Please contact your Arizona State Senator and ask them to oppose the following bills.

• SB1313 general plan; transportation; independent study (Hoffman) prohibits general plans from including policies or projects that reduce vehicle traffic and removes element from the general plan regarding multimodal transportation. 
• SB1314 transportation system performance; ADOT (Hoffman) changes performance factors to de-emphasize congestion relief and connecting with multi-modal transportation, plus prohibits adopting a motor vehicle travel mile reduction target or any other demand-management policy or project. 
• SB1697 highways; bicycle paths; walkways; prohibition (Hoffman) prohibits the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) from planning, designing, or constructing bicycle paths or pedestrian walkways and accepting federal monies conditioned on the design and construction of a bicycle path or pedestrian walkway. 
• SCR1018 prohibit tax; monitoring; vehicle (Hoffman) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit any fees based on vehicle miles traveled. As we reduce reliance on gasoline and gasoline-powered vehicles, gas tax revenues will decrease and other ways to fund road maintenance are needed such as looking at vehicle miles traveled.

Please use the link and form to send a message to your senator or give your senator a call.

How to find out who your new legislators are:

1) Look up your district by putting in your address here:
https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b

2) Find your state Senator and contact info here:

https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

Legislative bills that would impact our daily lives

Memorial to U of A professor Thomas Meixner.

Here are some bills at the Arizona Legislature that will negatively or positively impact our daily lives here in Tucson. There are bills that prohibit college campuses from banning concealed weapons (even after the recent shooting of a U of A professor!) and further criminalize the homeless. But there are also some good bills that support school gardens and provide low interest loans for down payments for first time, limited income home buyers. You can find some more good bills here. 

If you are registered on the Request to Speak system, please, weigh in while they are still in committee.   

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

These bills are dangerously close to going for a vote on the floor, so you might want to contact the committee members directly. I'll put the contact info belove bill descriptions. 


Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Monday and Wednesday

HB2329, sponsored by Marcelino Quiñonez (D-11), would appropriate $12 million from the general fund to create the First Generation Home Buyers Down Payment Assistance Grant Fund. The fund would provide five-year loans for first-time disadvantaged homebuyers to use for down payments. The goal is to help people buy what may be the first home for anyone in their extended family. SUPPORT.

Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday

SB1300, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would prohibit universities and community colleges from banning anyone with a concealed weapons permit — not just students — from possessing, storing, transporting guns on campus. College campuses and guns are a deadly combination, increasing the risks of suicide, homicide and sexual assault. Even our founding fathers believed guns had no place on college campuses. Getting a concealed-weapons permit in Arizona is ridiculously easy. The same bill was also introduced last year. Duplicate bill HB2667, sponsored by Rachel Jones (R-17), is also in committee this week. OPPOSE.

SB1413, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), would require cities and counties to immediately remove any "homeless encampment" and throw away all materials found there. Homeless people on private property would be charged with trespassing. The bill does not include solutions for housing or shelter. The definition of “homeless encampment” is so broadly written as to criminalize recreational camping. In addition to being blatantly cruel, this bill criminalizes homelessness and has constitutionality issues. The bill was written by the libertarian lobbyist group Goldwater Institute. . OPPOSE.

Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday

SCR1011, sponsored by Steve Kaiser (R-2), would ask voters to allow the Housing Trust Fund to be used to fund state-funded “tent cities” for individuals experiencing homelessness, which would have to be prioritized before any permanent housing solution. Any city with higher homeless rates than the state average would face penalties, encouraging them to simply evict people. It would also ban “unauthorized sleeping” on state land, even as rising rents push more people toward that option. Arizona has one of the worst homelessness crises in the nation. This would segregate and criminalize people without addressing the root causes: “a vicious mix of inflation, stagnant wages, limited housing, and skyrocketing rent.” Why not invest in another, better option?  OPPOSE.

Support the good bills, like...

SB1546, sponsored by Lela Alston (D-5), would set up a $100,000 grant program for district and charter school community gardens. School gardens offer many benefits, including making healthy food more appealing to kids, helping fight hunger, and aiding emotional regulation. SUPPORT.

Contact info. if you want to contact committee members: 

House Appropriations

David Livingston (R-28) - Chair - dlivingston@azleg.gov / 602-926-4178
Joseph Chaplik (R-3) - Vice Chair - jchaplik@azleg.gov / 602-926-3436
Selina Bliss (R-1) sbliss@azleg.gov / 602-926-4018
Michael Carbone (R-25) mcarbone@azleg.gov / 602-926-4038
Lupe Diaz (R-19) ldiaz@azleg.gov / 602-926-4852
Tim Dunn (R-25) tdunn@azleg.gov / 602-926-4139
Matt Gress (R-4) mgress@azleg.gov / 602-926-4015
Quang Nguyen (R-1) qnguyen@azleg.gov / 602-926-3258
Barbara Parker (R-10) bparker@azleg.gov / 602-926-3681
Lorena Austin (D-9) laustin@azleg.gov / 602-926-3968
Marcelino Quiñonez (D-11) mquinonez@azleg.gov / 602-926-3285
Athena Salman (D-8) asalman@azleg.gov / 602-926-4858
Judy Schwiebert (D-2) jschwiebert@azleg.gov / 602-926-3390
Amish Shah (D-5) ashah@azleg.gov / 602-926-3280
Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-21) sstahlhamilton@azleg.gov / 602-926-3279

Senate Appropriations

John Kavanagh (R-3) - Chair - jkavanagh@azleg.gov / 602-926-5170
Jake Hoffman (R-15) - Vice Chair- jake.hoffman@azleg.gov / 602-926-3292
Ken Bennett (R-1) kbennett@azleg.gov / 602-926-5874
David Farnsworth (R-10) dfarnsworth@azleg.gov / 602-926-3387
Anthony Kern (R-27) akern@azleg.gov / 602-926-3497
Sine Kerr (R-25) skerr@azleg.gov / 602-926-5955
Lela Alston (D-5) lalston@azleg.gov / 602-926-5829
Eva Diaz (D-22) ediaz@azleg.gov / 602-926-3473
Brian Fernandez (D-23) bfernandez@azleg.gov / 602-926-3098
Raquel Terán (D-26) rteran@azleg.gov / 602-926-3308

Support some Good Bills @ the AZ Legislature

After weeks of nonsense, this week’s Appropriations committees have a few good bills, including: HB2329, which sets up five-year loans to help disadvantaged first-time homebuyers afford a down payment, HB2338 would expand Arizona’s Medicaid system to include preventive dental care, SB1546, would set up a $100,000 grant program for district and charter school community gardens, and SB1544, which would help keep families together by raising the monthly stipend for kinship foster care parents (those related to the child).

Wanna support good bills at the state legislature? Contact the members of House Appropriations on HB2329 and HB2338, and the members of Senate Appropriations on SB1546 and SB1544. (See contact info below.) 

If you are signed onto Request to Speak, you can also weigh in on that system before these bills are heard in committee. HB2329 and HB2338 will be heard on Monday. SB1544 and SB1546 is scheduled for Thursday. 

Sign onto RTS: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Monday:

 HB2329, sponsored by Marcelino Quiñonez (D-11), would appropriate $12 million from the general fund to create the First Generation Home Buyers Down Payment Assistance Grant Fund. The fund would provide five-year loans for first-time disadvantaged homebuyers to use for down payments. The goal is to help people buy what may be the first home for anyone in their extended family. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Monday and Wednesday. SUPPORT.

HB2338, sponsored by Amish Shah (D-5), would expand Arizona’s Medicaid system to include preventive dental care. This would help maintain overall health and wellness, and save money by helping people avoid serious dental problems. Research shows that gum disease (which is preventable with routine care) may play a role in the development of a number of other conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and respiratory disease. Currently, adults on AHCCCS get only emergency dental care; exams, X-rays, cleanings and other preventive dentistry is not covered. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Monday and Wednesday. SUPPORT.

Thursday:

SB1544, sponsored by Lela Alston (D-5), would raise the monthly stipend for kinship foster care parents (those related to the child) to the same $600 per month that every other foster parent gets. Kinship foster parents are often grandparents raising grandkids; the bill sponsor, who has been working for parity for these families since 2019, says some families must send the children back to the state because they cannot afford to take care of them. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday. SUPPORT.

SB1546, sponsored by Lela Alston (D-5), would set up a $100,000 grant program for district and charter school community gardens. School gardens offer many benefits, including making healthy food more appealing to kids, helping fight hunger, and aiding emotional regulation. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday. SUPPORT.

Contact info. if you want to contact committee members: 

House Appropriations

David Livingston (R-28) - Chair - dlivingston@azleg.gov / 602-926-4178
Joseph Chaplik (R-3) - Vice Chair - jchaplik@azleg.gov / 602-926-3436
Selina Bliss (R-1) sbliss@azleg.gov / 602-926-4018
Michael Carbone (R-25) mcarbone@azleg.gov / 602-926-4038
Lupe Diaz (R-19) ldiaz@azleg.gov / 602-926-4852
Tim Dunn (R-25) tdunn@azleg.gov / 602-926-4139
Matt Gress (R-4) mgress@azleg.gov / 602-926-4015
Quang Nguyen (R-1) qnguyen@azleg.gov / 602-926-3258
Barbara Parker (R-10) bparker@azleg.gov / 602-926-3681
Lorena Austin (D-9) laustin@azleg.gov / 602-926-3968
Marcelino Quiñonez (D-11) mquinonez@azleg.gov / 602-926-3285
Athena Salman (D-8) asalman@azleg.gov / 602-926-4858
Judy Schwiebert (D-2) jschwiebert@azleg.gov / 602-926-3390
Amish Shah (D-5) ashah@azleg.gov / 602-926-3280
Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-21) sstahlhamilton@azleg.gov / 602-926-3279

Senate Appropriations

John Kavanagh (R-3) - Chair - jkavanagh@azleg.gov / 602-926-5170
Jake Hoffman (R-15) - Vice Chair- jake.hoffman@azleg.gov / 602-926-3292
Ken Bennett (R-1) kbennett@azleg.gov / 602-926-5874
David Farnsworth (R-10) dfarnsworth@azleg.gov / 602-926-3387
Anthony Kern (R-27) akern@azleg.gov / 602-926-3497
Sine Kerr (R-25) skerr@azleg.gov / 602-926-5955
Lela Alston (D-5) lalston@azleg.gov / 602-926-5829
Eva Diaz (D-22) ediaz@azleg.gov / 602-926-3473
Brian Fernandez (D-23) bfernandez@azleg.gov / 602-926-3098
Raquel Terán (D-26) rteran@azleg.gov / 602-926-3308

Legislative Calls to Action for Week of 2/18/2023

Most of the bills have already gone through committee at the State Legislature. There are a few bills that effect the environment that will be heard in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. If you haven't already weighed in on those bills, please do so now. They are even closer to going for a vote on the floor.  SB1546 would set up a $100,000 grant program for district and charter school community gardens! See the RTS actions below.

Some bad bills have made it through committee, so you may want to contact your legislator to vote no on those bills in the near future. Currently the Sierra Club is recommending that you use their form to connect to your legislators on HB2471 and SB1500.

 https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0381703

The Arizona Legislature has discovered yet another way to be anti-environmental and it has its sights set on “ESG” or environmental, social, and governance investing. This is a backlash against a growing trend for financial institutions that make common-sense, business-driven decisions to respond to the systemic risks of climate change, which frequently means dollars flowing away from risky fossil fuel investments and into our clean energy economy.

HB2471 and SB1500 (government investments; plans; fiduciaries; products) are twin bills in the Arizona House and Arizona Senate. They require a fiduciary to take into account only pecuniary factors when evaluating an investment, so they cannot consider environmental, social, or governance factors. The bills also prescribe requirements and prohibitions relating to the State Treasurer's investments, again prohibiting consideration of anything social or environmental.

This is both unwise from a financial perspective, but also will result in our state helping to continue the harm that is contributing to poor air quality and climate change.

According to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, SB1500 would require state retirement funds to evaluate their investments solely based on finances. Similar to other bills this session that crusade against “pro-abortion, pro-sex-ed” banks. This culture war against an imaginary problem could create real consequences for those who depend on Arizona’s retirement system. An ill-considered blanket mandate such as this could leave half a million teachers, municipal workers and other government employees with retirement accounts that are unable to invest in most major companies, and may create a minefield for investors and pension fund managers.

NOTE: Our Representative mentioned that she doesn't respond to petitions.

Consider contacting your legislators directly to tell them to vote NO on HB2471 (for the Reps) or SB1500 (if they are Senators.)

How to find out who your new legislators are:

1) Look up your district by putting in your address here:
https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b

2) Use that district to find your Representatives and contact info here:
https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/

3) Find your state Senator and contact info here:

https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

Also, please, sign onto Request to Speak and weigh in on the following bills before they are heard in committee Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

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

Directions on how to navigate the RTS system here: 

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

Monday, February 20th

House Committee on Appropriations at 9:30 AM 
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2633 Maricopa county transportation excise tax (Livingston) includes numerous changes relative to county regional planning for transportation and calls for a new tax to go to the ballot in Maricopa County where 45 percent would go to freeways and highways, 35 percent to arterials, and a measly 20 percent for transit and it prohibits using any of the dollars for light rail extension. OPPOSE
• HB2644 appropriation; wolf depredation investigator (Cook: Smith) appropriates an unspecified amount to have a "peace officer" investigate the killing of livestock by wolves. Why would you have someone who knows nothing about wolves or livestock investigate this? OPPOSE
• HB2806 state parks heritage fund; appropriation (Carbone: Biasiucci, Blattman, et al.) makes a one time appropriation of $10 million to the State Parks Heritage Fund. While we support this, we would rather see SB1224 adopted as it includes ongoing funding for the Heritage Fund from the lottery. SUPPORT

Wednesday, February 22nd

House Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM 

• Same bills that are on Monday's agenda. (If you already weighed in on the bill, you don't have to do it again.) 

Thursday, February 23rd

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 8:30 AM.

• SB1392 appropriation; state park; Verde River (Kerr) appropriates an undesignated amount for a state park at the headwaters of the Verde River. It is good to see legislators supporting parks again. SUPPORT
• SB1546, sponsored by Lela Alston (D-5), would set up a $100,000 grant program for district and charter school community gardens. School gardens offer many benefits, including making healthy food more appealing to kids, helping fight hunger, and aiding emotional regulation. SUPPORT.
  
  
  

Request to Speak to Save Democracy & Stop the Power Grab

Last week, legislators continued to advance all of the anti-democracy bills that were on agendas and did not advance any positive ones. Next week is looking similar except the agendas are much longer as it is the last week to hear bills in committee in the house of origin. That means that with the exception of bills that are assigned to Appropriations, any bill that is not heard in committee next week is dead.

At the Arizona state legislature this week there are several bills (again!) that make it more difficult to vote, take power away from municipalities and allow the legislature to grab power from the other branches of the government. Please, sign onto the Request to Speak system and weigh in while these bills are still in committee.

If you have a RTS account sign in here: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Directions for navigating the Request to Speak system here:

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

Helpful hint: Copy the bill number (ex. HB2505) and paste it into the SEARCH PHRASE box.

NOTE: Three bills from last week’s Request to Speak action have moved on to another committee. If you have already weighed in on them your response is still in the system, so there is no need to do that again. If you haven’t, it is even more important that you weigh in now since those bills have moved even closer to a vote on the floor.

Also, there were several bills that are direct attacks on our environmental initiatives being heard this week as well as some good park and trail bills. You can find them here:

https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2023/02/request-to-speak-to-protect-tucsons.html

Monday, February 13th Senate Committee on Elections at 2:00 PM SB1140 elections; voting centers prohibited (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) prohibits counties from using voting centers -- they can only use polling places in the districts. OPPOSE SB1213 legislative council; procedures manual (Kern: Kolodin) will have a strike-everything amendment on joint legislative audit committee; procedures manual  that requires the Secretary of State's official instructions and procedures manual to be submitted to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee for review and approval prior to issuance. OPPOSE SB1518 ballots; election day; identification (Bennett) requires an early ballot be received by the county recorder or deposited at a polling place by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding an election to be counted and valid and requires a voter to present valid identification before depositing the voter's early ballot into the ballot box. Allows an early voter to only deliver their own ballot. OPPOSE SB1566 voter registration; reregistration; ten years (Carroll: Gowan, Kaiser, et al.) Every 10 years everyone's voter registration will be removed from the rolls and they will be required to reregister. A nightmare for voters and the county recorders. OPPOSE SB1595 early ballots; identification; tabulation (Mesnard: Bennett, Carroll, et al.) requires a voter to present valid identification after an election for a ballot that was delivered by a voter's agents and prescribes additional requirements for an early ballot to be counted and valid. Removes the ability of an early voter without valid identification to deposit the voter's early ballot into the drop box. OPPOSE Wednesday, February 15th  House Committee on Government at 9:00 AM HB2213 TPT; exemption; utilities; residential customers (Griffin) exempts from the Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) the retail sale of natural gas, artificial gas, and electricity to residential customers. This would be a big hit to the general fund -- more than $200 million -- and also to local government. OPPOSE HB2254 rulemaking; regulatory costs; legislative ratification nullifies rules that cost more or have a negative economic impact, plus requires legislative ratification of rules, an obvious separation of powers. OPPOSE HB2471 government investments; plans; fiduciaries; products (Montenegro) requires a fiduciary to take into account only pecuniary factors when evaluating an investment, so they cannot consider environmental or social factors. Prescribes requirements and prohibitions relating to the State Treasurer's investments. OPPOSE HB2808 public records; time frame (Carbone: Biasiucci, Blattman, et al.) requires public entities to respond to a public records request within five business days. SUPPORT House Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 AM HB2059 riot; unlawful assembly; classification; liability (Diaz: Marshall, Nguyen, et al.) makes it higher offense if someone breaks the law as part of an unlawful assembly. An unlawful assembly could be an otherwise peaceful protest - where they didn't get a permit. They are trying to criminalize first amendment rights. It will more likely to be used against people of color. OPPOSE Senate Committee on Government at 9:30 AM SB1255 regulatory costs; rulemaking; ratification (Kern: Smith) says rules have to be ratified by the Arizona Legislature. This is a separation of powers issue. Nullifies rules that have an economic impact. That means that the legislature would make all the rules. They could nullify a rule made by the Corporation Commission or the Department of Environmental Quality or any other agency that makes rules. OPPOSE SCR1036 primary elections; eligible candidates (Wadsack: Kern) refers to the ballot a measure to head off ranked choice voting. OPPOSE House Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections at 2:00 PM HB2232 elections; identification; revisions; mail-in; tabulation (Harris: Heap, Jones, et al.) eliminates early voting, requires identification for any voting, requires a hand count of the votes, and requires people vote only in their own precinct. OPPOSE HB2552 voting; elections; tally; prohibition (Smith: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al.) seeks to head off ranked choice voting. OPPOSE HB2591 elections; early ballot drop boxes (Griffin) limits the use of drop boxes for early voting. OPPOSE HB2785 early voting; absentee; military (Harris: Heap, Jones) eliminates early voting and replaces it with absentee voting, only available to those who will be gone on Election Day. OPPOSE HCR2033 primary elections; eligible candidates (Smith) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit any election law in Arizona that is contrary to the direct primary election law as outlined in the Arizona Constitution. This is intended to head off rank-choice voting. OPPOSE HCR2040 in-person precinct voting; absentee voters (Jones: Harris, Heap, et al.) refers to the ballot a measure to eliminate early voting. OPPOSE HCR2041 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Marshall: Diaz, Gilllette, et al.) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to require a proportionate number of signatures from every legislative district to place something on the ballot. It is already extremely difficult to get a Citizen Initiative on the ballot. This will make it nearly impossible. OPPOSE

Request to Speak to protect Tucson's Environmental Initiatives

Arizona Legislature's power grab       

This week at the Arizona State Legislature the agendas are much longer as it is the last week to hear bills in committee in the house of origin. That means that with the exception of bills that are assigned to Appropriations, any bill that is not heard in committee this week is dead. Sadly, that includes most of the good environmental bills with the exception of those that relate to parks and trails. But there are some new bills on financing solar, water and energy capital improvements, and supporting a program that supplies produce for SNAP.

The agendas are also filled with amendments called "strike-everything amendments." These amendments cause confusion for many in the public as they allow legislators to take a bill and strike its entire content and replace it with a brand-new bill but keep the same bill number. If you see S/E, that means a strike-everything amendment will be offered.

This week there are several bills that are direct attacks on environmental initiatives. They include bills that would prohibit cities from putting in walking and biking paths or more public transportation. It would outlaw all the effort the city invested in Move Tucson. Another bill prohibits utilities from installing charging stations for electric vehicles. This is crazy! Please, sign into the Request to Speak system to weigh in on them while they are still in committee.

Sign into your RTS account here:

https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Directions for navigating the RTS system here:

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

Helpful hint: Copy the bill number (ex. HB2505) and paste it into the SEARCH PHRASE box.

NOTE: At least five bills from last week's RTS action have moved on to other committees. If you have already weighed in on them, your position is already in the system. No need to do that again. If you haven't, it's even more important that you weigh in now as they are closer to a vote on the floor. I have indicated those bills in red.

Also, there are also some bills that make it difficult to vote or allow the state legislature to grab power from municipalities and other government agencies. You can find them here:  https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2023/02/request-to-speak-to-save-our-democracy.html

Monday, February 13th

Senate Transportation and Technology at 9:00 AM

• 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. OPPOSE
• SB1245 VLT; cities and towns; counties (Farnsworth) diverts vehicle license tax distributions from counties to the State Treasurer to be apportioned to counties by population and requires distributions to incorporated cities and towns to be used for any purpose related to transportation. This is another erosion of local control and priorities.  OPPOSE
• SB1313 general plan; transportation; independent study (Hoffman) prohibits general plans from including policies or projects that reduce vehicle traffic and removes element from the general plan regarding multimodal transportation. This in outrageous restriction on the ability for municipalities to reduce vehicular congestion and plan for public transportation.  OPPOSE 
• SB1314 transportation system performance; ADOT (Hoffman) changes performance factors to de-emphasize congestion relief and connecting with multi-modal transportation, plus prohibits adopting a motor vehicle travel mile reduction target or any other transportation demand-management policy or project. It would outlaw all the effort that has been put into Move Tucson. OPPOSE
• SB1340 toll roads; conversion; prohibition (Mendez: Burch, Anna Hernandez, et al.) prohibits the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) or a county board of supervisors from converting a publicly funded or maintained street or highway into a toll road. SUPPORT
• SB1697 highways; bicycle paths; walkways; prohibition (Hoffman) prohibits ADOT from planning, designing, or constructing bicycle paths or pedestrian walkways and accepting federal monies conditioned on the design and construction of a bicycle path or pedestrian walkway. OPPOSE
• SCR1018 prohibit tax; monitoring; vehicle (Hoffman) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit any fees based on vehicle miles traveled. What a dumb proposal! OPPOSE

House Committee on Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2142 produce incentive program; annual appropriation (Dunn: Carbone, Gress, et al.) appropriates $5 million to the Arizona Department of Economic Security to implement the Produce Incentive Program which helps those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to purchase produce at farmer's markets and similar venues. SUPPORT
• HB2376 agricultural land; foreign ownership; prohibition (Biasiucci: Bliss, Cook, et al.) prohibits selling, leasing or subleasing agricultural state land to a foreign entity. This is not the answer to the water issues on state trust lands. We need to prohibit over pumping by any entity leasing state land, not just foreign.   Neutral with comment
• HB2441 state tree; residential planning (Griffin) says cities and counties cannot limit by ordinance the planting of our state tree, the blue palo verde. Is any community actually doing this? Perhaps it should be directed at HOAs? SUPPORT
• HB2644 appropriation; wolf depredation investigator (Cook: Smith) appropriates an unspecified amount to have a "peace officer" investigate the killing of livestock by wolves. Why would you have someone who knows nothing about wolves or livestock investigate this? OPPOSE
• HB2806 state parks heritage fund; appropriation (Carbone: Biasiucci, Blattman, et al.) makes a one time appropriation of $10 million to the State Parks Heritage Fund. While we support this, we would rather see SB1224 adopted as it includes ongoing funding for the Heritage Fund from the lottery. SUPPORT

Tuesday, February 14th

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

• HB2440 electric energy; power companies; priorities (Griffin) requires electric utilities to prioritize grid reliability and affordability in planning. There is no reason to limit this to just these two factors. What about climate considerations?  OPPOSE
• HB2618 decommissioning; solar and wind; standards (Griffin) proscribes requirements for solar and wind facilities, including decommissioning. The bill revises ARS Title 30, but Title 30 has no provisions regulating the building or decommissioning of coal or gas facilities. Why are renewable resources being singled out?  OPPOSE
• HB2669 solid waste; sludge; water quality (Dunn) will have a strike-everything amendment on prohibition; biosolids; land application includes limits on the application of biosolids. SUPPORT
• HB2702 energy projects; grazing operations; compensation (Nguyen: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al.) says those with solar leases that affect grazing have to pay the livestock interests for various items (even on state lands). OPPOSE
• HCM2008 air quality; ozone standards; opposing (Carbone) asks Congress and the Biden administration to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing any sanctions on Arizona for not meeting clean air requirements. OPPOSE

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM

• SB1714 appropriation; Arizona trail fund (Gowan: Shamp, Shope) appropriates $250,000 for the Arizona Trail. SUPPORT

Wednesday, February 15th

Senate Committee on Commerce at 8:30 AM

• SB1308 fireworks; aerial devices; retailers; licensure (Gowan) legalizes aerial fireworks. Just what we need, more fires and more distressed animals and people. Gowan is in the fireworks business, by the way. OPPOSE
• SB1501 electric vehicle charging stations (Carroll: Gowan, Kaiser, et al.) prohibits utilities from installing charging stations for electric vehicles. We need utilities to be part of the solution to transportation electrification. OPPOSE

Senate Committee on Government at 9:30 AM

• SB1500 government investments; fiduciaries; pecuniary benefit (Carroll: Bennett, Gowan, et al.) requires a fiduciary to take into account only pecuniary factors when evaluating an investment, so they cannot consider environmental or social factors. Prescribes requirements and prohibitions relating to the State Treasurer's investments. OPPOSE
• SB1611 public entities; contracts; prohibition (Kern) prohibits government entities from entering into contracts with an entity that might consider social and environmental factors. OPPOSE
• SB1651 water; energy; financing program (Borrelli) establishes a commercial property assessed clean energy program, which provides a financing mechanism for water, energy efficiency and other energy saving and renewable energy investments. SUPPORT

House Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM

• HB2142 produce incentive program; annual appropriation (Dunn: Carbone, Gress, et al.) See above.
• HB2374 state lake improvement fund; appropriation (Griffin) See above.
• HB2518 appropriation; Glassford Dells regional park (Bliss) appropriates $3.5 million for this park provided that Yavapai County, Prescott, and Prescott Valley come up with a match. SUPPORT

House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure at 2:00 PM

• HB2411 water supply; elimination; reduction; damages (Cook: Martinez, Toma, et al.) seeks to force Scottsdale to serve water to Rio Verde, thus rewarding irresponsible development. It requires a city that provided water to customers outside the city's service area and reduced or terminated that service to make the same reduction or termination of water supply to the mayor and members of the city council and says the city is liable for damages incurred because of the termination of service. OPPOSE

Thursday, February 16th

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

• SB1390 water infrastructure finance authority; amendments (Kerr) is a "clean-up" bill for last year's massive bill on the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority that set up an augmentation program and provided some funding for water conservation. It includes several provisions we are concerned about, including a conflict of interest and who is eligible for conservation grants. OPPOSE
• SB1392 appropriation; state park; Verde River (Kerr) appropriates an undesignated amount for a state park at the headwaters of the Verde River. It is good to see legislators supporting parks again. SUPPORT
• SB1502 corporation commission; electric generation resources (Carroll: Kerr, Griffin) seeks to pre-empt the renewable energy standard at the Arizona Corporation Commission with one that is weaker and requires the lowest cost resource. It includes nuclear power on the list of clean resources. OPPOSE