Sunday, March 12, 2023

Push back on Legislative Overreach on Voting, Water and Environmental Protections

Two bills that cut the public out of the process for certain transmission lines advanced out of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee and will likely go to the floor of the Senate next week.

 

HB2437 transmission lines; applications; exceptions (Griffin) exempts a transmission line that is entirely on private land from being required to obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility from the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee, so there would be no environmental review.

 

HB2496 transmission lines; definition (Griffin) changes the definition of a transmission line to include lines that are more than one mile. This means they would have no review by the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee. We tried to get this amended to address our concerns, to provide a way to trigger review, but the bill sponsor would not even consider it.

 

Please contact your senator and ask them to oppose both HB2437 and HB2496!

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0383405


NOTE: a personal email or phone call is more effective with some senators. 


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


Please, sign in on the Request to Speak system to push back against legislative overreach including bills that make it more difficult to vote or enact environmentally sound policies on transportation and water conservation.

 

Sign in on Request to Speak system here:  https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon


Tuesday, March 14th

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

  •  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 of water from other locations and instate storage. This would put even more resources into augmentation versus conservation. Why not have this person focus on that? Or on adjudications of water rights? Or on establishing additional active management areas or irrigation non-expansion areas? Or any of the myriad water issues that would help us better be prepared and help address our water shortages. This bill has no additional funding for this position either. OPPOSE
  • SB1390 water infrastructure finance authority; amendments (Kerr) is a "trailer" 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. SB1390 changes the definition of eligible entities for the conservation grants to private entities and to natural resource conservation districts (NRCDs). The bill should be amended to add Tribes, but not to add NRCDs or private water companies. NRCDs represent industrial agriculture and large ranches, not the broader public and many have advocated against environmental protection. Private water companies are for profit entities, so they should not be accessing these public dollars to bump up their profits. OPPOSE

Wednesday, March 15th

House Committee on House Ways and Means at 9:00 AM

  • SCR1018 prohibit tax; monitoring; vehicle mileage (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. OPPOSE

House Committee on Government at 9:30 AM

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

Thursday, March 16th

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

  • HB2056 dry washes; permit program exemption (Diaz: Carbone, Dunn, et al.) says dry washes, arroyos, swales, etc. and other similar features on private property are exempt from state permitting relative to dredge and fill and are not considered protected surface waters. While the state does not currently have a dredge and fill program for washes, prohibiting these ephemeral waters from being protected is a bad idea as it could send a confusing message to those with washes through their property and it sends a very bad message about desert washes, failing to recognize their significant values, especially here in the Desert Southwest. OPPOSE
  • HB2440 electric energy; power companies; priorities  (Griffin) requires electric utilities (both public service companies such as Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power and public power entities such as Salt River Project) to prioritize grid reliability and affordability in planning, procurement, etc. It requires that they provide electric service at just and reasonable rates. The latter requirement is unnecessary for public service corporations and also may create constitutional conflicts as the Arizona Constitution in Article 15, section 3, requires the Arizona Corporation Commission to establish just and reasonable rates. There is no reason to limit planning and procurement to just these two factors as there are significant other issues to be considered in planning, including sustainability. The ACC also has extensive integrated resource plan rules with which this provision may conflict and certainly will create confusion. OPPOSE
  • HB2441 state tree; residential planning (Griffin) prohibits cities and counties from adopting or enforcing a land use regulation that prohibits or restricts the use of palo verde in a residential housing development. SUPPORT
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