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| (Condensed version of the Sierra Club's Legislative Update) |
This week, the 57th Legislature, First Regular Session, kicked off with the Governor's State of the State address -- well and a short prebuttal by Senate President Warren Petersen, who basically said whatever the Governor is for, he is against. Governor Hobbs focused on education, reproductive rights, housing, and water. On water, she talked about the need for limits in rural Arizona and also for developers to be accountable. You can listen to her full speech here or read it here.
Already legislators have introduced hundreds of bills, many of them concerning, including more harmful water legislation, measures to hinder voting, especially early voting, and bills to weaken environmental protection. We have started the bill tracker, but have not filled it out completely yet. You can see the tracker here.
Not unexpectedly, the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee passed SB1011 early voting; ballot deadlines; certificates (Petersen: Angius, Bolick, et al.) along party lines. It removes authorization for counties to establish emergency voting centers, changes the deadline for dropping off early ballots to the Friday before the election, requires ID for early voting rather than merely allowing people to drop off their early ballot in the signed envelope as we do now. This would result in longer lines and more confusion and generally make early voting more difficult.
The Governor's budget was released today and included several line items related to water, air, waste, and parks. She is asking for $3 million to fund litigation on the Colorado River allocations as Arizona continues to fight with other states over an over allocated river that is stretched beyond its limits. She asks for additional funding for the Arizona Department of Water Resources to fund six additional full-time employees. There is funding for working on state implementation plans to meet Clean Air Act requirements and some funding related to the Iron King Mine, a federal Superfund Site. Of note, this year, the Governor included some funding for the State Parks Heritage Fund -- $2.5 million. While that is far from the $10 million it should be getting, it is better than the big zero it got last year. This is just her proposal and the Legislature is unlikely to embrace it.
REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS
Don't forget to start registering support or opposition to bills with the Request to Speak system. Note that you do not have to speak if you use the system, you can just sign on the RTS app with a position on bills. If you have not created an account on the Request to Speak System, I encourage you to do so.
Sign onto Request to Speak Here:
https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon
If you haven't signed up for the system, you can find the form here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdjBMoAJrjHD57GGegmdUCKAowcr93K4vQA6a7_AjyElBtrQ/viewform
https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2018/03/request-to-speak-time.html
Join the Sierra Club for a compelling and timely webinar presented by Rev. Katie Sexton, Executive Director of Arizona Faith Network, addressing the urgent issue of extreme heat in Arizona and its wide-ranging impacts on vulnerable communities, public health, and regional economies. Arizona faces record-breaking heat year after year, with Phoenix and Tucson ranking among the fastest-warming cities in the nation. Extreme heat amplifies ongoing challenges such as water scarcity, air pollution, environmental racism, and rising healthcare costs, further deepening inequities across our state. Tragically, we have seen hundreds of people die each year throughout the state due to this climate emergency, underscoring the urgent need for immediate action. In this session, Rev. Sexton will explore the need for legislative advocacy for heat relief funding, along with rapid response efforts and ongoing support to help mitigate the climate emergency and protect Arizona's most vulnerable populations.
12:00 PM
RSVP for the Zoom link
Tuesday, January 21st
House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.
Presentations:
Extreme Heat in Arizona and Heat Relief Funding at Noon!
House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.
Presentations:
- Overview of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA)
- Overview of Active Management Areas (AMAs) & Irrigation Non-Expansion Areas (INAs)
- Overview of the Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)
- HCM2003 stormwater; groundwater; recharge; urging support (Griffin) asks that the Arizona Department of Water Resources and State Land Department develop specific recharge projects on state trust lands. 331 sites have been identified by ADWR as having high potential for groundwater recharge. SUPPORT *
- HCR2016 reinstatement; WIFA monies (Griffin) is a resolution asking for reinstatement of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) dollars. As most of these dollars are focused on funding out-of-state augmentation projects, we cannot support this. OPPOSE
Senate Government Committee at 9:00 AM
- HB2099 governor; attorney general; duties; immigration (Martinez: Biasiucci, Carbone, et al.) requires the governor and attorney general to cooperate with the federal government on immigration issues, read deportations. OPPOSE
House Federalism, Military Affairs, & Elections Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.- HB2006 election mailings; third-party disclosures (Gillette) requires organizations that distribute official election-related documents, or documents that resemble official election-related documents, to include the words Not from a Government Agency in boldfaced on the outside of the envelope. This is an attempt to make outreach more difficult for those encouraging voting. OPPOSE
- HB2017 voting centers ban; precinct size (Keshel) prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of voting centers, removes language allowing a County Recorder to establish on-site early voting locations and limits the size of election precincts to a maximum of 1,000 registered voters. All of these will hinder not help people voting early. OPPOSE
- HCR2002 voting centers; precinct voting (Keshel) is the same as the measure above, except that it would go to the ballot. OPPOSE
Extreme Heat in Arizona and Heat Relief Funding at Noon!
Join the Sierra Club for a compelling and timely webinar presented by Rev. Katie Sexton, Executive Director of Arizona Faith Network, addressing the urgent issue of extreme heat in Arizona and its wide-ranging impacts on vulnerable communities, public health, and regional economies. Arizona faces record-breaking heat year after year, with Phoenix and Tucson ranking among the fastest-warming cities in the nation. Extreme heat amplifies ongoing challenges such as water scarcity, air pollution, environmental racism, and rising healthcare costs, further deepening inequities across our state. Tragically, we have seen hundreds of people die each year throughout the state due to this climate emergency, underscoring the urgent need for immediate action. In this session, Rev. Sexton will explore the need for legislative advocacy for heat relief funding, along with rapid response efforts and ongoing support to help mitigate the climate emergency and protect Arizona's most vulnerable populations.
12:00 PM
RSVP for the Zoom link
*This is Sustainable Tucson's take on this particular bill
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