Here we go. The Arizona legislature is off and running proposing a lot of really bad bills that make it more difficult to protect the environment, conserve water, or even vote. Please, weigh in on these bills on the Request to Speak app.
You can weigh in on these bills anytime while they are still in committee. Since there are so many bills you might want to do the ones earlier in the week first and then do the ones that are being heard later in the week. For example, go ahead and weigh in on SB1068 before it is heard on Monday at 2pm and the bills being heard Tuesday. Or prioritize the ones that are most important to you. (For me that would be water bills. See my NOTE below.)
If you haven't signed up for the system, you can find the form here:
Directions on how to navigate the system:
NOTE: From her comments at previous committee meetings, it is clear that Griffin is trying to tie the hands of the ADWR who are just trying to do their job (for example monitoring how much groundwater there is in certain areas.) Developers need to demonstrate a 100 year water supply. Being a realtor, Griffin is always trying to lower that standard.
As you may be aware, Arizona's water laws are really lax. Rural areas are suffering from over-pumping for new development and industrial farms - leaving no water for small family farms and even causing sinkholes in the Wilcox area. New Active Management Areas (AMAs) were enacted to protect Wilcox and Douglas. Griffin has several bills that weaken or even end the AMAs.
The Sierra Club also discourages augmentation (bringing water from other locations) because of the environmental impact and the creation of sacrifice zones (hurting the people who live on that land.) I personally agree with them and prefer conservation efforts.
If you would like to learn more about AMAs you can watch this Sierra Club presentation:
Coming up this Week at the Arizona Legislature...
Monday, January 27th
Senate Federalism Committee at 2:00 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.Presentation
• State and Federal Lands, Danny Martinez- SB1068 federal government; land acquisition; consent (Finchem: Angius) requires that the governor and legislature approve any sale or transfer of private land to the federal government. This is ridiculous and has been introduced many times and vetoed many times by both Republican and Democratic governors. OPPOSE
Tuesday, January 28th Senate Natural Resources Committee at 2:00 PMMembers of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.Presentation
• Overview of Central Arizona Project, Brenda Burman, General Manager, Central Arizona Project- SB1115 demand calculator; rules; conservation code (Dunn) requires the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to adopt rules to update ADWR's project demand calculator every five years. This is the spreadsheet used by developers when they apply for a certificate of assured water supply. The language is very vague. But it appears to be a bill to force ADWR to adopt the Homebuilders' calculations. OPPOSE
- SB1116 groundwater model; receipt; written findings (Dunn) requires the Director of ADWR to provide notification of receipt within five days and a written response within 60 days to applicants who submit alternative groundwater models. Again, this is a bill for the developers who cannot seem to believe there is not enough water for them to keep sprawling on. OPPOSE
- SB1119 residential utilities; consumer office; definition (Dunn) defines "represents the interests of" as advocating for the safest and most reliable utility service achievable at the lowest retail electric rate possible. This is a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry. OPPOSE
- SB1128 air quality; causation; state boundaries (Carroll: Dunn, Kavanagh, et al)
While we don't disagree that the attorney general should be allowed to sue any entity outside Arizona when their emissions result in damages to Arizona's air quality, we do disagree with the bill requiring that the Director of ADEQ consider the best interests of taxpayers, transmission of emissions from outside of Arizona, and effects of solar radiation and any associated heat increases when revising a state implementation. This is contrary to the Clean Air Act, which requires the focus to be on public health, not all of these outside factors. OPPOSE - SB1134 ADWR; application; review; time frames (Shope) establishes licensing time frames for ADWR to make determinations for applications for new or modified certificates, designations or analyses of assured water supply. These licensing time frames will rush the necessary analysis for these certificates and designations. OPPOSE
House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.- HB2084 domestic water improvement districts; hauling (Griffin: Diaz, Hendrix, et al) allows for formation of a domestic water improvement district for purposes of hauling water. Sadly, they focus on providing for water hauling rather than protecting groundwater so they don't have to haul it. OPPOSE
- HB2086 water improvements program; water hauling (Griffin: Diaz, Hendrix, et al) allows for water improvement grants to be used for water hauling and storage. OPPOSE
- HB2088 subsequent AMA; director; removal (Griffin: Diaz, Hendrix, et al) authorizes the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources to remove designation of a subsequent active management area. Currently, that would just apply to Douglas and Willcox. There is no need for this and once these areas are established the groundwater protections should stay in place. OPPOSE
- HB2089 subsequent AMA; voters; removal (Griffin: Diaz, Hendrix, et al) allows for removal of a subsequent active management area by the voters ten years after it is established. OPPOSE
- HB2202 subsequent AMA; previously nonirrigated land (Griffin) allows for previously unirrigated lands to be irrigated, thus increasing groundwater pumping in these active management areas. OPPOSE
- HB2203 historical water use; subsequent AMA (Griffin) allows acreage to be irrigated in a subsequent active management area that was irrigated at any time in the last ten years rather than the last five years. It is retroactive so it would apply to the Douglas AMA and would be extremely difficult to prove, plus would likely result in more groundwater pumping. It is widening the window to pump more groundwater and making it retroactive. (It's more like 13 years.) OPPOSE
- HB2549 appropriation; subsequent AMA; assistance grants (Diaz: Griffin) appropriates an undetermined amount of money to those in subsequent active management areas for attorneys and such, thus picking the taxpayers' pockets to fund lawsuits to challenge groundwater protections. OPPOSE
- HB2551 grandfathered right; Willcox AMA; extension (Diaz: Carter P, Griffin) extends the amount of time someone has to file an application for a certificate of grandfathered right with the Department of Water Resources. This was already proposed in the last session, so they've already had sufficient time. OPPOSE
- HB2570 temporary non-expansion area (Griffin) allows for establishment of temporary non-expansion areas that would limit new irrigated agriculture, but that would expire after ten years. There is also a high bar for even establishing them. 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
House Regulatory Oversight Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.- HB2056 geoengineering; prohibition (Fink) is a bit over the top relative to how it approaches concerns about geoengineering and seems to go down the conspiracy theory road. We wish they would focus on the climate manipulation that is actually happening -- all the carbon, methane, and other greenhouse gases that are being put into the atmosphere. OPPOSE
Wednesday, January 29th - 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
- HB2319 private property; design; regulations; prohibition (Gillette: Carbone, Hendrix, et al) significantly limits cities' ability to adopt regulations that affect individually owned single family lots. The language is overly broad and could undermine protections for the larger community putting property rights above all else. OPPOSE
Senate Government Committee at 9:00 AM
House Federalism, Military Affairs, & Elections Committee at 2:00 PM House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at 2:00 PM
- HB2234 Interstate 11; environmental; engineering; study (Martinez: Carter P, Gress) directs the Arizona Department of Transportation to conduct the Tier 2 engineering study for I-11. This freeway would cause great harm by fragmenting habitat and opening up more areas for development. OPPOSE
Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 2:00 PMSenate Public Safety Committee at 2:00 PM
- SB1086 transportation system performance; ADOT (Hoffman: Keshel) de-emphasizes congestion management and promotes mobility as a performance standard and includes specific provisions for how these and other factors are considered. It prohibits ADOT from considering or adopting a motor vehicle travel mile reduction target or any other demand management policy or project to reduce traffic. This is short-sighted and harmful and should be rejected. OPPOSE
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