Urge your Legislators to vote "No" on bad water and utility bills

Since most of the bad bills have already gone through committee (except for those in appropriations), this week we are recommending that you weigh in on one bill on the Request to Speak system. Please, weigh in before it is heard at 10am on Monday.  HB2606 appropriation; local border support (Nguyen: Bliss, Kolodin) appropriates $50 million for targeting people at the border, border enforcement actions. OPPOSE Please, take a few minutes to sign the Sierra Club's petition (below) on the bad water bills: HB2087 and HB2606. Also, the bad energy bills: HB2201 and HB2679 We are including the Sierra Club's legislative update to keep you informed: This week was the last week for each House to hear bills in committee in the house of origin, so House bills had to be heard in House committees and Senate bills had to be heard in Senate committees. The only exception is the Appropriations Committee, which is why it is the only committee meeting next week. The agendas were extremely full of bad legislation to weaken water laws and hinder voting, plus measures to punish immigrants and block diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). We even saw a bill that combines utility competition bill that punishes utilities that have any DEI policies and that have any Zero Carbon goals. Phew! That is a serious load of lousy legislation. On a positive note, we saw the big monopoly electric utilities get their hats handed to them on the Floor of the House as one of their key bills, HB2201, went down to defeat, and their other top bill get amended and held in Committee of the Whole. They will be back, but it was nice to see lawmakers reject these bad policies -- and it was bi-partisan. On Monday, HB2201 will be back for further amendment. We shall see how that plays out, but please keep those emails coming and take action below. Another plus this week was Governor Hobbs's veto of HB2703, a bill that would have further limited early voting by moving up the ballot return deadline and also making it easier to remove people from the Active Early Voting List. Please thank Governor Hobbs for the veto if you have not done so already. You can send a quick note to her here. Next week, legislators will mostly be voting on bills on the floor of the House and Senate and moving a lot of these bad bills across to the other house. Take action and stay tuned. Make a call or send an email or both.  Don't forget to support or oppose bills in the Request to Speak system. If you have not created an account on the Request to Speak system, I encourage you to do so.  Please sign in to RTS and oppose the following bills: HB2087 and HB2606. To see the bills we are tracking, please go here. Please use the Sierra Club petition to keep up the pressure on legislators and ask them to oppose HB2201 and HB2679, bills that would relieve electric utilities of responsibility for wild fires caused by their infrastructure and would allow them to issue bonds to pay for debt in assets without proper accountability, oversight, or consumer protection, and could shift major costs to future ratepayers.     Take Action - Hold Utilities Accountable! Protect Arizona's Waters, Oppose SB1520 and SB1611  It is absolutely unconscionable that the Arizona Legislature continues to do nothing significant to address rural water issues and also continues to weaken and poke more holes in the Groundwater Management Act. This week we are focusing on a couple of the really bad ones, including one that will allow more development where water is not physically available and one that codifies over pumping of groundwater in rural basins. Please take action below and send a message to your Senator to protect Arizona water and to vote NO on SB1520 and SB1611. https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0523085 All the best,   Sandy Bahr Chapter Director Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter

Weigh in on the Request to Speak system before this bill is heard in committee Monday:  Sign into the 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 Directions on how to navigate the system: https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2018/03/request-to-speak-time.html Monday, February 24th House Appropriations Committee at 10:00 AM Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2606 appropriation; local border support (Nguyen: Bliss, Kolodin) appropriates $50 million for targeting people at the border, border enforcement actions. OPPOSE Most of the rest of the week will be focused on Floor actions.

Request to Speak to Protect Our Right to Vote

Please weigh in on the following voting and transportation bills while they are still in committee. 

NOTE: There is one strike-everything (S/E) amendment. These are amendments that eliminate the original bill and replace it with a brand new one. It is very confusing to the public and generally does not serve the public interest.

Sign into the 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

Directions on how to navigate the system:

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

If you don't have much time, I recommend you weigh in on these two bills: 

• HB2814 noncustodial federal monies; appropriation that would require legislative appropriation of block grants and other federal funds for meeting requirements of federal laws and rules. This would include some Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act dollars, for example. The legislature would likely sit on them and further hinder implementation.OPPOSE

• HCM2012 antiquities act; exception (Griffin: Biasiucci, Diaz, et al.) asks Congress to exempt Arizona from the Antiquities Act to prevent protection of lands and historic areas as national monuments. Our most recent National Monument is the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park. They want to reverse it because they want to mine for uranium there. OPPOSE
  

If you haven't weighed in on the environmental bills being heard on Tuesday, you can find them here:

https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2025/02/request-to-speak-on-bills-that-weaken.html

Wednesday, February 20th
 

House Government Committee at 8:00 AM

• HCR2049 sovereign authority (Powell: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al) basically says Arizona has no intention of abiding by federal laws. OPPOSE

Senate Public Safety Committee at 1:30 PM

• SB1517 off-highway vehicles; weight (Dunn) increases the weight of what is considered an off-highway vehicle from 2,500 to 3,500 pounds. This will result in more harm to land and trails as these heavier vehicles do more damage and kick up more dust. OPPOSE

Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 1:30 PM
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• SB1001 early ballots; identification; tabulation (Mesnard) would no longer allow people to just drop off their early ballots at polling places, but instead would require them to get in line and show ID. It also limits on-site early voting and no longer allows early ballots to be dropped off at county recorders on Election Day. OPPOSE
• SB1098 early ballot drop off; identification (Hoffman: Chaplik, Hendrix, et al.) requires ID for dropping off early ballots at polling places or voting centers. This is unnecessary as a signature is fine for mailed ballots, why not when you drop them off? OPPOSE
• SB1455 election officials; oversight; candidates (Farnsworth) prohibits anyone who is a candidate and has election administration responsibilities from engaging in those activities. This would preclude the secretary of state from overseeing the elections and running for office. Likewise with county recorders. It seems like it would not be workable. OPPOSE
• SB1541 early voting list; ten years (Carroll) requires people to reup being on the active early voting list every ten years. Why? If you are on it and are voting, that should be enough. They keep looking for ways to kick people off what used to be a permanent early voting list. OPPOSE
• SB1560 referendums; strict compliance (Leach) makes it easier to reject an application for a referendum (a bill that is referred to the ballot). That includes hard fought for citizens' initiatives. OPPOSE
• SCR1030 general elections; required tally (Mesnard) refers a proposed constitutional amendment to require that 95 percent of votes be counted within one day of the election. This puts speed over accuracy and ignores that there might be issues that would delay the count. OPPOSE

House Appropriations Committee at 2:00 PM

• HB2814 noncustodial federal monies; appropriation (Fink: Livingston, Way) would require legislative appropriation of block grants and other federal funds for meeting requirements of federal laws and rules. This would include some Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act dollars, for example. The legislature would likely sit on them and further hinder implementation. OPPOSE
• HCR2015 federal funds; legislative approval (Fink) refers a measure to the ballot to amend the constitution to allow the legislature to approve appropriation and expenditure of federal dollars. This would limit the state's ability to implement important programs such as those funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. OPPOSE

House Federalism, Military Affairs, & Elections Committee at 2:00 PM.

• HB2154 early voting list; undeliverable ballots (Keshel: Fink, Gillette, et al) removes the requirement to try and contact the voter to update their address if the ballot notice for early voting is returned undeliverable. Why? So more people get removed from the list. OPPOSE
• HB2631 election procedures manual; legislative approval (Kolodin) would have the chairs of the elections committees in the House and Senate approve the election procedures manual. This would further politicize this manual which really should just be to have an orderly election. OPPOSE
• HB2914 registration; signatures; audits; ballots; procedures (Gillette) Requires nomination petitions for presidential candidates to be filed 75 days before the election and have to be signed by 3% of registered voters in the state. This would have made it impossible for Kamala Harris to appear on the ballot here. It is unnecessary. OPPOSE
• HCM2012 antiquities act; exception (Griffin: Biasiucci, Diaz, et al.) asks Congress to exempt Arizona from the Antiquities Act to prevent protection of lands and historic areas as national monuments. Our most recent National Monument is the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park. They want to reverse it because they want to mine for uranium there. OPPOSE
• HCM2013 equal access; justice; act; repeal (Griffin) includes a lot of provisions that are inaccurate about this act, including that it is extensively abused by environmental groups. It asks Congress to amend the act to limit access to the legal system for redress. OPPOSE
• HCM2015 proof of citizenship; voter registration (Kolodin: Carter P, Gillette)This memorial asks Congress to get rid of the Federal election-only status that is allowed by Federal law. They want to change Federal law to require voters in Federal elections to meet state requirements rather than Federal requirements. OPPOSE

House Transportation & 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.
• HB2863 trailers; HOV lanes; prohibition (Carter N) prohibits vehicles with trailers and semi-trailers from driving in the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. This could help limit the backup on the HOV lanes. SUPPORT
• HB2887 alternative fuel vehicles; HOV lanes (Volk) allows for an alternative fuel vehicle to get a sticker which allows them to drive in the HOV lane. SUPPORT

Request to Speak on Bills that Weaken Water Protections or Strengthen Fossil Fuels

How about some good news first. We had a fantastic Environmental Day at the Capitol 2025. This year we had more than 400 people participate, at least 35 groups -- 25 had information tables, students from five high schools and the youth programs with Chispa Arizona and Rural Arizona Action, students from community colleges and universities, and we met with more than half of the legislators. I personally ran into two of our legislators which inspired this action: If you haven't already, please take a minute to contact Sen. T.J. Shope and ask him to allow a hearing of the Rural Groundwater Bill, SB1425 in the Natural Resources Committee that he chairs.

Sen. Thomas "T.J." Shope, district 16, TSHOPE@azleg.gov (602) 926-3012

Coming up this week at the state legislature are more bills to hinder renewable energy and favor fossil fuels. Also, many bills that weaken water protections.

Don't forget to oppose or support (just one we support) the bills in the Request to Speak system. Note that you do not have to speak if you use the system, you can just sign in on the app with a position on the bills.

Since there were so many bad bills this week, I will be posting a separate Call to Action with the RTS actions for bills being heard in committee on Wednesday. Please check back tomorrow or Tuesday.

If you can't do any others, please, weigh in on HB2059 natural resources; federal law; requirements that prohibits the state, its political subdivisions, and any employee of the state from enforcing, administering, or cooperating, or using any resources regarding Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act provisions, and specifically from the Mexican wolf recovery effort. THIS IS JUST CRAZY!

NOTE: There are a lot of strike-everything (S/E) amendments. These are amendments that eliminate the original bill and replace it with a brand new one. It is very confusing to the public and generally does not serve the public interest.

Please weigh in on the following bills on the Request to Speak app anytime while they are still in committee. 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

Directions on how to navigate the system:

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

Monday, February 17th

Senate Federalism Committee at 1:30 PM

• SB1150 state land; exchanges (Gowan) Changes the approval for state trust land exchanges from the people to the governor. (They are assuming we will get a different governor.) OPPOSE
• SB1278 technical correction; self-service storage; notice (Finchem) has a strike everything amendment on s/e department of natural resources  creates a Department and Commission on Natural Resources to oversee acquisition and management of all state lands. It would require that private landowners give the state the right of first refusal on purchase if they are thinking about selling to the federal government. Basically creating a new department that's essentially under control of the legislature (4 of the 5 commissioners) that is responsible for natural resources including mining and logging. OPPOSE
• SCR1006 state trust land; land exchanges (Gowan) This is part of the implementation referred to in SB1150. It refers a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot that would remove voter approval requirements for state trust land exchanges. This would eliminate important accountability. OPPOSE
• SCR1018 federal lands; supporting disposal (Finchem) is a resolution urging disposal -- sale or transfer -- of Bureau of Land Management lands and opposing the 30 by 30 initiative to protect 30 percent of our lands and waters in the United States by 2030 to help us be more resilient relative to climate change and to provide a lasting legacy. This is a short-sighted and uninformed resolution. OPPOSE

Senate Military Affairs & Border Security 

• SB1164 immigration laws; local enforcement (Petersen: Shope) establishes the Arizona Immigration, Cooperation and Enforcement Act and requires the state and local enforcement of federal immigration laws. This takes away local control of law enforcement. OPPOSE

Tuesday, February 18th

Senate Natural Resources Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here

• SB1518 subsequent AMAs; groundwater portability (Dunn) Basically this allows the sale of grandfathered rights to irrigate to anyone in the AMA (not even on the same land) which is contrary to the intent of the AMA. OPPOSE
• SB1520 water protection; technical correction (Dunn) will have a strike-everything on rural groundwater  allows for establishment of Basin Management areas for Gila Bend, Willcox, and Hualapai Valley. It is so full of loopholes that it makes the Basin Management Area designation meaningless. OPPOSE 
• SB1530 groundwater storage facility; withdrawals; area (Petersen) The changes made in this bill don't guarantee that the water withdrawn from the recovery well is actually the water that was being stored. Another loophole. It weakens the requirements for recovering stored water in an AMA. OPPOSE
• SB1611 physical availability exemption credit; groundwater (Shope: Petersen) is a bill to accommodate development where water is no longer physically available, according to ADWR modeling. The provision allows a landowner who has an irrigation grandfathered right in an active management area to retire the land from irrigation, but retain a physical availability credit to non-irrigation use of the land. This specifically gets around assured water supply requirements for subdivisions in active management areas (AMA) and allows continued groundwater mining. OPPOSE
• SB1733 oil and gas commission; helium (Finchem) removes the Oil and Gas Commission from the purview of the ADEQ and also exempts Helium exploration and production from aquifer protection permits. Both of these are a bad idea. OPPOSE

House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2059 natural resources; federal law; requirements (Fink: Keshel, Powell) prohibits the state, its political subdivisions, and any employee of the state from enforcing, administering, or cooperating, or using any resources regarding Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act provisions, and specifically from the Mexican wolf recovery effort. This is just saying that they can extract anything they want and nobody can tell them what to do. OPPOSE
• HB2106 technical correction; supplemental environmental project (Griffin) has a S/E: establishment; advanced water purification permit allows ADEQ to establish a program for treating effluent to be used directly for drinking water. SUPPORT
• HB2527 corporation commission; electricity; reliability; management (Olson) prohibits the Arizona Corporation Commission from authorizing a power plant retirement unless there is a new plant with equal or greater power. It requires that all replacement resources for power plant retirements be thermal (gas, coal, or nuclear) and precludes them from being renewable resources. The effect would likely be to keep coal plants running longer costing ratepayers more dollars -- solar is cheaper than coal. Due to its rate impacts and the restrictions on the ACC, it is also likely unconstitutional. OPPOSE
• HB2574 small land subdivision; requirements (Griffin: Lopez) allows counties to approve small land divisions of 6-10 lots with lots of 2 acres or more, thus getting around subdivision requirements and assured water supply requirements. This creates yet another loophole. OPPOSE
• HB2738 electric utility customers; carbon reduction (Olson) states that when a utility declares a carbon emissions reduction goal to shareholders or commits to replacing coal and gas with wind and solar, its ratepayers can opt out and be served by a different provider. It is a weird version of retail electric competition and seeks to punish utilities that adopt more renewables and that are serious about carbon reduction. OPPOSE
• HB2774 technical correction; certificate; environmental compatibility (Carbone)  has a S/E: small modular reactors; co-location preempts counties from regulating the location of these small modular nuclear reactors if they are co-located with a large industrial electricity user. This allows them to bypass environment revues and certifications. OPPOSE
• HCM2010 air quality; ozone levels (Carbone) asks Congress to force the EPA to approve a state implementation plan for ozone despite the fact that we do not meet the health-based standards for ozone. It's asking the EPA to change their rules because they have too much economic impact. OPPOSE
• HCR2046 Colorado River; cause of decline (Griffin: Diaz, Lopez) says forest mismanagement and salt cedars are the principal cause of Colorado River depletion despite no evidence to support that. Climate change and the associated drought and over allocation of the river are the principal causes of depletion. OPPOSE
  
  Whew! We got through these! Remember to check tomorrow or Tuesday for the bills being heard in committee on Wednesday. 

Great day rallying for water at Environmental Day at the Capitol! Keep the momentum going by contacting Sen. T.J. Shope.

We had a great day at Environmental Day at the Capitol. While tabling for Sustainable Tucson, Sen. Priya Sundareshan from our district (LD18) stopped by to thank me for promoting the Rural Groundwater Protection bills, SB1425 and HB2714. These bipartisan bills finally offer much needed water protections for rural communities that are suffering from over-pumping. Over-pumping was emptying the aquifer causing sinkholes in the Willcox area. Sen. Priya Sundareshan and Rep. Chris Mathis (LD18) worked with several Republican politicians on the bill - including the Mayor of Willcox. 

Me and  Rep. Sarah Liguori

The other bill that we were excited to promote was the Rainwater Harvesting Appropriation bill, HB2644. It provides up to $2000 for hiring a licensed contractor to install a residential rainwater harvesting system (up to $2000 for rain tanks and $500 for catchment basins, no more than $2000 in total). We got involved with this bill when we were contacted by AZ ANNHPI for Equity for feedback, so it was great running into Rep. Sarah Liguori (LD5), who introduced HB2644. If you check out my Sustainable Living Tucson blog, you'll see how I love our rainwater harvesting cisterns and basins. Last year, my husband Dan Stormont did a rainwater harvesting presentation for Environmental Day, and people from around the state asked where they could get rainwater harvesting incentives. HB2644 would fit the bill! 

Jana Segal, Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, Adriana Bachmann 

Next we had meeting with Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, who warmly greeted us. I congratulated her for getting her School Lunch bill (HB2213) heard in committee. Then I encouraged her to support the two water bills. I am delighted that she is on the Appropriations Committee that will be hearing the Rainwater Harvesting Appropriation bill! 

I ran into Sen. Thomas "TJ" Shope, one of the legislators supporting HB2644, outside of the Senate building and thanked him. Inspired by his dedication to water, I rallied everyone I met to contact him and ask him to hear the Rural Groundwater bill in the Natural Resources committee that he chairs. Thanks to this kind woman who called the senator on the spot! 

Please, take a few minutes to contact Sen. Shope and urge him to hear SB1425 in his committee...

Sen. Thomas "T.J." Shope, district 16, TSHOPE@azleg.gov (602) 926-3012

And while you're at it, congratulate Rep. Nancy Gutierrez for getting HB2213 through the Education and Appropriations committees! 

Rep. Nancy Gutierrez -- Assistant Minority Leader, district 18 D, NGUTIERREZ@az.gov, (602) 926-4134

#lovemyrainbasin

MORE INFORMATION 

Environmental groups outline legislative priorities, target bills to support and oppose - by Joan Meiners, Arizona Republic

Ask Members of the House Appropriations Committee to vote "yes" on Free Lunches (for Children from low income families)

ACTION! 🤩👋

HB2213, sponsored by Nancy Gutierrez (D-18), which would fund free school lunches for children whose families meet the federal income requirements for free or reduced-price lunches, is scheduled for House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday at 2.. Contact House Appropriations Committee chair David Livingston (R-28) at dlivingston@azleg.gov or 602-926-4178 to thank him for hearing the bill and urge him to support it. Then contact the members of the committee (especially Republicans) to ask them to vote YES.

UPDATE: 

Congratulations Rep. Nancy Gutierrez for getting HB2213 through the Education and Appropriations committees! A few more committees to go then to a vote in the house and senate. 

Rep. Nancy Gutierrez (D-18)

David Livingston (R-28) - Chair, dlivingston@azleg.gov, 602-926-4178
Matt Gress (R-4) - Vice Chair, mgress@azleg.gov, 602-926-4105
Walt Blackman (R-7) wblackman@azleg.gov, 602-926-3244
Lupe Diaz (R-19) ldiaz@azleg.gov, 602-926-4852
Chris Lopez (R-16) clopez@azleg.gov. 602-926-3445
Justin Olson (R-10) jolson@azleg.gov, 602-926-3376
Quang Nguyen (R-1) qnguyen@azleg.gov. 602-926-3258
Tony Rivero (R-27)trivero@azleg.gov, 602-926-3528
Michael Way (R-15) mway@azleg.gov, 602-926-3433
Jeff Weninger (R-13) jweninger@azleg.gov, 602-926-3392

Julie Willoughby (R-13), jwilloughby@azleg.gov, 602-926-4153

Democrats
Lorena Austin (D-9) laustin@azleg.gov, 602-926-3968
Seth Blattman (D-9) sblattman@azleg.gov, 602-926-3996
Nancy Gutierrez (D-18) ngutierrez@azleg.gov, 602-926-4134
Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-21) sstahlhamilton@azleg.gov, 602-926-3279
Mariana Sandoval (D-23), msandoval@azleg.gov, 602-926-3740
Stacey Travers (D-12) stravers@azleg.gov, 602-926-3917
Kevin Volk (D-17)kvolk@azleg.gov, 602-926-3498

More information:

“Kids Can’t Learn When They’re Hungry!” Representative Nancy Gutierrez Brings Up Bill to Fund Free School Meals for Vulnerable Children - Blog for Arizona 

Thank Governor Hobbs and the Arizona Legislators Trying to Protect Rural Groundwater

 

Rep. Chris Mathis, Sen. Priya Sundareshan, Mohave County Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter, Gov. Katie Hobbs, Wilcox Mayor Greg Hancock, Prescott Mayor Phil Goode

Currently at the state legislature, there are many bills that weaken our already lax water laws - many sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin who is also a realtor profiting from development. In previous years we fought her bills weakening the 100 year water supply which would have depleted the San Pedro (our last perennial flowing river in Southern AZ). Last year (and again this year) she fought to weaken Douglas and Willcox's new Active Management Area status. The overpumping in Willcox from too much development and industrial farming has emptied their aquifer, causing sink holes.

Sink hole in Willcox area

On the bright side, the Governor and some Democratic legislators are working to protect rural groundwater.

"At the end of January, my seatmate Rep. Chris Mathis and I joined Gov. Hobbs and many Republican elected officials from rural Arizona to call on the Legislature to pass rural groundwater protections, which we introduced as mirror bills SB1425 and HB2714. These are truly bipartisan measures -- and we hope this year we will finally protect rural groundwater."

"I've also introduced many other bills. There are only 2 weeks remaining to get committee hearings for any of them - let's see if the Republican committee chairs schedule any of mine."

— AZ Sen. Priya Sundareshan (@priya4az) January 30, 2025 Please, consider thanking our Rep. Chris Mathis, Sen. Priya Sundareshan and Gov. Hobbs for protecting rural groundwater. We are all connected - just like our water systems.

Sen. Priya Sundareshan (Minority Leader) district 18, Dem, PSUNDARESHAN@azleg.gov (602) 926-3437

Rep. Christopher Mathis district 18, Dem, CMATHIS@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3138

Gov. Katie Hobbs, https://azgovernor.gov/office-arizona-governor/form/contact-governor-hobbs, (602) 542-4331.

You can also ask Rep. Gail Griffin to hear the bill in the Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee that she chairs. As mentioned above, she is working against sound water protections. But why make it easy for her?

Rep. Gail Griffin, District 19, Rep. Email: GGRIFFIN@azleg.gov (602) 926-5895

Maybe there's a better chance with Sen. Thomas "T.J." Shope who chairs the Natural Resources Committee:

Sen. Thomas "T.J." Shope, district 16, Rep. TSHOPE@azleg.gov (602) 926-3012

More information here:

https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2025/02/06/democrats-groundwater-proposal-still-awaits-committee-hearing/

Request to Speak on bills that hurt wildlife, water and voting

HB2224 makes this unlawful

This week was utility and dirty energy week at the Arizona Legislature as committees advanced bills to allow utilities to get out of liability for negligence relating to wildfires and to broadly apply a financial mechanism to reduce costs of debt on power plants without retiring them. They also passed a bill to require that utilities have a right of first refusal for construction of renewables and to block wind energy.

Please contact your representatives using the Sierra Club form on this link to oppose HB2201 and HB2679, bills that would relieve electric utilities of responsibility for wildfires caused by their infrastructure and would allow them to issue bonds to pay for debt in assets without proper accountability, oversight, or consumer protection, and could shift major costs to future ratepayers.

You may be wondering why we do Request to Speak actions when some of the bills still get passed. Our RTS positions support the governor when she vetoes bad bills.

Coming up this week are some pretty awful wildlife bills and more bills to weaken our already weak water laws. I am especially concerned about  HB2224 unlawful wildlife feeding; enforcement; penalty that makes it unlawful to knowingly create wildlife habitat. This would totally negate creating urban wildlife habitat for any animals except birds.

Don't forget to support or oppose bills in the Request to Speak system. There are actually two bills we SUPPORT this week!  Note that you do not have to speak if you use the system, you can just sign in with a position on the bills.

Please weigh in on the following bills on the Request to Speak app anytime while they are still in committee.

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

Directions on how to navigate the system:

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

Monday, February 10th

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

• HB2083 game and fish commission; membership (Griffin: Diaz, Hendrix, et al) requires that one member of the Game and Fish Commission be a "cattleman or rancher." Many in the livestock industry have a huge conflict when it comes to wildlife as they advocate for killing off predators and anything that might compete with cattle for forage. OPPOSE
• HB2224 unlawful wildlife feeding; enforcement; penalty (Gress: Bliss, Carter P, et al.) makes it unlawful to knowingly create wildlife habitat and establishes a $1000 fine in a city or town of 100,000 people or more. This would totally negate creating urban wildlife habitat for any animals except birds. OPPOSE
• HB2552 dogs; hunting; rules; prohibition (Diaz: Carter P, Griffin, et al) prohibits the Game and Fish Commission from limiting hunting with hounds. This would sidetrack efforts to limit hound hunting of animals such as mountain lions. OPPOSE

Tuesday, February 11th

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

• SB1309 public utilities; electric grid improvements (Carroll: Angius) Includes a requirement of a "generation resource mix." That means you must use more than one type of energy source - which could include coal and gas power.  OPPOSE 
• SB1501 grid security; cybersecurity; reviews; commission (Farnsworth) requires the Arizona Corporation Commission to conduct an annual grid security review of a power plant and to consider research and evaluate grid management technologies, protect against physical and cyber attacks, and to assess emerging technologies, including distributed energy resources, microgrids, and new technology battery storage.  SUPPORT
• SB1521 unbuilt certificates; assured water supply (Dunn) It would allow a developer with a certificate of assured water supply to sell the certificate for use in another location within a municipal water service area - even if they are not in the same basin and regardless of where the municipal water service is coming from. OPPOSE
• SB1523 water use; prohibition; landscaping (Dunn) Overall this is a good bill. It doesn't allow cities to require turf (except for recreational use) or plants that aren't included on the low-water, drought tolerant plant list. But the bad part is that  you can't require a minimum number of trees (like the Mayor's Million Trees Initiative), open space, or detached sidewalks. OPPOSE

House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2087 appropriation; groundwater recharge facilities; maintenance (Griffin: Diaz, Gowan, et al) appropriates an unspecified amount for cleaning and restoring underground storage facilities for flood control in a subsequent AMA. It is unclear what that would mean. The bill doesn't designate what department will be responsible for doing this and doesn't define what the artificial groundwater recharge facility is. Essentially it doesn't fill in the details. OPPOSE  
• HB2127 hazardous substance release; notice; liability (Bliss) includes notification and disclosure requirements for property that has been contaminated by hazardous substances when it is sold. SUPPORT
• HB2270 groundwater model; stormwater recharge; AMAs (Griffin) requires the AZ Department of Water Resources to offset a portion of future groundwater use as a result of infrastructure development when they update the groundwater models. It is the model that should determine groundwater availability, not the legislature. OPPOSE
• HB2272 municipal separate storm sewer system (Griffin) This weakens the protections for surface water in the state from small municipal storm sewer systems. OPPOSE
• HB2574 small land subdivision; requirements (Griffin: Lopez) allows counties to approve small land divisions of 6-10 lots with lots of 2 acres or more, thus getting around subdivision requirements and assured water supply requirements. This creates yet another loophole. OPPOSE
• HCR2046 Colorado River; cause of decline (Griffin: Diaz, Lopez) says forest mismanagement and salt cedars are the principal cause of Colorado River depletion despite no evidence to support that. Climate change and the associated drought and over-allocation of the river are the principal causes of depletion. OPPOSE

House Regulatory Oversight Committee at 2:00 PM

• HB2630 governor nominations; agency position; eligibility (Kolodin) says that if the senate rejects a nominee for a state agency director that person cannot serve in another position in the agency. This is just punitive. OPPOSE
• HB2632 regulatory costs; rulemaking; legislative ratification (Kolodin) says the legislature must approve any rule that will cost more than $500,000 within five years after the proposed rule's implementation. Voters just rejected a near identical measure in November. It would make it nearly impossible to implement programs. OPPOSE

Wednesday, February 12th
 

House Government Committee at 9:00 AM 

• HCR2042 preferential treatment; discrimination; prohibited acts (Montenegro: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al) refers a constitutional amendment to the ballot that prohibits the state from engaging in any diversity, equity, and inclusion measures, including training. OPPOSE

House Ways and Means Committee at 10:00 AM

• HCR2035 tax prohibition; vehicle mileage; monitoring (Weninger) refers a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot that prohibits the state and local government from taking actions to reduce vehicle miles traveled. It also prohibits any kind of fee based on vehicle miles traveled. OPPOSE

House Federalism, Military Affairs, & Elections Committee at 2:00 PM

• HB2038 technical correction; accountants; investigations (Kolodin) will have a strike-everything amendment on S/E: voter registration; citizenship proof requires proof of citizenship for anyone who registered after 2005 if there is some reason to believe they did not provide it.  Why is it only valid through the next election?  OPPOSE
• HB2060  state sovereign authority; elections (Fink: Keshel, Powell, et al.) Declares the legally dubious sovereign authority doctrine to preempt federal law regarding federal elections. OPPOSE
• HCM2004 military bases; exemption from ESA (Griffin) asks Congress to exempt military bases from complying with the Endangered Species Act. The military is perfectly capable of complying with the law without compromising its mission. Besides, shouldn't the government be leading by example? OPPOSE

Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 1:30 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• SB1463 initiatives; existing laws; impact statement (Mesnard) requires citizen initiatives to include a statement about laws with which it might conflict and that may be impacted. This will become another way to find a technicality and kick a measure off the ballot. OPPOSE