Update on bills that impact water & environment at AZ Legislature

How close should hunting be allowed by your property?

The Arizona Senate came back for one day this week and passed a few bills, plus defeated SB1053 with a vote of 14-14-2. SB1053 wildlife; firearms discharge; structures; distance (Rogers: Gillette) would have allowed shotguns and archery equipment -- bows and such -- to be discharged for hunting wildlife within one-fourth mile, but outside one-eighth mile, of a residence without permission of the property owner. Limiting the use of these weapons and requiring permission is a private property rights issue, a public safety issue, and is also important for protecting domestic animals. There was no motion for reconsideration, but they could still do that. The Senate also confirmed Robyn Sahid as State Land Commissioner, one of the few agency heads to be confirmed this year. The Governor signed HB2753 groundwater replenishment; Pinal AMA (Martinez: Lopez). While it was improved in the Senate, it is still a bill that is built upon the house of cards that is the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District -- there is no excess Colorado River water for replenishment. This bill specifically applies to the Pinal Active Management Area, allowing a municipal provider to assume replenishment obligations for any member lands when they apply for an assured water supply designation. Replenishment with what exactly? This is more smoke and mirrors when it comes to assured water supply.  The Arizona House will be back on June 4th. The Senate will be back with a 48-hour notice, maybe on June 4th as well. They seem to have finally started speaking about the budget.

SB1150 NOW: wind farms; construction; policies; procedures  (Gowan) includes numerous new mandates for wind energy generation facilities that will erect significant roadblocks to siting wind projects. The mandates include requiring financial surety and prohibitions on the construction of wind projects within six miles of a property zoned residential, yet you can plop down a large gas plant – something that emits harmful pollutants – right next to a residential neighborhood. Thoughtful siting criteria are fine, but this bill is not about that. It is about stopping wind farms. It still awaits a final passage vote in the Senate. There are still a few bad water bills out there, including SB1520 Now: Rural Water (Dunn) establishes an extremely weak system for groundwater "management" in a limited number of areas in rural Arizona. It is not what is needed to stabilize aquifers to limit land subsidence, earth fissures, and the continued decline of water levels, which are drying up wells in some areas. Discussions have broken down on this bill, so the outlook is grim for rural water, but legislators still may send it up for a veto. 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. Talks are continuing on this and it is likely some version of it will advance. To see the bills the Sierra Club is tracking, please go here.

Update on some bad bills at the AZ Legislature

Photo by Mark Coryell 

- by Sandy Bahr, Grand Canyon Chapter, Sierra Club The Arizona House of Representatives came back for one day and passed a handful of bills, including SB1053. SB1053 wildlife; firearms discharge; structures; distance (Rogers: Gillette) says that shotguns and archery equipment -- bows and such -- can be discharged for hunting wildlife within one-fourth mile, but outside one-eighth mile, of a residence without permission of the property owner. This weakens the protections for shooting near residences. Anyone hunting that close to a residence should definitely have to get permission from the homeowner for the discharge of these and other weapons. Limiting the use of these weapons and requiring permission is a private property rights issue, a public safety issue, and is also important for protecting domestic animals. This goes back to the Senate for final consideration. The House also passed HB2753 groundwater replenishment; Pinal AMA (Martinez: Lopez) was improved in the Senate, but is still a bill that is built upon the house of cards that is the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District -- there is no excess Colorado River water for replenishment. This bill specifically applies to the Pinal Active Management Area, allowing a municipal provider to assume replenishment obligations for any member lands when they apply for an assured water supply designation. Replenishment with what exactly? This is more smoke and mirrors when it comes to assured water supply. This got transmitted to the Governor and it looks like she may have already signed it.  The Arizona Senate was still on "Spring Break" and will be back next Tuesday. So far, neither house seems to have a budget package to advance, so they are just killing time. We shall see if the Senate decides to confirm any additional gubernatorial appointees this coming week. There are still several who have not had hearings.  As we shared last week, Governor Hobbs signed the worst bill this session when it comes to climate and clean energy, handing the utilities a huge gift and virtually assuring that some coal plants will continue spewing pollution into our air, depleting water, and harming the climate longer. Quite sadly, it is ratepayers who will have to foot the bill for it too. Hobbs signed HB2679 power; public utilities; UCC; securities  (Griffin), a bill that will help advance the Trump pro coal agenda, plus she sent a message that it is okay to do major legislation without any stakeholder engagement as long as you are a major utility.  If you did not already do so, we encourage you to call the Governor and tell her you are extremely disappointed that she signed HB2679! You can call 602-542-4331 and leave a message for her. If you have time, you might also consider sending her a message, using her online form. On the heels of this bill signing, both Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power announced that they will be seeking rate increases this year too. It is a good time to be a monopoly utility as at this point they are virtually unregulated.

SB1150 NOW: wind farms; construction; policies; procedures  (Gowan) includes numerous new mandates for wind energy generation facilities that will erect significant roadblocks to siting wind projects. The mandates include requiring financial surety and prohibitions on the construction of wind projects within six miles of a property zoned residential, yet you can plop down a large gas plant – something that emits harmful pollutants – right next to a residential neighborhood. Thoughtful siting criteria are fine, but this bill is not about that. It is about stopping wind farms. It still awaits a final passage vote in the Senate. There are still a few bad water bills out there, including SB1520 Now: Rural Water (Dunn) establishes an extremely weak system for groundwater "management" in a limited number of areas in rural Arizona. It is not what is needed to stabilize aquifers to limit land subsidence, earth fissures, and the continued decline of water levels, which are drying up wells in some areas. Discussions have broken down on this bill, so the outlook is grim for rural water, but legislators still may send it up for a veto. 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. Talks are continuing on this and it is likely some version of it will advance. To see the bills we are tracking, please go here.

National Call-In Day to Sink the Reconciliation Bill, May 20th

Right now, Trump and Republicans in Congress are attempting to sell off our clean air, water, and future to make corporate polluters even richer. The Republican plan is to enact trillions of dollars in tax breaks for greedy billionaires like Elon Musk, who bought access to Trump.

Even though Republicans control Congress, the party is deeply divided on many of the worst cuts, especially to clean energy, health care and education. They’re also not in agreement on whether or not to sell off our public lands to pay for these giant tax giveaways. That's why they're planning to use a scheme that allows legislation to pass with a simple majority of votes.

Republican infighting means we have a real chance of stopping the worst cuts to environmental protections and other programs that help millions of hard working Americans. But only if we make enough noise and take action! The time to stop the GOP’s mega budget bill is now.

Here are some of the threats to our health, climate, safety, and public lands:

 Americans nationwide could lose access to popular clean energy programs that save families money on electricity costs, make our daily life safer and healthier, and create good-paying jobs. Over 60,000 clean energy jobs have already been threatened or lost since Trump's election.

 Millions of acres of our public lands and coastal waters, which belong to everyone -- including the Arctic Refuge -- could be sold off to the highest bidders, closed down, and destroyed. Republicans are working to give away our country’s mountains, valleys, deserts, rivers, lakes, and forests to billionaires and corporate polluters. This could lead to firing more park staff and stewards of our most treasured lands.

 Communities will be drinking lead-contaminated water because lead pipes aren't being replaced. People will be exposed to toxic and hazardous waste because the government is no longer cleaning it up. The air we breathe and the water we drink will be less safe for all Americans if Trump and Congress get their way in rolling back clean air and water protections and enforcement.

 Communities won't get the help they need to recover from wildfire and extreme weather if they cut funding for critical disaster relief programs. This will place even more of the burden of rising costs directly onto working families.

 Millions of Americans could lose their healthcare or face medical debt if hundreds of billions of dollars are slashed from Medicaid and Medicare. People who are struggling to feed their families could be thrown off of SNAP. 

Here are some actions you can take:

 Tell your U.S. House Representative why protecting environmental and public health programs matters to you by calling 1-844-672-5067.

If you live in CD 6, please call the office of Rep. Ciscomani (who is on the fence about the bill) at (520) 881-3588 and urge him to vote "No."

SAMPLE SCRIPT 

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent of [REPRESENTATIVE]’s in Tucson, Arizona. (They may ask you to confirm with your address).

 

I am calling because I want to urge Representative [NAME] to vote NO on the reconciliation bill that will soon head to the House floor. 

It is critical that this bill does not pass. This is especially important to me because [insert your preferred messaging/aspect of the bill you want to highlight and any personal connection to the issue. Perhaps you're concerned with the Clean Energy Tax Cuts. If in doubt, mention that you don’t want to see people in your community kicked off of Medicaid or SNAP in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans].

 Demand your U.S. House Representative act to stop this bill by sending a message here.

 Share on social media or by email to educate friends and family about what's happening and encourage them to fight back!

May 22, 2025 UPDATE:  Our so-called "Representative" Juan Ciscomani cast the tie-breaking vote. 

More information:

Tax Cuts and Medicaid: Ciscomani Defends Budget Vote

URGENT ACTION: Tell Congress to Reject Public Land Sales Provision in Budget Reconciliation Deal!

Photo: U.S. National Park Service

Congressional leaders are proposing to sell off federal public lands as part of the Fiscal Year 2025 budget reconciliation package!

This latest action comes at a time when our nation's public lands are already facing unprecedented threats from a White House administration and Congress that has often been openly hostile to even the most basic conservation or environmental principles—much less the federal agencies that manage our nation's public lands, and the conservation and environmental protection laws and regulations already on the books.

There are many terrible aspects to the proposed FY 2025 budget—including provisions that are intended to weaken the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), and leasing provisions that would make it easier (and cheaper) than ever for oil and gas companies to pollute public lands, among other things.

But now, some in Congress are attempting to put provisions into the FY 2025 federal budget to put our public lands firmly—and permanently—into private hands. U.S. Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2) and Mark Amodei (R-NV-2) have put forward an amendment that would put 170,942 acres of public land immediately on the chopping block in Nevada and Utah, and authorize the U.S. Interior and Agriculture departments to sell up to an additional 369,443 acres as well.

This amendment does not require any requirement that the land serve a public benefit (e.g. schools, fire stations, affordable housing, etc.), and it places no restrictions on how those lands can be used—meaning those lands could very well end up as golf courses, strip malls, luxury resorts, or virtually anything else a private developer might wish.

But the most insidious aspect of this amendment may be the dangerous precedent this move would set for other public lands. If Congress approves this public lands sale, it's highly likely that it won't be the last.

Public lands are the places where ALL Americans can camp, hunt, fish, hike, and experience the healing power of nature. These lands often hold important historic, cultural, and Indigenous sites that tell the story of our nation. These lands provide critical wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species, watersheds that provide clean water to communities, and are a vital (and irreplaceable) tool in mitigating the worsening effects of climate change.

Your Voice Matters!

The federal fiscal year budget reconciliation process is different from the regular legislative process in that there is NO filibuster option—it is instead decided by a simple majority "yea/nay" vote. That means that every potential swing vote in Congress matters!

Public lands are too important to be sold off for the benefit of a wealthy few—they belong to ALL of us! Tell your congressional delegation to say "NO!" to any budget reconciliation bill that includes provisions to sell our public lands!

Click HERE for more information and take action today!

The House is expected to vote on the reconciliation bill next Tuesday or Wednesday, making this an all hands on deck urgent request. We know that Rep. Ciscomani can speak out against this amendment and we urgently ask him to press congressional leaders to strip the Amodei-Maloy Amendment from the final bill.

Here’s how you can help:

 Call Rep. Ciscomani's office —urge him to press congressional leaders to strip the Amodei-Maloy Amendment from the final bill

• Washington DC Office -  (202) 225-2542
• Tucson Office -  (520) 881-3588

 Send an email or letter HERE expressing your concern about the sale of public lands in the budget reconciliation package.
 Share this message with friends, family, and your community. Public pressure matters—let’s make it count.

Together, we can help protect our public lands from being sold off without public input. Time is short—let’s act now!

More Information:

Public lands sales the new threat to GOP megabill (EENews)

-Great Old Broads for Wilderness

Urge Gov. Hobbs to VETO bad energy bill that props up dirty coal

Navajo Generating Station Implosion

 - photo credit Nizhóní Ání

I'm sorry to announce that  HB2679 power; public utilities; UCC; securities (Griffin) was rushed through the Arizona Legislature this week and landed on Governor Hobbs's desk -  despite the best efforts of the Sierra Club and their allies. 

You can read about the good fight here: 

We have heard that she is planning to sign it, despite the fact that it is a bill that will help promote the dirty coal agenda. It's a blank check to utilities and benefits utility shareholders and harms utility ratepayers. Call and email the Governor right away and ask her to veto HB2679! You can call 602-542-4331 and leave a message for the Governor. She could act on the bill as early as Monday.

When HB2679 came to the floor in the Senate and House this week, not one Republican Senator or Representative voted no on it. No Democratic Senators voted yes, but unfortunately 10 Democratic Representatives did. 

Special thanks to Senator Epstein, Gabaldon, Hatathlie, and Kuby, as well as Representative Cavero and Mathis for speaking up against the bill on the floor, and to Senator Sundareshan and Representative Peshlakai who helped work against the bill, but unfortunately missed the day they voted on the bill.

Representative Peshlakai and Simacek in the House also missed the vote.  Updates on the bill: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/az/57th-1st-regular/bills/AZB00018939/

Arizona utility wins big at state Legislature:

https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/article_63908198-b7b2-4392-82f8-3effb9ad93f5.html

ACT NOW: Fight ESA Vouchers Wrapped into Prop 123 Renewal

AZ Republican lawmakers are attempting to hold Prop 123 hostage by forcing in a voucher poison pill. In strikers to HB2185 and SB1240, they enshrine vouchers into our state constitution with NO guardrails, accountability or transparency — while jeopardizing desperately needed dollars for AZ classrooms and teacher pay. It’s time to hold these lawmakers accountable.

Prop 123, passed by voters in 2016, is the initiative designed to pump additional funds into public schools, and it will expire within a few months. Lawmakers are attempting to insert a virtually unregulated universal voucher program into the Arizona Constitution.

In addition to taking money from public schools, vouchers for private schools were a primary force in creating a $1.4 billion budget shortfall in Arizona in 2024. To fix that deficit, Arizona's lawmakers made cuts to state programs and projects—like water infrastructure programs, highway expansions and repairs, and improvements to air conditioning in state prisons.

Arizona's voucher program, specifically the Education Savings Account (ESA) program, has faced several criticisms, including significant budget overruns, concerns about accountability and transparency, and the potential for inequitable distribution of funds. Additionally, there are concerns about the program's impact on public schools and the possibility of students losing protections afforded by public education. (See the bottom of this page for a more detailed look at the problems.) 

Join Save Our Schools Arizona for Zoom Power Hours over the next few days to call lawmakers. Your help is essential! Sign up HERE for either day.    Weds May 7, 4-5 pm Thurs May 8, 5-6 pm   If you can't join, you can take these actions on your own: Call Your Lawmakers: Go here to find yourlawmakers: azleg.gov/findmylegislator  Example Script: Hi, my name is  _____________, I live in legislative district ______. I’d like Representative/Senator ___________ to know that I support a clean Prop 123 renewal that does NOT include ESA vouchers. Enshrining the ESA voucher program into the state Constitution is incredibly reckless and would severely limit the Arizona legislature’s ability to put even basic guardrails on the program. Lawmakers should not be holding Prop 123 funding hostage from Arizona kids to protect private school vouchers. I urge Senator/Representative ___________ to listen to their constituents and vote NO on any Prop 123 renewal that attempts to enshrine vouchers in our state constitution. Thank you! Call the Sponsors of the Voucher Proposal: As the lawmakers moving this proposal forward, please also take some time to call: Rep. Matt Gress (R-4) - (602) 926-4105 Senator JD Mesnard (R-13) - (602) 926-4481     We need to flood the phones! Remember if you call during office hours, you'll probably get a friendly administrative assistant who will just tally your position. If you call after hours, please leave a message!   Thank you for this much-needed activism!   Here's a more detailed look at the problems with vouchers: 1. Financial Overruns and Budget Impact: Arizona's ESA program has seen its costs soar beyond initial projections. The original estimated cost of $65 million for FY 2024 ballooned to over $300 million, according to First Focus on Children.  The program has contributed to a state budget deficit of over $1.4 billion, reports ProPublica.  This financial burden has led to budget cuts in other vital public services, potentially disproportionately impacting low-income communities and communities of color. 2. Lack of Accountability and Transparency: Arizona's ESA vouchers have been criticized for lacking transparency and accountability measures. There are no requirements for private schools to meet state educational standards, conduct background checks on staff, or ensure safe learning environments, according to Governing. This lack of oversight raises concerns about the potential for misuse of taxpayer funds and the quality of education provided to students.  3. Unequal Access and Impact on Low-Income Students: While the ESA program is intended to be a choice for all students, low-income families are less likely to use the vouchers, reports ProPublica.  This is due to factors like the location of private schools, additional costs like transportation and uniforms, and the fact that vouchers may not cover the full cost of private school tuition, according to ProPublica.  The program has been criticized for benefiting wealthier families who were already able to afford private school tuition and for potentially siphoning funds from public schools serving low-income and rural communities.  4. Loss of Protections and Discrimination Concerns: Parents using ESA vouchers are required to sign away certain federal protections, including those for students with disabilities, notes Governing. This has raised concerns about the potential for state-funded discrimination against LGBTQ students, English language learners, and students with disabilities.  5. Impact on Public Schools: Critics argue that the ESA program diverts public funds away from public schools, potentially leading to cuts in funding and services.  This can negatively impact public schools, especially in rural communities that rely heavily on state funding.

Have Fun Advocating during Arizona Public Lands Action Week

​Monday, learn how to share your story and love for public lands on social media to bring awareness to the attacks on Public Lands. You'll learn why we're taking actions every day this week to stand up for public lands, monuments, forests and parks, how sharing your story can help make an impact and how to make your posts more effective with calls to action. RSVP here.

Wednesday, post your story to social media. Check out Mountain Mama's Call to Action Day - Protect Our Public Lands for Future Generations. The goal is to mobilize moms, families, and allies to flood lawmakers’ offices with calls demanding action to protect public lands from exploitation and ensure equitable access for all communities. RSVP here.

Thursday, make a call for public lands. For information and a script, email sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org. In Tucson, check out Dia de la Madre Tierra at Feliz Paseos Park. Join an all-ages celebration of our mothers and our Mother Earth. The event will include a short desert hike around the paved trails of the park (stroller friendly!), storytelling and panel discussion, arts and crafts, and refreshments to enjoy in community.

Friday, join the virtual letters to the editor workshop from 6pm-7pm. For this workshop, the Sierra Club will provide information on public lands and threats to them with tips on writing letters to the editor. There will be time to write and share. It will be a fun way to wrap up the work week.