How to Advocate for Water & Other Request to Speak actions

This week is dedicated to WATER!  We will be discussing How to Advocate for Water at the AZ Legislature during Sustainable Tucson's Water Committee meeting this Monday at 7pm. It will include information on current water laws and upcoming bills. Also, how to advocate in person or using the Request to Speak app. 

Water Committee Meeting
Monday, January 26 · 7:00 – 8:30pm
Time zone: America/Phoenix
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ani-wqxn-jat
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 916-905-1996‬ PIN: ‪879 450 407‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/ani-wqxn-jat?pin=9761932595923

The Sierra Club will also be hosting an online meeting on January 29th at Noon - Learn About Arizona Water – Register Here.

This week we have several bills that relate to water including four we support. One bill (HB2641) that prohibits the use of firefighting foams with PFAS (like the ones that poisoned Tucson's water) was actually sponsored by Dems! And HB2185 prohibits HOAs from requiring reseeding and watering lawns during a drought. 

Please weigh in on the Request to Speak app while they are in their respective committees. 

Sign into the Request to Speak system: 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

This week the Sierra Club legislative report recommended that we oppose the following bills that prop up cryptocurrency because crypto requires huge power and water inputs - similar to data centers. Please use the Request to Speak app to oppose them before they are heard in committee at 1:30pm Monday. 

https://unu.edu/press-release/un-study-reveals-hidden-environmental-impacts-bitcoin-carbon-not-only-harmful-product

The Sierra Club report also asked us to oppose the bills propping up the beef industry that is one of the worst drivers of climate change. Weigh in before these bills are heard at 2pm on Monday. 

Monday, January 26th

Senate Finance Committee at 1:30 P.M. 
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• SB1042 public monies; investment; virtual currency (Rogers) allows the state to invest up to 10 percent of the public monies under its control in virtual currency holdings. OPPOSE
• SB1043 state agencies; payments; cryptocurrency (Rogers) authorizes a state agency to enter into an agreement with a cryptocurrency service provider to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method. OPPOSE
• SB1044 property tax; exemption; virtual currency (Rogers) conditional on approval of the measure below, would exempt virtual currency from property tax. Who does this tax exemption serve? The crypto bros? Certainly not us.  OPPOSE
• SCR1003 property tax; exemption; virtual currency (Rogers) refers a measure to the ballot that if approved would exempt virtual currency from property tax. This doesn't even make sense.  OPPOSE

House Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee at 2:00 P.M. 
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• Sunset Review of the Arizona Beef Council
  
  
• HB2155 Arizona beef council; continuation (Diaz) continues the Beef Council until 2034. Do we really need a state entity that is promoting more beef consumption to the detriment of our water, lands, and the climate? OPPOSE
• HB2156 livestock compensation fund; appropriation (Diaz) appropriates $250,000 for the livestock compensation fund for payment to the livestock industry for wolves eating livestock, etc. The people on this board have huge conflicts of interest, so we are inclined not to support this. Besides, we have limited general fund dollars in this budget year and they are seeking to have wolves removed from the Endangered Species list. OPPOSE
• HB2162 game and fish commission; membership (Diaz) requires that one member of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission be a rancher. Ranchers already have undue influence on the Game and Fish Commission and also have huge conflicts as they advocate for the killing of various animals -- wolves, mountain lions, coyotes, and more. OPPOSE
• HB2791 cell-cultured protein; sale; prohibition (Diaz) prohibits the sale of cell-cultured protein for human consumption. Why would you prohibit something that has less of a harmful impact on the environment and on animals? And whatever happened to consumer choice and free markets? OPPOSE 

House Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee at 2:00 P.M.
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2641 PFAS; firefighting foam; prohibition (Ligouri: Biasucci, Fink, et al) bans the use of firefighting foam with PFAS in it. PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" that cause serious health issues. Limiting them in firefighting foam is an important public health issue for firefighters and will help limit contamination of lands and waters. SUPPORT 

Tuesday, January 27th
 

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

• SB1041 appropriation; Arizona trail fund (Rogers) appropriates $500,000 from the general fund for the Arizona Trail. SUPPORT
• SB1197 subsequent AMAs; groundwater portability (Dunn) allows those who have Irrigation Grandfathered Rights (IGFR) in subsequent active management areas -- currently Douglas, Willcox, and Ranegras Plain (the new AMA) -- to sell, transfer, or lease the IGFR. This allows landowners who have these rights to transfer them away from the land they are associated with -- that is not currently allowed. Our concern is that this will actually increase groundwater pumping as lands that are no longer irrigated would be replaced by other irrigated lands. Really weakens AMA protections.  OPPOSE
• SB1198 Arizona beef council; continuation (Dunn) continues this entity to promote beef here and around the world until 2034. (Same as the House bill HB2155 above)  OPPOSE
• SCM1004 clean air act; EPA powers (Carroll: Angius, Gowan, et al) denies that the climate is changing due to greenhouse gas emissions and says EPA does not have the authority to regulate them. It asks Congress to limit EPA authority relative to regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. OPPOSE 

House Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee at 2:00 PM 
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• Presentation: Arizona Department of Water Resources, ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke
• HB2055 brackish groundwater recovery program (Griffin: Lopez)  establishes a fund for a brackish groundwater study (brackish groundwater is water that is not usable due to high concentrations of salts and minerals). While groundwater pumping is always a concern, this project appears to have sufficient guardrails to prevent over-pumping and environmental degradation from brine disposal. Increasing regional water supplies makes a lot more sense than outsourcing water from external sources, like the Missouri River or the Gulf of California. SUPPORT
• HB2056 appropriation; brackish groundwater; feasibility study (Griffin: Lopez) appropriates $100,000 for the pilot program established in HB2055. SUPPORT
• HB2185 homeowners' associations; lawns; drought (Willoughby) prohibits homeowners associations from requiring the overseeding or watering of lawns during a drought year. SUPPORT
• HB2328 municipal corporations; water supply; rates (Marshall: Heap) limits city water companies from charging residents who live outside the boundaries of the city a higher rate for water than residents living within the city boundaries. This is squarely targeted at the City of Tucson for charging those in the county more. Serving urban sprawl costs a lot more, so it is not unreasonable to charge more. OPPOSE
• HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) allows the state, any political subdivisions of the state, and private water companies to engage in the interbasin transfer of groundwater from the McMullen Valley in La Paz County to elsewhere in La Paz County or to an active management area. This further facilitates creating these sacrifice zones for groundwater pumping. They are allowing a decline of up to 10 feet a year in the depth to groundwater. That's a lot. The aquifer will be drained in no time! OPPOSE
• HB2798 appropriation; Arizona geological survey; study (Carbone) appropriates an unidentified amount of money from the general fund to the Arizona Geological Survey to conduct a study of all minerals and metals, including thorium, that are needed for new generation nuclear reactors. Mining companies have plenty of money, we do not need to be subsidizing yet another activity for them. OPPOSE

Wednesday, January 28th

House Federalism, Military Affairs, and Elections Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HCR2016 voting centers; precinct voting (Keshel: Carter P, Chaplik, et al) 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 2,500 registered voters. All of these will hinder and not help people voting early.  OPPOSE