Keep these bad bills from landing on the Governor's Desk

This week at the State Legislature, some bad bills were passed from one chamber to the other. You might recognize four from our Request to Speak actions. This is your last chance to stop them before they reach the Governor's desk. The Sierra Club supplied forms to make it easy to push back on SB1280, SB1418 and  HB2758.

But we are trying something new for HB2975  and  SB1332. You will need to call your legislators or draft a short email using the information provided below. The good news is that it should be even more impactful! 

Both the House and Senate advanced bills on the floor this past week, including one that has reached the Governor, HB2787. HB2787 federal nullification; Mexican wolf; reintroduction (Diaz) prohibits the state from administering, enforcing, or cooperating or spending any money on Mexican gray wolf reintroduction and recovery. This is another short-sighted bill to hinder wolf recovery and would ensure that the state wildlife agency would have little say in the wolf recovery program. The Sierra Club sent a letter asking the Governor to veto it and she did!  Stop the "Cruella de Vil" Act Still alive and in the mix is SB1280 Public monies; Mexican wolf; Prohibition (Farnsworth). Also dubbed the Cruella de Vil Act , SB1280 would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting Mexican gray wolf puppies into Arizona and also from spending any money for transporting wolf puppies into the state. This is a direct attack on the current federal efforts to improve the genetic diversity of Mexican gray wolves in the wild and undermines the science-based administration of the Endangered Species Act. Use this form to tell your reps to vote no on SB1280.  Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1280 Stop the unregulated nukes! Also advancing and likely to land on the Governor's desk soon is SB1418 corporation commission; small modular reactors  (Carroll). It preempts counties – except Maricopa and Pima – from regulating the location of these small modular nuclear reactors if they are co-located with a large industrial electricity user such as a data center. We have data centers locating here in our communities indiscriminately and using enormous amounts of water and electricity, plus providing very few sustainable jobs. SB1418 also says nuclear power units are not subject to requirements for a certificate of environmental compatibility, if they are being sited where there was another thermal power plant. Take action to demand accountability on small reactors and data centers below. Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1418

Some in the Arizona Legislature are still trying to help hedge funds swipe rural water! HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) is among the worst water legislation moving through the process. The bill allows private water companies and a New York hedge fund, Water Asset Management, 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 -- basically the Phoenix area. HB2758 creates sacrifice zones for groundwater pumping to the detriment of rural Arizonans in order to feed the growth machine in urban areas and to benefit the bottom line of this hedge fund. Learn more about the small communities fighting this bill here.   Please ask your Senator to Vote NO on HB2758!

While helping hedge funds steal water, legislators are also seeking to hinder clean solar energy development! HB2975 state lands; solar score; maps (Heap: Marshall) prohibits the State Land Department from creating solar score maps while requiring the department to create maps of mining resources and housing development potential. The bill further requires the Land Department to only use the maps it has created when planning for future use of State Lands. This prevents the department from considering solar developments in their land use plans. Contact your Senator and ask them to vote NO on HB2975. To find out who your legislators are, first find your district here:  https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b Use the district to find out who your Senator is and find their contact info here.

Leaving no stone unturned when it comes to bad policy, legislators, especially Senator John Kavanagh, are attacking light rail as well.

SB1332 Now: light rail expansion; feasibility review (Kavanagh) requires a biased study of light rail and attempts to pit it against other forms of transportation. Requiring an analysis that compares light rail and autonomous vehicles is an apples to oranges comparison and provides no real beneficial information or benefits to our communities.  It's not like there are no studies on light rail either. Every project goes through a thorough environmental and economic impact review before it's approved. Just visit the Valley Metro page and you will find several. This is just a waste of time and money.  Contact your representatives and ask them to vote NO on SB1332. You can find their info here.

Help Shape the Future of Transportation in Tucson

Shape the future of transportation in Pima County by giving input on PIMA COUNTY TRANSPORTATION PLAN Help Pima County Transportation develop a Master Plan that will guide improvements for walking, biking, driving and transit across the County for the next 30 years. The Transportation Master Plan will address all 9,189 square miles of Pima County and include 2,200 miles of roadway, along with pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and paratransit infrastructure.

TAKE THE SURVEY https://movingpima.com/

Sun Tran Community Input Sessions

Sun Tran is proposing route and service enhancements to Routes 4, 8, 9, 102X, 104X, 108X, Sun On Demand, along with a new Route 124X, and new Sun Tran bus stop sign design. These recommendations are part of the 2024 Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) study. The recommendations will need to be approved by Mayor and Council in order to take effect in August of 2026.

Riders and community members are encouraged to attend a one-hour session and provide feedback on the future of Sun Tran's transit system. Here's how you can participate:

Monday, April 13 | Noon | University of Arizona Student Union- San Pedro Room

Tuesday, April 14 | 6 p.m. | Virtual (link available at Suntran.com)

Wed, April 15 | 5 p.m. | El Rio Neighborhood Center: 1390 W. Speedway Blvd.

Thursday, April 16 | 2 p.m. | Woods Memorial Library: 3455 N. First Ave.

Friday, April 17 | Noon | Udall Center: 7200 E. Tanque Verde Rd.

Monday, April 20 | 5 p.m. | Nanini Library: 7300 N. Shannon Rd.

Tuesday, April 21 | Noon | Clements Center: 8155 E. Poinciana Dr.

Thursday, April 23 | 5 p.m. | Quincie Douglas Center: 1575 E. 36th St.

Friday, April 24 | Noon | Joel D. Valdez Main Library: 101 N. Stone Ave.

Monday, April 27 | Noon | Virtual (link available at Suntran.com)

For more information or trip planning assistance, visit Suntran.com, call Customer Service at (520) 792-9222 (TDD 520-628-1565), email SunTranInfo@tucsonaz.gov or download the Transit App - the official Sun Tran app - to plan your trip and track bus arrivals in real-time. The app is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.

 SunTranInfo@tucsonaz.gov

Celebrate Lobo Week by Urging Your Legislator to Protect the Mexican Grey Wolf

Mexican gray wolves are critical keystone predators that maintain ecosystem balance by regulating prey populations like elk and deer. Their presence prevents overgrazing by herbivores, allowing vegetation to regenerate, improving riparian habitats, and supporting biodiversity among birds, fish, and other wildlife.

This week is Lobo Week and to help us celebrate the 28th anniversary of the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves into the wild, Representative Mariana Sandoval read a supportive resolution on the floor of the House. You can watch it and here , advance to 27:28 unless you want to listen to the rest of the floor session. Next Monday, Senator Priya Sundareshan will sponsor a similar proclamation on the floor of the Senate. Tune in to hear that around 1:15 PM by going to this link on the Legislature's website and clicking the Senate. To help us celebrate Lobo Week, please take action on the bills below. 

SB1280 Public monies; Mexican wolf; Prohibition (Farnsworth) would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting Mexican gray wolf puppies into Arizona and also from spending any money for transporting wolf puppies into the state. This is a direct attack on the current federal efforts to improve the genetic diversity of Mexican gray wolves in the wild, and undermines the science-based administration of the Endangered Species Act.

Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1280!
 

HB2787 federal nullification; Mexican wolf; reintroduction (Diaz) prohibits the state from administering, enforcing, or cooperating or spending any money on Mexican gray wolf reintroduction and recovery. This is another short-sighted bill to hinder wolf recovery and would ensure that the state wildlife agency would have little say in the wolf recovery program.

Ask your senator to vote no on HB2787, as well as two anti-wildlife memorials.

This week at the AZ leg: Some good news and some bad news...

The good news is... The bill to ban PFAS in firefighting foam (HB2641) is scheduled for a hearing, as is a bill to prohibit homeowners associations from blocking backyard shade structures (HB2342). Yay!

Please use the Request to Speak app to show support of these good bills before they are heard in committee. 

The bad news is: Several terrible bills have made it through committee. You can still push back on two of them by using the Sierra Club's petitions (below our weekly update). 

Sign into the Request to Speak system: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

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

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

Wednesday, March 25th

Senate Government Committee at 7:00 AM
Members of the public may 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

Senate Regulatory Affairs Government Efficiency Committee at 9:00 AM

Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2342 homeowners' associations; shade structures (Travers: Weninger, Willoughby) prohibits Homeowners Associations (HOAs) from erecting unreasonable impediments to shade structures in backyards. We would love for it to include other energy-saving and shading mechanisms, but this is a start. SUPPORT

Legislative Update: 

Next week is the last week to hear bills in committee with the exception of Appropriations. While the Senate committees are not hearing all of the House bills that were sent over, they are still hearing far too many harmful bills.  The majority in the Legislature continues to find ways to try and disadvantage solar energy, but we have been able to kill a number of those bills, plus work to improve others. We are hopeful the Governor will veto the remaining bills, should they reach her desk. Next week is "Lobo Week," to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves into the wild here in Arizona. The Legislature will mostly be celebrating by proceeding with bills to undermine important protections for wolves. There will be some actions on the floor, however, to highlight the importance of these highly endangered animals. Representative Mariana Sandoval read a supportive resolution on the floor of the House. You can watch it here.  (Advance to 27:28). Monday, Senator Priya Sundareshan will sponsor a similar proclamation on the floor of the Senate. Tune in to hear that around 1:15 PM by going to this link on the Legislature's website and clicking the Senate. To help us celebrate Lobo Week, please take action on the bills below.

photo courtesy of USFWS

SB1280 Public monies; Mexican wolf; Prohibition (Farnsworth) passed out of the House Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee this week and could make it to the floor of the House next week. The bill would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting Mexican gray wolf puppies into Arizona and also from spending any money for transporting wolf puppies into the state. This is a direct attack on the current federal efforts to improve the genetic diversity of Mexican gray wolves in the wild, and undermines the science-based administration of the Endangered Species Act.   Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1280!

HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) passed out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee along party lines. Please consider sending your senator a message opposing it, if you have not already. This bill allows private water companies and a New York hedge fund, Water Asset Management, 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 -- basically the Phoenix area.  HB2758 facilitates creating sacrifice zones for groundwater pumping to the detriment of rural Arizonans in order to feed the growth machine in urban areas and to benefit the bottom line of this hedge fund. It is interesting to see the legislators who say they are looking out for rural Arizona readily agree to this harmful bill. Before it passed the House a number of amendments made the bill even worse than the bill that was passed in committee. Among other things, they increased the limit of the total amount of groundwater that can be transported within La Paz County from 10% to 50%.  Please ask your Senator to Vote NO on HB2758 and add a personal note about why you care - Thanks to Sandy Bahr, Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club

Immediate Action Needed on Bill that Forces Utilities to Favor Fossil Fuels

The good news is that we have only five bills to weigh in on the Request to Speak app this week. The bad news is that there are a couple of really bad bills - like HB2912. When we checked the response on this pro-fossil fuel bill there were 215 for it and only 35 against it!  Please take a minute to OPPOSE this terrible bill. Another bad bill (HCM2006) weakens wildlife protections. 

Please use the Request to Speak app to weigh in on the bills before they are heard in their respective committees. After signing into the system and clicking on New Request, you can simply copy and paste the bill number into SEARCH PHRASE, SEARCH then click on ADD REQUEST

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

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

Monday, March 16th Senate Federalism and Family Law at 1:30 PM  Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. HCM2006 endangered species act; urging reform (Diaz) is a message to Congress asking for reform of the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Act, plus asking for regulations to be removed from livestock grazing. It seeks to weaken protections for wildlife to facilitate more cattle. OPPOSE Tuesday, March 17th   Senate Natural Resources Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2150 continuation; state land department  (Griffin) continues the State Land Department through 2030, but adds a number of requirements, including a conceptual land use plan for state lands that supersedes any conflicting zoning. It also says the commissioner can renew mining leases without auction. The department should be renewed without all these new changes to its operations. OPPOSE HB2912 utility; resource plan; commission review (Olson) modifies the analysis public service utilities must include in their integrated resource plan (IRP) to include three scenarios -- high, medium, and low growth. It also mandates use of a particular test – the Ratepayer Impact Measurement (RIM) test – to among other things show that no chosen resources are meant to satisfy any carbon reduction goals. Additionally, it adds several provisions to encourage "reliable" energy generation, which means fossil fuel generation. OPPOSE House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.  SB1419 solar energy; inspection; contractors (Carroll)  layers some new licensing, inspection, and disclosure requirements on top of existing contractor licensing, building codes, and consumer protection laws for rooftop solar installations, some of which are not necessarily bad (like requiring third party inspections of installations done by contractors with recent disciplinary actions). More concerning is that the bill prohibits installers from providing estimates of cost savings for installed solar systems. OPPOSE SB1447 groundwater withdrawal fee; Pinal AMA (Shope) extends the moratorium on collecting this groundwater withdrawal fee in the Pinal Active Management Area (AMA) for four years. (And this moritorium has already been in effect for 6 years).This is a de facto subsidy for groundwater pumping in this AMA. OPPOSE

Defend endangered wild cats from a mining land grab in our beloved Santa Rita Mountains

The Arizona State Land Department is scheduled to auction off 160 acres of state trust land next month — land that Hudbay Minerals, a Canadian mining company, has sought to purchase to help the expansion of its proposed Copper World mine in southern Arizona.

The lands to be auctioned are at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains, a beloved landscape within the biologically rich Sky Island region — and habitat for endangered wild cats.

For years the famous jaguar El Jefe has roamed the Santa Ritas — which lie within jaguars’ native range — and just recently, a trail camera detected a rare ocelot in the range. These mountains are also home to wildlife like black bears and mountain lions.

If the 160-acre parcel is auctioned off to Hudbay Minerals, it will connect two company properties south of Corona de Tucson, clearing the way for Hudbay to expand its toxic tailings disposal and mining infrastructure into the Santa Ritas.

Large-scale mining in the mountains would fragment habitat and wildlife-movement corridors, increase noise and light pollution, and suck up massive amounts of groundwater that riparian ecosystems like Davidson Canyon and Cienega Creek need to thrive.

Gov. Katie Hobbs has the authority to withdraw these 160 acres from auction. Tell her to protect wildlife, water, and the Santa Rita Mountains by stopping the land sale now.

- Thanks to the Center of Biological Diversity for sharing this action and photo.  

Love our mountains? Enjoy this recording about the Rincons by Sky Island Alliance:

A Floristic Tour of the Rincon Mountains

Weigh in on Wolves, Wildlife, Water, Overreach and Sprawl!

This week there are several bad bills that you can weigh in on that hurt wildlife, increase sprawl (at the expense of water) or over-burden our state departments. You can find them under the Legislative update and a petition to protect wildlife.
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Please use the Request to Speak app to weigh in on the bills before they are heard in their respective committees on Tuesday. After signing into the system and clicking on New Request, you can simply copy and paste the bill number into SEARCH PHRASE, SEARCH then click on ADD REQUEST

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

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

Need more direction? The Sierra Club is offering Request to Speak training at 6pm on Thursday, March 12th. (See information below.)


LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

This week, the House and Senate continued a fair amount of work on the floor, sending bills across the mall to the opposite house. Some bills did die in the process, however. One of the best moments was when HB2492 (urban growth boundaries; prohibition) went down in flames, failing in the House 27-29-3-0-1. The bill said no city, county, or other state entity can implement or enforce directly or indirectly any act that would limit urban sprawl or limit extension of services. This was to accommodate even more runaway sprawl -- as if we did not have enough. It would have ensured that those who can afford it least pay the cost for developers to sprawl farther and farther away from existing infrastructure. The bill could have been used to block conservation plans, too. Thank representatives who voted no. You can see the list here. (Click the Show House THIRD button to see the names and how they voted.)

Sadly, while legislative leadership blocked all efforts to require more of data centers and to eliminate their tax breaks, they allowed numerous bills to advance to accommodate siting of both data centers and small modular nuclear reactors. We will have an alert on those next week, but one bill has passed in the Senate and is on a House agenda next week. See more on SB1418 in the section on committees.

HB2331 electric service providers; energy reliability (Marshall: Heap) passed out of the House 32-23-4-0-1. It requires that 85% of generation for utility retail customers be from "reliable" sources. The bill creates its own definition of reliable and defines it as a generation resource that is not solar or wind. We will update the alert and share it as the bill gets scheduled.

On a positive note, HB2641 PFAS; firefighting foam; prohibition (Ligouri: Biasucci, Fink, et al) passed out of the House with no opposition, 50-0-9-01. HB2641 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. Hooray for a positive step!

Over the last two weeks, several bills to remove protections from Mexican gray wolves and other wildlife have advanced. Most of those are in the Senate and a few will be heard in committee next week.

Please tell your senator to vote no on these harmful wildlife measures!

Tuesday, March 10th

Senate Natural Resources Committee at 1:30 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

HB2013 exceptional events; air quality; wildfires (Fink) mandates that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) file an exceptional event demonstration if a wildfire occurs on federally managed land. There is already a process for exceptional events, demonstrations and established criteria. Why add this time consuming burden and expense? OPPOSE
HB2101 supply and demand; assessment; groundwater (Griffin) requires the ADWR to include more specific data in the supply and demand assessments. Asks for a lot of data that isn't a part of many current groundwater models and there is no funding for updating models. OPPOSE
HB2113 public service corporation; rates; intervenor (Martinez: Carter N, Hendrix, et al.) forces the Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO) to intervene when there's an increase of 100% or more with a public service corporation. While a rate increase of 100% or more is extreme, it doesn't seem like RUCO should have the authority to intervene. OPPOSE
HB2158 predatory animals; definition (Diaz) expands the definition of “predators” to include bears, cougars, and mountain lions. The bill is problematic on its face - bears are mostly omnivorous and cougars and mountain lions are the same animal (Puma concolor). HB 2158 would remove these apex carnivores from science-based wildlife management and open the door to unregulated, extreme killing, including by cruel methods such as traps, snares, hounding, and aerial gunning—practices that destabilize populations and undermine the public trust. A floor amendment in the House removed wolves from the definition, but this bill is still harmful to other wildlife and would change the management mechanisms around these animals, providing fewer limits on their take. OPPOSE
HCM2011 Mexican wolf; delist; urging support (Diaz: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al.) is a message to Congress asking it to pass H.R. 4255 (Rep Paul Gosar's terrible bill) and delist the Mexican wolf from the endangered species list and to defund the Nonessential Experimental Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Project. Decisions on delisting endangered species should be based on science, not political favors for ranchers. OPPOSE
HCR2020 for-sale housing; development; groundwater replenishment (Griffin: Taylor) says the legislature supports building housing outside designated service providers of water if the proposed development is enrolled in the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD). The CAGRD was established by and for developers and is truly a house of cards as it only worked when there was "excess" Colorado River water and, as we know, there is a shortage on the Colorado. OPPOSE

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

SB1418 corporation commission; small modular reactors (Carroll) preempts counties – except Maricopa and Pima – from regulating the location of these small modular nuclear reactors if they are co-located with a large industrial electricity user – basically data centers. We already have data centers locating here in our communities indiscriminately and using enormous amounts of water and electricity, plus providing very few sustainable jobs. It also says nuclear power units are not subject to requirements for a certificate of environmental compatibility, if they are being sited where there was another thermal unit. It doesn't make sense to replace an existing coal plant with a nuclear plant without a certificate of environmental compatibility. OPPOSE

Thursday, March 12th

Make Your Voice Heard at the AZ Legislature using Request to Speak. Training at 6:00 PM

RSVP Here.