Take Action to Oppose Resolution Copper Water Permit that will deplete our water and devastate majestic Oak Flat

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First the good news...Governor Hobbs vetoed three more harmful energy and water bills that were passed at the AZ legislature along party lines.  

HB2063 exempt wells; certificate; groundwater use (Griffin) would have required the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to issue a certificate of water rights to those with exempt wells (35 gallons per minute or less) that register with the well with ADWR. This would have served to increase rather than decrease pumping.

HB2124 agricultural operations; water; protection; definition (Smith) would have required the court to award attorneys' fees for nuisance claims related to groundwater pumping. This was another bill to protect big pumpers at the expense of those harmed who may have few tools available to them to challenge the pumping.

HB2591 forced labor; child labor; prohibitions (Biasiucci: Dunn, Kolodin, et al.) would have prohibited public power entities, public service corporations, and public entities from engaging in or renewing contracts to procure land, electric vehicles, utility scale batteries, or solar panels from individuals or businesses employing forced labor or oppressive child labor. The bill also mandates that automobile manufacturers furnish certification ensuring compliance with these standards for contracts involving electric vehicles and associated components. While we support prohibiting all of those activities, this is better addressed federally for all products. This bill singles out a few.

Please call the Governor at 602-542-4331 to say thank you to her for vetoing these bills.

Take Action to Oppose Resolution Copper Water Permit

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has released a Public Notice that it intends to issue an Individual Industrial Recycled Water Permit to Resolution Copper Mining. The permit would allow Resolution Copper to deliver water obtained from the dewatering of their mine facilities at Oak Flat and near Superior to the New Magma Irrigation and Drainage District where it would be mixed with water coming from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal and used for irrigation.

Allowing Resolution Copper to pump the water out of the mine shaft and mix it with CAP water to irrigate crops and doing so under weak permitting, is just one more way this mine is harming the region.
 

Please sign on to this petition asking ADEQ to reject this permit renewal.
We will deliver the petition to ADEQ on May 7th.

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0438546

Help PLAN TUCSON for our city's future

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND GET INVOLVED:
JOIN PLAN TUCSON FOR A COMMUNITY FORUM

Plan Tucson invites all community members to participate in our upcoming Community Forums, a crucial step in updating the City’s General Plan. This long-range policy document is central to defining the future of Tucson, addressing vital areas such as housing, transportation, climate action, and growth.

These forums will be the last public meetings for Phase 2 of the Plan Tucson Update and the best opportunity to provide critical feedback on policy guidance that will impact how the city addresses housing, sustainability, equity, transportation, and much more before the first draft of the plan is written. Your input will also help update our Future Growth Scenario Map, guiding where and what type of development is encouraged across the city.

Virtual Forum
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

REGISTER HERE

In-Person Forum
Saturday, May 18, 2024
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Ward 2 Office, 7820 E. Broadway Blvd.

REGISTER HERE

Both community forums will have prizes, and the in-person event will have food and family-friendly activities.

The Plan Tucson Community Forums aren’t just about shaping policy - they’re about building a better community. The more feedback we receive, the better the plan reflects our shared values and aspirations.

For more information about Plan Tucson and an overview on what has happened through Phase 1 and Phase 2, visit plantucson.tucsonaz.gov.

COMPARTE SUS IDEAS Y PARTICIPA:
ÚNETE CON PLAN TUCSON EN UN FORO COMUNITARIO

Plan Tucson invita a todos los miembros de la comunidad a participar en nuestros próximos Foros Comunitarios, un paso crucial en la actualización del Plan General de la Ciudad. Este documento de política a largo plazo es fundamental para definir el futuro de Tucson, abordando áreas vitales como vivienda, transporte, acción climática y crecimiento.

Estos foros serán las últimas reuniones públicas para la Fase 2 de la Actualización del Plan Tucson y la mejor oportunidad para proporcionar comentarios críticos sobre la orientación política que impactará cómo la ciudad aborda la vivienda, la sostenibilidad, la equidad, el transporte y mucho más antes de que se escriba el primer borrador del plan. Su aporte también ayudará a actualizar nuestro Mapa de Crecimiento Futuro, guiando dónde y qué tipo de desarrollo se fomenta en toda la ciudad.

Foro Virtual
Martes 14 de mayo de 2024
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

REGÍSTRESE AQUÍ

Foro Presencial
Sábado 18 de mayo de 202
10 a.m. - 12 p.m
Oficina del Distrito 2, 7820 E. Broadway Blvd.

REGÍSTRESE AQUÍ

Ambos eventos tendrán premios, y el evento presencial contará con comida y actividades familiares.

Los Foros Comunitarios del Plan Tucson no solo se tratan de dar forma a políticas, sino de construir una comunidad mejor. Cuantos más comentarios recibamos, mejor reflejará el plan nuestros valores y aspiraciones compartidos.

Para obtener más información sobre Plan Tucson y una descripción general de lo que ha ocurrido en la Fase 1 y la Fase 2, visite plantucson.tucsonaz.gov.

 

Project Contact

Cesar Acosta, Principal Planner
cesar.acosta2@tucsonaz.gov

Fight HB2124 that encourages over-pumping of groundwater

This legislative session is finally nearing an end...thankfully. This year has seen so many bad water bills! 

HB2124 is scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives, likely Wednesday.

HB2124 agricultural operations; water; protection; definition (Smith) would punish plaintiffs for filing suits against someone who is using too much groundwater or taking another user's water by reclassifying those suits as "nuisance lawsuits" and requiring them to pay lawyers fees. This would make it much harder to prevent deep-pocketed large agricultural water users from taking too much water. 

Ask House Members to Oppose HB2124 that benefits big groundwater pumpers to the detriment of small homeowners, farmers, and individual businesses.

To find out who your Representatives are, find your district here:

https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b

Use that district to find contact info on your Representatives:

https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/

Last chance to stop dirty bills

Dirty Cholla Coal plant still in operation in Arizona Before shutting things down, the Senate passed several bad bills, but did reject some as well, including a harmful bill promoted by Rep Kolodin to allow "brackish groundwater" to help developers get around the assured water supply requirements. That was HB2186. The Senate passed HB2646 power plants; public service corporations (Bliss) 16-11-3 with only Republicans voting yes. This is a bad bill that would extend the life of outdated, expensive, dirty coal plants at the expense of utility ratepayers, setting out-of-reach parameters for their closures, and requiring the Attorney General to be engaged in opposing federal rules that would expedite their retirement. HB2646 seeks to prop up fossil fuel plants in an effort to rescue plants that are incredibly costly to keep in operation. Keeping fossil fuel plants operating longer is at the expense of ratepayers, who are kept on the hook to pay for expensive plants to remain in operation when it is more cost effective to transition to renewable energy like wind, solar, and storage.   Please ask Governor Hobbs to veto HB2646.

The AZ Senate also passed HB2002 power plants; transmission lines; definition (Griffin). It excludes switchyards and substations from review by the AZ Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee (Committee). The Committee is one of the few entities that considers environmental factors relative to siting and utilities are chipping away at what it applies to both at the Legislature and the Arizona Corporation Commission. This has not yet been transmitted to the governor, but will likely go to her next week. Ask Governor Hobbs to veto this too.  You can call the Governor at (602) 542-4331 or use the Governor's website. While you're at it, you can also thank the Governor for vetoing HB2788 United Nations; sustainable development; prohibition. It states that Arizona or any of its political subdivisions cannot adopt the sustainable development agenda of the United Nations. Apparently, the Legislature did not want to support ending poverty, achieving food security, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality, and protecting the planet and our ability to live on it. We're glad the governor does. You can read her veto message here. Below are the potential ballot measures that the Legislature may refer for a vote. These were previously Request to Speak actions but, if you have not done so already, please contact your legislators about opposing them. HCR2032 voting centers; precinct voting (Jones: B Parker, Smith, et al.) would put a measure on the 2024 ballot that prohibits boards of supervisors from establishing voting centers to accommodate additional voting for a specific election as needed. It also eliminates no-excuse mail-in voting, limiting a method of voting used by 80% of Arizonans. If approved, this would result in lower voter turnout. This awaits action in Senate Committee of the Whole. HCR2040 public monies; prohibited expenditures (Smith: Biasiucci, Carbone, et al.) is another one of those referrals. It would place a measure on the 2024 ballot to prohibit the state or any political subdivision, including universities, to spend any public dollars to reduce global temperatures, have a climate action plan, participate in anything related to reducing meat consumption, do anything to address impacts of racism, etc. It wraps this up with a bow related to prohibiting "furthering Marxist ideologies." This awaits action in the Senate Rules Committee. HCR2050 energy source; restriction; prohibition (Griffin: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al) would put on the 2024 ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit a city, town, county or any other political subdivision of the state from restricting the manufacture, use or sale of a device based on the energy source that is either used to power the device or consumed by the device. Device is not defined, but this is clearly intended to preclude any limits on fossil fuel "devices," including gas. This will make it harder to protect our air, our water, our health, and our communities. It awaits action in the Senate Rules Committee.   HCR2058 legislative districts; population; census; citizenship (Heap: Chaplik, Gillette, et al) would put a measure on the 2024 ballot to require a state census that the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) must use to determine legislative districts based on citizenship population. This is a direct attack on the IRC and would subvert US census data to dilute and attack communities, as well as being an expensive replication of the work done by the US Census Bureau. If successfully referred and approved, it would impact minority districts disproportionately. This awaits action in the Senate Rules Committee. SCR1041 ballot measures; challenges (Mesnard) refers a measure that allows challenges to proposed ballot measures by any person and earlier in the process. This would hinder citizen ballot measures as they could be challenged while people are still collecting signatures. This awaits action by the House Rules Committee. To find out who your legislators are, find your district here: https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b Use that district to find contact info on your representatives: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/ Use that district to find contact info on your senator: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

Urge Governor Hobbs to veto HB2788 that prohibits Arizona from doing anything in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

HB2788 United Nations; sustainable development; prohibition (Jones: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al.) has passed both houses of the legislature on a party line vote and is going to the governor's desk for approval. It prohibits Arizona or any of its political subdivisions from adopting the sustainable development agenda of the United Nations, which means they are objecting to support for ending poverty, support for achieving food security, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality, and protecting the planet and our ability to live on it by objecting to action on climate change and promoting water sustainability. Effectively, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) apply to all functions of government so, if the governor doesn't veto this bill, state and local governments would be prohibited from spending funds on nearly everything they currently do. As just one example, if state and local governments could not act on target 6.4 of the SDGs, that would make the Groundwater Management Act unenforceable and effectively end water conservation measures in Arizona. It's quite obvious that the partisan legislators that passed this bill don't have any understanding of the SDGs - they just wanted to show their opposition to anything that is "green" or "woke."

Here is the list of UN Sustainable Development Goals showing how broad their scope is.

For more detailed descriptions of the SDGs, targets, and indicators - as well as a wealth of information about global progress (or lack thereof) in achieving the goals, check out the UN's Sustainable Development Goals website.

Please contact Governor Hobbs to encourage her to veto HB2788 before Monday.

Stop bills that make it harder to vote from going on the ballot

No new bills will be heard in committees, so there will be no Request to Speak this week. For a lot of the bad environmental bills, it looks like it will be mostly party line votes and hopefully, a veto by the Governor. Sadly, there are few positive bills moving. Legislators never heard bills to advance environmental justice, bills to limit groundwater pumping, bills to protect rivers and streams, bills to help address climate change, and bills to protect our air and water.  

Key concerns at this point in the session are measures that bypass the Governor and go directly to the ballot. There are several of those outstanding, including HCR2032 voting centers; precinct voting (Jones: B Parker, Smith, et al.). It would put a measure on the 2024 ballot that prohibits boards of supervisors from establishing voting centers to accommodate additional voting for a specific election as needed. It also eliminates no-excuse mail-in voting, limiting a method of voting used by 80% of Arizonans. If approved, this would result in lower voter turnout.
 

HCR2058 legislative districts; population; census; citizenship (Heap: Chaplik, Gillette, et al) would put a measure on the 2024 ballot to require a state census that the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) must use to determine legislative districts based on citizenship population. This is a direct attack on the IRC and would subvert US census data to dilute and attack communities.
 

Please call your senator and ask them to vote no on HCR2032 and HCR2058!
You can find numbers for senators here.

More info. here:

GOP wants to scrap Arizona early voting. The plan is 1 vote away from the November ballot

Sign petitions to your legislators on bad bills for the environment

For this legislative update we are focusing more on some bills that we think might come to the floor next week, especially two referrals. The referrals cannot be vetoed, so need special attention. Please, sign these petitions from the Sierra Club to urge your legislators to vote "no" on these terrible bills.

Please take action and tell your representatives to oppose SB1221. It sets up an impossible process for establishing basin management areas and codifies current overpumping of rural groundwater.   Learn more and take action here.

HCR2040 public monies; prohibited expenditures (Smith: Biasiucci, Carbone, et al.) is one of those referrals. It would place a measure on the 2024 ballot to prohibit the state or any political subdivision, including universities, to do anything to help reduce global temperatures, have a climate action plan, participate in anything related to reducing meat consumption, etc. It wraps this up with a bow related to prohibiting "furthering Marxist ideologies." It is clearly intended to connect all of these issues and motivate voters who fear that there is a vast conspiracy to make this a better world.    Tell your senator to vote no on HCR2040!

HCR2050 energy source; restriction; prohibition (Griffin: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al) passed out of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee along party lines on Thursday. It would put on the 2024 ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit a city, town, county or any other political subdivision of the state from restricting the manufacture, use or sale of a device based on the energy source that is either used to power the device or consumed by the device. Device is not defined, but this is clearly intended to preclude any limits on fossil fuel "devices," including gas. This will make it harder to protect our air, our water, our health, and our communities.    Please send a message to your senator asking them to oppose HCR2050.

Arizona has roughly 28 million acres of federal public lands. These places provide extensive opportunities for recreation and key habitat and corridors for numerous animal species. Public lands provide us with clean air and clean water, and they, like other lands in our state, are all Indigenous lands -- that should be part of the context of what happens with them. The AZ Legislature has frequently sought more control of our federal public lands, attempting to privatize and eliminate or weaken protections for the land, water, and wildlife. These bills have been vetoed by Republican governors and also defeated overwhelmingly on the ballot. Arizonans love our public lands. Please tell your senator to vote no on bills that seek to hinder protection of public lands and waters. Read more about them and take action here. Take action to protect public lands: https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0426717

Sneaky strike-everything amendments reword approved bills and other bad bills prohibit environmental actions @ AZ Legislature

Strike-everything sneaks in new bills

This week there are several strike-everything amendments. (Basically, a strike-everything is a bizarre rule in the state legislature that allows replacing all of the text of a bill that has gone through committee with completely new - and often unrelated - text.) This means you may need to change a previous RTS comment to reflect the new bill.

This week the Senate continued to advance many bad policies, including HCR2040, which passed along party lines.

HCR2040 public monies; prohibited expenditures (Smith: Biasiucci, Carbone, et al.) would place a measure on the 2024 ballot to prohibit the state or any political subdivision, including universities, to do anything to help reduce global temperatures, have a climate action plan, participate in anything related to reducing meat consumption, etc. It wraps this up with a bow related to prohibiting "furthering Marxist ideologies."
 
Tell your senator to vote no on HCR2040! You can find their phone number here.

Request to Speak on the following bills before they are heard in their respective committees.

Sign onto the RTS app:
https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Monday, March 18th

Senate Transportation, Technology, and Missing Children Committee at 2:00 PM 

• HCR2049 ballot measures; challenges (Carter) will have a strike-everything amendment on freedom to move would put on the 2024 ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit limits on vehicle miles travelled or having any fee based on vehicle miles traveled. The latter is one of the ways to fund roads as gas taxes continue to dwindle. Limiting traffic can improve our air quality is part of the clean air plans. OPPOSE

Senate Finance and Commerce Committee at 2:00PM

• HB2734 affordable housing; parking requirements; prohibition (now: public hearings; voting) (Ortiz: Biasiucci, Peña) will have a strike-everything amendment to limit public hearings on zoning ordinances. OPPOSE

Wednesday, March 20th

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at 2:00 PM 

• SB1052 all-terrain vehicles; definition (Carroll: Farnsworth, Cook) increases the allowable weight for all-terrain vehicles from 2500 to 3000. Heavier vehicles do more damage and kick up more dust in unpaved areas. OPPOSE

House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• SCR1041 ballot measures; challenges (Mesnard) refers a measure that allows challenges to proposed ballot measures by any person and earlier in the process -even before the election. Just another way to keep citizens' initiatives from getting on the ballot.  OPPOSE

Thursday, March 21st

NOTE: There are a bunch of strike everything amendments that haven't been posted yet, Please check back later in the week.

Easy week for Requests to Speak!

WHEW! Easy week...

There aren't many Request to Speak actions this week because most of these bills were previously in the other chamber of the legislature and we commented on them there.

Enjoy Wednesday's presentation on state parks, if you choose to view that!

Request to Speak on the following bills before they are heard in their respective committees.

Sign onto the RTS app:
https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Monday, March 11th 

Senate Elections Committee at 2:00 PM 

• HCR2058 legislative districts; population; census; citizenship (Heap: Chaplik, Gillette, et al) would put a measure on the 2024 ballot to require a state census that the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) must use to determine legislative districts based on citizenship population. This is a direct attack on the IRC and would subvert US census data to dilute and attack communities. OPPOSE 

Wednesday, March 13th

Senate Government Committee at 9:00 AM

• HCR2056 preferential treatment; discrimination; prohibition (Montenegro: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al) prohibits addressing the impacts of racism and discrimination by prohibiting any actions based on race or ethnicity. OPPOSE

House Government Committee at 10:00 AM 
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• Presentation on State Parks 

Thursday, March 14th

Senate Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee at 9:00 AM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2022 conservation easements; maintenance; weeds (Griffin) requires the holder of a conservation easement to maintain the property when this is the responsibility of the property owner. This bill would discourage conservation easements. OPPOSE

Request to Speak actions for week of March 2nd... and one last chance to contact your legislators on bad energy bill (HCR 2050)

Environmental actions on the ballot?! 

If you have been keeping up with our Request to Speak actions, you should have already weighed in on most of the bills that are now being heard in the other house. So, our list is shorter this week. (See RTS actions below). If you haven’t, you can find previous RTS actions on the Desktop Activist Tucson website and still weigh in on them.  

This week I have included some bad voting bills because it makes it difficult to advocate for the environment if we can’t vote.

Unfortunately, HCR 2050 made it through committee and awaits a Third Read vote in the house. If it passes it will put this horrific bill on the ballot. Governor Hobbs won't be able to veto it!  If you haven't already, please, reach out to your legislators using the Sierra Club’s petition (link below).

 

HCR2050 energy source; restriction; prohibition (Griffin: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al) would put on the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit a city, town, county or any other political subdivision of the state from restricting the manufacture, use or sale of a device based on the energy source that is either used to power the device or consumed by the device. Device is not defined, but this is clearly intended to preclude any limits on fossil fuels, including gas. This will make it harder to protect our air, our water, our health, and our communities.
 

Take action against HCR2050 here.

​

Request to Speak on the following bills before they are heard in their respective committees.

Sign onto the RTS app:
https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

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

Monday, March 4th

Senate Elections Committee at 2:00 PM

• HB2404 voter registration cards; mailing limitation (Gillette: Biasiucci, Bliss, et al) prohibits the county recorder from providing an initial or updated voter registration card to a person whose mailing address is outside of Arizona except for active military members and those for whom there is no Arizona mail address. This would exclude students. OPPOSE
• HB2482 voter registration changes; text notice  (Parker B) requires county recorders to notify people either via text or in writing if they make any changes to their voting records and provide them with information on how they can check their record and make any changes needed. This is a good transparency measure and a service to voters. SUPPORT
• HB2852 voter registrations; organizations; prohibition (Heap: Chaplik, Gillette, et al) prohibits the  state and any city, town, county or political subdivision from participating as a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). The state can’t provide information to ERIC (a trusted non-profit organization that makes sure people don’t register to vote in more than one state). Instead, they must hire a third-party contractor. OPPOSE

Senate Finance and Commerce Committee at 2:00PM

• HB2007 subdivided lands; civil penalties (Griffin) says a civil penalty for a subdivider or agent who engages in unlawful practice with respect to the sale or lease of subdivided lands applies to each lot where a violation occurs rather than all of the lots combined. This is positive because it increases the penalty for unscrupulous developers. SUPPORT

House Municipal Affairs and Public Safety at 2:00 PM

• SCR1042 support; Texas; southern border (Bolick: Bennett, Borrelli, et al) supports Texas's unlawful and harmful activities along its border with Mexico that have resulted in the deaths of immigrants. OPPOSE