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.