Urge AZ Legislators to Save our Solar and Water

AZ Leg bill makes it illegal to have solar

Whew!  We have narrowed it down to 31 Request to Speak actions this week. So many bad bills that make transitioning to clean energy more difficult; while other bills allow installation of fossil fuel and nuclear generators without environmental certification. There are even some to force through data centers. One bill would make our residential solar installation illegal! Gail Griffin has so many destructive water bills that she had to schedule two meetings of the House Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee this week. You will also find bills to make it harder to vote and that hurt wildlife. 

The bright side is that one of the 31 bills is one we recommend supporting (Look out for SB1488).

Please do what you can. You might want to do the ones that start on Wednesday in a second shift.

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 r Monday, February 9th Senate Federalism Committee at 1:30 P.M.  Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1281 federal government; land acquisition; consent  (Farnsworth) requires that the governor and legislature approve any sale or transfer of private land to the federal government. This is a measure to block acquisitions to protect lands around the headwaters of rivers and springs, inholdings, and to otherwise protect blocks of public lands or areas with special habitat or cultural resources. It also would interfere with private property rights and is unconstitutional on several levels. OPPOSE Senate Military Affairs and Border Security at 1:30 P.M. Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1520 agencies; immigration; data sharing (Rogers: Finchem) mandates that the state and any state agency must share data requested by the U.S. government relating to unauthorized noncitizens, undocumented immigrants, and visa overstays. 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. HB2100 small land subdivision; requirements (Griffin) allows for skirting subdivision requirements and thus avoids requirements for assured water supply. OPPOSE HB2159 Mexican wolves; landowner permits; rules (Diaz)  would allow the killing of Mexican gray wolves by landowners in Arizona. The bill would authorize private individuals, through permits issued by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, to kill wolves on private and/or public lands. In some cases, the Game and Fish Department would be required to issue those permits at the direction of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. This bill is contrary to the Endangered Species Act which protects the Mexican gray wolf as a listed species. OPPOSE HB2497 right to hunt; fish; harvest (Way) undermines Arizona Game and Fish authority relative to wildlife regulation by asserting the Arizona Legislature has exclusive authority over regulation of wildlife and says they "may" delegate it to Game and Fish. They have already delegated it via Title 17, so are they trying to pull it back. Hunting is a privilege, not a right. OPPOSE 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. OPPOSE Tuesday, February 3rd   Senate Natural Resource Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1488 appropriation; coal-impacted workforce; study (Hatathlie: Diaz, Epstein, et al) establishes a coal-impacted communities study committee and appropriates $600,000 to the Office of Economic Opportunity to conduct a workforce development study on the communities in Coconino County impacted by the closure of the Navajo Generating Station. SUPPORT 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. HB2027 physical availability; review; designated providers (Griffin) prohibits the ADWR from using the Pinal AMA method of calculating the physical availability of groundwater to a municipality in the Phoenix AMA that has an assured water supply designation. It requires the ADWR Director to review the physical availability of groundwater and stored water of each municipality in the Phoenix AMA with an assured water supply designation. This is an attempt to stop enforcement of the Groundwater Management Act and to create more loopholes, the last thing we need. OPPOSE  HB2028 DWR; application; administrative completeness (Griffin) makes licenses from ADWR appealable agency actions, allowing an opportunity for developers and others to sue earlier in the process before a decision is final. It would create even more chaos relative to our water. OPPOSE HB2031 grandfathered right; Willcox AMA; extension (Griffin) extends through the end of the year the amount of time someone has to file for grandfather rights. This AMA has been around for two years -- that should be plenty of time. OPPOSE HB2094 assured water supply; certificate; model (Griffin) requires the ADWR to review the merits of an application for a certificate of assured water supply in the Phoenix active management area (AMA) and issue a new determination within 15 days if certain criteria are met, including if the application was submitted on or after January 26, 2021, and on or before May 31, 2023. The bill also directs use of long-term storage credits, which may be "paper water" that's not physically available to the site of the application. For Salt River and Lower Hassayampa, the bill directs ADWR to approve the application using outdated groundwater models that have recently been updated. This bill promotes unsustainable water use. OPPOSE HB2095 assured water supply; well depth (Griffin) weakens the definition of physically available relative to depth to water as part of an assured water supply determination for a subdivision. Another way to get around the assured water supply. OPPOSE HB2102 domestic water improvement districts; hauling (Griffin) allows an improvement district to be established in a subsequent AMA in order to pump groundwater for water hauling. This weakens the protections for these AMAs. OPPOSE HB2933 groundwater transportation fee; counties; fund (Biasiucci: Griffin) deposits fees in the general fund of counties where groundwater is being hauled out of the county. The problem is, you can't drink money. OPPOSE HB2934 Harquahala; groundwater transportation fee (Biasiucci: Griffin) is like 2933, except for the Harquahala INA. OPPOSE  HB2986 department of environmental quality; program (Griffin) is the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality omnibus bill that is mostly clean-up relating to lead acid battery fee collection, pushes the date out on conditional enactment for air quality state implementation plan revisions, and removes funding for recycling of used oil. It weakens environmental protections.OPPOSE  Wednesday, February 11th Environmental Day at the Capitol 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM House Judiciary Committee at 9:00 AM  Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2136 civil terrorism; disorderly conduct; subversion (Way) attempts to define things like disorderly conduct (that might happen at a rally) as civil terrorism which is treated like a felony. OPPOSE HB2862 unlawful masking; violation (Nguyen) makes it a crime to wear a mask for the purpose of concealing your identity in a public gathering. This is overly broad which means you couldn't even wear a covid mask. This is probably unconstitutional. OPPOSE  Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1568 early ballots; registration signatures; curing (Hoffman) requires that people submit a new signature every five years in order for their early ballot to be counted. OPPOSE Thursday, February 12th House Artificial Intelligence Committee at 9:00 AM  Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2456 small modular reactors; zoning; co-location (Wilmeth) prohibits counties from doing anything to restrict or regulate small modular nuclear reactors if they are co-located with large energy users like data centers. OPPOSE HB2457 public utilities; plant construction; colocation (Wilmeth) loosens requirements for siting power plants as long as they are co-located with large electricity users. OPPOSE   House Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee at 12:30 PM Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2267 public nuisance; renewable energy; exceptions (Marshall) declares any renewable energy project to be a public nuisance, unless it was permitted before the amendment was approved, it has a certificate of environmental compliance, or it is a non-exporting rooftop installation. (Note that this would make residential solar installations connected to the grid - as most are - illegal.) It further requires the attorney general to take action in superior court to prevent any of these projects from being completed (which will make the AG's office very busy) and will essentially kill any solar or wind development in Arizona.  OPPOSE HB2425 auditor general; state lands; audit (Griffin) mandates a special audit of the State Land Department relative to solar leases, land sales initiated by the Commissioner, etc. Why not mining or grazing leases or other commercial leases? This is just targeting certain activities. OPPOSE HB2755 state land use; highest; best (Griffin: Blackman) says if there is a conflict between mining and another use the Commissioner has to assume that mining is the highest and best use. OPPOSE HB2781 decommissioning; solar energy; standards; fund (Carter N) places special requirements on solar energy generation, unlike fossil fuels, and requires a decommissioning plan for solar which would include a decommissioning bond. This is intended to be another barrier for solar. OPPOSE HB2913 county land commissioner; state lands (Biasiucci: Carter P, Diaz, et al) adds a land commissioner for each county. Why are they creating more government relative to state trust lands? This was not requested by the counties. This is also throwing our tax money away. OPPOSE HB2943 state land oversight board; establishment (Marshall: Heap) establishes an elected state land oversight board, but focuses it on things like looking at allegations related to the Business Bill of Rights. It seems like one more way for the mining, livestock, and development interests to exert pressure on the State Land Department. OPPOSE HB2956 state trust lands; public auction (Martinez) says people who lease state trust lands can buy them unless they have a solar or wind lease. This is clearly discriminatory toward solar, but also likely violates the constitution. OPPOSE HB2975 state lands; solar score; maps (Heap: Marshall) says the state land department cannot use solar score maps or other similar types of evaluation of state trust lands. OPPOSE HB2985 CAP water; state land; allocation (Griffin) says the State Land Department has to develop a process for distribution of its allocation of CAP water to state lands to be sold or leased which will promote development. OPPOSE   HB4009 data centers; state lands; map (Weninger) requires the state land department to identify the highest and best places for data centers in consultation with the computer data center industry.  OPPOSE