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