Weigh in on Request to Speak by Thursday Morning

Please, find the three bad bills (below) and weigh in on them using the Request to Speak system before they are heard in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary at 9:00 AM on Thursday.

This week, both the House and Senate continued to send bills to the other house, including more anti-democracy bills. A couple of the bad water bills and one relating to the Arizona Corporation Commission remain stalled.

HB2536 corporation commissioners; qualifications (Griffin) seems to be stalled in the House, but we will continue to keep an eye on it. HB2536 requires corporation commissioners to be at least 30 years old and have five years of experience in business, accounting, finance, economics, administrative law, or professional engineering. This would disqualify a lot of people who have been or would be excellent commissioners.

SCR1025 and HCR2014 were retained on the calendar this week. They require proportionate signatures from every legislative district. If you have not already, please ask your Senator to oppose SCR1025 using the petition here. Ask your Representative to oppose HCR2014 by using the petition here

To find your legislators' email addresses and phone numbers, go here.

If you have not signed up for the Request to Speak System, please do! Civic Engagement Beyond Voting (CEBV) will sign you up. To get an account set up, just go to this link.

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign on to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example: HB2253). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above.

Thursday, March 10th Senate Committee on the Judiciary at 9:00 AM  HB2253 asbestos claims; required information; liability (Grantham) makes it more difficult to file a personal injury claim related to asbestos. OPPOSE HB2492 voter registration; verification; citizenship (Hoffman: Blackman, Carter, et al.) requires people who register to vote with a passport, birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or a tribal ID to submit additional documents proving residency. It includes new restrictions for federal-only voters, including that they may not vote by mail. OPPOSE HB2722 strategic actions; public participation (Toma, Majority Leader) expands the scope of laws concerning strategic actions against public participation to mandate the court accept motions to dismiss or quash under specified circumstances. While it seems like this bill defends the citizens' rights to voice their opinion of public policy, this poorly worded bill seems designed to support disruptions of school board meetings, protest mask and vaccine mandates, and to violate municipial policies that may be contrary to state policy (ie.Tucson declaring a climate energency.)  OPPOSE  Freedom of Speech according to HB2722 MORE INFORMATION: Rep. BenToma, who is sponsporing HB2722 (above), also co-sponspored HB 2112.  HB 2112: classroom instruction; race; ethnicity; sex  Prohibition of Specified Instruction: Prohibits allowing instruction in or making part of a course any of the following concepts: i. One race, ethnic group or sex is inherently morally or intellectually superior to another race, ethnic group or sex; ii. An individual, by virtue of their race, ethnicity or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive; iii. An individual should be invidiously discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of their race, ethnicity or sex; iv. An individual's moral character is determined by their race, ethnicity or sex; v. An individual, by virtue of their race, ethnicity or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed by other members of the same race, ethnic group or sex; vi. An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or psychological distress because of their race, ethnicity or sex.  House Education Committee passes bill to ban instruction that places blame on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex

Bills going for a vote on the floor this week: Contact your Reps

Arizona State Legislators advanced a number of bills to hinder voting and ballot measures, and even are seeking to make it more difficult to register people to vote. This hinders our ability to vote in legislators who represent our values on the environmental or social justice issues.

If you have a few minutes, please, call your state legislators (Reps and Senators). If you have a few more minutes, please, email them. For a fast way to reach out, see the Sierra Club's petition below.

You can find your representatives' phone numbers here: (https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=H)

You can find your Senators phone numbers here: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

If you don't know what district you are in you can find out here:

https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/

Petition to help stop attacks on ballot measures: Send a message to your Senator here. Send a message to your Representatives here.

As Bills Move to the Floor, Call and Email your Legislators!

In the bad news/good news category, two bills to advance electric vehicles, SB1152 and SB1154 failed in the Senate 14-14. The good news is they will be reconsidered and should pass as there were a couple of people who would vote yes missing. SB1152 zero emission vehicles; plans (Steele) requires coordination by the Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona Department of Administration, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, to develop a zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) Plan that will increase the number of ZEV vehicles. SB1154 transportation electrification study committee (Steele) establishes a study committee to review laws and consider ways to promote EVs and to collaborate with local governments, electric utilities, environmental groups, the transportation industry and interested communities to identify the best ways to encourage an economy-wide transition from carbon-fueled vehicles to EVs. Please, ask your senator to support both bills.

Ask your House members to oppose HB2055 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transportation (Griffin: Bowers). It allows private water companies to import water from the Harquahala Valley and into active management areas (AMAs) for development. Creating groundwater sacrifice zones and further privatizing water is a bad idea. There is still a chance to stop this bill. Use the link below to send a message to your representatives.

SIERRA CLUB PETITION: Take Action on HB2055!

HB2101 electric energy; reliability; public policy (Griffin: Abraham, Blackman, et al.) failed on the House floor, but will be reconsidered. Its twin, SB1631, passed out of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee 5-4, along party lines. These bills repeal provisions in the law that create parameters for retail competition of electricity. We are still opposed as we have concerns about how it will affect community choice aggregation of electricity overall and rooftop solar in SRP territory. Let your legislators know you have concerns about these bills too.

Please call and ask your representatives to oppose HB2536 corporation commissioners; qualifications (Griffin). It requires corporation commissioners to be at least 30 years old and have five years experience in business, accounting, finance, economics, administrative law, or professional engineering. This would disqualify a lot of people who have been or would be excellent commissioners. It was retained on the Committee of the Whole calendar this week, so will likely be back on the calendar early next week.

HB2492 voter registration; verification; citizenship (Hoffman: Blackman, Carter, et al.) erects barriers to voter registration and confusing requirements for county recorders to follow. It could go to the floor in the House next week. Please, ask your representatives to vote NO!