Howl against data centers, bad energy policy and legislative overreach (and to protect this little guy)

Howling against harmful bills 

This week's actions include a number of bills related to bad energy policies and data centers. There are also bills that try to limit the power of the Attorney General to protect our resources and health. There is a bill that limits actions to reintroduce the Mexican Grey Wolf. Please weigh in on these harmful bills before they are heard in their respective committees.

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 On the bright side, the Sierra Club is hosting some learning opportunities to prepare you for Environmental Day at the Capitol. Don't forget to sign up! February 5th at 6PM - Extreme Heat and Policy -- watch here.    February 6th at 6PM - Bills, Bills, Bills! - Learn a bit more about a few of the bills we will be lobbying on - watch here.  and here.  Environmental Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, February 11th, 8:30am - 2:00pm. This is your opportunity to express your concerns with your legislators or be there to support other advocates. The Sierra Club has simple online training and one-sheets on bills they promote. This rewarding event is a great way to meet other like-minded people who also care about the environment. Transportation and lunch is provided. Be sure to register now - especially if you want a ride on the bus (as the bus fills up quickly).  https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=701Po000019vMfuIAE Monday, February 2nd 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. HB2167 attorney general; nuisance action; damages (Diaz) makes the Attorney General liable for damages to anyone injured in a public nuisance action filed by the Attorney General. This is an attempt to shut down Attorney General actions to protect our state's waters and health. OPPOSE HB2168 public nuisance action; consent requirement (Diaz) requires the Attorney General to obtain consent from the Board of Supervisors before bringing a public nuisance action. Again, this is an attempt to prevent the AG from acting to protect our health and water. OPPOSE HB2169 attorney general; nuisance action; defamation (Diaz) says the Attorney General is liable for defamation if the AG brings an action relating to public nuisance that is found to have no "reasonable" basis. Again, this is part of an effort to shut down actions by the AG to protect public resources. 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. SB1202 supply and demand; assessment; groundwater (Shope) requires the Arizona Department of Water Resources to include more specific data in the supply and demand assessments, but much of the data requested is not available currently and this bill does not provide funding to gather the additional data. OPPOSE SB1280 public monies; Mexican wolf; prohibition (Farnsworth) prohibits the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting Mexican gray wolf puppies into Arizona or from spending any money for transporting them. This could affect much needed introduction of wolf families with important genetic diversity. OPPOSE  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. HB2145 petition; waiver; fuel formulations (Griffin) allows the Senate President or Speaker of the House to petition to allow for alternative fuel formulations. This bypasses the environmental experts who should be making these decisions. OPPOSE HB2331 electric service providers; energy reliability (Marshall: Heap) has a strike-everything amendment that requires that 85% of generation for retail customers come from "reliable" sources. The wording of this bill effectively says 85% of generation capacity would have to be from fossil fuels. This also appears to infringe on the constitutional authority of the Arizona Corporation Commission as it affects rate making. OPPOSE HB2389 replacement units; certificates; environmental compatibility (Martinez) allows a utility to build a power plant to replace an existing plant on the same site without getting a new certificate of environmental compatibility. This bypasses environmental review of new power plants which could potentially be more polluting than the plants they replace since the process only looks at the rated power generation of the replacement and not the type of generator. OPPOSE HB2400 motor fuel tax holiday (Willoughby: Biasiucci) provides for a fuel tax holiday in certain nonattainment areas over the summer. This makes no sense as it is what helps maintain the roads. Besides, our gas tax is pretty low and has not gone up in decades. OPPOSE HB2494 certificate; environmental compatibility; zoning; exemption (Taylor: Carbone, Griffin) says a county can't prevent, restrict, or regulate the use or occupation of land for construction of both thermal and nonthermal electric generating units if the owner has received a certificate of environmental compatibility. This process appears to bypass state and county environmental quality reviews.  OPPOSE HB2696 commerce authority; gas; prices; prioritization (Willoughby) requires the Commerce Authority to use all available resources to reduce gas prices in Arizona. How about incentivizing sustainable transportation options? OPPOSE HB2795 small modular reactors; zoning; approval (Carbone) preempts county government from preventing, restricting, or in any way regulating the siting of small modular nuclear reactors if the reactors have gotten federal approvals. This is unwise and flies in the face of efforts to ensure that local communities are not disproportionately and negatively impacted by siting of these plants. OPPOSE Wednesday, February 4th Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Committee at 9:00 A.M. Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1241 municipalities; counties; private permitting providers (Bolick) It allows a property owner to use a private permitting provider thus bypassing city or county review. OPPOSE Thursday, February 5th   House Artificial Intelligence Committee at 9:00 AM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2452 comprehensive plans; data centers; nuclear (Wilmeth) among other things, this bill requires counties to include land designations for data centers and small modular nuclear reactors in their comprehensive plans. OPPOSE

How to Advocate for Water & Other Request to Speak actions

This week is dedicated to WATER!  We discussed How to Advocate for Water at the AZ Legislature during Sustainable Tucson's Water Committee meeting - including information on current water laws (AMAs) and upcoming bills.

The Sierra Club hosted an online meeting - Learn About Arizona Water. Watch the slide presentation here. 

This week we have several bills that relate to water including four we support. One bill (HB2641) that prohibits the use of firefighting foams with PFAS (like the ones that poisoned Tucson's water) was actually sponsored by Dems! And HB2185 prohibits HOAs from requiring reseeding and watering lawns during a drought. 

Please weigh in on the Request to Speak app while they are in their respective committees. 

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

This week the Sierra Club legislative report recommended that we oppose the following bills that prop up cryptocurrency because crypto requires huge power and water inputs - similar to data centers. Please use the Request to Speak app to oppose them before they are heard in committee at 1:30pm Monday. 

https://unu.edu/press-release/un-study-reveals-hidden-environmental-impacts-bitcoin-carbon-not-only-harmful-product

The Sierra Club report also asked us to oppose the bills propping up the beef industry that is one of the worst drivers of climate change. Weigh in before these bills are heard at 2pm on Monday. 

Monday, January 26th

Senate Finance Committee at 1:30 P.M. 
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• SB1042 public monies; investment; virtual currency (Rogers) allows the state to invest up to 10 percent of the public monies under its control in virtual currency holdings. OPPOSE
• SB1043 state agencies; payments; cryptocurrency (Rogers) authorizes a state agency to enter into an agreement with a cryptocurrency service provider to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method. OPPOSE
• SB1044 property tax; exemption; virtual currency (Rogers) conditional on approval of the measure below, would exempt virtual currency from property tax. Who does this tax exemption serve? The crypto bros? Certainly not us.  OPPOSE
• SCR1003 property tax; exemption; virtual currency (Rogers) refers a measure to the ballot that if approved would exempt virtual currency from property tax. This doesn't even make sense.  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.

• Sunset Review of the Arizona Beef Council
  
  
• HB2155 Arizona beef council; continuation (Diaz) continues the Beef Council until 2034. Do we really need a state entity that is promoting more beef consumption to the detriment of our water, lands, and the climate? OPPOSE
• HB2156 livestock compensation fund; appropriation (Diaz) appropriates $250,000 for the livestock compensation fund for payment to the livestock industry for wolves eating livestock, etc. The people on this board have huge conflicts of interest, so we are inclined not to support this. Besides, we have limited general fund dollars in this budget year and they are seeking to have wolves removed from the Endangered Species list. OPPOSE
• HB2162 game and fish commission; membership (Diaz) requires that one member of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission be a rancher. Ranchers already have undue influence on the Game and Fish Commission and also have huge conflicts as they advocate for the killing of various animals -- wolves, mountain lions, coyotes, and more. OPPOSE
• HB2791 cell-cultured protein; sale; prohibition (Diaz) prohibits the sale of cell-cultured protein for human consumption. Why would you prohibit something that has less of a harmful impact on the environment and on animals? And whatever happened to consumer choice and free markets? OPPOSE 

House Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee at 2:00 P.M.
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2641 PFAS; firefighting foam; prohibition (Ligouri: Biasucci, Fink, et al) bans the use of firefighting foam with PFAS in it. PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" that cause serious health issues. Limiting them in firefighting foam is an important public health issue for firefighters and will help limit contamination of lands and waters. SUPPORT 

Tuesday, January 27th
 

Senate Natural Resource Committee at 1:30 PM 
Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here.

• SB1041 appropriation; Arizona trail fund (Rogers) appropriates $500,000 from the general fund for the Arizona Trail. SUPPORT
• SB1197 subsequent AMAs; groundwater portability (Dunn) allows those who have Irrigation Grandfathered Rights (IGFR) in subsequent active management areas -- currently Douglas, Willcox, and Ranegras Plain (the new AMA) -- to sell, transfer, or lease the IGFR. This allows landowners who have these rights to transfer them away from the land they are associated with -- that is not currently allowed. Our concern is that this will actually increase groundwater pumping as lands that are no longer irrigated would be replaced by other irrigated lands. Really weakens AMA protections.  OPPOSE
• SB1198 Arizona beef council; continuation (Dunn) continues this entity to promote beef here and around the world until 2034. (Same as the House bill HB2155 above)  OPPOSE
• SCM1004 clean air act; EPA powers (Carroll: Angius, Gowan, et al) denies that the climate is changing due to greenhouse gas emissions and says EPA does not have the authority to regulate them. It asks Congress to limit EPA authority relative to regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. OPPOSE 

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.

• Presentation: Arizona Department of Water Resources, ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke
• HB2055 brackish groundwater recovery program (Griffin: Lopez)  establishes a fund for a brackish groundwater study (brackish groundwater is water that is not usable due to high concentrations of salts and minerals). While groundwater pumping is always a concern, this project appears to have sufficient guardrails to prevent over-pumping and environmental degradation from brine disposal. Increasing regional water supplies makes a lot more sense than outsourcing water from external sources, like the Missouri River or the Gulf of California. SUPPORT
• HB2056 appropriation; brackish groundwater; feasibility study (Griffin: Lopez) appropriates $100,000 for the pilot program established in HB2055. SUPPORT
• HB2185 homeowners' associations; lawns; drought (Willoughby) prohibits homeowners associations from requiring the overseeding or watering of lawns during a drought year. SUPPORT
• HB2328 municipal corporations; water supply; rates (Marshall: Heap) limits city water companies from charging residents who live outside the boundaries of the city a higher rate for water than residents living within the city boundaries. This is squarely targeted at the City of Tucson for charging those in the county more. Serving urban sprawl costs a lot more, so it is not unreasonable to charge more. OPPOSE
• HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) allows the state, any political subdivisions of the state, and private water companies to engage in the interbasin transfer of groundwater from the McMullen Valley in La Paz County to elsewhere in La Paz County or to an active management area. This further facilitates creating these sacrifice zones for groundwater pumping. They are allowing a decline of up to 10 feet a year in the depth to groundwater. That's a lot. The aquifer will be drained in no time! OPPOSE
• HB2798 appropriation; Arizona geological survey; study (Carbone) appropriates an unidentified amount of money from the general fund to the Arizona Geological Survey to conduct a study of all minerals and metals, including thorium, that are needed for new generation nuclear reactors. Mining companies have plenty of money, we do not need to be subsidizing yet another activity for them. OPPOSE

Wednesday, January 28th

House Federalism, Military Affairs, and Elections Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HCR2016 voting centers; precinct voting (Keshel: Carter P, Chaplik, et al) prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of voting centers, removes language allowing a County Recorder to establish on-site early voting locations, and limits the size of election precincts to a maximum of 2,500 registered voters. All of these will hinder and not help people voting early.  OPPOSE

State of the State! Weigh in on Water Bills and Bad Governance

Litigating for our share of the Colorado River

This past week, Governor Hobbs kicked off the legislative session with her State of the State address, where she again focused on water and taking action by establishing the Ranegras Plain Active Management Area in La Paz and Yuma Counties, an area with severe groundwater depletion and subsidence. She highlighted the inaction by the Legislature on water. Governor Hobbs also outlined a program for charging data centers more for water and a plan for helping people save on their energy bills. She mentioned the impasse on the Colorado River negotiations and the need to plan for litigation dollars. You can read a transcript of the speech here or watch it here. 

The week wrapped up with the Governor vetoing the first bill of the session dealing with tax conformity -- the version the Legislature sent her would likely mean big cuts in programs. She also released her budget which contains funding for water and air quality programs, a million dollars for the State Parks Heritage Fund, funding for park rangers, an allocation for helping people with high electric bills, and funding for extreme heat relief, among other funding. The Governor's budget is a starting point and does not reflect what the final budget will be, but it does lay out her priorities. Watch the budget presentation here.

Did anyone have an issue with Request to Speak last week? It said that the site wasn't secure, but we were able to bypass that and submit our positions. Wanted to let you all know that it is operating properly again, so you should be able to sign in on the bills we list below. 

Please, weigh in on the bills on the Request to Speak system before they are heard in their respective committees. 

This week we are supporting these bills: SB1041, HB2096 and HB2116.  

Sign into the Request to Speak system here: 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

Tuesday, January 20th

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

• Presentation of the Executive (Governor) Budget Proposal

Senate Natural Resource Committee at 1:30 PM

• SB1041 appropriation; Arizona trail fund (Rogers) appropriates $500,000 from the general fund for the Arizona Trail. 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.

• HB2030 water conservation grant fund; education (Griffin) eliminates education and research on how to reduce water use from the list of eligible activities for a water conservation grant. Research and education are important components of water conservation and there is no good reason to eliminate it. OPPOSE
• HB2096 forgivable financial assistance; cesspool remediation (Griffin) allows the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) to provide funding to counties for remediating, replacing or closing cesspools that present risks to water and public health. Funding for cleaning up these cesspools that threaten waters and health is important. SUPPORT

Wednesday, January 21st

Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 1:30 PM

• SCR1001 citizenship; identification; contributions; early voting (Bolick) refers a measure to the ballot to limit early voting -- all ballots have to be returned the Friday before the election and requires those who want to vote early to provide proof of citizenship each time they want to vote early, thus eliminating the active early voting list and no longer allowing for signature matching for verification. It would no longer allow ballots where there was a question on the signature to be verified after Election Day, which would disenfranchise large numbers of voters. If passed by voters, this would make it much more difficult for voters to vote and to vote early and would disproportionately and negatively affect rural and Tribal voters. OPPOSE

House Appropriations Committee at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. 

• Joint Legislative Budget Committee – Baseline
• HB2116 appropriation; Colorado River litigation fund (Griffin) appropriates $1 million for litigation relating to Colorado River allocations. We need funding to defend our Colorado River rights. SUPPORT
• HB2148 noncustodial federal monies; appropriation (Griffin) gives the legislature more power by authorizing them to appropriate these noncustodial funds from the federal government. We are concerned these dollars would not get to where they are needed. For example, dollars for wildlife or air quality. OPPOSE

House Federalism, Military Affairs, and Elections Committee at 2:00 PM

• HM2001 withdrawal; United Nations; urging Congress (Powell) Urges the President and Congress to withdraw from the U.N. to better serve this country's interests. OPPOSE 
• HCR2001 citizenship; identification; contributions; early voting (Kolodin: Chaplik, Heap, et al) includes provisions similar to SCR1001 above. House version of the same bill. OPPOSE

Thursday, January 22nd at 6:00 PM

• Learn About Climate and Clean Energy - RSVP Here. Sierra Club training to prepare for Environmental Day at the Capitol. 

Preparing to Advocate for Better Bills at the AZ Legislature

Time to prepare for our vital work advocating at the State Capitol. 

After the Arizona Legislature resumes on January 12th, we will have regular Calls to Action on bills that impact our water and the environment. Unfortunately, they are usually bad bills. You can weigh in on them through the Request to Speak online system while they are still in committee. If these bad bills make it through anyway, our RTS responses support the Governor's vetoes on those bills. 

If you haven't already, please sign up for the Request to Speak system so you are prepared for these important actions. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdjBMoAJrjHD57GGegmdUCKAowcr93K4vQA6a7_AjyElBtrQ/viewform

Another way to advocate for the environment is to attend Environmental Day at the Capitol on  Wednesday, February 11, 2026; 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM. This is your opportunity to express your concerns with your Reps or be there to support other advocates. (For instance, I always advocate for water.) The Sierra Club has simple online training and one-sheets on bills they promote. This rewarding event is a great way to meet other like-minded people who also care about the environment. Transportation and lunch is provided.  

And be sure to register now - especially if you want a ride on the bus (as the bus fills up.) 

 https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=701Po000019vMfuIAE

One way to become better advocates is by staying abreast of what is happening at the state legislature. Towards that end, Sustainable Tucson hosted The Environment in 2026: At the State Capitol & Beyond. Watch recording of meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3eH7XnK6D4 The program included info at what can be expected in coming months from state (and some national) legislative and administrative actions, with a focus on what will have particular impact on Tucson and Southern AZ – and what we can do. As the head of the Environmental Advocacy team, I had the honor of introducing our panelists.

The panel included State Senator Priya Sundareshan (LD 18), Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter, and Kirsten Engel, Chief, Environmental Protection Unit of the AZ Attorney General's Office. They previewed the policies, places, and programs that Arizonans will need to protect and promote. Their perspectives give us a full picture of what we can and should do – as individuals and as an organization – to support an agenda of environmental protection and justice as we work for a sustainable future.

Please look out for more opportunities to learn about the bills that are coming up and how to advocate for our water and the environment by participating in Sustainable Tucson's Request to Speak actions.

Learn About the Arizona Legislature to Better Advocate with It

Sandy Bahr speaking at a committee meeting at AZ legislature

In addition to advocating for water conservation, climate action and environmental policies on the local  level, a big part of our work is weighing in on bills at the state legislature using the online Request to Speak system when the session starts up again January 12th. 

It only improves our advocacy to learn more about how the legislature works. In fact, I was inspired to start this group after attending the Sierra Club's Volunteer Lobby Workshop and Environmental Day at the Capitol. I would greatly encourage you to attend their upcoming Volunteer Lobby Workshop.. 

Volunteer Lobby Workshop! Learn About the Legislature

Date and Time:
Tue, Oct 7, 2025; 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM  (Arizona)

Organized By: Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter

Join the Sierra Club for this workshop to learn more about Arizona government, focusing on the Arizona Legislature, and how to lobby/advocate for change at the Capitol. They will cover the basics, including how a bill goes through the process, plus hear from people who have testified in committee and possibly from one of our legislators. They have allowed extra time for questions and answers.

Register to get the Zoom link:

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=701Po000019073pIAA

Additional Directions: Send any questions you would like them to address ahead of time, but you will have time to ask during the workshop, too. sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org

Legislative Report & Request to Speak Actions on bad voting bills

(Condensed version of the Sierra Club's Legislative Update)

This week, the 57th Legislature, First Regular Session, kicked off with the Governor's State of the State address -- well and a short prebuttal by Senate President Warren Petersen, who basically said whatever the Governor is for, he is against. Governor Hobbs focused on education, reproductive rights, housing, and water. On water, she talked about the need for limits in rural Arizona and also for developers to be accountable. You can listen to her full speech here or read it here.

Already legislators have introduced hundreds of bills, many of them concerning, including more harmful water legislation, measures to hinder voting, especially early voting, and bills to weaken environmental protection. We have started the bill tracker, but have not filled it out completely yet. You can see the tracker here.

Not unexpectedly, the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee passed SB1011 early voting; ballot deadlines; certificates (Petersen: Angius, Bolick, et al.) along party lines. It removes authorization for counties to establish emergency voting centers, changes the deadline for dropping off early ballots to the Friday before the election, requires ID for early voting rather than merely allowing people to drop off their early ballot in the signed envelope as we do now. This would result in longer lines and more confusion and generally make early voting more difficult.

The Governor's budget was released today and included several line items related to water, air, waste, and parks. She is asking for $3 million to fund litigation on the Colorado River allocations as Arizona continues to fight with other states over an over allocated river that is stretched beyond its limits. She asks for additional funding for the Arizona Department of Water Resources to fund six additional full-time employees. There is funding for working on state implementation plans to meet Clean Air Act requirements and some funding related to the Iron King Mine, a federal Superfund Site. Of note, this year, the Governor included some funding for the State Parks Heritage Fund -- $2.5 million. While that is far from the $10 million it should be getting, it is better than the big zero it got last year. This is just her proposal and the Legislature is unlikely to embrace it.

REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS 

Don't forget to start registering support or opposition to bills with the Request to Speak system. Note that you do not have to speak if you use the system, you can just sign on the RTS app with a position on bills. If you have not created an account on the Request to Speak System, I encourage you to do so.

Sign onto Request to Speak Here: 

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

You can weigh in on bills while they are still in committee. For directions on how to navigate the system, try:

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

Tuesday, January 21st

House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM 
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

Presentations:

• Overview of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA)
• Overview of Active Management Areas (AMAs) & Irrigation Non-Expansion Areas (INAs)
• Overview of the Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)

• HCM2003 stormwater; groundwater; recharge; urging support (Griffin) asks that the Arizona Department of Water Resources and State Land Department develop specific recharge projects on state trust lands. 331 sites have been identified by ADWR as having high potential for groundwater recharge. SUPPORT  *
• HCR2016 reinstatement; WIFA monies (Griffin) is a resolution asking for reinstatement of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) dollars. As most of these dollars are focused on funding out-of-state augmentation projects, we cannot support this. OPPOSE

Wednesday, January 22nd
 

Senate Government Committee at 9:00 AM 

• HB2099 governor; attorney general; duties; immigration (Martinez: Biasiucci, Carbone, et al.) requires the governor and attorney general to cooperate with the federal government on immigration issues, read deportations. OPPOSE

House Federalism, Military Affairs, & Elections Committee at 2:00 PM

Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2006 election mailings; third-party disclosures (Gillette) requires organizations that distribute official election-related documents, or documents that resemble official election-related documents, to include the words Not from a Government Agency in boldfaced on the outside of the envelope. This is an attempt to make outreach more difficult for those encouraging voting. OPPOSE
• HB2017 voting centers ban; precinct size (Keshel) prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of voting centers, removes language allowing a County Recorder to establish on-site early voting locations and limits the size of election precincts to a maximum of 1,000 registered voters. All of these will hinder not help people voting early. OPPOSE
• HCR2002 voting centers; precinct voting (Keshel) is the same as the measure above, except that it would go to the ballot. OPPOSE

Thursday, January 23rd

Extreme Heat in Arizona and Heat Relief Funding at Noon!

Join the Sierra Club for a compelling and timely webinar presented by Rev. Katie Sexton, Executive Director of Arizona Faith Network, addressing the urgent issue of extreme heat in Arizona and its wide-ranging impacts on vulnerable communities, public health, and regional economies. Arizona faces record-breaking heat year after year, with Phoenix and Tucson ranking among the fastest-warming cities in the nation. Extreme heat amplifies ongoing challenges such as water scarcity, air pollution, environmental racism, and rising healthcare costs, further deepening inequities across our state. Tragically, we have seen hundreds of people die each year throughout the state due to this climate emergency, underscoring the urgent need for immediate action. In this session, Rev. Sexton will explore the need for legislative advocacy for heat relief funding, along with rapid response efforts and ongoing support to help mitigate the climate emergency and protect Arizona's most vulnerable populations.

12:00 PM
RSVP for the Zoom link

*This is Sustainable Tucson's take on this particular bill