Request to Speak Actions on Bad Bills on Water & Good Bills for State Parks

This week at the Arizona State Legislature there are some good bills and some bad bills being heard in committee. Please, sign into the Request to Speak system to weigh in on them while they are still in committee. The good bills include those that support recreation and state parks. Most of the bad bills have to do with water management or unfettered development without an adequate water supply. 

Sign into your RTS account here: 

https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Directions for navigating the RTS system here: 
 
http://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2018/03/request-to-speak-time.html

Helpful hint: Copy the bill number (ex. HB2505) and paste it into the SEARCH PHRASE box. 

NOTE: Three bills from last week's RTS action have moved on to other committees. If you have already weighed in on them, your position is already in the system. No need to do that again. If you haven't, it's even more important that you weigh in now as they are closer to a vote on the floor. I have indicated those bills in red. 

HB2411 hadn't been posted yet when I weighed in on the RTS system last week, so I took this opportunity to OPPOSE it.   

Also, there are also some bills that make it difficult to vote. You can find them here: 

NOTE: Three bills from last week’s Request to Speak action have moved on to another committee. If you have already weighed in on them your response is still in the system, so there is no need to do that again.  If you haven’t, it is even more important that you weigh in now since those bills have moved even closer to a vote on the floor.  I will indicate the repeat bills in red.

There are also some bills that make it more difficult to vote. You can find them here:

https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2023/02/request-to-speak-on-more-bills-that.html

 

Monday, February 6th House Committee on Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs at 2:00 PM HB2505 outdoor recreation coordinating commission; continuation (Diaz) continues this until 2029. This commission reviews and provides comments on statewide recreation issues for state parks. SUPPORT HB2506 Arizona state parks board; continuation (Diaz) continues state parks until 2029. SUPPORT HB2518 appropriation; Glassford Dells regional park (Bliss) appropriates $3.5 million to the State Parks Board for Prescott and Prescott Valley to establish the Glassford Dells regional park, provided the cities and county provide a match. SUPPORT HCM2002 federal lands; housing shortage (Griffin) sends a message to Congress seeking to open up more public land to development. OPPOSE HCM2004 urging Congress; national forest health (Griffin) has a lot of misinformation about national forests and asks Congress to change the management. OPPOSE Tuesday, February 7th House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2535 private property; wells; regulation; prohibition (Smith: Carter, Chaplik, et al.) says private wells cannot be regulated by cities when property with private wells is incorporated into a city. OPPOSE  HB2561 city water provider; requirements; service (Kolodin: Chaplik, Griffin, et al.) tries to require that Scottsdale continue to provide water to Rio Verde. OPPOSE Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM   SB1224 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) restores the $10 million from lottery dollars for the State Parks Heritage Fund for trails, protecting cultural sites, education, etc. SUPPORT Wednesday, February 8th   House Committee on Government at 9:00 AM . HB2547 zoning ordinances; property rights; costs (Toma) requires cities to adopt individual property rights cost of housing impact statement regarding the impact of any zoning ordinance. OPPOSE Senate Committee on Government at 9:30 AM SB1093 city water provider services (Kavanagh) requires the cities to provide water via standpipes if they have been providing it previously to areas outside the city if certain conditions are met. This is again trying to force Scottsdale to provide water to Rio Verde. OPPOSE House Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here: HB2026 appropriation; on-farm efficiency fund (Dunn) appropriates $30 million to the On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Fund. Increasing irrigation efficiency is a worthy goal. Unfortunately, no change in the type of crop is allowed, no switch to something less water intensive.  Neutral with comment House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure at 2:00 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2411 water supply; elimination; reduction; damages (Cook: Martinez, Toma, et al.) tries to make Scottsdale liable for termination of water service to Rio Verde. What they really should be doing is tightening regulation, not proposing this kind of bill to reward wildcat development. OPPOSE Thursday, February 9th Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 9:30 AM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1257 water resources; assistant director (Petersen) requires the Department of Water Resources director to appoint an assistant director that only works with the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority on augmentation. This would put even more resources into augmentation versus conservation. Why not have this person focus on that? OPPOSE SB1392 appropriation; state park; Verde River (Kerr) appropriates an undesignated amount for a state park at the headwaters of the Verde River. It is good to see legislators supporting parks again. SUPPORT SB1714 appropriation; Arizona trail fund (Gowan: Shamp, Shope) appropriates $250,000 for the Arizona Trail Fund. SUPPORT

Don't let the AZ legislature bulldoze our voting rights and the ACC's environmental actions

It was a bad week for democracy at the Arizona Legislature as several committees and full House and Senate advanced bills to suppress votes (SB1593, HB2792, HB2793, HB2811), purge the Permanent Early Voting List (SB1485), and make ballot measures more difficult (SCR1024, HCR2001, HCR2016). They also moved forward with some bad energy and water bills.

The attacks on the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) and its clean energy rules inched forward with some amendments that fail to address the constitutional and public policy flaws. I know it gets a bit tiresome having to keep contacting your legislators about these bills, but I fear that if we let up, even a little bit, they will end up on the governor's desk.

HB2737 corporation commission actions; investigations (Parker: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) was on the House Committee of the Whole (COW) calendar twice, but did not move after they adjourned early for legislators to attend a conservative gathering. This bill allows any legislator to challenge an action by the ACC (with a few limits in the amendment), sending it to the attorney general who could take it directly to the Arizona Supreme Court. A successful challenge would result in a hit to the ACC budget, affecting its ability to fulfill its responsibilities to regulate utilities and other entities.

HB2248 corporation commission; electric generation resources (Griffin) was amended in COW and now specifically preempts the ACC from directly or indirectly reducing carbon emissions and it establishes the current low renewable energy standard. It is still unconstitutional and still bad policy. Sadly, the House Speaker, Representative Bowers, is strongly supporting the bill. HB2248's twin in the Senate, SB1175 corporation commission; electric generation resources (Kerr: Gowan, Gray, et al.), passed out of the Senate Rules committee and awaits floor action. Senator Fann, President of the Senate, expressed support for it.

One other bill, SB1459 agency decisions; administrative reviews (Petersen), is also advancing to make the ACC subject to the same administrative process as agencies. That is inappropriate as it is a separate branch of government, not just another agency.

Please use this link to ask your legislators to oppose all four bills. Also consider a phone call to your legislators. You can find the legislators' numbers here.

Stop Attacks on Ballot Measures