Tell your state Reps to vote "no" on bad bills that limit Tucson's ability to protect the environment and voting

A bill that prohibits cities from planning bike paths advances at the AZ legislature

Despite our best efforts with Request to Speak, some bills still advanced to the House for a vote. Please, sign the petitions the Sierra Club provided to reach out to your Representatives to ask them to oppose these bills. Adding a personal comment helps. For even more impact, you can email your reps directly - using some of the talking points included on the petition.

Keep up the pressure against bills that would impede efforts to reduce traffic and promote transit and biking. Use this link to take action to oppose SB1312, SB1313, SB1314, and SCR1018.

Don't forget to ask your representatives to oppose SB1278, a bill to limit cities' and towns' ability to protect their residents via local building code provisions related to affordability, energy, and public health. Use this link to take action on SB1278.

Ask your representatives in the Arizona House to oppose bills that prohibit consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when deciding on state investments. Use this link to ask them to vote NO on SB1139 and SB1500!

Most people in Arizona use early voting by mail as a safe and secure method of voting. Unfortunately, the Arizona Legislature is seeking to make that method of voting much more difficult and has introduced many bills to do so.

Ask your representatives to oppose SB1141 (early ballot drop off; identification).

It requires additional voter ID to drop off an early ballot. This is unnecessary as they already have the signature for verification. In the last election, people waited in lines for more than two hours to vote. This bill will make them longer. Use this link to reach out to your Representative on SB1141. 

Push back on the AZ Legislature's Bad Plan for Arizona!

AZ Legislature's plan for Tucson!

Only the Appropriations committees and Rules committees will be meeting next week, so I am only recommending four bills to weigh in on with Request to Speak. (See bottom of page.) This looks like a lot to do, but there are really only three other actions and the Sierra Club has included helpful links. (It looks long because I’ve included the description of the bills.)

Last week, there were several strike-everything amendments where they replace a bill with an entirely new bill via an amendment. Some of those did not advance, including SB1104 relating to a weak renewable energy standard. It was held and therefore is dead for the session.

The strike-everything amendment did get added to SB1278. This measure would take away local control on home appliances and limit local leaders’ ability to establish building code provisions related to affordability, energy, and public health.  

1) Help stop this bad striker by sending a message to your AZ representatives here. 

Lots of reasons to fight this bill:

·     It could prevent local governments from adopting codes and ordinances that improve indoor air quality. 

·     It could prevent the adoption of future building energy codes that require ventilation of gas stoves to improve public health. 

·    It could restrict the adoption of codes, plans, or ordinances that plan for all-electric homes to reduce the costs of building development. 

·     It could effectively prohibit the adoption of the International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) and regulate hazardous chemical release from appliances found in the International Bulk Chemical Code (IBC Code). 

·    It could apply to any appliances that use electricity and fuel regulated by local governments, such as smoke detectors, circuit breakers, and building exit signs while allowing HVAC or refrigeration systems to use high-explosive refrigerants if the manufacturer included them. 

·    It could prevent local governments from regulating appliances like gas stoves that emit a variety of toxic gasses, including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde. These can contribute to respiratory issues, harm children’s lung growth, and lead to heart disease and cancer. 

·    It could prevent water utilities from providing rebates for efficient sprinklers and faucets when Arizona is in a water crisis.

·     It could also prevent the adoption of several other codes, including the International Mechanical Code, portions of the International Fire Code, the International Plumbing Code, and the International Swimming and Spa code.

2) This week, two harmful transmission line siting bills passed out of the Senate along party lines and are on their way to the Governor's desk.

HB2437 transmission lines; applications; exceptions (Griffin) exempts a transmission line that is entirely on private land from being required to obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility from the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee, so there would be no environmental review. 

HB2496 transmission lines; definition (Griffin) changes the definition of a transmission line to include only those lines that are one mile are longer. This means the siting of the lines that are less than one mile would have no review by the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee. 

Please contact the Governor and ask her to veto both HB2437 and HB2496!

3) Keep up the pressure to oppose bills that undermine public transportation, accommodation of bicycles, and any efforts to reduce traffic.

Please ask your representatives to oppose SB1312, SB1313, SB1314, and SCR1018.

It is irresponsible to not include ways to reduce motor vehicle traffic and accommodate other transportation, including bicycles, in our planning. It runs contrary to our air quality plans, which include goals for reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Unfortunately, the Arizona Legislature is seeking to limit local government and the Arizona Department of Transportation's (ADOT) ability to plan for transit and bikes and reduce vehicle travel. Already, the Arizona Senate passed the following two bills along party lines (16-13-1). All four of these bills are still in the House.

·     SB1313 general plan; transportation; independent study (Hoffman) prohibits general plans from including policies or projects that reduce vehicle traffic and removes element from the general plan regarding multimodal transportation. 

·    SB1314 transportation system performance; ADOT (Hoffman) changes performance factors to de-emphasize congestion relief and connecting with multi-modal transportation, plus prohibits adopting a motor vehicle travel mile reduction target or any other demand-management policy or project. 

·     SB1697 highways; bicycle paths; walkways; prohibition (Hoffman) prohibits the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) from planning, designing, or constructing bicycle paths or pedestrian walkways and accepting federal monies conditioned on the design and construction of a bicycle path or pedestrian walkway. 

·   SCR1018 prohibit tax; monitoring; vehicle (Hoffman) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit any fees based on vehicle miles traveled. As we reduce reliance on gasoline and gasoline-powered vehicles, gas tax revenues will decrease and other ways to fund road maintenance are needed such as looking at vehicle miles traveled.

SIGN ON TO REQUEST TO SPEAK (while the following bills are in committee)

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

Monday, April 3rd

House Committee on Appropriations at 10:00 AM

• SB1001 pronouns; biological sex; school policies (Kavanagh) prohibits a public school employee from knowingly addressing a student under the age of 18 by a pronoun that differs from the pronoun that aligns with the student's biological sex or a first name that differs from the student's official school records without written parental permission. A social justice issue and common courtesy. OPPOSE
• SB1244 appropriations; crime victim notification fund (Kavanagh) will have a strike-everything amendments on S/E: tax credit extension; affordable housing includes $10 million tax credits for affordable housing. SUPPORT

Tuesday, April 4th

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 1:00 PM

• HB2218 technical correction; power authority; monies (now: power authority; projects; energy storage) (Griffin) authorizes the Arizona Power Authority to acquire, build and operate facilities, projects and works to store electric power. SUPPORT
• HB2763 appropriation; Mohave wash recharge basin (Gillette: Biasiucci, Cook) appropriates just over $4 million for this project. SUPPORT

Request to Speak and Petitions on Bad Environmental Bills

Sandy Bahr mentioned in the Sierra Club Legislative update that last week was the last week to hear bills in the standing committees. It was not. Legislators extended the deadline for hearing bills in committee until March 31st, What does that mean? Very full agendas for this next week and a bunch of strike-everything amendments where they replace the underlying bill with a brand-new bill but keep the number. This is super confusing for the public and is frequently used for controversial bills.

One of the strike-everything amendments up next week is on SB1278 and it will be heard in the Health and Human Services Committee on Monday, March 27th at 2:00 pm. The strike-everything amendment would take away local control on home appliances and limit local leaders’ ability to establish local building code provisions related to affordability, energy, and public health. This strike-everything amendment could also have long-lasting effects on health and safety regulations in International Codes related to hazardous chemicals, fire, plumbing, and water. If this striker is passed, it will also thwart local government decision-making related to appliances, zoning, building energy codes, and possibly affordable housing policies.

Please help stop this bad striker by signing in on the Request to Speak system against SB1278, calling committee members and asking them to vote no on SB1278. Find details on how to take all of these actions here.  Don't forget to both sign in against bills on the Request to Speak System, but to also use the links provided to send a message to your own legislators. Please, contact your senator on these harmful transmission bills that have already gone through committee: HB2437 transmission lines; applications; exceptions (Griffin) exempts a transmission line that is entirely on private land from being required to obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility from the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee, so there would be no environmental review.  HB2496 transmission lines; definition (Griffin) changes the definition of a transmission line to include only those lines that are one mile or longer. This means the siting of the lines that are less than one mile would have no review by the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee.  USE THIS LINK to contact your senator & ask them to oppose HB2437 &  HB2496! Also, keep up the pressure to oppose bills that undermine efforts to reduce traffic and support for public transportation and accommodation of bicyclists and pedestrians.  USE THIS LINK to contact your representatives and ask them to oppose SB1312, SB1313, SB1314, and SCR1018.          REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS Sign in here: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Monday, March 27th House Committee on Health and Human Services at 2:00 PM SB1278 housing trust fund; rural areas (Shamp) has a strike-everything amendment S/E: state preemption; appliances; restrictions; prohibitions that will limit local control regarding health and safety for appliances. (See above for details.)  OPPOSE Tuesday, March 28th House Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM SB1161 probation; work time credits; reporting (Kaiser: Shamp) has a strike-everything amendment S/E: affordable housing; development standards; report  that seems like a step in the right direction – except that the language in the bill makes sure that it applies to municipalities with population greater than a very specific 525,000 people (Tucson is just above that at 549,000), doesn’t allow for development less than 80 feet in height, doesn’t allow for less than the maximum density specified by current zoning, and doesn’t allow for general plan amendments or permit review. While urban infill is a desirable goal, this looks like a giveaway to developers specifically aimed at Tucson and Phoenix. OPPOSE House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM SB1104 procurement; information disclosure; bidders (Carroll: Gowan) has a strike-everything amendment on S/E: corporation commission; electric generational resources  that seeks to pre-empt the renewable energy standard  or any subsequent clean energy standard at the Arizona Corporation Commission by codifying a weak standard. We are opposed to this because the ACC is proper venue for establishing a clean energy standard as what is required or allowed has a significant impact on rates and ratemaking is within the exclusive purview of the ACC. We are also opposed to codifying a low weak standard. OPPOSE SB1247 technical correction; waste; enforcement; venue(now: recycling fund; appropriation (Shope) appropriates $2.5 million from the Recycling Fund to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to provide grants for recycling research, demonstration projects, new technologies, market development and source reduction studies. SUPPORT SB1432 assured water; small residential developments (Wadsack: Jones) requires those seeking a building permit for six or more residences within an active management area in an unincorporated area of a county to demonstrate an assured water supply. This closes one loophole in these requirements. SUPPORT SB1660 water; effluent; credits(now: water; storage; effluent; credits) (Kerr: Kaiser, Dunn) allows certain industrial facilities to construct and operate an on-site wastewater treatment facility for wastewater, and store the water underground. They must get an aquifer protection permit and treat the water to drinking water standards and they must leave 25 percent of the water they store in the aquifer. SUPPORT Wednesday, March 29th House Committee on Government at 10:00 AM SB1611 public entities; contracts; prohibition (Kern) prohibits a public entity from requiring a company to implement an environmental, social or governance policy as a condition of a contract. OPPOSE SB1694 public monies; ideology training; prohibition (Hoffman: Borrelli, Kern, et al.) prohibits any public entity from requiring and spending public monies on a diversity, equity and inclusion program and allows an employee who is required to participate in the program to bring action against the public entity. OPPOSE SCR1023 charter cities; repeal (Wadsack: Jones) refers to the ballot a measure to repeal provisions in the constitution that allow for charter cities, which would really affect local planning for climate and other environmental protections. OPPOSE House Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM  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 and this area of the Verde River is beautiful and worthy of protection as a state park. Establishing a park there could help indirectly limit groundwater pumping there too, which is a serious threat to the river. SUPPORT Thursday, March 30th Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 9:00 AM HB2618 decommissioning; solar and wind; standards (Griffin) proscribes requirements for solar and wind facilities, including decommissioning. It is odd that she is calling out only these and not including anything on coal or gas. OPPOSE HB2669 solid waste; sludge; water quality (Now: prohibition; biosolids; land application) (Dunn, Griffin) includes limits on the application of biosolids. SUPPORT HB2806 state parks heritage fund; appropriation (Carbone: Biasiucci, Blattman, et al.) makes a onetime appropriation of $10 million to the State Parks Heritage Fund. While we support this, we want to see SB1224 adopted as it includes ongoing funding for the Heritage Fund from the lottery. SUPPORT HCM2008 air quality; ozone standards; opposing (Carbone) asks Congress and the Biden administration to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing any sanctions on Arizona for not meeting clean air requirements. OPPOSE