Request to Speak Actions (3/7- 3/9)

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week

Monday, March 7th Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM HB2237 same day voter registration; prohibition (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) prohibits same-day voter registration, even though we don't have it. We should have it. OPPOSE HB2379 election procedures manual; statutory conflict (Bolick) requires the Legislature to provide personnel who are experts in electronic voting system procedures and security to field check and review electronic voting systems and recommend changes. Any provision of the Elections Procedures Manual that conflicts with statute is unenforceable. This is another attempt by the Legislature to grab control of elections from the Secretary of State. OPPOSE House Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety at 2:00 PM SB1718 appropriation; border security fund (Gowan) appropriates $1,140,800 and 14.5 full-time equivalent positions to the border security fund. Do we really need more border militarization? OPPOSE Tuesday, March 8th House Committee on Education at 2:00 PM SB1246 school buses; electrification; contracts (Boyer)  allows a school district to select preapproved carriers or private parties to provide electric school buses and related infrastructure and services. Adds a member to the School Bus Advisory Council who has expertise in electric transportation. SUPPORT  Senate committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM HB2591 border security fund; administration (Grantham ) is an emergency measure that allows the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to use up to $250,000 from the Border Security Fund each fiscal year to administer the Fund and hire additional staff. OPPOSE  Wednesday, March 9th House Committee on Judiciary at 8:00 AM SB1092 product liability; civil action; limitation (Leach) limits product liability against a product seller that is not also the manufacturer of the product. This will weaken consumer protections. OPPOSE House Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 PM SB1175 noncustodial federal monies; appropriation (Gowan) authorizes the Legislature to appropriate noncustodial federal monies. OPPOSE SB1718  appropriation; border security fund (Gowan) appropriates $1,140,800 and 14.5 full-time equivalent positions to the border security fund. OPPOSE Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM  HB2055 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transportation (Griffin: Bowers) allows private water companies such as EPCOR to import water from the Harquahala Valley and into the active management areas (AMAs) for development. Currently only cities can do that. Sierra Club does not support groundwater depletion sacrifice zones as was established by this carve out in the Groundwater Management Act. OPPOSE HB2126 hazardous waste program fees (Griffin: Burges) repeals the prohibition on the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) increasing permit fees for hazardous waste facilities and fees for generating and disposing of hazardous waste. This is good because these fees are currently artificially low. SUPPORT HB2129 (now: ADEQ; direct potable reuse; rules) (Griffin) authorizes ADEQ to adopt rules for the direct potable reuse of treated effluent and appropriates $1,500,000 for it. SUPPORT HB2406 water quality fee fund (Griffin) broadens the activities financed by the Water Quality Feed Fund and repeals provisions limiting ADEQ to one-time increases in fees for the Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program and Aquifer Protection Permit Program and allows ADEQ to set fees for these programs' expenses. While we think these programs should at least in part be financed by general funds, ADEQ should be able to raise fees to cover costs. SUPPORT HB2408 Arizona game and fish; continuation (Griffin) continues Arizona Game and Fish for eight years. While we would like to see this agency be more conservation focused, it is a good idea to keep it around. SUPPORT  HB2411  coal combustion residuals program (Griffin) authorizes ADEQ to seek assumption of the coal ash program from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that can be no more stringent than federal regulations. Using federal regulations as the ceiling rather than floor is inappropriate. Arizona should always seek the maximum protections for our waters and public health. OPPOSE Senate Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM HB2731 regulatory sandbox; expansion (Kaiser) expands this regulatory sandbox program that allows entities to operate without permits, licenses, or authorizations required by law. Currently, it applies to financial products or services only. This bill opens it up to everything, so we are concerned about the implications for environmental protection and protection of consumers, plus the bill disadvantages those who are operating lawfully and fully complying with permits and licenses. OPPOSE 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: HCR2014). 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. If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.