"Request to Speak" Action today by 2! Restore the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund

I’m excited to let you know that a bipartisan group of Arizona state senators has introduced Senate Bill 1241 (“SB1241”) to restore the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund. Senators Brophy McGee, Boyer, Carter, Kerr, Navarrete, Otondo and Pratt have introduced SB 1241 – state parks board: heritage fund– for restoring the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund.

The bill has been assigned to the Natural Resources and Energy Committee and is on the agenda to be heard TODAY, Wednesday, February 6 at 2:00 p.m. in SR109. Here is a one page summary of SB1241 for your reference. (See below for more information.)

Please submit your position through the Legislature’s “Request to Speak (RTS)” system.  https://azleg.gov/rts/rts.asp

If you don’t have an account for the Legislature’s Request To Speak System, please link here for detailed instructions. In the meantime, please call or email the following legislators and let them know you want them to SUPPORT SB 1241.

State Senator	Phone	Email
Sylvia Allen	602-926-5409	sallen@azleg.gov
Andrea Dalessandro	602-926-5342	adalessandro@azleg.gov
David Gowan	602-926-5154	dgowan@azleg.gov
Sine Kerr, Vice Chair	602-926-5955	skerr@azleg.gov
Juan Mendez	602-926-4124	jmendez@azleg.gov
Jamescita Peshlakai	602-926-5160	jpeshlakai@azleg.gov
Frank Pratt, Chair	602-926-5761	fpratt@azleg.gov

From the time Arizona voters approved the creation of the Fund to the Great Recession when it was defunded and removed from statute, the Fund served our state well with its dedication to parks, outdoor recreation, open space, non-motorized trails, outdoor and environmental education, and historic preservation. It is our hope that this Legislature restores the Fund after satisfying all other current encumbrances, and to bring the Fund back to effect in a responsible and deliberate manner.

Why? 

Why the Fund is important. Arizona’s local, regional, and state parks and recreation facilities are economic development generators that encourage the spending of tourist dollars, attract businesses whose workforce choose jobs in locations with quality of life benefits, strengthen community cohesion, and increase property values. Historic preservation initiatives in our rural communities and urban areas promote economic development by creating jobs, revitalizing historic areas, increasing property values, and promoting heritage tourism.

If you have any questions, contact mail@azheritage.org or call 602-528-7500.

- Janice Miano, President, The Arizona Heritage Alliance

azheritage.org

CALL TO ACTION on bad water bills in committee at the AZ State Legislature.

Have you signed up for
Request to Speak?

This is very important. I really need your help to encourage our legislators to oppose some BAD water bills being heard at the Natural Resources: Energy and Water Committee Monday and Thursday. (See details in Sierra Club's update below.) 

To request a Request to Speak account: http://www.cebv.us/

To sign on to Request to Speak: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Helpful hint: click on New Request in the left column. When they ask if you want to speak, click on no. (You aren't there to speak, right?)

SB1507, SB1515, HB2553, and HB2512 will allow for more development in areas without adequate water, such as Sierra Vista, robbing the San Pedro of its lifeblood. 

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I told our legislators that I am putting together an advocacy group to show support for sustainable policies and to fight bad ones. YOU are that group.  Please, submit a Request to Speak and make some phone calls. It is an uphill battle with Natural Resources Committee Chair Griffin being a real estate agent who is only interested in development - at the cost of our rivers. Our legislators will need support to stand up to her. We are that support.

https://www.azleg.gov/

Select the Senate's Natural Resources: Energy and Water Committee HERE to find Monday and Thursday's agendas.

We can be a force to be reckoned with. We need to be a force to be reckoned with. I will be putting a call out for more advocates at Sustainable Tucson's Civics 101 meeting Tuesday, Feb. 13th at 6 p.m. at Ward 6. Please, invite your friends to come too.

Read the details from the Sierra Club below. It's time to take action!

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Thursday at 2pm or as soon as they finish on the Senate floor, the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee will meet and consider any bills that it did not finish on Monday.

We are trying to get a hearing for SB1475/HB2581, the bills to establish an ecological water program. Next week is the last week for hearing bills in committee in the House of origin, so if you can, please send an email to Representative Bowers asking him to hear HB2581 and an email to Senator Griffin asking her to hear SB1475.

Please contact members of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee and the House Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee and ask them to oppose bills that weaken water protections. SB1507, SB1515, HB2553, and HB2512 will allow for more development in areas without adequate water, such as Sierra Vista, robbing the San Pedro of its lifeblood.

Also, please sign in on the Request to Speak system and register your opposition to SB1507, SB1515, HB2512, HB2553, and HCR2008.

Sign in to support HB2348 and HB2480 to help promote cleaner air and better monitor the impacts of uranium mining.

If you already have an account on the Request to Speak system, sign on, then select "New Request," enter the bill number in the space that says "Search phrase," The bill should come up below. Select "Add Request." You will then be able to enter whether you are for or against the bill and whether or not you wish to speak. Remember, you can only use the Request to Speak system when a bill is on an active agenda in committee.

- Sandy Bahr
Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter

If you don't have an account for the Request to Speak system, I encourage you to set one up. There are three ways:

1) To request a Request to Speak account go to: http://www.cebv.us/ or a more direct link.

2)  Select Request to Speak,  then select "Create An Account." To activate it sign up at the kiosk at the Capitol or at the Tucson legislative offices at 400 W. Congress, Suite 201.

3) Select Request to Speak, then select "Create An Account" then contact Sandy Bahr from the Sierra Club to help you activate it. sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org

Wanna do more?

Ask members of Senate Natural Resources,
Energy, and Water Committee
to vote NO on SB1507 and SB1515!
Chair. Gail Griffin, Chair, (602) 926-5895
Sen Frank Pratt, Vice-Chair, (602) 926-5761
Sen Sylvia Allen, (602) 926-5409
Sen. Judy Burges (602) 926-5861
Sen. Andrea Dalessandro (602) 926-5342 (I promised her we would show our support)
Sen. Sine Kerr (602) 926-5955
Sen. Lisa Otondo (602) 926-3002
Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai (602) 926-5160

Ask members of the House Energy, Environment,
and Natural Resources to Vote No
on HB2512 and HB2553.
Rep. Rusty Bowers - (602) 926-3128
Rep. Brenda Barton - (602) 926-4129
Rep. David Cook - (602) 926-5162
Rep. Eric Descheenie (602) 926-4846
Rep. Kirsten Engel - (602) 926-5178
Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales (602) 926-3278
Rep. Vince Leach (602) 926-3106
Rep. Paul Mosley (602) 926-4844

Speak out against bad water policy in Arizona

Dan and I attended Environmental Day at the Capital yesterday. We had a great time and learned a lot.  We met with Sen. Farley and Rep. Friese. They both seem supportive of environmental issues.  Sen. Farley seemed downright enthusiastic about them! They agreed to look into the bad water program amendments in SB1507. I mentioned that I am putting together a group to advocate for the sustainable policies. I wanted them to know that we had their backs if they supported bills protecting the environment.

While doing research on our legislators' position on water issues, Dan and I discovered that there were several bad water program amendments being heard at the Natural Resources: Energy and Water Committee on Monday, February 12th at 2 o'clock.

The SB1507 water program amendments by Sen. Griffin contain a number of provisions that the Sierra Club has concerns about. But they are especially opposed to the provision that weakens the requirements for adequate water supply for subdivisions outside of active management areas (AMAs)

https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/CommitteeOverView?SessionID=119Natural Resources

Pretty much everything proposed by the Chair Griffin looks bad. She is a real estate agent set on weakening or dismantling water protections that hamper development. She wants to push through a huge development (the size of a town) near Sierra Vista that would empty the river and deplete their water supply.

Here is how you can help....

If you don't have one, please, sign up for a Request to Speak account NOW and then indicate your opposition to those bills anytime before the meeting is over Monday. Your position will become a part of public record.

It may take a day or two for Sandy to get you signed up for Request to Speak, so please sign up asap. It only take a few minutes.

To sign up for Request to Speak go to: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon 

Select Request to Speak, then select "Create an Account." Then send your password to Sandy Bahr from the Sierra Club to activate it. (Dan signed up at the capital.)

sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org


NOTE: Signing up for Request to Speak doesn't mean that you have to speak at the committee meeting. It means that you submit your position affirming or opposing the bill on their website. 

Sen. Andrea Dalessandro in pink.

I recently wrote a letter to Natural Resources Committee member Andrea Dalessandro urging her to vote no on SB1507. As a Pima County resident, you can send her an e-mail asking her to vote no on SB1507 and telling her that you will show your opposition to the bill on Request to Speak. It you are in her district (ld 2), your letter should have even more impact.

adalessandro@azleg.gov

I believe she wants to support environmental issues (she seemed pleased to see me up in the balcony of the chamber), but may need a show of support to oppose this bill. Lots of opposing comments on the Request to Speak may help.

It's time to build solidarity and show them we are a force to be reckoned with!

If you would like to learn more about Request to Speak or how you can advocate for more sustainable policies in Arizona, please, attend Sustainable Tucson's next meeting.

Civics 101 for Sustainable Advocacy 

Tuesday, February 13th at 6 p.m. 

Ward 6 office 

3202 E 1st St, Tucson, AZ