Keep these bad bills from landing on the Governor's Desk

This week at the State Legislature, some bad bills were passed from one chamber to the other. You might recognize four from our Request to Speak actions. This is your last chance to stop them before they reach the Governor's desk. The Sierra Club supplied forms to make it easy to push back on SB1280, SB1418 and  HB2758.

But we are trying something new for HB2975  and  SB1332. You will need to call your legislators or draft a short email using the information provided below. The good news is that it should be even more impactful! 

Both the House and Senate advanced bills on the floor this past week, including one that has reached the Governor, HB2787. HB2787 federal nullification; Mexican wolf; reintroduction (Diaz) prohibits the state from administering, enforcing, or cooperating or spending any money on Mexican gray wolf reintroduction and recovery. This is another short-sighted bill to hinder wolf recovery and would ensure that the state wildlife agency would have little say in the wolf recovery program. The Sierra Club sent a letter asking the Governor to veto it and she did!  Stop the "Cruella de Vil" Act Still alive and in the mix is SB1280 Public monies; Mexican wolf; Prohibition (Farnsworth). Also dubbed the Cruella de Vil Act , SB1280 would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting Mexican gray wolf puppies into Arizona and also from spending any money for transporting wolf puppies into the state. This is a direct attack on the current federal efforts to improve the genetic diversity of Mexican gray wolves in the wild and undermines the science-based administration of the Endangered Species Act. Use this form to tell your reps to vote no on SB1280.  Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1280 Stop the unregulated nukes! Also advancing and likely to land on the Governor's desk soon is SB1418 corporation commission; small modular reactors  (Carroll). It preempts counties – except Maricopa and Pima – from regulating the location of these small modular nuclear reactors if they are co-located with a large industrial electricity user such as a data center. We have data centers locating here in our communities indiscriminately and using enormous amounts of water and electricity, plus providing very few sustainable jobs. SB1418 also says nuclear power units are not subject to requirements for a certificate of environmental compatibility, if they are being sited where there was another thermal power plant. Take action to demand accountability on small reactors and data centers below. Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1418

Some in the Arizona Legislature are still trying to help hedge funds swipe rural water! HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) is among the worst water legislation moving through the process. The bill allows private water companies and a New York hedge fund, Water Asset Management, 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 -- basically the Phoenix area. HB2758 creates sacrifice zones for groundwater pumping to the detriment of rural Arizonans in order to feed the growth machine in urban areas and to benefit the bottom line of this hedge fund. Learn more about the small communities fighting this bill here.   Please ask your Senator to Vote NO on HB2758!

While helping hedge funds steal water, legislators are also seeking to hinder clean solar energy development! HB2975 state lands; solar score; maps (Heap: Marshall) prohibits the State Land Department from creating solar score maps while requiring the department to create maps of mining resources and housing development potential. The bill further requires the Land Department to only use the maps it has created when planning for future use of State Lands. This prevents the department from considering solar developments in their land use plans. Contact your Senator and ask them to vote NO on HB2975. To find out who your legislators are, first find your district here:  https://irc-az.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=424810a4667049388ef6df4f0c73098b Use the district to find out who your Senator is and find their contact info here.

Leaving no stone unturned when it comes to bad policy, legislators, especially Senator John Kavanagh, are attacking light rail as well.

SB1332 Now: light rail expansion; feasibility review (Kavanagh) requires a biased study of light rail and attempts to pit it against other forms of transportation. Requiring an analysis that compares light rail and autonomous vehicles is an apples to oranges comparison and provides no real beneficial information or benefits to our communities.  It's not like there are no studies on light rail either. Every project goes through a thorough environmental and economic impact review before it's approved. Just visit the Valley Metro page and you will find several. This is just a waste of time and money.  Contact your representatives and ask them to vote NO on SB1332. You can find their info here. Sierra Club's 2026 bill tracker here:  https://www.quorum.us/spreadsheet/external/jsklJgFKUzncqsWUMgnx/

This week at the AZ leg: Some good news and some bad news...

The good news is... The bill to ban PFAS in firefighting foam (HB2641) is scheduled for a hearing, as is a bill to prohibit homeowners associations from blocking backyard shade structures (HB2342). Yay!

Please use the Request to Speak app to show support of these good bills before they are heard in committee. 

The bad news is: Several terrible bills have made it through committee. You can still push back on two of them by using the Sierra Club's petitions (below our weekly update). 

Sign into the Request to Speak system: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

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

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

Wednesday, March 25th

Senate Government Committee at 7:00 AM
Members of the public may 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

Senate Regulatory Affairs Government Efficiency Committee at 9:00 AM

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

• HB2342 homeowners' associations; shade structures (Travers: Weninger, Willoughby) prohibits Homeowners Associations (HOAs) from erecting unreasonable impediments to shade structures in backyards. We would love for it to include other energy-saving and shading mechanisms, but this is a start. SUPPORT

Legislative Update: 

Next week is the last week to hear bills in committee with the exception of Appropriations. While the Senate committees are not hearing all of the House bills that were sent over, they are still hearing far too many harmful bills.  The majority in the Legislature continues to find ways to try and disadvantage solar energy, but we have been able to kill a number of those bills, plus work to improve others. We are hopeful the Governor will veto the remaining bills, should they reach her desk. Next week is "Lobo Week," to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves into the wild here in Arizona. The Legislature will mostly be celebrating by proceeding with bills to undermine important protections for wolves. There will be some actions on the floor, however, to highlight the importance of these highly endangered animals. Representative Mariana Sandoval read a supportive resolution on the floor of the House. You can watch it here.  (Advance to 27:28). Monday, Senator Priya Sundareshan will sponsor a similar proclamation on the floor of the Senate. Tune in to hear that around 1:15 PM by going to this link on the Legislature's website and clicking the Senate. To help us celebrate Lobo Week, please take action on the bills below.

photo courtesy of USFWS

SB1280 Public monies; Mexican wolf; Prohibition (Farnsworth) passed out of the House Land, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee this week and could make it to the floor of the House next week. The bill would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting Mexican gray wolf puppies into Arizona and also from spending any money for transporting wolf puppies into the state. This is a direct attack on the current federal efforts to improve the genetic diversity of Mexican gray wolves in the wild, and undermines the science-based administration of the Endangered Species Act.   Tell your representatives to vote no on SB1280!

HB2758 McMullen Valley; eligible entities; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) passed out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee along party lines. Please consider sending your senator a message opposing it, if you have not already. This bill allows private water companies and a New York hedge fund, Water Asset Management, 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 -- basically the Phoenix area.  HB2758 facilitates creating sacrifice zones for groundwater pumping to the detriment of rural Arizonans in order to feed the growth machine in urban areas and to benefit the bottom line of this hedge fund. It is interesting to see the legislators who say they are looking out for rural Arizona readily agree to this harmful bill. Before it passed the House a number of amendments made the bill even worse than the bill that was passed in committee. Among other things, they increased the limit of the total amount of groundwater that can be transported within La Paz County from 10% to 50%.  Please ask your Senator to Vote NO on HB2758 and add a personal note about why you care - Thanks to Sandy Bahr, Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club

Push Back on Bills that Target Tucson: Our Water, Solar & More

HB2263 would empty our recharge ponds in Avra Valley

This week many of  the bills at the AZ Leg are targeting what many Tucsonans value.

There are bills that attack renewable energy, while propping up fossil fuels. (Hmm... I wonder who is donating to these legislators?) There are bills that waste money on immigration enforcement (that's a federal responsibility anyway) and two on AI (a faulty tool for enforcement.) But the bills that really get my goat are the ones prohibiting Tucson Water from doing its good work on Colorado River water management.  (HB2263 and HB2099) Rep. Griffin is trying to get her hands on Tucson's water!   

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

NOTE: One of the bills that passed out of the House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee this week was HB2267. It establishes that any utility-scale solar or wind project that is built within four miles of a residence is automatically considered a public nuisance, meaning these are automatically considered harmful. It would also define other renewable energy projects as public nuisances, regardless of location, unless they obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility from the Arizona Corporation Commission. The bill has been revised so it no longer outlaws residential rooftop solar. Yay! I wonder if our comments helped get that removed.  Use this link to send a message to your two House representatives and ask them to vote NO on HB2267! https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0600920 REQUEST TO SPEAK BILLS FOR THIS WEEK

Please use the Request to Speak app to weigh in on the bills (below) before they are heard in their respective committees. After signing into the system and clicking on New Request, you can simply copy and paste the bill number into SEARCH PHRASE, SEARCH then click on ADD REQUEST.  

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

Keep an eye out for the four bills we support: SB1598, HB2843, HB2845, and SB1677.

Monday, February 16th 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. HB2845 appropriation; Del Rio Springs; park (Bliss) appropriates $750,000 to the Arizona state parks board for development and necessary infrastructure at Del Rio Springs for a state park. I am sure they will need more funding for this, but it is definitely worth protecting. SUPPORT House Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2416 appropriation; DPS; local border support (Nguyen) appropriates $20 million for more border enforcement activities. As if we have not already spent enough or militarized the border enough. OPPOSE Tuesday, February 17th   Senate Natural Resource Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1200 assured water supply; certificate; model (Shope) requires the Arizona Department of Water Resources to review an application for a certificate of assured water supply if requested and requires it to use models that will misrepresent the available water. This is to allow those without assured water supplies to get a designation within the Phoenix AMA. OPPOSE SB1785 water storage facility; withdrawals; area (Petersen) requires the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources to assume that a recovery well for stored water is within the area of impact if the applicant does not submit a hydrologic study and adds some additions to allowable locations for recovery wells. Not requiring a hydrologic study and allowing recovery wells outside of the storage facility boundaries seem to be loopholes that allow for pumping water that is not actually in the storage facility. OPPOSE Senate Appropriations, Transportation, and Technology Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1088 appropriation; Arizona homeland security; cybersecurity (Carroll) appropriates $2.5 million to the Arizona Department of Homeland Security and requires $500,000 go to generative artificial intelligence for cybersecurity. In addition to the huge environmental impacts of generative AI, it has proven to be very bad at creating secure systems. OPPOSE SB1156 appropriation; short-term detention holds (Rogers: Finchem) appropriates $20 million for short-term detention holds. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. Why are we paying $20 million of our limited state funds for this? OPPOSE SB1332 light rail expansion; participation; prohibition (Kavanagh) prohibits the state from participating in any light rail expansion until they do this economic feasibility study. The timeline makes it appear that this bill is trying to stop the (already in progress) Rio East-Dobson streetcar extension. If this project is stopped we will lose $15.9 million in federal grants. OPPOSE SB1598 appropriation; schools; community gardens (Alston: Connolly, Sandoval) appropriates $500,000 for grants for community gardens at schools. SUPPORT SB1677 appropriation; salt cedar mitigation (Dunn) appropriates $500,000 for salt cedar mitigation along the Gila River. Getting rid of water thirsty salt cedar is a good thing. SUPPORT SB1707 appropriation; artificial intelligence; border security (Rogers) appropriates $5 million for using AI on border security. AI has proven to be very ineffective in policing and has a huge environmental footprint. 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. HB2099 long-term storage credits; shortage; prohibition (Griffin) prohibits municipal water providers from getting credit for stored Colorado River water during times of shortages. This prohibits Tucson from getting long-term storage credits for water left in Lake Mead. This is a blatant attack on Tucson Water for wisely managing our Colorado River resources.  OPPOSE  HB2263 Colorado River water; replenishment; restriction (Griffin) limits replenishment of Colorado River water to that associated with the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District. This bill would appear to prohibit Tucson Water from storing CAP water in the Avra Valley, which is how they serve Colorado River water to Tucson Water customers. OPPOSE HB2492 urban growth boundaries; prohibition (Taylor) says no city, county, or other state entity can implement or enforce directly or indirectly any act that would limit urban sprawl or limit extension of services. This is just to accommodate even more runaway sprawl -- as if we did not have enough. OPPOSE HB2757 Butler Valley; La Paz; groundwater (Griffin: Blackman) allows the interbasin transfer of groundwater from Butler Valley to any place in La Paz County. Essentially this will be draining one groundwater basin to provide water for another basin that doesn't have enough groundwater. OPPOSE HB2843 portable solar power devices; requirements (Contreras P: Aguilar, Cavero, et al) allows customers to install and use "portable solar generation devices" or balcony solar without utility approval, fees, or additional equipment requirements if the devices meet national safety and electrical standards. Prohibits cities, towns and counties from requiring permits, inspections or additional local approvals for compliant portable solar generation devices. SUPPORT HB2889 appropriation; uranium monitoring; mine inspector (Tsosie) appropriates a million dollars for the mine inspector to monitor uranium mining impacts in Arizona. The mine inspector is not the one to look at soil and water contamination. That office has no expertise with this. It's a good idea, but perhaps have the environmental (ADEQ) and health agencies do this. OPPOSE  HB2915 tax reduction fund; renewable energy (Marshall: Heap) is a nonsensical bill that establishes a fund related to a "property value reducing renewable energy project" to pay property owners, but it just assumes that any solar or wind project of 100 MW or more reduces the value of property, which is not the case. OPPOSE HB2918 renewable energy equipment; valuation; depreciation (Marshall: Heap) establishes punitive taxes (an increase from 20% to 100%) for renewable energy equipment. It's an attempt to make solar energy more expensive so fossil fuels can compete. OPPOSE HB4025 study committee; gas; petroleum; refinery (Carter P) establishes this committee to look at the availability of gas and oil and to look at the feasibility of constructing refineries. OPPOSE Wednesday, February 18th Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SCR1027 general election day; all offices (Mesnard) is a proposed constitutional amendment that would go to the ballot. It requires that a general election for city, town and school district officials must take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even numbered year -- at the same time as the state general elections. This is a direct attack on Tucson, which holds their city office elections on odd years. OPPOSE

Urge AZ Legislators to Save our Solar and Water

HB2267 makes residential solar illegal

Whew!  We have narrowed it down to 31 Request to Speak actions this week. So many bad bills that make transitioning to clean energy more difficult; while other bills allow installation of fossil fuel and nuclear generators without environmental certification. There are even some to force through data centers. One bill would make our residential solar installation illegal! Gail Griffin has so many destructive water bills that she had to schedule two meetings of the House Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee this week. You will also find bills to make it harder to vote and that hurt wildlife. 

The bright side is that one of the 31 bills is one we recommend supporting (Look out for SB1488).

Please do what you can. You might want to do the ones that start on Wednesday in a second shift.

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 r Monday, February 9th Senate Federalism Committee at 1:30 P.M.  Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1281 federal government; land acquisition; consent  (Farnsworth) requires that the governor and legislature approve any sale or transfer of private land to the federal government. This is a measure to block acquisitions to protect lands around the headwaters of rivers and springs, inholdings, and to otherwise protect blocks of public lands or areas with special habitat or cultural resources. It also would interfere with private property rights and is unconstitutional on several levels. OPPOSE Senate Military Affairs and Border Security at 1:30 P.M. Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1520 agencies; immigration; data sharing (Rogers: Finchem) mandates that the state and any state agency must share data requested by the U.S. government relating to unauthorized noncitizens, undocumented immigrants, and visa overstays. 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. HB2100 small land subdivision; requirements (Griffin) allows for skirting subdivision requirements and thus avoids requirements for assured water supply. OPPOSE HB2159 Mexican wolves; landowner permits; rules (Diaz)  would allow the killing of Mexican gray wolves by landowners in Arizona. The bill would authorize private individuals, through permits issued by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, to kill wolves on private and/or public lands. In some cases, the Game and Fish Department would be required to issue those permits at the direction of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. This bill is contrary to the Endangered Species Act which protects the Mexican gray wolf as a listed species. OPPOSE HB2497 right to hunt; fish; harvest (Way) undermines Arizona Game and Fish authority relative to wildlife regulation by asserting the Arizona Legislature has exclusive authority over regulation of wildlife and says they "may" delegate it to Game and Fish. They have already delegated it via Title 17, so are they trying to pull it back. Hunting is a privilege, not a right. OPPOSE HB2787 federal nullification; Mexican wolf; reintroduction (Diaz) prohibits the state from administering, enforcing, or cooperating or spending any money on Mexican gray wolf reintroduction and recovery. This is another short-sighted bill to hinder wolf recovery. 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. SB1488 appropriation; coal-impacted workforce; study (Hatathlie: Diaz, Epstein, et al) establishes a coal-impacted communities study committee and appropriates $600,000 to the Office of Economic Opportunity to conduct a workforce development study on the communities in Coconino County impacted by the closure of the Navajo Generating Station. 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. HB2027 physical availability; review; designated providers (Griffin) prohibits the ADWR from using the Pinal AMA method of calculating the physical availability of groundwater to a municipality in the Phoenix AMA that has an assured water supply designation. It requires the ADWR Director to review the physical availability of groundwater and stored water of each municipality in the Phoenix AMA with an assured water supply designation. This is an attempt to stop enforcement of the Groundwater Management Act and to create more loopholes, the last thing we need. OPPOSE  HB2028 DWR; application; administrative completeness (Griffin) makes licenses from ADWR appealable agency actions, allowing an opportunity for developers and others to sue earlier in the process before a decision is final. It would create even more chaos relative to our water. OPPOSE HB2031 grandfathered right; Willcox AMA; extension (Griffin) extends through the end of the year the amount of time someone has to file for grandfather rights. This AMA has been around for two years -- that should be plenty of time. OPPOSE HB2094 assured water supply; certificate; model (Griffin) requires the ADWR to review the merits of an application for a certificate of assured water supply in the Phoenix active management area (AMA) and issue a new determination within 15 days if certain criteria are met, including if the application was submitted on or after January 26, 2021, and on or before May 31, 2023. The bill also directs use of long-term storage credits, which may be "paper water" that's not physically available to the site of the application. For Salt River and Lower Hassayampa, the bill directs ADWR to approve the application using outdated groundwater models that have recently been updated. This bill promotes unsustainable water use. OPPOSE HB2095 assured water supply; well depth (Griffin) weakens the definition of physically available relative to depth to water as part of an assured water supply determination for a subdivision. Another way to get around the assured water supply. OPPOSE HB2102 domestic water improvement districts; hauling (Griffin) allows an improvement district to be established in a subsequent AMA in order to pump groundwater for water hauling. This weakens the protections for these AMAs. OPPOSE HB2933 groundwater transportation fee; counties; fund (Biasiucci: Griffin) deposits fees in the general fund of counties where groundwater is being hauled out of the county. The problem is, you can't drink money. OPPOSE HB2934 Harquahala; groundwater transportation fee (Biasiucci: Griffin) is like 2933, except for the Harquahala INA. OPPOSE  HB2986 department of environmental quality; program (Griffin) is the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality omnibus bill that is mostly clean-up relating to lead acid battery fee collection, pushes the date out on conditional enactment for air quality state implementation plan revisions, and removes funding for recycling of used oil. It weakens environmental protections.OPPOSE  Wednesday, February 11th Environmental Day at the Capitol 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM House Judiciary Committee at 9:00 AM  Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2136 civil terrorism; disorderly conduct; subversion (Way) attempts to define things like disorderly conduct (that might happen at a rally) as civil terrorism which is treated like a felony. OPPOSE HB2862 unlawful masking; violation (Nguyen) makes it a crime to wear a mask for the purpose of concealing your identity in a public gathering. This is overly broad which means you couldn't even wear a covid mask. This is probably unconstitutional. OPPOSE  Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. SB1568 early ballots; registration signatures; curing (Hoffman) requires that people submit a new signature every five years in order for their early ballot to be counted. OPPOSE Thursday, February 12th House Artificial Intelligence Committee at 9:00 AM  Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2456 small modular reactors; zoning; co-location (Wilmeth) prohibits counties from doing anything to restrict or regulate small modular nuclear reactors if they are co-located with large energy users like data centers. OPPOSE HB2457 public utilities; plant construction; colocation (Wilmeth) loosens requirements for siting power plants as long as they are co-located with large electricity users. OPPOSE   House Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee at 12:30 PM Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2267 public nuisance; renewable energy; exceptions (Marshall) declares any renewable energy project to be a public nuisance, unless it was permitted before the amendment was approved, it has a certificate of environmental compliance, or it is a non-exporting rooftop installation. (Note that this would make residential solar installations connected to the grid - as most are - illegal.) It further requires the attorney general to take action in superior court to prevent any of these projects from being completed (which will make the AG's office very busy) and will essentially kill any solar or wind development in Arizona.  OPPOSE HB2425 auditor general; state lands; audit (Griffin) mandates a special audit of the State Land Department relative to solar leases, land sales initiated by the Commissioner, etc. Why not mining or grazing leases or other commercial leases? This is just targeting certain activities. OPPOSE HB2755 state land use; highest; best (Griffin: Blackman) says if there is a conflict between mining and another use the Commissioner has to assume that mining is the highest and best use. OPPOSE HB2781 decommissioning; solar energy; standards; fund (Carter N) places special requirements on solar energy generation, unlike fossil fuels, and requires a decommissioning plan for solar which would include a decommissioning bond. This is intended to be another barrier for solar. OPPOSE HB2913 county land commissioner; state lands (Biasiucci: Carter P, Diaz, et al) adds a land commissioner for each county. Why are they creating more government relative to state trust lands? This was not requested by the counties. This is also throwing our tax money away. OPPOSE HB2943 state land oversight board; establishment (Marshall: Heap) establishes an elected state land oversight board, but focuses it on things like looking at allegations related to the Business Bill of Rights. It seems like one more way for the mining, livestock, and development interests to exert pressure on the State Land Department. OPPOSE HB2956 state trust lands; public auction (Martinez) says people who lease state trust lands can buy them unless they have a solar or wind lease. This is clearly discriminatory toward solar, but also likely violates the constitution. OPPOSE HB2975 state lands; solar score; maps (Heap: Marshall) says the state land department cannot use solar score maps or other similar types of evaluation of state trust lands. OPPOSE HB2985 CAP water; state land; allocation (Griffin) says the State Land Department has to develop a process for distribution of its allocation of CAP water to state lands to be sold or leased which will promote development. OPPOSE   HB4009 data centers; state lands; map (Weninger) requires the state land department to identify the highest and best places for data centers in consultation with the computer data center industry.  OPPOSE