Immediate Action Needed on Bill that Forces Utilities to Favor Fossil Fuels

The good news is that we have only five bills to weigh in on the Request to Speak app this week. The bad news is that there are a couple of really bad bills - like HB2912. When we checked the response on this pro-fossil fuel bill there were 215 for it and only 35 against it!  Please take a minute to OPPOSE this terrible bill. Another bad bill (HCM2006) weakens wildlife protections. 

Please use the Request to Speak app to weigh in on the bills 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

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

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

Monday, March 16th Senate Federalism and Family Law at 1:30 PM  Members of the public may attend in person or access a livestream of the meeting here. HCM2006 endangered species act; urging reform (Diaz) is a message to Congress asking for reform of the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Act, plus asking for regulations to be removed from livestock grazing. It seeks to weaken protections for wildlife to facilitate more cattle. OPPOSE Tuesday, March 17th   Senate Natural Resources Committee at 1:30 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here. HB2150 continuation; state land department  (Griffin) continues the State Land Department through 2030, but adds a number of requirements, including a conceptual land use plan for state lands that supersedes any conflicting zoning. It also says the commissioner can renew mining leases without auction. The department should be renewed without all these new changes to its operations. OPPOSE HB2912 utility; resource plan; commission review (Olson) modifies the analysis public service utilities must include in their integrated resource plan (IRP) to include three scenarios -- high, medium, and low growth. It also mandates use of a particular test – the Ratepayer Impact Measurement (RIM) test – to among other things show that no chosen resources are meant to satisfy any carbon reduction goals. Additionally, it adds several provisions to encourage "reliable" energy generation, which means fossil fuel generation. OPPOSE House Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee at 2:00 PM Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.  SB1419 solar energy; inspection; contractors (Carroll)  layers some new licensing, inspection, and disclosure requirements on top of existing contractor licensing, building codes, and consumer protection laws for rooftop solar installations, some of which are not necessarily bad (like requiring third party inspections of installations done by contractors with recent disciplinary actions). More concerning is that the bill prohibits installers from providing estimates of cost savings for installed solar systems. OPPOSE SB1447 groundwater withdrawal fee; Pinal AMA (Shope) extends the moratorium on collecting this groundwater withdrawal fee in the Pinal Active Management Area (AMA) for four years. (And this moritorium has already been in effect for 6 years).This is a de facto subsidy for groundwater pumping in this AMA. OPPOSE

Urgent Action: Ask City Council to include Community Choice Energy on City’s Climate Action Plan

Photo credit: Frank Staub 

Sustainable Tucson has lobbied for TEP and the City of Tucson to reduce community carbon emissions. In 2018, we fought for solar-plus-storage instead of 200 megawatts of new gas-fired electricity generation. Since then, we have offered formal energy-related proposals for inclusion in the City's forthcoming Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP).

 
Drafts of the CAAP will be released in two parts, on January 10th and 20th. Public comments will be accepted through Feb. 21. Despite not yet having a roadmap for decarbonizing the City, the City Council and Administration have begun negotiating a new 25-year franchise* agreement with TEP.

Act Now on City’s Climate Action Plan

Mayor and Council will meet January 11 (Wednesday)

 
Ask Mayor Romero and the City Council to: 

• Include Community Choice Energy as an option in the CAAP.
• Adopt the CAAP before negotiating a long-term energy franchise agreement.
• Take whatever time is required to integrate provisions of the CAAP into any new energy franchise agreement. (The current franchise agreement with TEP does not expire until 2026, and we are not obliged to renew that agreement ahead of schedule.)
• Include exit clauses and performance clauses based on a predetermined de-carbonization timetable.

The Sustainable Tucson Board has already signed on to this public letter addressed to Tucson's City Council.
 
Please send your City Council Member an email today! Council will meet January 11 (Wednesday) and they need to hear from us.
 
Sample email: Dear Council Member ______, Climate Change is a major threat to our desert city. As your constituent, I'm asking you to approve the Tucson CAAP and integrate community choice energy and carbon reduction goals into all city planning, negotiations, and agreements, including any future TEP Franchise agreement. Please, don't approve a new agreement with TEP until the appropriate CAAP-based elements are considered in the City's long-term energy planning processes.
 
Note: If you live outside the City and are not represented by a Council member, please send your email about this issue to the Mayor and the City Manager.
 
Mayor & Council and City Manager | Official website of the City of Tucson (tucsonaz.gov)
 

* Franchise – Allows TEP to use all the road rights-of-way for their power lines.  Must be approved by voters every 25 years (by 2026). 

Request to Speak on: electric school buses, selling water, and zoning without conservation requirements

Besides the voter suppression bills (see a separate blog) we have three Request to Speak actions.

NOTE: It seems like the RTS system was especially slow on the weekend. Perhaps there are some better times (when it isn’t so busy) to weigh in.

This week, please take a minute to call your House members and ask them to oppose HB2055 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transportation (Griffin: Bowers) because it is going to the floor for a vote. It allows private water companies to import water from the Harquahala Valley and into active management areas (AMAs) for development. Creating groundwater sacrifice zones and further privatizing water is a bad idea. Be sure to tell them that you are their constituent.

HB2101 electric energy; reliability; public policy (Griffin: Abraham, Blackman, et al.), which repeals provisions in the law that create parameters for retail competition of electricity, is on the House Rules agenda for Monday. We are still opposed as we have concerns about how it will affect community choice aggregation and have not seen what additional amendments they may be adding to it.

You can find your representatives' phone numbers here: (https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=H)

If you don't know what district you are in you can find out here: https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/

Monday, February 7th

Senate Committee on Education at 2:00 PM

SB1246 school buses; electrification; contracts (Boyer) establishes a process for a school district to select preapproved entities to provide electric school buses and related infrastructure and services. This can help expedite acquisition. SUPPORT

Tuesday, February 8th

House Committee on Commerce at 2:00 P.M.

HB2674 municipal zoning; by right housing (Kaiser: Chavez) preempts zoning and land use restrictions for most single- and multi-family construction. Makes cities' general plans meaningless. It also prohibits energy conservation requirements for residential construction unless the city or town shows clear and convincing evidence that the energy savings within five years will exceed the cost of the requirements. OPPOSE

This bill would have three big impacts:

• It would take away the ability of municipalities to mandate maximum housing density and building heights in their zoning codes.
• It would greatly reduce the time allowed for a municipality to review development applications and automatically approve the application if the city doesn’t reply in time.
• It would prevent municipalities from mandating energy conservation measures if the costs of those measures aren’t paid for within five years. (The breakeven point for solar, for example, is often greater than five years, so this would prevent a municipality from mandating solar panels on new construction.

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: HB2674). 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.