Leave a public comment telling the GSA to reduce federal spending on plastic.

Tell the GSA to reduce the amount of plastic it purchases for the federal government before the public comment period closes on Sept. 5.

As one of the biggest contributors to our planet's plastic waste crisis, our country needs to do everything it can to reduce our consumption of plastic. Add your voice to help shift government spending away from single-use plastic products.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/07/07/2022-14403/general-services-administration-acquisition-regulation-gsar-single-use-plastics-and-packaging

Every 15 and a half hours, Americans throw out enough plastic to fill the largest NFL stadium in the country, and the pile grows larger every year.1

As one of the biggest contributors to our planet's plastic waste crisis, our country needs to do everything it can to reduce our consumption of plastic -- and especially the single-use plastics that we just don't need.

One way our federal government can act right now? By phasing out its own purchase of plastic bags and other single-use plastic products. Add your name today.

The U.S. government is the biggest purchaser of consumer goods and services in the world, spending $650 billion per year. The goods it purchases include a mountain of plastic products -- the single-use plastic bags, utensils, straws, bottles, packaging and other plastic products purchased for use in government buildings and at official events.2,3

By wielding its purchasing power more responsibly -- phasing out the purchase of all these single-use plastics -- the federal government can make a dent in our country's overall plastic consumption.

Right now, the Goods and Services Administration (GSA) is reviewing a proposal that would do just that. We can't miss any opportunity to take a bite out of our growing plastic waste crisis.4

Tell the GSA to reduce the amount of plastic it purchases for the federal government before the public comment period closes on Sept. 5.

Given that the lifespan of a single plastic bag is 1,000 years and doesn't ever fully degrade, this kind of regulation is long overdue.5

1. Alex Truelove, Adrian Pforzheimer, "Trash in America," U.S. PIRG Education Fund, September 2021.
2. Sharon Udasin, "NGOs petition the Biden administration to stop buying single-use plastic," The Hill, February 4, 2022.
3. Jack Forrest, "Feds consider phasing out single-use plastics," E&E News, July 8, 2022.
4. Jack Forrest, "Feds consider phasing out single-use plastics," E&E News, July 8, 2022.
5. Sharon Udasin, "NGOs petition the Biden administration to stop buying single-use plastic," The Hill, February 4, 2022.

More information: 

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/federal-purchases-of-single-use-plastics-targeted-by-bidens-gsa

Stop housing discrimination by landlords who don’t accept Section 8 Housing vouchers

The City of Tucson is considering a Source of Income Protection Ordinance which would help protect those who need rental assistance from being discriminated against by landlords who don’t want to accept Section 8 Housing vouchers and similar programs. We have a housing crisis in Tucson right now and the amount of people living on the streets is skyrocketing due to a huge lack of affordable housing. This is one baby step that the city can take to support those on the brink of losing their homes or just starting to get back into a home after being houseless. Please read more about this at the website listed, sign the petition in support if you agree with me that this is a good idea, and spread the word to others. You can also show up to either the virtual or in person public meetings to show your support for this ordinance.

Source of Incoming Protection survey linked on the City of Tucson website you can take to give your input - in addition to signing the petition in support and/or in lieu of attending a public meeting!

Link to City of Tucson (COT) website with more information, including FAQs, meeting dates and times, link to survey, and more: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/hcd/soi

Link to petition in support of the Source of Income Protection (SOI) Ordinance: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-for-local-source-of-income-soi-protection-ordinance/(edited)

URGENT ACTION: EV Readiness Survey and Virtual Discussion

The City of Tucson is collecting input for a proposed code amendment for new multi-family, commercial and retail buildings to be EV ready. These changes are an implementation step within the M&C approved EV Readiness Roadmap.. EV readiness is one of the many strategies the City is undertaking to address climate change. 

 

To provide you with some content, this process began last year and over 10 meetings have taken place, including two public hearings on April 19, 2022 and July 12, 2022.  

 M&C will be voting on this issue at the August 23 meeting. Please share your thoughts on EV readiness requirements by:  

1. Filling out this short survey  
   Responses will be collected until Wednesday, August 10. Comments will be reviewed by staff, shared with M&C, and presented at a virtual discussion.  
      
2. Attending the virtual discussion  
   Via Zoom  
   Friday, August 12, 2022 
   9:00am – 10:30am  
   Register in advance for this meeting  
   After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.  
      
3. Joining Call to the Audience  
   In person  
   Tuesday, August 9, 2022 (today) and Tuesday, August 23, 2022  
   Regular Agenda, 5:30pm  
   M&C Chambers  
   City Hall, 1^st Floor  
   255 W. Alameda  
   
   For background information on how the proposal has been developed, please visit the Commercial Parking Amendments project page  
   The Commercial Parking Amendments presentation from July 12 can be seen here.  
   The M&C meeting can be viewed here.  
   
   Please share this information within your networks,  

Fátima Luna   Climate and Sustainability Advisor  Office of the Mayor  |  City of Tucson  fatima.luna@tucsonaz.gov

Legislative Update 6/27/2022 and Call to Action on bad voting bill

June 25, 2022 Hi everyone! Here is an update from Sandy at the Sierra Club.  The Arizona Legislature finally adjourned Sine Die this morning at 12:25AM. This past week legislators passed a bi-partisan budget and a bi-partisan water bill. The budget was nothing to write home about relative to environmental protection, but it was better than the bare bones budget they had originally proposed. The Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund received $2.5 million not the $10 million that it should have received, the Arizona Trail received $250,000, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality received additional funding for the Water Quality Fee Fund to help, in theory, with its backlog of work on water quality as outlined in its performance audit. We shall see. Sadly, the budget was loaded up with border dollars including for a Border Strike Task Force and other funds. SB1740 water infrastructure financing; supply; augmentation  (Kerr) passed last night 48-1-11 in the House and 25-1-4 in the Senate. There is no doubt that it is a much better bill than when they started and it does not create a new totally unaccountable bureaucracy. The Democrats negotiated a conservation grant fund with a $200 million appropriation that can fund conservation programs and projects in cities, towns, and counties or some kind of partnership with those entities. The dollars can only be used for voluntary water conservation projects that include long-term reductions in water use, improvements in efficiency and reliability. The grants can fund education and research on reducing water consumption and improving efficiency, turf removal, rainwater harvesting, watershed protection and restoration, etc. Again, this is positive, but not enough and is overshadowed to some degree by the more than a billion dollars over three years for augmentation to bring water in from other states or countries to support business as usual -- unfettered growth, growing alfalfa and other thirsty crops in the desert, and continued invitations to data centers and other water-intensive industries to locate in our communities. SB1740 does not do anything to limit groundwater pumping or even measure it. There is no requirement for considering the environmental impacts of these water augmentation projects either. We badly need a stronger regulatory structure for water, but we just did not get it with this bill, so the Sierra Club could not support it. SB1322 NOW: TPT; use tax; hydrogen; exemption (Shope) failed on Third Read 14-11-5. It would have provided a sales tax exemption for hydrogen used as a fuel despite the fact that 99% of all hydrogen is derived from fossil fuels. Shope had changed his vote to ask for reconsideration, but they did not get back to it, so the bill died. Yay! There were a plethora of bad democracy, bad voting bills, that did not advance, but quite sadly there were several that did. HCR2015 initiatives; supermajority vote; requirement (Dunn; Biasiucci, Bolick) was amended in the Senate, but it is still bad and will be on the ballot this fall. If approved by the voters, the constitution would be amended to require a 60 percent approval by the voters for any ballot measure, including any constitutional amendment, that includes a tax. HB2243 voter registration; state residency; cancellation (also passed and is on Governor Ducey's desk. Please contact him and ask him to veto it. You can reach him at (602) 542-4331. The bill requires voter registration forms to include a statement that if the registrant permanently moves to another state after registering to vote in Arizona, the registration will be cancelled. It also provides another mechanism for county recorders to cancel registrations, possibly disqualifying voters inappropriately.

Comment on Clean Air For All to Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

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The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has released a plan to clean up air at our national parks and other areas, but it falls short of what is needed to clean up the air and protect our health.

Why This Matters

Millions of people visit our national parks and wilderness areas each year to see some of the most awe-inspiring views in the world. But over the decades, haze – from cars and trucks, gas and coal-fired power plants, along with other industrial sources– has degraded visibility and harmed people’s health in our national parks and local communities. In Arizona those places include Grand Canyon, Saguaro and Petrified Forest National Parks, Chiricahua National Monument and Superstition, Galiuro, Mount Baldy, Sierra Ancha, Mazatzal, Sycamore Canyon, and Chiricahua Wilderness Areas.

The Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule (RHR) requires clean up of the air in these areas and is a time-tested, effective program that has resulted in real, measurable, and noticeable improvements in national park visibility and air quality. The RHR requires all states, including Arizona, to do their share by reducing pollution within their borders to help restore clean and clear skies at protected national parks and wilderness areas.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has released a plan for cleaning up these areas, but it is weak and will not significantly reduce the pollution from facilities such as coal plants, cement kilns, smelters, and more. Please take a moment to send a comment to ADEQ and ask it to strengthen its draft plan to address the deficiencies. Please add a note about why clean air is important to you and experiences you have had with the affected parks and wildlands. Also, please add experiences with any respiratory issues you or your family have and the importance of an expeditious clean up of these polluting facilities.

The comment deadline is July 14, so please act now.

You can send a comment on the plan by using the link below.

https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/support-clean-air-for-all?promoid=7013q000002JOwFAAW

Consider joining the Sierra Club for the Energy and Climate Action Team Meeting and Learn about Clean Air for All

Tues, June 28 at 6:30 pm (Tucson time)

Join the Energy and Climate Action Team to learn more about an upcoming opportunity to promote clean air at our national parks and monuments, as well as wilderness areas; better protect our health; and help reduce pollution that contributes to the climate crisis. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has just released a plan for addressing regional haze pollution. We will be discussing the importance of this plan and how it affects our communities, plus include action items such as commenting on the proposed plan.

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002GIbxAAG&id=70131000001

Fight back against massive voucher expansion bill progressing in AZ Legislature

Utterly disregarding the voices of Arizona voters, the Republican-controlled AZ House Ways & Means Committee passed a massive voucher expansion bill (#HB2853) on Wednesday. Adding insult to injury, the committee also advanced #HB2854, a $400 million school funding increase—only effective if the voucher bill passed as well.

These bills would need to pass the full House, then cross to the Republican-controlled AZ Senate to pass committee and full chamber there.

We have hope we can stop these awful bills—but only if we get LOUD: We've asked before, but we have never needed you more: call your Representatives (HERE) and then email them as well, using our one-click tool HERE.

Newsletter with more information on bad education bills here

Support filmmaking in AZ by supporting SB1708

 

SB1708 Goes to the House Next Week

We're being told that the AZ House will be debating SB1708 early next week. Yes, there is still tenacious opposition, but we are confident that our message-- this bill will create more AZ jobs!--is hitting the intended target. This is one of our last chances to advocate for SB1708. We simply can't afford to see this bill die. Here is what you can do to help:

Task #1: Send an e-mail to all 31 Republican members of the House and politely urge them to support SB1708. Keep the message positive and aimed at the economic benefits of this bill--for example: "Thank you for supporting SB1708 which will bring thousands of jobs to Arizona." "Thank you for voting 'yes' on SB1708 which will create economic opportunities for small businesses like mine throughout the state." "This bill is a fiscally responsible way to bring jobs to AZ." "SB1708 is better than any competitive film bill created by other states because it emphasizes infrastructure and permanent jobs." You can copy/paste the e-mail addresses of all the House Republicans from this PDF. If you wish to know their full names and districts, click on the list of the entire House here.

Task #2: Send an e-mail to all 29 Democratic members of the House and courteously advocate that they support SB1708. Maintain an upbeat message emphasizing that SB1708 brings creative jobs and benefits education--for example: "Thank you for supporting SB1708 which will provide permanent creative industry jobs throughout the state." "SB1708 will allow high school, college, and university graduates to stay in AZ to fulfill their dreams here rather than moving away to CA." "Film students at AZ colleges and universities will now be able to intern on big-time productions, benefitting their education and fortifying their resumes." "This bill will benefit local actors and artisans alike due to the increased production in every corner of the state. You can copy/paste the e-mail addresses of all the House Democrats from this PDF. If you wish to know their full names and districts, click on the list of the entire House here.

Task 3: Continue flooding your social media with positive messages (complete with hashtags) which reaffirm why film incentives are great for small businesses and the AZ economy. Feel free to add your own wording to help personalize it. Suggested examples of what to post on Twitter and Facebook are in this PDF. - Film Tucson