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Legislative Updates 2009Sierra Club 2009 Legislative Update #3 January 30, 2009 Hi everyone! Today, the Legislature is likely voting out a budget that will significantly harm our state’s natural resources – and a lot more. It includes a significant hit to the State Parks Heritage Fund – a total of $4.9 million for the last five months of Fiscal Year 2009. This is just a portion of how bad Parks is being hit. The State Parks Board is meeting on Tuesday to discuss layoffs and park closures. This week, please call your legislators in the Arizona House of Representatives and ask them to support HB2332 schools; energy contracts (Boone). It requires the state board of education to adopt rules for energy performance contracts and renewable energy power purchase contracts to purchase energy saving and renewable energy measures. It allows schools to establish an energy and water savings account that consists of a designated pool of capital investment monies to fund energy or water saving projects in school facilities. This bill will help schools save energy, water, and money. The bill is being heard in the House Education Committee on Monday, so please contact members of this committee as well. Members of the Committee include representatives: Crandall (Chair) (602) 926- 3020, rcrandall@azleg.gov ; Goodale (Vice-Chair) (602) 926- 5408, dgoodale@azleg.gov ; Barto (602) 926-5766, nbarto@azleg.gov ; Court (602) 926-4467, scourt@azleg.gov ; Hendrix (602) 926- 5735, lhendrix@azleg.gov ; Meyer (602) 926- 3037, emeyer@azleg.gov ; Schapira (602) 926- 3028, dschapira@azleg.gov ; Waters, 926- 5550, rwaters@azleg.gov ; Williams, 926-5839, vwilliams@azleg.gov ; and Young-Wright (602) 926-3398, nyoungwright@azleg.gov. To email your legislators or find their direct phone numbers, click on Legislators or paste http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp into your browser. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to http://www.vote-smart.org or call the House or Senate information desks. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislators’ offices toll free at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-3559 (Senate) or (602) 926-4221 (House) and ask them to connect you with your legislators. Here is what is happening this week: Monday, February 2, 2009 Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Infrastructure and the Public Debt at 1:30 p.m. in SHR 109 Presentation by the Arizona Department of Transportation on Statewide Transportation Needs Funding Presentation by the Arizona State Parks Board (Perhaps they will provide a list of parks they will have to close under the new budget. House Committee on Natural Resources and Rural Affairs at 2:00 p.m. in House Hearing Room 4 HB2174 firearms; game refuges (Antenori, Gowan, Stevens, et al) allows a person who has a concealed weapon permit to enter a game refuge with the person’s weapon. I fail to see the need for this. House Education Committee at 2:00 p.m. in House Hearing Room 3 HB2332 schools; energy contracts (Boone) See above. SUPPORT. Tuesday, February 3, 2009 House Environment Committee at 2:00 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 Presentation by Kimball Rasmussen of Desert Power in Utah on Climate Change: “Logic vs. Emotions” - Bring a handkerchief HB2046 used tire disposal; fire code (Konopnicki) amends the guidelines for waste tire storage to conform to the standards in the International Fire Code. This is a common sense bill. SUPPORT. HB2202 county stormwater management; reference correction (Barnes) makes a technical correction. I am not sure why they are doing this as the Environmental Protection Agency will have to take this program back because the state has not funded it. MONITOR. Wednesday, February 4, 2009 House Commerce Committee at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2240 rule making; state agencies; moratorium (Tobin) puts a moratorium on any rule making until June 30, 2010, if the rule would have any additional costs associated with it for other agencies or for anyone else. There are many rules that might have an additional cost up front, but save us money later. Prevention is cheaper than trying to clean up or fix things after the fact. While there is an exemption for rules that are to prevent an imminent threat to public health and safety, this legislation is far too broad and totally unnecessary and merely another attempt by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and the members of the Chamber to shirk their responsibilities to conduct business in a manner that does not pollute the air and water and that does not burden future generations with their mess. OPPOSE. HB2259 local development fees; procedures (Biggs, Paton: Quelland) adds additional hoops for cities and counties to jump through relative to imposition of development impact fees and narrows the application of the fees. OPPOSE. House Appropriations Committee at 2:00 p.m. in House Hearing Room 1 FY2010 Budget Presentations for the State Land Department and State Parks Board Thursday, February 5, 2009 House Committee on Water and Energy at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2142 county water authority; Colorado river (McLain, Mason, Aguirre, et al) allows for use of Colorado River water in western Arizona for other uses. Currently it restricts the use to industrial MONITOR. HB2247 home sales; water supply disclosure (Ableser, Barnes, M. Garcia, et al) requires a subdivider who sells one or more lots in a subdivision located outside of an active management area to record a document that contains a statement of water adequacy or inadequacy for that subdivision. SUPPORT. HB2335 improvement districts; renewable energy (Mason) allows improvement districts to be formed in order to acquire, install, and improve energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements as well as for water conservation and water resource management improvements. These can include solar energy systems, rainwater harvesting equipment and systems, and gray water systems. SUPPORT. HB2336 community facilities districts; renewable energy (Mason) includes renewable energy in definition of public infrastructure. Community facilities districts are generally formed to help accommodate urban, suburban, and rural sprawl. The new definition is a step in the right direction, but the mechanism is poor. MONITOR. HB2352 aquifer protection permits; natural gas (Mason) exempts injection wells for natural gas storage from getting aquifer protection permits. The list of exemptions is far too long already. I see no justification for this. The aquifer protection permit program is intended to prevent pollution and be a protective program. All of these exemptions reverse that. OPPOSE. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 3 HB2167 transportation district working group (Biggs) establishes a Transportation District Working Group charged with studying and making recommendations related to the division of the state into transportation districts. There is nothing inherently evil in this bill, but I expect nothing good will come from the recommendations. MONITOR. HB2232 wildlife conservation special plates (JP Weiers) mandates that the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) issue Wildlife Conservation special plates if $32,000 is paid to the MVD by December 31, 2009. A portion of the proceeds from these plates go to the Wildlife Conservation Council, leaders in this group continue to support some very bad wildlife legislation. MONITOR. House Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4 HB2048 local elections; signature requirements (Reagan, Ableser, Barnes, et al) allows cities to require a minimum number of signatures for candidates if that city has a nonpartisan election. This seems okay. For more information on bills we are tracking, go to http://arizona.sierraclub.org/political_action/tracker/ . To email legislators go to http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to http://www.vote-smart.org (You will need your 9-digit zipcode.) or call the House or Senate information desks. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislators’ offices toll free at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-3559 (Senate) or (602) 926-4221 (House). Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890. For more information on legislation go to http://www.azleg.gov. Sandy Bahr
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2009 Legislative Updates Bill Tracker
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