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Legislative Updates 2009Sierra Club 2009 Legislative Update #2 “The greatest discoveries of science have always been those that forced us to rethink our beliefs about the universe and our place in it.” ~Robert L. Park, in The New York Times, 7 December 1999 January 23, 2009 Hi everyone! What a week it has been. We have a new president and a chance to reverse some of the downward trend on environmental protection at the national level – a chance to bring a little science back to public policy, especially at Energy and EPA. At the state level, we are still waiting to see what our new governor will do. Her record on environmental protection as a legislator was pretty dismal, but being governor is different, so . . . . The legislative chairmen’s budget recommendations do include diversions of Heritage Fund dollars and will severely affect State Parks, Game and Fish, and the Department of Environmental Quality, among others. I will have more on this next week. This week, please call and ask your legislators to oppose HB2235 game and fish commissioner; appointment (JP Weiers, Gowan, Montenegro, et al). This bill requires appointees to the Game and Fish Commission to have a hunting license or a combined hunting and fishing license for five years prior to being appointed to the Commission. It also requires that they be registered with the same political party for five years and must be a resident of Arizona for 10 years. It makes all the application information for the commission public information. This bill is just ridiculous. I am sure those who thought up this “lovely” legislation will try to characterize those who oppose it as anti-hunting, but it is not about that. It is about disqualifying people for the Commission who are knowledgeable about wildlife by setting an arbitrary and unfair standard. Wildlife is managed as a public trust resource by the Game and Fish Commission and Department. It does not belong to those who hunt. Setting bag limits for the take of wildlife is one small part of the Commission’s responsibility. They work on habitat issues, education, and yes, even nongame wildlife issues. Apparently, the proponents of this bill are trying to disqualify wildlife biologists such as Jennifer Martin and Bob Hernbrode from serving on the Commission in the future. The bill is being heard in the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee on Monday, so it is important you contact Committee members first and right away, then contact your own legislators. Members of the Committee include representatives: Konopnicki (Chair) (602) 926-5409, bkonopnicki@azleg.gov; Jones (Vice-Chair) (602) 926-3002, rjones@azleg.gov; Deschene (602) 926-5862, cdeschene@azleg.gov; Fleming (602) 926-5836, pfleming@azleg.gov ; Pancrazi (602) 926-3004, lpancrazi@azleg.gov ; Pratt (602) 926-5761, fpratt@azleg.gov ; Stevens (602) 926-4321, dstevens@azleg.gov; and Jerry Weiers (602) 926-5894, jpweiers@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 (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) and ask them to connect you with your legislators. Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890. Here is what is happening this week: Monday, January 26, 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 House Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee at 2:00 p.m. in House Hearing Room 5 HB2064 wildlife; guides; wasted meat (Konopnicki) allows the Game and Fish Commission to suspend a license for up to five years for wasting of game meat. It adds in a definition of wildlife guide. This bill seems fine. NO POSITION CURRENTLY. HB2157 wildlife; aquatic invasive species (McLain, Goodale, Jones, et al) allows the Game and Fish Department to establish a program for limiting the introduction of nonnative invasive aquatic species such as the Quagga Mussel. This is a good idea. SUPPORT. HB2235 game and fish commissioner; appointment (JP Weiers, Gowan, Montenegro, et al) See above. Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Senate Appropriations Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 109 Budget Hearing on Game and Fish Wednesday, January 28, 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 Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Discussions Thursday, January 29, 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 of this water for industrial. Couldn’t they just leave a little more in the river? 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 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.
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2009 Legislative Updates Bill Tracker |
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