Election Integrity / Voting Rights
SB1092 update – As reported last week this bill, sponsored by Michelle Ugenti-Rita, would have required additional early voting ID requirements. However, it was tabled. We have heard it was in response to RTS comments. What we are doing here matters! But remember, nothing is dead until the Legislature adjourns. This things tend to resurface in the scramble of the last weeks.
Contact our Coconino County Legislators and use Request to Speak regarding these bills:
Environmental
HCR 2015 – OPPOSE – Directs the Attorney General and State Land Department to oppose any new or additional federal landholdings in Arizona and any change in status of federal, state, or private land to national parks, monuments, conservation areas, wilderness areas, or other uses without legislative approval; to use every means available to reduce the percentage of land in federal ownership; and to use every means available to eliminate wilderness area designations.
HB 2073 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $250,000 to the Arizona Trail Fund.
HB 2101 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $1 million to the Arizona Water Protection Fund, to provide grants for projects that protect water quality and quantity, and that maintain, enhance, and restore rivers and streams and associated riparian habitat.
HB 2201 and HB 2551 – SUPPORT – Appropriate $10 million to the State Parks Heritage Fund, to support state parks and open spaces. After being defunded ten years ago, these bills would restore state funding.
HB 2212 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $500,000 to the Department of Environmental Quality to test public water systems for the “Forever Chemicals” Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), and to assist with remediation upon finding levels of concern. PFAS are widely-used, human-made chemicals that can cause serious health problems, including increased risk of high blood pressure and dangerous health conditions in pregnant women, low birth weight, developmental problems in children, thyroid disease, cancer, and high cholesterol levels.
HB 2213 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $20 million to the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund, for use in identifying and addressing the threats to human health and the environment posed by contaminated soil and groundwater sites.
HB 2217 – SUPPORT – Continues the Outdoor Recreation Coordinating Commission, for the distribution of federal and state recreational project monies and to assist the State Parks Board.
HB 2218 – SUPPORT – Increases the required experience for the State Mine Inspector position from four to eight years, of which four must be in Arizona and include direct operational or management experience at a mine and requiring knowledge of miners’ occupational health and safety matters.
HB 2219 – SUPPORT – Prohibits hunting, trapping, or fishing, or guiding these activities as well as driving wildlife from closed areas or while trespassing. Allows private property owners and lessees to prohibit these activities on their property by posting signs.
HB 2252 – OPPOSE – Declares that all federal regulations in effect now or adopted in the future are null and void in the State of Arizona, and that the State shall provide all laws governing the use and management of the land and resources within the state’s boundaries.
HB 2338 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $400,000 to the Department of Education to distribute to public schools (up to $1,500 per school) for tree-planting projects. Priority given to schools serving students from low-income families.
HB 2339 – SUPPORT – Prohibits releasing balloon outdoors. This bill originates from a Girl Scout proposal to reduce litter and protect wildlife from eating or becoming entrapped in balloon waste. Exceptions for scientific balloons, hot air balloon rides, and inadvertent releases of less than five balloons.
HB 2417 – SUPPORT – Authorizes natural resources conservation districts (formerly, soil conservation districts) to establish education centers to increase public awareness of water conservation statewide, including water conservation methods and best practices.
HB 2515 – SUPPORT – Bans the sale or use of chlorpyrifos, a dangerous insecticide used on farm crops and in livestock operations, golf courses, lumber treatments, and household bait stations. Chlorpyrifos is linked to low IQ and permanent neurological harm in children, and at high levels, is acutely toxic to children and adults. Farmworkers and their children and communities face a higher level of risk. Chlorpyrifos is extremely toxic to bees, other pollinators, and beneficial insects as well as fish and aquatic life. It is extremely toxic to some bird species and moderately toxic to others.
HB 2554 – SUPPORT – Strengthens the Drinking Water Aquifer Water Quality Standards, and requires the Department of Environmental Quality to adopt numeric standards for certain toxins including PFAS (“Forever Chemicals”), chromium-6, and 1,4 dioxane.
HB 2564 and HB 2565 – SUPPORT – Climate Change Legislation. Both of these bills establish a Climate Resiliency Group to develop a plan to protect and improve the resiliency of Arizona’s human population and natural and economic systems to climate change risks. HB 2564 contains additional details and requirements relating to the planning effort.
HB 2567 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $100,000 to the Department of Environmental Quality to conduct screening at charter schools for lead in drinking water. DEQ has sampled public schools statewide, but the drinking water in charter schools may have gone untested. There are no safe lead levels, and even minute amounts in children can result in slower growth and development, learning and behavioral problems, lower IQ scores, and hearing and speech difficulties. At high levels, lead poisoning results in coma, convulsions, and death.
HB 2570 – SUPPORT – Continues the Archaeology Advisory Commission for another three years.
SB 1015 – SUPPORT – Limits the use of pesticides in cultivating medical marijuana to pesticide products that qualify for a “minimum risk” federal exemption.
SB 1046 – OPPOSE – Prohibits, without the Legislature and Governor’s prior approval, the sale, gift, or other transfer of any privately-owned property if the transfer would remove the property from the tax rolls.
SB 1160 – SUPPORT – Firefighters and Peace Officers Workers Compensation Program. Adds ovarian and breast cancer to the list of cancers presumed to be an occupational disease resulting from on-the-job exposure to cancer-causing substances.
SB 1161 – SUPPORT – Firefighters and Peace Officers Workers Compensation Program. This bill is broader than SB 1160, and treats all cancers as presumed to be an occupational disease resulting from on-the-job exposure to cancer-causing substances.
Native Americans
HB 2209 – SUPPORT – Requires the Board of Education to incorporate Native American History into the existing K – 12 curricula, and provides for tribal consultation and teacher and administrator training.
HB 2210 – SUPPORT – Replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
HB 2447 – OPPOSE – Prohibits the state from negotiating, entering into, or renewing any tribal-state gaming compact with a tribe that is in litigation with the state over water rights.
SB 1026 – SUPPORT – Replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
SB 1192 – SUPPORT – Appropriates $1 million to the Arizona State Parks Board for distribution to Navajo County for construction of a Little Colorado River Visitor Center.
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