"Freedom is when the people can speak, democracy is when the government listens."- Alastair Farrugia Senate Judiciary Committee in the act of passing voter suppression bills. Hi everyone! A plethora of bills have already been introduced this session with more to come. Unfortunately, some of those bills are aimed at further undermining our democracy by making it more difficult for people to actually vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard three bills this past week, two of which are clearly aimed at suppressing voter turnout. One of the most outrageous is SB1046 early voting list; mailing ballot (Ugenti-Rita), which says that voters who request an early ballot can only have that ballot counted if it is returned by mail. It cannot be dropped off at an early voting location or the polls on Election Day. Please call or send a message to your state senator and ask him/her/them to oppose bills that make it more difficult to vote in our elections and that impose additional unnecessary costs and hurdles to voting. Take Action to Protect Voting Rights! The Senate introduced a joint resolution to authorize the Arizona Department of Water Resources to sign on to the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan. SJR1001 Colorado river drought contingency plan (Kerr, Otondo) manages to not mention climate change or additional needed actions key to Arizona's water future. Bills to facilitate the plan have not been introduced and nothing has been introduced in the House even though the deadline for signing on to the plan is January 31st. Please contact your legislators and ask them to insist on a plan that recognizes climate change and
Transcript
"Freedom is when the people can speak, democracy is when the government listens."- AlastairFarrugia
Senate Judiciary Committee in the act of passing voter suppression bills.Hi everyone! A plethora of bills have already been introduced this session with more to come. Unfortunately, someof those bills are aimed at further undermining our democracy by making it more difficult for people toactually vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard three bills this past week, two of which areclearly aimed at suppressing voter turnout. One of the most outrageous is SB1046 early voting list;mailing ballot (Ugenti-Rita), which says that voters who request an early ballot can only have thatballot counted if it is returned by mail. It cannot be dropped off at an early voting location or the pollson Election Day.
Please call or send a message to your state senator and ask him/her/them to oppose bills that makeit more difficult to vote in our elections and that impose additional unnecessary costs and hurdles tovoting.
Take Action to Protect Voting Rights!
The Senate introduced a joint resolution to authorize the Arizona Department of Water Resources tosign on to the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan. SJR1001 Colorado river drought contingencyplan (Kerr, Otondo) manages to not mention climate change or additional needed actions key toArizona's water future. Bills to facilitate the plan have not been introduced and nothing has beenintroduced in the House even though the deadline for signing on to the plan is January 31st. Pleasecontact your legislators and ask them to insist on a plan that recognizes climate change and
Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter <[email protected]> Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 8:22 PMReply-To: Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter <reply-fe8d1578726104797c-418_HTML-98218491-7225769-4@emails.sierraclub.org>To: [email protected]
promotes water conservation, including by agriculture, rather than a plan that promotes groundwaterpumping, land subsidence, and fissures, and continues to subsidize unsustainable practices. If you are not sure who your legislators are, just use this Find My Legislator link and enter youraddress. To contact legislators, go to Members. If you don't have an account for the Legislature's Request to Speak (RTS) system, I encourage youto set one up. It is a great way to make your voice heard on bills we track. You need not speak,although we always encourage that too, but can register your support or opposition to bills whilethey are in committee. To set up an account, just select Request to Speak, then select "Create AnAccount" and fill out the information. You will need to go to the Capitol or to the Tucson legislativeoffices to activate it or you can contact me and I will help you activate it. Here is a short YouTubevideo on how to set up an account as well. Thank you so much for taking action!
Sandy Bahr Chapter Director Sierra Club -- Grand Canyon Chapter
photo by Lydia Wilson
Coming Up This Week
Monday, January 28th Senate Committee on Government in Senate Hearing Room (SHR) 3 at 2:00 PM
SB1139 redistricting; legislative district one (Fann: Campbell, Stringer) designates thelegislative district that includes Prescott, the first territorial capital as Legislative District 1. Thisis fine and is the tradition for Arizona.SCM1001 border wall funding (Farnsworth D.) encourages Congress to pass the Fund andComplete the Border Wall Act. Where the wall exists already, it has caused enormous harm topeople, communities, wildlife, wildlife habitat, cultural resources, and more. We must continueto oppose funding for this destructive wall. OPPOSE.
Tuesday, January 29th
House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water in HHR1 at 2:00 PM
HB2484 irrigation grandfathered right; containerized plants (Griffin) allows groundwater to beused to water plants in containers in active management areas (AMAs), which was previouslynot permitted by agency rule. The ADWR rule treated containerized agriculture as a non-irrigation use and this provision allows either non-irrigation water or groundwater to be used, ifthere is an irrigation grandfathered right.
Wednesday, January 30th House Committee on Appropriations in HHR1 at 1:30 PM or recess of the floor
Presentations.HB2013 appropriation; Arizona water protection fund (Griffin: Townsend) appropriates $1million to the Arizona Water Protection Fund, which still funds some good projects despite theefforts of Representative Griffin.
Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy at 2:00 PM in SHR109
Executive NominationsArizona Game and Fish Commission Appointment Recommendation Board - Note thatthis recommendation board has helped to give us one of the most hostile Game andFish Commissions in recent history relative to predators and habitat protection and onethat lacks diversity.
Phillip D. TownsendPresentation: Arizona Power Authority
House Committee on Federal Relations in HHR4 at 2:00 PM
Presentation: Current Status of the Navajo Generating Station Negotiations
Thursday, January 31st House Committee on Land and Agriculture in HHR3 at 9:00 AM
HB2095 agricultural property classification; water reduction (Cook: Campbell, Dunn, et al.)allows property to continue to be classified as agricultural property if there has been a partialreduction in water supply. We will keep an eye on this and find out more about the actualimpacts.HB2271 public lands day; holiday (Dunn: Osborne, Teller et al.) establishes Public Lands Dayas a nonlegal holiday on the first Saturday in April.HB2272 G&F; resident; definition (Dunn: Teller, Pratt) clarifies the definition of resident toinclude youth for purposes of hunting licenses.
Senate Committee on Judiciary in SHR109 at 9:00 AM
SB1090 emergency voting procedures; board action (Ugenti-Rita) requires someone to jumpthrough additional hoops to demonstrate that they have an emergency in order to vote overthe weekend prior to a presidential preference election.
For more information on what's happening at the Legislature, please contact Sandy Bahr at (602)253-8633 or [email protected].
Environmental Day 2019Environmental Day at the Arizona Capitol is scheduled for February 13, 2019. Please use this link toRSVP. Contact Sandy Bahr at (602) 253-8633 or [email protected] with questions. It isimportant to RSVP so we can connect you with a team to meet with your own legislators.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM
1700 W Washington Phoenix
To call your legislators, go to Member Roster and find their phone numbers. If you're outside thePhoenix area, you can call your legislators' offices at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call 602-926-3559 (Senate) or 602-926-4221 (House) and ask to be connected with your legislators.
