NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 24, 2016
Contact: Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club (602) 253-8633 – office, (602) 999-5790 – mobile
Sierra Club Releases 2016 Report Card for Arizona Legislature and Governor
Legislature Squandering What Makes Arizona Special
Phoenix, AZ – The 52nd Legislature’s focus was on limiting safeguards for much of what makes Arizona special. Legislators sought to further weaken water laws, promoted unaccountable special taxing districts to accommodate unsustainable developments, clouded the future of rooftop solar, and passed bills to hinder protection of public lands via national monuments and via the use of impacts fees for regional parks and open space.
“The Arizona Legislature is determined to allow harm to what makes Arizona special – unique and threatened rivers such as the San Pedro, endangered Mexican gray wolves, public lands around Grand Canyon,” said Sandy Bahr, Chapter Director for Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. “Rather than taking advantage of our 300-plus days of sunshine and growing solar industry and the jobs its provides, legislators passed a bill to hinder installations and even considered proposed constitutional amendments that would have likely destroyed the rooftop solar industry in Arizona.”
Although many of the bills to advance this anti-conservation agenda did make it to the Governor’s desk, three harmful bills were vetoed, including two terrible water bills and a big developer/land speculator bill that would have made it easier for developers to control special taxing districts for infrastructure. In other good news, despite a hard push from the Governor’s office earlier in the session, the Senate did not advance a repeal of the State Parks Board. The Senate also did not bring to the floor two referenda that would have weakened the Voter Protection provisions of the Arizona Constitution, and a bill to allow electronic billboards in more parts of the state was deep-sixed in a Senate Committee.
In addition to the anti-environmental measures, once again the Legislature passed no bills to significantly advance conservation or environmental protection, although there were a couple of amendments that improved bills and programs, including one on notification of pesticide spraying in schools.
“While our state faces more and more challenges relative to climate change, water quality and quantity, air quality, protection of wildlife and its habitat, transition to clean energy, and continued environmental inequity, the Arizona Legislature consistently seeks to take us backward by weakening state laws, limiting local government’s ability to protect resources, and objecting to and challenging important federal protections,” said Bahr.
The lack of progress on environmental protection was reflected in the Environmental Report Card grades. This year, all but one Republican in the Senate and two in the House received failing grades. Five representatives earned an “A+,” which means they voted 100 percent pro-environment and also did not miss a vote on the key bills Sierra Club scored. Environmental Super Stars included Representatives Randall Friese (D-9), Matt Kopec (D-9), Stefanie Mach (D-10), Debbie McCune Davis (D-30), and Eric Meyer (D-28).
Special recognition goes to Environmental Superstar Representative Debbie McCune Davis, who is ending her decades of service in the legislature at the end of 2016. She has served with integrity and dedication and has consistently voted to support environmental protection and against efforts to weaken protections for our water, wildlife, air, and more. She will be missed at the Arizona Legislature.
Senators were graded using 12 bills and two memorials. House members were graded using 14 bills, two memorials, and two referenda.
Governor Doug Ducey earned a “D+” on the 2016 Environmental Report Card. Although we appreciate him vetoing the two bad water bills and the bill on community facilities districts, he did again sign the bill to limit cities’ ability to require energy benchmarking and a separate bill to stop cities from limiting the use of plastic bags and other disposable containers that litter the landscape and fill up landfills. He signed two anti-wolf bills, a bill to divert dollars from habitat protection, a measure to criminalize helping with early ballot collection, and a bill to hinder rooftop solar installations. He was graded on 12 bills.
Everyone was graded on a curve. The bills focused on water, development, energy, wildlife and habitat, state parks, Voter Protection Act, national monuments, electronic billboards, and elections.
Sierra Club is one of the country’s oldest grassroots environmental organization with more than 40,000 members and supporters in Arizona as part of the Grand Canyon Chapter. At the end of each legislative session, the Grand Canyon Chapter develops its report card in order to inform Arizonans about their legislators’ voting records on key environmental issues.
The Sierra Club report card is available on the website in English here and Spanish here.
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