Arizona Bills to Watch, March 13, 2020
Sponsor: Gail Griffin
Summary: Resolution recognizes “the importance of the hardrock mining industry to Arizona’s economy and support(s) the involvement of Arizona’s government and the hardrock mining industry in any future regulatory changes to ensure that operations continue to be safe and productive for the State of Arizona.”
Sponsor: Bob Thorpe
Summary: Resolution requests that “the Attorney General and the State Land Department oppose” the creation of any new or federal landholdings, including opposing changes to any federal landholdings without federal approval, and that the AG and State Land Department use “every means available” to reduce the percentage of federal landholdings within the state of Arizona and to eliminate wilderness area designations of public lands.
Sponsor: Gail Griffin
Summary: Resolution opposes “recent federal legislation” that “limits land use and energy production.” The resolution specifically “condemns” the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act and the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2019 for banning “oil, natural gas, geothermal, coal, uranium and other mineral production” in parts of Arizona.
Sponsor: Mark Finchem, John Allen, Leo Biasiucci, Walter Blackman, Frank Carroll, Regina Cobb, David Cook, Becky Nutt, Bret Roberts, Sonny Borelli
Summary: Bill amends existing law so that legislature and governor need to consent before any private land can be sold, gifted or granted to the federal government.
Sponsor: Bob Thorpe
Summary: Bill bans trail camera use from July 31 to December 31 each year, and from June 30th to December 31 if the trail camera is capable of transmitting images, videos, or location of wildlife.
Sponsor: Bob Thorpe
Summary: Bill bans hunters from setting up a blind or field dressing wildlife if they are within one-hundred yards of a water hole; allows private landowners to post a sign notifying hunters that these activities are banned.
Sponsor: Gail Griffin
Summary: Bill expands language to that counts towards sufficient legal notice that sportsmen can’t hunt on private lands.
Sponsor: Walter Blackman
Summary: Bill declares that any regulations from the Bureau of Land Management or any other federal agency issued on or after July 1, 2020, are “void and have no effect” in the state of Arizona, and further states that it is the duty of the Arizona legislature to adopt and enact all laws concerning resource management in the state.
Sponsor: Steve Pierce; Rusty Bowers; Tim Dunn; Mark Finchem; Gail Griffin; Sylvia Allen, Karen Fann
Summary: Bill forces tribes with “outstanding water disputes with the state…to settle those claims before they can renegotiate the number of slots and games they offer at casinos.”
Sponsor: Gail Griffin
Summary: Bill downgrades the penalty of breaking rules surrounding hunting from a misdemeanor to a petty offense.
Sponsor: Gail Griffin, Rusty Bowers, David Cook, Tim Dunn, Kirsten Engel, Mark Finchem, Rosanna Gabaldón, Aaron Lieberman, Jen Longdon, Becky Nutt, Steve Pierce
Summary: This legislation allows the Arizona Archaeological Advisory Commission to be in existence for one more year (as opposed to three years).
Sponsor: Sonny Borelli
Summary: Bill amends existing law so that legislature and governor need to consent before any private land can be sold, gifted or granted to the federal government.
Sponsor: David Gowan: Sonny Borrelli, Karen Fann, David Farnsworth, Vince Leach; Leo Biasucci, Walter Blackman, Noel Campbell, Mark Finchem, Gail Griffin, Anthony Kern, Jay Lawrence, Bekcy Nutt, Tony Rivero, Bob Thorpe, Ben Toma, Jeff Weninger
Summary: This bill Directs the Governor to appoint a State Permitting Director (Director) to implement an online state permitting dashboard for coordination of applicable required state authorizations for eligible projects that participate. Requires the Director to determine, within 30 days of the project sponsor’s notification submission, whether a submitted project qualifies as an eligible project and whether it will be included as a participating project.
Sponsor: Randall Friese, Reginald Bolding, Geraldine Peten, Pamela Powers Hannley
Summary: Resolution proposes amending the Arizona State Constitution by asking the Governor to appoint a state mine inspector with the advice and consent of the Senate. It also states that the legislature will enact laws regulating the operation and equipment of mines in the state to provide for the health and safety of mine workers.
Sponsor: Kristen Engel
Summary: Bill would “change rules for creating ‘irrigation non-expansion areas’ (INA) to make it easier to limit well drilling.”
Sponsor: Arlando Teller; Andres Cano, Charlene Fernandez, Alma Hernandez, Jennifer Jermaine, Jennifer Longdon, Jennifer Pawlik, Diego Rodriguez, Athena Salman, Lorenzo Sierra, Myron Tsosie
Summary: Bill appropriates $10,000,000 “from the state general fund in fiscal year 2020-2021 to the Arizona state parks heritage fund.”
Sponsor: Noel Campbell
Summary: Bill appropriates $5,300,000 “from the state general fund in fiscal year 2020-2021 to the Arizona state parks board to distribute to the city of Prescott to purchase property to establish a regional park in Yavapai county.”
Sponsor: Joanne Osborne, Walter Blackman, Timothy Dunn, Brophy McGee
Summary: Bill appropriates $10,000,000 “from the state general fund in fiscal year 2020-2021 to the Arizona state parks heritage fund.”
Sponsor: Myron Tsosie
Summary: Bill declares that a “person may not engage in hydraulic fracturing in this state and may not collect, store or treat water in this state if that water is used in, generated by or resulting from the process of hydraulic fracturing.”
Sponsor: Juan Mendez; Martín Quezada
Summary: Bill amends Arizona law so that any person who causes horizontal hydraulic fracturing to occur in the state of Arizona is subject to a civil penalty of at least $10,000 each day for operations, including explorations.
Sponsor: Kate Brophy McGee; Sean Bowie
Summary: Bill changes the amount appropriated from the state lottery fund to the Arizona State Parks Board Heritage Fund from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000.
Sponsor: Andrea Dalessandro: Lela Alston, Sean Bowie, David Bradley, Lupe Contreras, Sally Gonzales, Juan Mendez, Tony Navarrete, Lisa Otondo, Jamescita Peshlakai, Martin Quezada, Rebecca Rios, Victoria Steele
Summary: This bill would “place a temporary moratorium on new well-drilling in areas near the San Pedro River and the Verde River, which are threatened by the proliferation of wells.”
Sponsor: Kirsten Engel
Summary: Legislation “would mandate that counties outside of the Active Management Areas (AMA) adopt an adequate water requirement for subdivided lands within the county. Currently counties outside of an AMA have an option to adopt the mandatory adequacy provisions upon unanimous vote of the county Board of Supervisors.”
Sponsor: Regina Cobb; Leo Biasiucci
Summary: Bill would block GSC Farm LLC’s “proposal to take water from farmland along the Colorado River and sell it to a growing Phoenix suburb.”
Sponsor: Gail Griffin
Summary: Bill amends Arizona water rights law to state that “a person, this state or a political subdivision of this state with a better right to appropriate water may not prevent the exercise of a junior right to that water unless preventing the exercise of the junior right would produce water for beneficial use for the better right holder.”
Sponsor: Gail Griffin, Rusty Bowers, Tim Dunn, Becky Nutt
Summary: Bill “allows a water right holder to file a ‘Water Conservation Plan’ with ADWR. Upon filing a plan that outlines water conservation measures that are planned or will be implemented, the water rights included in that notice would be shielded from a claim of abandonment or nonuse.”
Sponsor: Regina Cobb; Leo Biasiucci, Walter Blackman, Isela Blanc, Frank Carroll, Kirsten Engel, Joanne Osborne, Bob Thorpe
Summary: This bill would “would enable county supervisors to create a new ‘rural management area,’ in which an advisory council would be charged with setting local management goals and laying out measures to achieve them.”