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 The Arizona Legislature Has Some Bad Bills In The Hopper. By Tim Vanderpool FUTURE SHOCK SURE has a firm foothold in Arizona. From amorphous shopping malls and pre-fab villages to endlessly flabelliform freeways, the Brave New World just keeps marching on, come hell or high temperatures. Not to be left behind, statehouse visionaries are determined to drag us screaming into the millennium with a bumper crop of bad legislation. Among them are efforts to gut the already pathetic Growing Smarter plan, shred a few more civil rights, and squash a woman's right to choose. "There are just so many bills that constitute bad overall policy," says Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach coordinator for the Sierra Club. "Combined, some of them would do a lot of damage. Probably the area we're most concerned about relates to local authorities and their ability to manage growth."
She singles out Senate Bill 1021 as "one of the more horrible bills." Sponsored by Democrat Gus Arzberger, it sets a standard 20 percent value reduction rate for property impacted by local general or comprehensive land use plans. "Then the property owner would have to be compensated," Bahr says. "If this bill passed, it would make Growing Smarter totally moot, instead of just lame and weak. And it's kind of ironic, because Arzberger sits on the Growing Smarter Commission." The bill has passed the Senate, and currently sits in the House. Bahr says it's part of a backroom deal, cut last year by Gov. Jane Dee Hull to gain support among lawmakers for her Growing Smarter scheme. For Bob Beatson, head of the Arizona League of Conservation Voters, House Joint Resolution 2001 ranks among the legislature's more sordid recent efforts. Reflecting lawmakers' sentiments, the "ranting and raving" non-binding resolution would return the environmental state of affairs to the dark ages, he says. "It's specifically aimed at communicating with the feds, a political postcard from Arizona that stresses weakening the Endangered Species Act, hurting efforts to protect forests, and basically running roughshod over the environment." Sponsors include Republicans Bill McGibbon, Jeff Groscost and Steve Huffman. SHIFTING FROM BAD to worse, Arizona Common Cause Director Dennis Burke points to House Bill 2081 as a particularly nasty affair. Officially championed by Republican Richard Kyle, Burke says the measure is secretly sponsored by the hegemonic Salt River Project utility. The bill would let SRP pump cash into initiative and referendum campaigns, a practice he says was largely curtailed by last year's Clean Election ballot proposition. "In the process of trying to create an exemption (for SRP), the law is so badly written that it would enable almost all tax districts, such as irrigation and fire districts--just about everything except libraries and public transit--to make contributions," he says. That means those districts could use public funds to influence campaigns, regardless of how taxpayers felt about a particular issue. "It would also make it easier for corporations to solicit political contributions from their employees," Burke says. "Right now, strict regulations say they can only solicit by mail, and only twice a year. And there can't be any reprisals if an employee says no. "With this bill, the reprisal prohibition would remain, but the two-times-per-year and mail-only limits would be removed. So corporations could constantly be haranguing their employees for political contributions, which is absolutely wrong." On the civil rights front, Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the ACLU's Arizona Chapter, says several fingerprinting measures go too far. "I think pretty soon we're going to need to be fingerprinted before we leave our homes," she says. "There are a whole slew of bills that require fingerprinting for various professional positions, some of which may--by a real stretch--make sense. Many others really don't at all." She also criticizes Senate Bill 1279, which would make it a felony to post information about police officers on the web. Sponsored by Republican Marc Spitzer and Democrat Linda Aguirre, the bill arose from last year's flurry over a website posting the names and addresses of all Phoenix cops. "From our perspective, it might also have the ludicrous result of putting somebody in prison for publishing information which is already available in the telephone book," Eisenberg says. To date, California is the only state with such a law. "There are other bills that attempt to make information about public and governmental officials secret," she says. "Our concern is that this is a pretty slippery slope. Pretty soon we're going to have a secret government." Meanwhile, the Legislature continues injecting public policy directly into the womb. According to Virginia Yrun, president of Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, two absurd bills would restrict a woman's right to abortion information. "Interestingly enough, Senate Bill 1343 is titled 'a Woman's Right to Know,' " she says. Sponsored by Democrat Linda Aguirre, and Republicans Ken Bennett and Scott Bundgaard, "It would require the state to dictate what physicians can and cannot discuss with their clients concerning abortion procedures," Yrun says. "They're trying to tell doctors exactly what a woman needs to know, and exactly how long before a procedure she needs to know it. But we keep trying to remind legislators that they were not elected to play doctor." Likewise, House Bill 2076 was hatched after a Phoenix woman died at the hands of an incompetent doctor, following a botched abortion. Several prior complaints had already been leveled against the doctor--and routinely dismissed. "It was an outrage that the Board of Medical Examiners was so derelict in its duties," Yrun says. "But now legislators have taken that as an opportunity to single out abortion services, and then determine how the procedure should be conducted." She says the bill highlights two key issues. "One is that abortion remains among the safest outpatient surgical procedures available. If the Legislature wants to regulate outpatient procedures, they have every right to do so. But they should begin, logically, with those that provide the greatest risk to clients. Because they don't like women having abortions, they're picking out the safest procedure to regulate." She also says the bill exempts doctors who conduct five or fewer abortions a month. "But the fact of the matter is that, the fewer of any surgeries you do, the more likely you are to not do them well, or to run into complications. That alone makes this bill dangerous to the health of women."
But there is something you can do: Call your lawmakers and let them know these bills ought to be flushed down the toilet. Just dial 1-800-352-8404--a toll-free call!--and ask to speak to your senator or representative. Here's the downside: Most Pima County lawmakers already oppose most of these disgraceful bills, so you'll be preaching to the choir. But there are a few who back these measures, so call to speak your mind. And even if the bills pass, there's one more chance to stop them: a veto from Gov. Jane Dee Hull. Call her office at 1-800-253-0883 and let her know she ought to shitcan these abominations when they hit her desk. HB 2373 (The Wildcat Subdivision Protection Act): Arizona has loose laws about subdividing property--and House Bill 2373 would make 'em even looser. A favorite scheme to bend the rules about subdividing property is to sell it back and forth between a handful of owners, each of whom subdivides the property. Under current law, these kinds of crooked arrangements are difficult to prove in court. HB 2373 would make it impossible. Kill this bill! HB 2279 (The Public Education Erosion Act): The Legislature has jump-started its campaign to slowly destroy public education with HB 2279, a voucher bill that would allow families with an income up to 135 percent of the federal poverty level to receive thousands of dollars in funds to cover tuition for private schools, including religious academies. It's probably unconstitutional, and certainly bad public policy, especially in light of the fact that the state seems incapable of actually taking care of public schools. Kill this bill! HB 2643 (The Polluter's Goldmine Act): Under this one, polluters can sign a "financial hardship" deal to escape the full costs of an environmental clean-up. Guess who picks up the rest of the tab: You the taxpayer. Kill this bill! HB 2671 (The Billboard Relief Act): Back in '85, Tucson voters, by a two-to-one margin, passed a law strictly restricting billboards. Now that city staff has gotten serious with the billboard industry, particularly with multimillionaire Karl Eller's outdoor media empire, Eller has run to the Capitol to pass a law making many of his eyesores exempt from the law. Kill this bill!
HB 2058 (The Mine Our Pockets Act): This one reduces the
paltry severance tax paid by copper, gold, silver and turquoise
mines in Arizona. Somebody's going to have to make up for that
cut--what do you guess it'll be us? Kill this bill!
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Though varying widely, all pro-growth proposals share one thing
in common, she says. "They would require cities and counties
to compensate property owners if there's an action that impacts
the property's value. That includes just about anything cities
and counties would be doing to manage growth."
