Month: March 2010

Viewpoint: Holding up vote on state park license fee an abuse of power

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[Source: Arizona Daily Sun editorial, 3-10-2010] — Now we know at the state level what the exercise of personal privilege in the U.S. Senate feels like.  State Rep. John Kavanagh is Arizona’s equivalent of Jim Bunning, the North Carolina senator who held up the recent jobs bill for several days by refusing to join in “unanimous consent” to let the bill proceed to a vote without a filibuster.  Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican, doesn’t like a bill that proposes to fund state parks with a vehicle license surcharge.  The $12-per-plate fee would raise tens of millions of dollars a year, and in return any vehicle with an Arizona license plate gains free entrance to a state park.  Also, the extra money would be used to help ADOT reopen some of the highway rest areas closed for lack of funds.

“It’s a tax increase, which isn’t consistent with the Republican program,” Kavanagh told Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services.  That’s a debatable point — fees that pay for a specific user benefit are usually not considered taxes.  But even if Kavanagh were correct, he is still making his point in a profoundly anti-democratic way.  He is refusing as the appointed chair of the House Appropriations Committee to hold a hearing on the bill.  And without a hearing and a vote in committee, the bill can’t move forward to the floor.  [Note: To read the full editorial, click here.]

Funding proposal for state parks hits roadblock: 1 legislator

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[Source: Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, 3-8-2010] — A single legislator is blocking a plan to ask voters to permanently fund the state parks system with a surcharge on vehicle license fees.  Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, refuses to schedule a hearing on HCR 2040 in the Appropriations Committee, which he chairs, and will not agree to have the measure withdrawn from his committee.  That effectively keeps the plan from going to the full House, where Rep. Russ Jones, R-Yuma, said he has the votes for approval.

The parks system is being stymied on two fronts in its efforts to minimize closures.  A second bill, HB 2060, would provide a $40 million loan over the next two years to the parks.  But it is stalled because it needs a supermajority — 45 of 60 House votes and 23 of 30 Senate votes — because the money would come from the Growing Smarter fund, approved by voters more than a decade ago to buy or lease state trust land for open space. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Viewpoint: Attack on Voter Protection Act threatens our valuable initiative process

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[Source: William C. Thornton, Special to the Arizona Daily Star, 3-8-2010] — Voters Beware!  Once again our right to legislate by initiative is under attack in the Arizona Legislature.  Inspired by the progressive movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, framers of the Arizona Constitution provided citizens with the initiative and recall as remedies for an unresponsive Legislature and direct means of removing corrupt or incompetent public officials from office.

It’s no secret that many legislators don’t like initiatives.  Many voter-approved measures provide evidence of a gap between an electorate with a progressive streak and the conservative legislative leadership.  Examples include the Arizona Heritage Fund, which passed by a 2-1 ratio in 1990.  With Heritage Funds, the citizens of Arizona have invested more than $400 million of lottery revenue in Arizona State Parks and Game and Fish, and earned many additional millions of dollars in matching grants.  If you hunt, fish, hike, camp, boat or picnic, you have benefited from the Heritage Fund at no cost to taxpayers.

By initiative we have also banned the barbaric blood sport of cockfighting, the hideously cruel use of leg-hold animal traps and mandated more humane conditions for factory-farmed hogs.  These measures all passed with overwhelming public support when the Legislature couldn’t or wouldn’t act.

Through the mid 1990s legislators engaged in a series of fund transfers and other actions designed to undermine the initiative process.  Matters came to a head when, in a particularly outrageous display of contempt for voters, legislators took it upon themselves to “fix” an initiative that legalized the limited use of medical marijuana.  The backlash produced the “Voter Protection Act” of 1998 that rendered voter-approved initiatives immune from legislative tampering.  [Note: To read the full opinion, click here.]

Viewpoint: Let us vote on plan to save state parks

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[Source: Arizona Republic editorial board] — A ballot measure to save our state parks has stalled in the Legislature.   The park system is on the verge of financial collapse.  The system is so cash-strapped that iconic places are closing, from Tombstone Courthouse to Picacho Peak.  How smart is that for a state that relies on tourism?  It doesn’t have to happen.

HCR 2040 would let voters decide whether to create a steady source of funding by raising vehicle-registration fees by $9 a year.  (An additional $3 would pay for rest areas and be used for other transportation purposes.)  In return, Arizona-registered vehicles would get free entry to all state parks.  And private enterprises would still have ample opportunity to develop and operate marinas, campgrounds and other services.

States like Montana and Washington have already adopted this common-sense system. The proposal passed out of the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee.  But it’s inexplicably stuck in Appropriations.  If Chairman John Kavanagh won’t put it on the agenda, he should let it move along to a floor vote.  Voters should get a chance to ensure the future of our parks.

Gov. Jan Brewer and lawmakers should avoid unnecessary damage in the short term. They’re considering a budget proposal that would create an immediate crisis, draining what little money remains for the parks to run on.  This defies logic.  State leaders talk a lot about making Arizona more competitive.  Our parks are unique recreational and economic assets, especially for the rural communities.  Let’s capitalize on those strengths.