Arizona State Budget

Arizona’s GOP Lawmakers weaken the people’s powers

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[Source: Linda Valdez, azcentral Opinions] –The Sierra Club’s Sandy Bahr told the Senate Appropriations Committee today that “the only way” Arizona will get meaningful environmental protections in the future is through the initiative process. She should know. She’s been up at the Legislature for years trying to get the conservatives who run the place to be nice to Mother Nature.

When Bahr took the podium to speak in opposition to a package of election law changes, committee chair Sen. Don Shooter, said: “Sierra Club? Are you worried we are going to chop up too many trees for ballots?”

Hardee-har-har.

The package of election bills – which has been contentious throughout the session – was tacked on to a Senate budget that emerged only this week. Democrats on the committee objected to the quickie budget in general — Sen. Anna Tovar said it would have been better to write a state budget in a “transparent, open process.” They also opposed the election changes.

Bahr’s call for transparency was aimed directly at the election changes. She said proposed changes in the initiative process do more than just move deadlines, they allow signatures to be thrown out on technicalities, such as whether the pages are submitted in the right order. They will create barriers.

The state Constitution gave voters the initiative/referendum process as a powerful tool and a check on Legislative power, Bahr said. Voters used the process to ban cockfighting, outlaw leg-hold traps, require humane farm animal practices, as well as to expand health care for the working poor, better fund education and create the Heritage Fund – which lawmakers gutted in a nasty slap at both voters and Mother Nature.

The Legislature should not put itself in charge of changing a system that was designed to give citizens the power to go around the Legislature. Any changes should come from a public discussion involving the interest groups that use, understand and value the initiative process. Not lawmakers who see it as a pain in the neck.

Bahr made valid points about the importance of preserving a process voters depend on to get around dunderheads in the Legislature. The dunderheads were unmoved.

All six Republicans on the committee voted for the election changes. All three Democrats voted no.

Effort To Restore Heritage Fund Dead for the 2013 Session

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[Source: Kyle Mittan, Tucson Weekly] – It looks as if the chance to restore Heritage Fund dollars to state parks and transit services is dead for the year.

But Tucson Rep. Ethan Orr said he would continue to work to restoring the Heritage Fund, despite the House Appropriations Committee’s recent decision to not hear House Bill 2594. Orr, as the bill’s primary sponsor, had wanted to restore the Heritage Fund dollars that were eliminated in 2010 as part of a budget-balancing package. His bill would have directed $10 million in lottery funds to the Heritage Fund, as well as $9 million in lottery funds to local transportation.

Although the bill failed to get past the Appropriations Committee, Orr said he planned to bring the bill back next year. Orr added that he has had a close working relationship with Arizona State Parks Executive Director Bryan Martyn, who also has an “excellent 20-year vision” for the maintenance and preservation of Arizona’s state parks.

Orr said that the state parks are important on a number of levels, specifically in terms of state economics and preserving the history of Arizona. “Strictly from an economical standpoint, they’re key drivers for our rural communities,” he said. “And they’re part of our heritage; they’re part of celebrating what’s beautiful in Arizona.”

The “State of State Parks”

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Bryan Martyn, Arizona State Parks Director, gave a detailed “state of state parks” update to the Arizona Heritage Alliance‘s board of directors this morning. — with Bob White, Barbra Barnes, Woody Wilson, Russ Jones and Peter Culp at Flinn Foundation on February 19, 2013.

After years of budget cuts, greener outlook for Arizona State Parks

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[Source: Cortney Bennett, Cronkite News Service]– After years of delivering deep cuts, lawmakers this session are discussing ways to give Arizona State Parks some more money and bring back a lottery-funded grant program the agency administered.

Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, said there seems to be a core group of representatives who are concerned about funding state parks properly. “It is a pleasure to come to the Legislature this year and see several bills that are supporting state parks instead of the opposite,” Bahr told a House committee recently.

HB 2621, introduced by Rep. Juan Carlos Escamilla, D-San Luis, would establish a voluntary fee that owners could pay when registering vehicles. The House Agriculture and Water Committee unanimously approved the bill Feb. 19. “Our state parks are a lot of times our economic tool for small, rural areas,” said Escamilla, whose district includes two state parks. The fee, which under the bill would be set by the Arizona State Parks Board, would provide 85 percent of total proceeds to Arizona State Parks and 15 percent to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Bryan Martyn, executive director of Arizona State Parks, said Escamilla’s bill would help the agency, which operates primarily on gate fees and since 2009 has received no general fund appropriation. “Make no mistake, Arizona State Parks is a business,” Martyn said. “And we have to search every day to try to figure out how to fund these state resources.”

Cristie Statler, executive director of Arizona State Parks Foundation, an advocacy group, said money generated by the fee would help parks with operations and maintenance. However, she said, it doesn’t solve the agency’s need for sustainable long-term funding. Statler noted that many of the state’s 30 parks currently rely on partnerships with nearby municipalities and nonprofit organizations. “Cities and towns cannot sustain these partnerships,” Statler said. “Their revenues have been stripped as well. What we’re doing is passing this obligation from the state to these cities and towns.”

Bahr said that in the past the Legislature has seemed to view state parks as an expendable luxury. She said the Legislature should come up with a sustainable revenue stream. “These are important assets that protect amazing cultural and biological resources as well as help to sustain many rural economies,” Bahr said.

Joseph Garcia, communication director for Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said it’s encouraging to hear discussion about finding a funding mechanism for state parks that are operating on shoestring budgets. “But if we’re really talking about improving and preserving state parks so they’re more visitor-friendly, then that needs an investment,” Garcia said. The Morrison Institute published a 2009 study that found Arizona spent less on its park system than nearly any other state when viewed as a percentage of the overall budget. “It’s sad that with all the money and energy thats been invested in state parks they’ll close or deteriorate or people won’t visit them because they don’t have modern amenities,” Garcia said.

Meanwhile, HB 2594, sponsored by Rep. Ethan Orr, R-Tucson, would among other provisions reinstate the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund, which used Arizona Lottery proceeds to provide grants for park programs, trails, historic preservation, environmental education and related projects. Arizona State Parks used some of the money for acquisitions and improvements. Arizona State Parks and the Arizona Game and Fish Department had received up to $10 million annually before the Legislature eliminated the Heritage Fund in 2010.

The House Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources endorsed the measure Feb. 18, forwarding it to the Appropriations Committee. Janice Miano, director of administration at the Arizona Heritage Alliance, said communities across the state would benefit from reinstating the Heritage Fund. “Every community in Arizona has received at least one Historical Fund grant over the last 23 years,” Miano said. “It’s certainly an economic engine for the rural communities. It brings in projects that wouldn’t normally be funded.”

Statler said that access to parks in terms of affordable entrance fees could be jeopardized if Arizona State Parks doesn’t receive adequate funding. “You can’t jack up the fees so much that the public can’t visit these parks that are state-owned assets,” Statler said.

Meanwhile, Martyn, the agency’s executive director, said he’s happy that Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposed budget included Arizona State Park’s requested operating budget of $21 million along with $2 million in Arizona Lottery proceeds for capital improvements. “The onus still is on us to demonstrate our value added to Arizona,” Martyn said. “Arizonans have to believe in state parks if we expect them to contribute.”