Tonight's D17 meeting...

Tonight's meeting at the Pyle Center in Tempe was an informative one - Sandy Bahr of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club was there and she gave us an update on legislative efforts to help/hinder conservation in Arizona.

Note: The AZ Sierra Club's March 2, 2007 Legislative Update is here.

She started off by thanking us for sending a friendly delegation to the lege. (Hey, we're pretty happy about it, too. :)) ) The current legislature is much better regarding conservation than it was even a few years ago. Back then, much of the legislature was indifferent or even hostile to conservation efforts. While there are still a number of bad bills each year, including this one, the Club and other conservation groups can muster enough support to beat back the worst ones.

One of the ongoing legislative problems facing the Sierra Club is House Speaker Jim Weiers and his choices of committee chairs. Some are actively hostile to any conservation measures and kill or gut any good bills in committee; still others are simply "arbitrary" and capricious enough to bury a bill just because a sponsor ticked off the chair in a previous session.

Tuesday, March 20th is Environmental Day at the legislature from 9:00 a.m. until noon on the House lawn. If you are interested, contact Sandy Bahr at 602.253.8633 or sandy.bahr[at]sierraclub.org.

Also of interest is a public meeting that ADOT will be holding regarding public transportation options. The Phoenix-area meeting will be at Burton Barr Library in Phoenix on March 13 (next Tuesday). If you are interested in details, go to the ADOT website or contact Sandy at the number/email addy above. For some reason, the ADOT page with the details stays blank for me. I'll have to check the settings on my firewall/pop-up blocker.

Sandy spoke for close to 30 minutes and answered questions; in addition, she stayed for the entire meeting and talked to anyone who stopped by afterward.

...In other happenings, Kathy Schwartz spoke briefly about a bill in Congress, HR328, the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act of 2007. In short, the bill strives to correct one of the greatest inequities of our current political system - while the District of Columbia houses the federal government, its residents have no voice in Congress. The bill would add two members to Congress, one to represent D.C. and one in Utah (for partisan balance).

...Later, Rep. Ed Ableser and Rep. David Schapira gave a brief legislative update.

David stated that "money" bills (those that have spending associated with them) are being held in their originating chamber. So far, it's fair - all such bills are being held, not just those sponsored by Democrats.

They also announced that while budget negotiations have started, in a move similar to his tactic last year, Jim Weiers has excluded Democrats from the process

Ed noted that while all of his bills are dead, he (and some other Democrats) have been successful in attaching some floor amendments added to other bills.

They closed by noting that the Democratic caucus is stronger than ever; they're sticking together on big bills, while some cracks are starting to show in the Republican front. Some of the moderate Reps are acting and voting in a manner that's, well, *moderate.*

...To a loud round of applause, Corey Woods announced his campaign for Tempe City Council, and will be holding a fundraiser next month. This wasn't exactly shocking news, but it is finally 'official'. Whooo hoooo!

...Kelly Steele of the D17 Issues Committee announced that the committee will be trying something new - periodic forums regarding different topics. Some (all??) of the forums will be done in partnership with other LD orgs. Details about locations and dates will be forthcoming, but the topics for the first few meetings include healthcare and immigration.

...Lauren Kuby demonstrated the new LD17 Democrats website, www.ld17dems.org. It includes pages/links to register to vote, to contact our D17 officers, to our elected officials, and to DONATE money to a very worthy cause.

Hope I wasn't too subtle there. :))

...There's some other stuff, but it's mostly calendar items, and since there are a lot of them this month, I'll do a separate calendar post.

Later!