Hotel set Within a Beautiful Water-Filled Quarry

From the website http://www.freshome.com this is a picture of a resort hotel set within a beautiful 100 meter deep quarry in the Songjiang district close to Shanghai in China. The project is to be complete in 2009.

25 Seriously Twisted Trees: From Uncanny Urban Overgrowth to Awesome Arbosculpture

My Gram who lives in Illinois on the edge of Lake Michigan tires of reading all of the political posts (though she dutifully slogs through them) so every once in a while I like to mix it up a bit. This one is for you Gram!

Republican meetings could lead to AZ budget

Senator Gould and I are participating in these meetings after persistently voicing our dissatisfaction of being left out of the process. To my way of thinking, I have to have a seat at the table so that you, my constituents, have a seat at the table. If I am shut out of the process, you have no voice. KTAR has some of the details...

Catching Up

It is the end of the work week at the Legislature; I would like to tell you it was a week of accomplishment, that the will of the people was served, that rights of the individual have been preserved, that Constitutional rights were upheld, that our founding fathers would be proud, that your hard-earned tax dollars were being well-spent or better yet returned. I would like to say that heads were clear, that pride did not cloud our judgement, that truth and righteousness prevailed.

I can tell you this:

The damage could have been worse.

Good intent does not equal good policy.

Loyalty is extremely dangerous if it is misplaced.

Digging Deeper into Debt?

With a current deficit of $1.8 Billion dollars in fiscal year 2009, the Governor and the Democrats want to "fix" the problem by driving us into further debt by borrowing Now comes the announcement straight from the horse's mouth that she wants to dig the hole a little deeper. The Governor testified in front of the Legislature today to make a pitch for the state to borrow an additional $1.4 billion for university construction and maintenance projects.

I will try to see if I can come up with a news article about this and provide a bit more of the details.

A Word About HB 2017

From one of my colleagues:

Late last year, a bi-partisan majority of Congress passed and the president signed into law H.R. 6, which requires that fuel economy standards be increased by a minimum of 40% between now and 2020. Last week, the U. S. Department of Transportation opened a rulemaking proceeding that proposes an increase from the present 27.5 miles per gallon (MPG) for cars to 35.7 MPG by 2015, and from 23.5 MPG for light trucks to 28.6 MPG by 2015.

Here is the link to the federal rulemaking now underway:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.43ac99aefa80569eea57529cdba046a0/

This is the type of information Arizona should take into account in deciding what measures should be undertaken - and is information that was not available when the Governor's Climate Change Advisory Group discussed adopting California fuel economy standards in 2006. Additionally, the State must have a very clear understanding of the costs of these measures, and the relationship of those costs to the alleged benefits. A great deal of important information of this nature is being ignored in the ADEQ rulemaking package scheduled for review by the Governor's Regulatory Review Council next Tuesday, May 6, in which it is proposed that Arizona adopt California's fuel economy standards. In contrast, the legislative process is designed to thoughtfully surface and address these types of relevant and timely points of information.

HB2017 simply assures the opportunity for the Legislature to perform its constitutional responsibilities on this important subject.

Regarding My "NO" Vote on the FY08 Budget Bill

From an April 18 article in the Capitol Times:

“If I voted yes on this budget,” said Lake Havasu City Republican Rep. Trish Groe, “I’d basically be endorsing the unrestrained growth of government in the past, especially since I’ve been down here.”

Similarly, Sen. Ron Gould, also a Republican from Lake Havasu City, said the budget fix employed too many accounting gimmicks, including delaying some school funding from one fiscal year to the next. “What you are doing here today is fiscally irresponsible,” he said. “I did not come down here for smoke-and-mirror solutions. I came down here to balance the budget.”

LHC Republican Forum~Saturday, May 3, 2008

Mohave County Republican County Chairman, Buster Johnson, will be addressing the Republican Forum Saturday, May 3, 10:00 AM at the Quality Inn, Lake Havasu City. Johnson, also the District 3 Supervisor of Mohave County, will be discussing water allotment issues.

The Republican Forum meets on the first Saturday of each month and entertains speakers both political and with community viewpoints to discuss in an open forum type setting. No reservations are required and coffee will be available. Questions may be addressed to 928-680-0609.

Kingman Daily Miner - Public defender cuts red tape, govt. spending

Senator Gould and I sponsored this bill that the Governor recently signed into law. Though it is a fairly innocuous bill, the practice should make a small difference and save some money. That is what we are all about!

azcentral.com blogs | LaurieRoberts

LR posts about the Governor's recent veto of a DUI-related bill.

What is your take on this particular post of Mrs. Roberts?

SB 1450 Decades Theme Park Bill

It is will great saddness that I report the passage today of SB 1450 in the House of Representatives. The bill, which grants taxing authority to private enterprise, goes back to the Senate so perhaps we have another chance to stop this bad bill still.

Will the Right Sit It Out? - HUMAN EVENTS

Will the Right Sit It Out? - HUMAN EVENTS

I read this article and it expresses so many frustrations I have with the McCain campaign. Don't misunderstand me, I will be voting for McCain...I could never vote for a Democrat and our right to vote is too precious to me to ever stay home. It is just that as a Conservative, as a true believer in the U.S Constitution, I have a desire to see someone in the White House with a passion that mirrors that of our Founding Fathers.

A “Crisis” of Their Own Making

A National Conference of State Legislatures report released today is sparking gloom-and-doom headlines about states in fiscal crises. Conspicuously absent from the news stories is any mention of the root cause of the “shortfalls” supposedly wrecking havoc in state capitols. Over the last few years, state lawmakers forgot the lessons of the 1990s, and decided to add new programs and significantly expand general fund spending on existing programs.
Now, according to NCSL:
Current state fiscal conditions are being driven by weak revenue performance. State officials expected revenue growth to slow in FY 2008, but not as dramatically as it has. […] Because most FY 2008 budgets were built on revenue forecasts that are not materializing as expected, budget gaps have grown.

HB 2017~A Sound Start to State Policy on Greenhouse Gas Emission

HB 2017 (S/E on greenhouse gases; fuel economy) ensures that the Legislature determines Arizona's policy on greenhouse gas emissions.

It would provide critical session law that prescribes a clear and certain process, whereby the ADEQ Director submits recommendations to the Legislature, the Arizona Corporation Commission and the Governor. The bill specifies that no state agency (e.g. DEQ, Commerce) could proceed with rulemaking for a greenhouse gas or motor vehicle fuel economy program without explicit legislative authorization enacted in the future.

This legislation reflects the Constitutional requirement that there is a separation of powers between the responsibilities of the Legislature to determine public policy, and the responsibilities of the Executive to implement that policy. Because of the magnitude of this policy proposal, and the cross-over into jurisdiction of the elected members of the Arizona Corporation Commission, it is especially important that this legislation be enacted.

BACKGROUND: The Western Climate Initiative ("WCI") is a group of several western and Mexican states, and Canadian provinces that have committed to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases ("GHG"). The WCI is divided into two groups: partners who have, by agreement, committed to specific GHG reductions and; observers who are monitoring the process.

The committed partners are Arizona, British Columbia, California, Manitoba, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington. These states are in the process of developing an economy-wide regional cap-and-trade program. A cap-and-trade program is a market mechanism in which carbon emissions are capped and entities participating can trade allowances to meet the emissions limit or to grow. The observers are Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Wyoming, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas.

WCI has been meeting since October with a goal of making design recommendations for a regional cap-and-trade program by August of this year. Each state would then be eligible to implement its own cap-and-trade program consistent with those recommendations.

The Director of ADEQ has stated that the recommendations for a cap-and-trade program can be implemented without additional legislative authorization. In contrast, other states such as Washington have recently enacted legislation requiring their lead agency to obtain authority from their legislature to implement the WCI recommendations.

Such a program will have a significant impact on Arizona's economy and could worsen the State's budget crisis.

A policy proposal of such magnitude is complicated. Determining the regulatory structure of a cap-and-trade program requires detailed decisions, including determinations as to which state agency is most qualified to oversee/regulate the market trades that would occur, should allowances be auctioned to entities or distributed for free, if they are auctioned, how the significant amounts of money collected from auctions will be spent, how do you mitigate the costs impacts of such a program to low income families and whether sources of carbon not currently included in the WCI's scope of regulations (e.g. agriculture) should be eligible to provide credits to offset required reductions. These are just a few of the many policy decisions that are the responsibility of the Legislature to determine. A number of parties are concerned that bypassing the legislature on such an important policy question is wrong.

• Making cap-and-trade program decisions through State agency rulemaking, for example by ADEQ, is problematic:
  
  • Program choices must be based on consensus-driven, well-researched decisions and a process that includes all stakeholders.
    
  • ADEQ does not have the resources or expertise to administer a market-based program.
    
  • No state agency has the legal authority to adopt and administer a cap-and-trade program.
    
  • Agency rule-makers are at least a layer removed from accountability to elected officials.
    
  • Agency rulemaking excludes indispensable stakeholders – State Legislature, Corporation Commission.
    
  • If the cap-and-trade program includes the auctioning of allowances, revenue will be generated from the auction proceeds. The state legislature should determine how this revenue will be distributed.
    
• It is expected that the federal government will enact climate change legislation next Congress. All three presidential candidates support climate change legislation. Jumping the gun before there is national legislation with state or regional program has disadvantages including:
  
  • a limited number of market participants are available for trading;
    
  • California values will dominate the program;
    
  • risk of checkerboard of programs nationwide with no ability to move allowances between programs;
    
  • Arizona is more reliant upon coal based generation resources than other states and the design of the program could result in transfer of wealth to other states;
    
  • and Arizona companies will be at a competitive disadvantage if other states fail to participate.
    
• The WCI has just started the process of conducting an economic analysis of the proposals under consideration. But we know from analysis of similar programs at the federal level that economic impacts are significant. The economic estimates vary greatly depending upon the assumptions used, the reduction strategies employed and the available technology. Some examples of the potential costs are:
  
  • The Electric Power Research Institute (an independent, nonprofit center for public interest energy and environmental research) estimates that cost to reduce carbon emissions could result in electricity rate increases of 45% to 260%, depending on the strategies employed to reduce emissions and the available technologies.
    
  • EPA analysis of federal legislation to reduce GHG sponsored by Senators Lieberman-Warner also concluded electric utility rates could increase by as much as 44% by 2030.
    
  • Costs increases will be felt even more by lower income households. The Oregon Center for Public Policy recently noted that the cost of reducing carbon emissions by 15% would cost the poorest one-fifth of households $750 to $950 yearly. These are households where the average annual income is $13,000.
    
  • An EPA analysis of Lieberman-Warner concluded that it would reduce our nation's GDP in 2050 by 2.37%.
    

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THE FISCAL NOTE

An Examination of Tax and Fiscal Matters
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club

Theme Park Legislation is Off Key

Senate Bill 1450 (Theme Park bill) is poor tax policy. One of the principles of sound tax policy is neutrality. Whenever possible, the tax code should be agnostic toward whatever business activity is taking place. The tax code should not micromanage the economy and should interfere as little as possible in the decisions being made in the marketplace. Private enterprise should be left to succeed or fail based on the merits of the product or service being sold, the quality of the business plan, and the execution of the plan. A private company’s ultimate success or failure should not hinge on preferential tax treatment.

On December 2, 2007, The Arizona Republic made the following additional points:

• Attendance: Decade's projections are extremely optimistic, with 6 million visitors in the first year. Only six U.S. theme parks, all in Florida, reached that level in 2006. "Nobody gets 6 million visitors their first year," says Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services.

• Market: The theme-park industry is mature, with little growth in attendance outside the Disney parks. Hard Rock Park, a similar project, is opening in Myrtle Beach, S.C., next spring. It should give an indication of whether a rock-themed park will draw crowds. Decades supporters are assuming that the $400 million S.C. park would be a complement, whetting people's appetite for a larger attraction in the West, and not a competitive threat. Meanwhile, there's competition from theme parks next door. "You've got the entire developed Southern California market just a few hours away, which markets aggressively," says Robert Niles, editor of the Theme Park Insider Web site.

Supporters point out that the new tax wouldn't replace the regular sales tax but be on top of it. They say taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for repaying the bonds. But Kevin McCarthy of the Arizona Tax Research Association sees a risk if Decades flounders. "When bonds go bad," he says, "it reflects poorly on everyone that's involved." There could be pressure for a bailout.

McCarthy also testified in Ways and Means that the legislation is likely unconstitutional because it exempts certain taxpayers from paying property taxes.

Lawmakers continue to raise valid concerns about this bill and are on solid footing as they do.

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The Arizona Free Enterprise Club is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization whose mission is to advance policies that promote a strong and vibrant Arizona economy. The Club believes that entrepreneurs and private enterprise are the principle drivers of our economy. The Club lobbies Arizona lawmakers in support of policies that allow the market to flourish and vigorously opposes policies that hinder private industry. Visit us at www.azfec.org.

Catching Up

• Budget talks are still ongoing. Our group of Republican legislators meeting daily at JLBC is growing. Progress on finding responsible solutions to the $1.8 Billion dollar budget shortfall is slow going but at least progress is being made. I am unable to share the details at this point and frankly, it would be premature as nothing is set in stone, despite any apparent concensus by group members.

• The Governor vetoed HB 2395, a bill would have imposed tougher mandates and penalties against drunk boaters and drivers, but also halved to six months the requirement that first-time DUI offenders use ignition interlocks for a year. This bill contained important provisions such as: 1) a fix to a conflict in state law regarding jail time for people convicted of extreme DUI so that they must serve 30-day sentences, 2) required that first-time offenders convicted of operating a boat while intoxicated must generally serve 10 consecutive days in jail, 3) expanded circumstances in which a drunken driver's license is suspended for 90 days after a fatal accident.

Personally, I was very conflicted on this bill...MADD opposed this legislation because of the reduction of time required for the interlock device but like my colleagues, I agree of the importance of the remaining provisions. This one bill was a combination of three original bills; unfortunately the three bills were combined. Because the conflict in the statute will remain due to the Governor's veto, we will take up this issue again next session. Perhaps next year we will get this right.

• Tomorrow the House will vote on SB1450, the bill that basically gives taxing authority to a private corporation. On a voice vote today, the House agreed to let the developers create a special taxing district. In essence, SB1450 would give the board of this district one of the key powers of a city: impose sales taxes to finance construction of the park in Eloy...a horrible idea I oppose. Read about this further in my next post.

Robert A. Levy on Subprime Precedent on National Review Online

What ever happened to the sanctity of private contracts? Consider the bill now pending in Congress that would essentially wipe out existing mortgages — allowing their terms to be rewritten for the benefit of troubled homeowners.

Click the title to this post to read an article on this issue titled "Be Judicial in Your Compassion ~ How not to fix the subprime mortgage mess".

A Concert with Lindsay Rush

Saturday, May 10th

6-8 PM Lake Havasu High School

Lindsay Rush is a young singer and song writer who is a dedicated mental health advocate. Her songs tell stories about mental health challenges. She has reached young and old with her passion about her experiences and the issues of mental health.

Telephone: (928) 230-8784 for tickets (NO CHARGE)

Sponsored by:
MIKID,Lake Havasu Unified School District, #1Mohave Mental Health Clinic, & Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority

NOTE: To sample some of Lindsay's music, click the title to this post and enjoy!

CAP Spring Dinner Event

The Center for Arizona Policy's Annual Spring Dinner event "Making Our Days Count ~An Evening with Tony Snow" is coming soon. Click on the title of this post for further details!