by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 6, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
As many California residents head east to Arizona in response to policies they find objectionable, Maricopa County appears to be taking a leap toward adopting some of those same policies.
The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) recently contracted with a California-based consulting firm to “identify and evaluate new and available ozone precursor control measures that could be implemented within the nonattainment area” – which is an “eight-hour ozone boundary for the 2015 ozone standard (2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standard). According to the Final Report from the consulting firm, the area runs north to south from the Yavapai County line to Hunt Highway; and west to east from 499th Avenue to the Gila and Pinal County lines.
One of the geneses of this report stems from a little-discussed published rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in fall 2022, which moved “the region up the severity ladder for ozone pollution, reclassifying the region from ‘marginal’ to ‘moderate’ nonattainment for the ozone pollution standard.
In a press release dated September 2022, MAG revealed that “in 2015, the EPA tightened the ozone pollution standard from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion,” and that the region encompassing “Maricopa County and portions of Pinal County missed that deadline.”
MAG wrote in the September release, that “the moderate nonattainment area classification requires new actions and measures, including:
- New control measures to reduce the types of emissions that create ozone.
- Emission offset requirement for new, large facilities locating in the nonattainment area and major expansions to large, existing facilities, which are required to offset every ton of emissions by 1.15 tons.
- Contingency measures (i.e., measures to be deployed if the nonattainment area does not meet yearly emission reduction milestones).
- Potential emission controls for intrastate facilities or other emission sources located outside the Phoenix-Mesa nonattainment area.”
Enter the consultant’s Final Report this spring, which suggested “approximately 50% reduction in nonattainment area anthropogenic NOx and VOC emissions” in order to bring the region into compliance with the EPA’s standard by an August 3, 2024, deadline. An Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Division Director recently admitted that “Maricopa County businesses and residents have done a fantastic job of reducing ozone pollution by 12.5 percent since 2000.” But Maricopa County would have to exponentially and substantially pick up the pace of slashing emissions in just over one year – compared to the two-plus decades of work to cut pollution by 12.5 percent. And that is likely impossible.
But MAG is still planning to move forward with this plan, and to meet this deadline, it included suggested measures to reduce ozone in the Maricopa Nonattainment Area to meet Clean Air Act requirements related to the 2015 ozone standard. Some of the suggested measures include adopting standards similar to California like banning the internal combustion engine, banning gas appliances, and a host of regulations on various business activities.
There is a tight turnaround for approval of these drastic measures to cut emissions in Maricopa County. Before the end of April, the “MAG Regional Council may approve the Draft Suggested List of Measures” after receiving recommendations from the MAG Management Committee. Then, over this summer, “implementing entities provide commitments to implement measures, or reasoned justification for non-implementation, to MAG for inclusion in a nonattainment area state implementation plan submission to EPA.”
The EPA guidance instructs that “states should consider all available measures, including those being implemented in other areas, but must adopt measures for an area only if those measures are economically and technologically feasible and will advance the attainment date or are necessary for reasonable further progress.” According to the March 6 Draft Suggested List of Measures to Reduce Ozone in the Maricopa Nonattainment Area, “if an entity decides that a measure on the Suggested List is not available or feasible for implementation, the entity will provide a justification for why the measure is not available or feasible.”
Cities, towns, and Maricopa County may soon be forced to decide between complying with extremely onerous measures to bring down a tremendous amount of emissions in a hurry or losing out on a generous offering of federal dollars (along with financial penalties that could be levied against those jurisdictions), setting up a potential battle over federalism that will determine Maricopa County’s (and eventually Arizona’s) commitment to its libertarian and freedom-minded roots or deviation to California’s environmentalism policies and politics.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 6, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona Legislative Republicans and Democrats are continuing their legendary clashes over a bill that would severely punish unlawful exposures to minors.
SB 1698, sponsored by Senator Justine Wadsack, “establishes unlawful exposure to an adult oriented performance or business as a class 4 felony offense punishable as a dangerous crime against children and requires a person convicted of the offense to register as a sex offender,” according to the overview provided by the Arizona House of Representatives.
In a video explanation of the genesis behind this bill’s introduction, Senator Wadsack said she “felt a conviction to create this bill after coming across events like the drag queen story hours, which involve sexual adult performance in sexually explicit attire, reading books to children – often elementary school age.”
In February, SB 1698 passed both the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, before it was approved by the entire Senate chamber in early March by a 16-14 party-line vote. Before the vote on the Senate floor, Senator Wadsack inserted a five-part floor amendment, which (among other things) removed the definition of “drag show” from the original bill.
After the final Senate action on the bill, it was transmitted to the Arizona House of Representatives, where it was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
This week, the House Judiciary Committee considered the bill, and, after vigorous debate, passed it by a vote of 5-3. All Republicans voted to affirm the legislation, and Democrats voted to oppose. House Democrats labeled SB 1698 as one of the chamber’s “hateful bills,” linking the policy proposed by Wadsack to a hypothetical outcome that would see the end of “school-play versions of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.”
House Judiciary Committee Republicans made their voices heard during this hearing, pushing back against individuals speaking out against the bill and their colleagues from across the aisle. Representative Alexander Kolodin said, “All this bill does is prohibit parents from taking their kids to a sex show or a drag show. It’s common sense. How could you be against that?”
Representative Cory McGarr stated that “there is a growing trend that for some reason we are pushing hyper-sexual material on children. But to oppose this bill on the merit, to me, seems completely insane.”
Countering the naysayers of the bill, the bill sponsor, Senator Wadsack, previously clarified what her legislation does or does not do: “This bill does not target entertainers who are performing for adults. This bill also deals with individuals providing adult entertainment to minors, which is absolutely what crosses the line.”
Representatives from the National Association of Social Workers, Children’s Action alliance, American Civil Liberties Union of AZ, AZ Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona registered in opposition to the bill during the legislative process.
SB 1698 is expected to make its way to the House floor for a vote in the near future.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 5, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A bill meant to add transparency to Arizona’s elections is approaching its final hurdle in the Legislature.
HB 2722, sponsored by Representative Gail Griffin, “authorizes the officer in charge of elections, the county recorder or any person who is designated by the county board of supervisors to count all or any portion of the ballots in an election by hand” – according to the purpose provided by the Arizona Senate.
In a statement to the House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Representative Griffin explained the purpose of her legislation: “It’s a simple bill. It allows the counties to do a hand count. We believe that they already have the authority to do it, but this clarifies it.”
Last month, Griffin’s bill cleared the Arizona House by a party-line 31-28 vote – with one member (Representative Shah) not voting. Before the action from the full chamber, HB 2722 passed the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee with a 6-4 tally; all Republicans voting in favor of the legislation and all Democrats in opposition).
After the House transmitted this bill to the Senate, it was assigned to the Elections Committee, chaired by Senator Wendy Rogers. Rogers recently brought HB 2722 up for consideration, and it passed out of her committee with another party-line vote of 5-3.
During the committee hearing, Representative Griffin stopped by to testify for her bill. She told the members of the committee that she had worked with the Cochise County Recorder David Stevens on the bill’s language.
Democrat Senator Anna Hernandez had some harsh words for the bill sponsor before voting against the bill in the Senate committee: “I’m not inclined to support any legislation that is being pushed by someone who runs an institute that posts conspiracy theories…around elections.” Another fellow Democrat on the committee, Senator Mendez, added, “Advocates, policy advisors – everyone has noted to us that hand counts only produce inaccurate results, confused voters, and consume extensive time, money, and labor…We should not be inviting all of this chaos and pretending as if this is going to solve our problems.”
Senator Rogers had the final word on the bill before it officially passed her committee, saying, “Whatever it takes to get accurate, reliable results – because 250 years of blood and treasure have been spilled for our sacred vote.” She also read a 2019 quote from then-U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, which stated: “This shouldn’t be a controversial statement: The United States must embrace hand-marked paper ballots.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Apr 5, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The city of Phoenix is looking to expand its public transit system by adopting a new busing route that connects to light rail, a type referred to as “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT). The city held a public meeting last Tuesday to discuss the proposed expansion. This would be the first BRT in Phoenix.
BRT is a busing system that incorporates the speed and capacity of light rail systems. The approved BRT system will span along 35th Avenue from Trail Inn Lodge/W. Van Buren Street, where it stems from Central Station and intersects the light rail system, to Cheryl Drive, where it runs up to Black Canyon Highway and intersects the light rail. There are 16 proposed BRT stations.
Where regular busing systems carry about 60-80 passengers on freeways and use High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes during the morning and evening, mainly for commuters, with limited stops near the beginning and end of their route, BRT carries 100-150 passengers throughout the day on major roads with prioritized right-of-ways like bus lanes.
BRT is part of the city’s 2050 plan, approved in 2015. The city notes that exact costs for the BRT haven’t been determined yet.
The city will go forward with its plan to expand public transit options as ridership has faced an overall decline over the past five years. Ridership dropped from 2018 to 2021 before increasing slightly in 2022. According to available Valley Metro data, ridership for February 2022 was the exact same as ridership for January 2023 — indicating that ridership may not increase from last year’s totals.
From 2018 to 2019, ridership dropped by 2.4 million; from 2019 to 2020, ridership dropped by 11.85 million; from 2020 to 2021, ridership dropped by 25.19 million; and from 2021 to 2022, ridership recovered by 4.5 million.
BRT is generally customizable to the needs of each city, generally including these key elements: advanced fare collection through methods like mobile apps, smart cards, or ticket kiosks; road modifications to prioritize busing like queue jump lanes, bus-only lanes and corridors, turn restrictions, or extended green lights and shortened red lights; expansive bus stations with canopies, seating, travel information screens, and ticket vending machines; and customized buses with amenities like USB charging ports and space for bikes.
Over 160 cities globally have BRT systems. Major cities in the U.S. with BRT systems include Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Seattle, Washington; Omaha, Nebraska; Provo-Orem, Utah; and Houston, Texas.
According to the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP), none of those cities’ BRT systems ranked high for meeting the BRT Standard. The standard rates are based on best practices: safety, operations, design, right-of-way dedication, busway alignments, and onboard fare validation.
The Phoenix City Council first approved the BRT system in October 2021.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Apr 5, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Attorney General Kris Mayes is pushing to soften policy on blood donations from sexually active, gay men. Mayes joined 22 other states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in supporting the policy change proposed by the Biden administration, which would reject potential donors who had sex with a new partner or more than one partner within the prior three months.
Current policy prohibits gay or bisexual men from donating blood if they’ve been sexually active within the prior three months. In a press release, Mayes called this protective measure “outdated.”
“Discriminatory blood donation policies not only stigmatize the LGBTQ community, and gay and bisexual men in particular, but also endanger the lives of patients in need,” said Mayes. “It’s long past time to abandon outdated practices and embrace a risk-based approach that allows all eligible donors to contribute to the blood supply. If implemented, the new guidance proposed by the Biden administration will undoubtedly save lives.”
Initially, the proposed policy change concerned offsetting the donor blood shortage resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FDA indefinitely rejected blood donations from sexually active gay or bisexual men beginning in the 1980s with the AIDS outbreak, prohibiting any man who’d engaged in sodomy even once. It wasn’t until 2015 that the FDA softened this policy to allow blood donations from sexually active gay or bisexual men, so long as that donor claimed to not have been sexually active within the prior 12 months.
The FDA again revised its guidance to reduce the 12-month waiting period to three months.
In their letter to the Biden administration, Mayes and the 22 states argued that modern donor blood testing can find the presence of HIV within anywhere from 10 days to three months of transmission. They cited other countries with similar nondiscriminatory donation policies.
Several of the countries listed, including Italy and Mexico, have noted a higher-than-desirable prevalence of HIV-positive donors over the years, as well as concerns that screening policies don’t reach far enough.
The attorneys general also noted that men who claim to be in a monogamous, homosexual relationship suffered the greatest burden under current policy. Based on current data, monogamy is less commonly practiced by gay or bisexual men.
HIV and AIDS aren’t the only sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) that primarily result from sodomy. Last year, a global monkeypox outbreak occurred after an infected British man engaged in sexual activity while attending two raves in Belgium and Spain. The man caught monkeypox in Africa, where the disease is mainly endemic in animals.
The other states joining Arizona in supporting the Biden administration’s proposed policy change include California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Apr 4, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) Vice Chair, Brianna Westbrook, signaled support for gun violence following the Nashville, Tennessee school shooting last Monday.
Westbrook indicated support in a call for violence against “transphobes” on Monday following the Nashville, Tennessee school shooting. Westbrook liked a tweet from Gov. Katie Hobbs’ now-resigned press secretary Josselyn Berry.
Berry had tweeted a GIF of a woman walking forward with two guns raised with the caption, “Us when we see transphobes.”
Westbrook identifies as a transgender woman and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. His former name was Mike McDanel.
This wasn’t the first incitement to violence from Westbrook. Following the summer of Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots, Westbrook concurred with fellow activist — Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona board member Chris Love — that blue alerts shouldn’t exist. Blue alerts are issued when a suspect poses an imminent or credible threat to law enforcement, or an officer is missing.
Westbrook’s response to the Nashville school shooting isn’t unique among trans activists. In the aftermath of the tragedy, other transgender activists have issued public responses ranging from apathy to celebration. Three children and three faculty were killed by the shooter, a woman who sometimes identified as a transgender man.
Other transgender activists have appeared to call for more bloodshed.
The shooting occurred days before a planned “Trans Day of Vengeance,” scheduled to occur on April Fool’s Day. The event was planned by the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN); a day after the shooting, the group issued a statement that it would continue the event as planned. However, the group canceled the event on Friday, citing a “credible threat” of violence.
The organization, who subsequently made their Twitter account private following backlash on the event and their remarks, indicated that the shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was a victim as well. TRAN erroneously referred to Hale as “Aubrey.”
“Hate has consequences,” wrote TRAN.
Twitter users who shared images of the poster, even with the attempt to raise awareness or issue a warning, had their accounts suspended. This included the accounts of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, who quoted the Bible in response to the threats of violence.
Some media were also banned if they attempted to share their reporting on or speak to the planned call to arms.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
