With the 2008 budget revisions behind us, it's now on to 2009.  There is a group of Senate and House Republicans meeting to review various options, but since I was not chosen to be among that body I have nothing to report.  I thought this might be a good time to review recent legislative action on my bills.

But first, I have to mention the Governor's veto of HB 2220, which would have permanently repealed the "County Equalization Tax," actually a state property tax that went towards equalizing funding for school districts.  Two years ago the legislature passed, and the Governor signed, a three year moratorium on this tax, which was our attempt to help property owners with rising taxes due to increased valuations.  The money provided by that tax was instead designated as coming from the General Fund, which more evenly distributed the cost.  Now that the housing "boom" has crashed, we thought it important to give those same owners assurance that the tax would not be coming back, and the measure won approval from both Houses.  The Governor disagreed, saying that in these times of economic slowdown there was no place for decreasing taxes.  Instead, her veto means that $250 million dollars will be collected from home and business owners, many of whom are struggling to meet their mortgage payents.  Because there is another year remaining on the moratorium, we hope to be able to get similar legislation through next year and gain the Governor's signature.  But it would have been a benefit, especially to businesses, to know that there was no need to plan for another property tax increase next year.

HB2357 - historic trucks; use fuel taxes:  Passed the House 59-0 and the Senate 30-0; signed by the Governor 4/18/08.  This will insure that owners of historic diesel trucks will not have to pay the additional $.08 tax on diesel fuel for commercial use.

HB2771 - interstate water transfers:  Passed the House 60-0 and the Senate 25-1.  Now goes to the Governor, who I believe has no reason not to sign it.  This allows the Director of the Dept. of Water Resources to consider the cost to his agency when setting fees for application to transfer water out of state.  Most folks say, "we shouldn't transfer any water out of state!" but the Supreme Court has ruled that water is a commodity, subject to the rules of interstate commerce, and that states must have a plan to deal with out of state transfers.

HB2224 - service company contracts:  Passed the House 59-0 and the Senate 26-0, but was amended in the Senate so has to come back to the House for final passage.  This was an industry bill having to do with home service contracts, usually provided by sellers as an incentive to prospective buyers.  It closed a loophole regarding licensing and bond requirements.

HB2721 - amateur radio; structures, accommodation:  Passed the House 55-4 but did not get a hearing in the Senate Government Committee.  I am still working on ways to get at least a portion of this bill amended on to another bill, thus bypassing Sen. Harper's committee.  I'm not through yet.

HB2132 - county water authority; Colorado river:  Passed the House 57-0 and the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee.  This bill was brought to me by the Mohave County Water Authority after a unanimous vote by its board to request that a portion of their allocation be reclassified from "industrial" to "municipal," which by definition includes all uses except agricultural.  This one has caused some controversy, as I wrote in my 3/24/08 weekly report.  It was scheduled to be heard in the Republican caucus on April 22nd, but Sen. Gould managed to have it held.  I'm working with the Senate President to be sure that it does come to the caucus and ultimately to the floor of the Senate, where I'm sure I have enough votes for passage. 

So, three out of the five bills are done; but I still have work to do on the other two. 

Until next week,

Nancy