A presentation I gave last Friday to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
The Arizona Corporate Commission (ACC) adopted an Environmental Portfolio Standard in 2001 that required utilities to have 1.1 percent of sales from renewables by 2007. The program did not work. A new plan was announced in August 2005. The ACC’s new plan will require utilities to procure 15% of the state’s electricity from renewable resources by 2025. The ACC voted to require that 30% of the EPS requirement be met by local onsite renewables installed by homes and businesses. Continue reading
In the heart of downtown Tucson, Arizona, a city of nearly 500,000, one can view the Milky Way with the naked eye. Tucson and Pima County first adopted outdoor lighting ordinances in 1972 in an effort to provide standards so that night lighting did not interfere with nearby astronomical observatories. The lighting control ordinance of Tucson/Pima County has been revised many times over the years. The 2006 Code is still quite strong and it is copied below. Continue reading
In July 2007, Arizona adopted the following law, which bars municipalities in the Phoenix metropolitan region from providing tax breaks or incentives to retail development. Continue reading
In August 2001, the Coconino County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance that prohibits retails stores larger than 70,000 square feet and requires a conditional use permit for those larger than 25,000 square feet. Coconino County has a population of 132,000. Its county seat is Flagstaff.
In Arizona, candidates who agree to accept very low amounts of private money receive a fixed and limited amount of public funds. A five-member, non-partisan election commission with real authority to enforce election laws administers the system. Continue reading
For years local business owners and their supporters in the Arizona legislature have tried to put an end to the massive subsidies that cities in the Phoenix metro routinely dole out to chain retail developers. Bills to prohibit the giveaways were introduced in session after session, only to fail. But this year, lawmakers at last endorsed a measure that outlaws subsides for retail projects in Maricopa and Pinal counties, which encompass the Phoenix metro and include two-thirds of the state’s population. Continue reading
“The practice of competing to see who will kick-back the most taxpayer money to certain mega-businesses has gotten obscene,” declared Arizona State Representative Rick Murphy, one of several lawmakers pushing for a ban on retail subsidies. Continue reading
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