[Source: Daily Sun Editorial 3-10-2010] - Now we know at the state level what the exercise of personal privilege in the U.S. Senate feels like. State Rep. John Kavanagh is Arizona’s equivalent of Jim Bunning, the North Carolina senator who held up the recent jobs bill for several days by refusing to join in “unanimous consent” to let the bill proceed to a vote without a filibuster. Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican, doesn’t like a bill that proposes to fund state parks with a vehicle license surcharge. The $12-per-plate fee would raise tens of millions of dollars a year, and in return any vehicle with an Arizona license plate gains free entrance to a state park. Also, the extra money would be used to help ADOT reopen some of the highway rest areas closed for lack of funds.
“It’s a tax increase, which isn’t consistent with the Republican program,” Kavanagh told Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services. That’s a debatable point – fees that pay for a specific user benefit are usually not considered taxes. But even if Kavanagh were correct, he is still making his point in a profoundly anti-democratic way. He is refusing as the appointed chair of the House Appropriations Committee to hold a hearing on the bill. And without a hearing and a vote in committee, the bill can’t move forward to the floor [to read the full editorial click here].
Arizona’s State Parks — natural areas, historic places, archaeological sites, cultural resources, and much more — are in trouble. Parks funding from the Arizona State Legislature has decreased significantly over the last eight years, and a number of parks are closing. To protect our parks for future generations, legislators should do two things:
[Mohave Daily News, Christine Harvey, Cronkite News Service, 2-16-2010] — With Arizona State Parks facing an uncertain future due to budget cuts, Lake Havasu City is proposing taking over operations of a popular facility there. Unlike some other communities that have partnered to keep state parks open, however, Lake Havasu City wants a long-term lease to operate Lake Havasu State Park, home of the community’s busiest and largest boating ramp.
[Source: Outdoor News Daily.com, 2-13-2010] — The Sulphur Springs Valley in Arizona attracted a record 40,499 wintering sandhill cranes, providing an unparalleled wildlife watching opportunity in southern Arizona this year, say Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists. “In 2008 this agriculturally-rich valley in southern Arizona drew a record 36,708 sandhill cranes. This year circumstances and conditions conspired for this 80-mile-long valley to attract thousands more of these magnificent large birds,” said Mike Rabe, the department’s migratory game bird program manager.