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Update on HB 2443

Submitted by: Jeff Gursh September 5, 2007

HB 2443 Sponsored by Representative Jerry Weiers
HB 2443 deals with OHV User Fees

Well by now you know our HB 2443 bill failed on third read as the last bill heard in this extended legislative session. We managed to get the bill thru the House with a vote of 51 to 4, it passed all the Senate committees with no problems, and made it through the Caucuses in the Senate and through first and second read of the bill on the floor. It failed on third read. A re-hearing of the bill was approved but had to wait until the Budget was done for the session. A huge letter campaign got our bill on the agenda of bills that would be heard this session (hundreds did not get this )…On the last day at the last hour, HB 2443was read and failed to get enough votes to pass. Well, as luck would have it, politics, and not a good or bad bill played a bigger roll in the failure of HB 2443. Three members had already left for the remaining of this year's session. Another member was there at the Capitol, but was having a hissy fit over her bill not going through the House so she refused to vote …of course she had supported our bill from the start and, finally, one member flipped at the last minute and voted No. All five of these Senators were for our bill up this point. Senator Paula Aboud had assured our lobbyist and me that she would continue her support of our bill but at the last minute she changed her vote to NO. Rumors that the Sierra Club asked Senator Aboud to vote NO were fairly abundant. The claim was that the Sierra Club, which had been officially neutral during the whole process, had developed an attitude that pushed them to ask Senator Aboud to vote NO. The same types of comments were made at an Air Quality meeting for SB 1552. The Sierra Club mentioned at that meeting that they had not been included in any of the meetings to write this bill and they were worried about the open-end look to the bill as far as money for new trails was addressed. So they were really not supporting the bill. Rep. Weiers begged Senator Aboud to reconsider her change in vote and tried to explain that the Sierra Club had been invited to and had attended several of the meetings and had voiced their opinions at all of the Senate subcommittee hearings and had all along been neutral on the bill. But the visit by Sierra Club Board members was just too much for Senator Aboud. During the final vote, I was able to watch Senator Blendu pick up a microphone and ask "How many times do we have to try and kill this thing? If it were going for general funds it would not have seen the light of day. This is a new tax and should be voted no." He also explained that each year the OHV community was given $700,000 to create their little trails. What he did not mention was that each year for the past four years, the legislature has swept $700,000 to pay for Arizona State Parks operating expenses, leaving the OHV community with very little for education and trail signage. Also forgotten were letters and statements from the author of the "No New Taxes Pledge" written by Mr. Barry Arrons,(most of the Senators signed this pledge). In response to claims that HB 2443 is a new tax Mr. Arrons wrote a letter to each Senator explaining that he did not consider HB 2443 a new tax. Those who opposed the bill such as Senator Gould, Gorman and Blendu ignored this letter. Hopefully, the voters will remember all who were involved in this latest bill and who supported this Bill and more importantly those who did not. See list below. Next year is an election year and we need to take the time to find representatives at the Capitol who will listen to the voters, you and me, and make a difference in how OHV is managed. So, what we thought was a sure thing two days before the vote with 20 votes (16 are needed), came down to who was still around at the end of the session to vote…and even then, our lobbyist and the lobbyist for the Dealers Assoc. were in the parking lots and garages hauling Senators back to vote on the bill…it was the last one to be heard. Before I get too far here, I just want to let you know that all your emails and calls were heard, we received a call from the Senate Pres. asking us to "call off the dogs"…enough already!! We get the message! So …you did make a big difference! I thank you very much for all your time and effort! This bill …that was so widely supported…was only made possible because we did have our lobbyist …we were taken as a serious player not to be ignored. There were many bills left at the end of the day that were never heard. I must tell you that most bills like this take four or five attempts to get as close as we did this year. REALLY! We did very well for our first attempt. Doesn't make it any easier to lose though. Which brings me to my final comment on this very long year of politics at the Capitol. Our Senators are elected by you and me…we vote for them hoping that they will represent us in important issues that will affect our families and us. Now we don't expect that a tiny group of voters should be able to suggest or ask for a bill such as HB 2443 to be passed…especially if other bigger groups are not in favor of it. BUT that was not the case here…everyone was for this bill…everyone…from County Supervisors to law enforcement …from Wilderness Coalition to Game and Fish…from Dirt Bike Clubs to Four Wheelers… newspapers such as the very Green Arizona Republic…even the Sierra Club was neutral on the bill (almost a YES vote by Sierra Club standards). We all worked on this Bill and we ALL supported it…The fact that in the end 54 of the 60 House members thought it was a GOOD Bill and all the Senate Committees thought it was a GOOD Bill …COULD NOT overcome just plain stupid politics and bad luck! Three Senators just had to get out of town on their vacations …one had a temper tantrum and decided she would get even by not voting on the next Republican Bill (HB 2443) and ten just did not think we the voters knew what was best for us, and sadly best for Arizona in the long run. So there you have it… the bill failed and if we can, we will try again next year, if you are ready to support a bunch of OHVers and Sportsmen again! Thanks again for all the support! Sincerely Jeff Gursh AZOHVC and ATR Notes: Jack Harper put off part of his vacation to see if our bill would come up but did leave before the vote ...he was a supporter. Meg Burton Cahill was also a supporter of the bill and left before our bill came up for vote. Debbie McCune Davis had the hissy fit and voted NO after supporting the bill the entire session.

Voting Results

Voted For the bill Amanda Aguirre Carolyn S. Allen Marsha Arzberger Robert "Bob" Burns Ken Cheuvront Jake Flake Linda Gray Albert Hale Leah Landrum Taylor Barbara Leff Richard Miranda Tom O'Halleran Victor Soltero Jim Waring Timothy S. Bee

Voted Against the bill Paula Aboud Robert Blendu Debbie McCune Davis Jorge Luis Garcia Pamela Gorman Ron Gould John Huppenthal Karen Johnson Charlene Pesquiera Rebecca Rios Thayer Verschoor

Did NOT Vote Meg Burton Cahill Chuck Gray Jack W. Harper Jay Tibshraeny