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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, First Regular Session
AMENDED
appropriation; best land management practices
Purpose
Expands and extends the program to remove hazardous vegetation on public lands (Program). Appropriates $4,000,000 in FY 2020 from the state General Fund (GF) to the State Forester to implement the Program.
Background
Current statute
requires the State Land Commissioner and the State Forester to establish a
program to remove vegetative natural products from state trust land for the
purposes of fire suppression and forest and watershed management on state lands
and to facilitate the development of wood products industries in Arizona. The
Program ends on July 1, 2027 (A.R.S.
37-483).
S.B. 1477 appropriates $4,000,000 in FY 2020 from the state GF to the State Forester.
Provisions
1. Requires the Program established by the State Land Commissioner and the State Forester to promote best land management practices and specifies that the Program is limited to the removal of vegetation that are hazardous.
2. Appropriates $4,000,000 in FY 2020 from the state GF to the State Forester to implement the Program and exempts the appropriation from lapsing.
3.
Expands the Program to include participation from any public agency and
removal of vegetation from all state, federal and tribal lands.
4. Extends, from July 1, 2027, to July 1, 2028, the termination date of the Program.
5. Makes technical and conforming changes.
6. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committees
1. Terminates the program on July 1, 2028.
2. Removes requirement for any action under the Program to be made in accordance with standards set by the National Environmental Policy Act.
3. Replaces the term vegetative natural products with vegetation.
4. Exempts the appropriation from lapsing.
5. Makes conforming changes.
Senate Action
WAG 2/21/19 DPA 6-0-1
APPROP 2/26/19 DPA 9-0-0
Prepared by Senate Research
February 26, 2019
KN/LD/gs