|
REFERENCE TITLE: noise pollution; environmental nuisances |
|
State of Arizona Senate Fifty-seventh Legislature Second Regular Session 2026
|
|
SB 1443 |
|
|
|
Introduced by Senators Rogers: Finchem
|
AN ACT
amending sections 9-240, 9-467 and 49-141, arizona revised statutes; RELATING to noise pollution.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 9-240, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
9-240. General powers of common council
A. The common council shall have control of the finances and property of the corporation.
B. The common council shall also have power within the limits of the town:
1. To erect, purchase or lease necessary buildings for the purposes of the corporation.
2. To appropriate money and provide for the payment of its debts and expenses.
3. to do all of the following:
(a) To Exercise exclusive control over the streets, alleys, avenues and sidewalks of the town and to give and change the names thereof.
(b) To Prevent and punish for the encumbering thereof, and to abate and remove all encumbrances and obstructions thereon.
(c) To Widen, extend, straighten, regulate, grade, clean or otherwise improve the same.
(d) To Open, lay out and improve new streets, avenues and alleys.
(e) To Vacate or abandon any street, avenue, alley, park, public place or sidewalk in such town or to abolish them, provided that rights-of-way or easements of existing sewer, gas, water or similar pipelines and appurtenances and for canals, laterals or ditches and appurtenances, and for electric, telephone, and similar lines and appurtenances shall continue as they existed prior to the vacating, abandonment, or abolishment thereof.
(f) To Protect the same from encroachment and injury.
4. To erect and maintain bridges, culverts, sidewalks and crossways, and prevent and punish for injuries thereto or obstructions thereon.
5. to do all of the following:
(a) To Construct and maintain sewers and drains, and prevent and punish for any obstruction thereof, or thereto.
(b) To Change the channels of natural watercourses, to wall the same and cover them over, and regulate the same as sewers.
(c) To Prevent and punish for the filling up, altering or changing of natural watercourses by private persons.
(d) To Regulate the bridging of all millraces, irrigating and other ditches at the crossings of public highways, by the owners of such millraces and ditches, and after such bridge or ford is built according to the street commissioner's instructions, the crossing shall thereafter be a public charge.
6. To provide the town with water, to construct public wells, cisterns and reservoirs in the streets and other public and private places within the town, or beyond the limits thereof, and to supply the same with pumps and conducting pipes or ditches.
7. to do all of the following:
(a) To Provide regulations for the prevention and extinguishment of fires.
(b) To Prevent the erection of wooden buildings within prescribed limits.
(c) To Regulate the construction of chimneys, furnaces and fireplaces.
(d) To Regulate the storage of explosives, tar, pitch, resin and other combustible or inflammable materials, and to prescribe the places and manner of storing the same.
8. To provide for lighting the streets and other public places of the town, and to exclusively regulate and control the laying and repairing of gas pipes and other appurtenances therein.
9. To provide for enclosing, improving and protecting the public grounds and cemeteries of the town, and to direct and regulate the planting of ornamental and shade trees therein and in the streets of the town.
10. To establish markets and marketplaces for the town and to regulate the same.
11. to do all of the following:
(a) To Establish and maintain necessary cemeteries and burial places for the town beyond the limits thereof.
(b) To Regulate the burial of the dead.
(c) To Require a registration of the deaths and births, and to impose penalties upon physicians and surgeons for any default in the premises.
12. To establish and regulate the police of the town, to appoint watchmen and policemen, and to remove them, and to prescribe their powers and duties.
13. To prevent, suppress and punish any riot, rout, affray, disorderly noise or disturbance in any public or private place within the town.
14. To prevent, suppress and punish racing or immoderate riding or driving through the streets.
15. to do both of the following:
(a) To Prohibit and punish any amusements or practice tending to annoy or obstruct persons passing upon the streets or sidewalks, or frighten horses or other animals being ridden or driven thereon.
(b) To Restrain and punish the ringing of bells, blowing of horns, crying of goods, sound created by a speaker or amplifying equipment or other noises, performances and practices tending to cause the collection of persons upon the streets or sidewalks and the obstruction thereof.
16. to do all of the following:
(a) To Prohibit the roaming at large of animals within the town.
(b) To Authorize the impounding and summary sale thereof when found roaming at large contrary to ordinance.
(c) To Impose penalties upon the owners thereof for a violation of any ordinance in relation thereto.
(d) To Regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of dogs and to authorize their destruction when at large contrary to any ordinance of the town, and to impose penalties upon the owners thereof.
17. to do all of the following:
(a) To Suppress and prohibit prostitution and unlawful sexual intercourse and to punish persons guilty thereof.
(b) To Suppress and prohibit the operation of disorderly houses and to punish the owners, managers, lessees, agents, keepers and inmates thereof.
(c) To Suppress and prohibit gambling and the operating of gambling houses and to punish the owners, managers and employees thereof and players at such games.
18. To fix the amount of license taxes to be paid by any person, firm, corporation or association for carrying on any business, game or amusement, calling, profession or occupation, and prescribe the method of collection or payment of the same, for a stated period in advance, and fix penalties for failure to comply by fine or imprisonment, or both. Nothing in this article shall be construed as authorizing any town or city to levy an occupational license or fee on any activity when the general law of the state precludes levying such a license or fee.
19. To authorize the clerk to issue licenses, to direct the manner of issuing and registering the same, and the fees of the clerk therefor. No license shall be granted for more than one year, and not less than ten dollars $10 nor more than five thousand dollars $5,000 shall be charged for any license so issued.
20. to do both of the following:
(a) To Provide regulations to prevent the introduction or spread of contagious, loathsome or infectious diseases within the town.
(b) To Make quarantine laws and enforce them within the town and within two miles thereof, and to provide pest houses and hospitals necessary therefor.
21. to do all of the following:
(a) To Define, abate and remove nuisances, and punish persons committing nuisances.
(b) To Compel the owner or any occupant of any house or premises to clean the grounds, stables, alleys, streets and walks appurtenant and adjacent thereto.
(c) To Prohibit within the town and within two miles beyond the limits thereof slaughterhouses, tanneries, soap factories, establishments for the steaming or rendering of tallow, lard or offal, and all other establishments and places where any nauseous, offensive or unwholesome business may be carried on.
22. To perform other acts, and prescribe other regulations, which may be necessary or expedient for the prevention or suppression of disease.
23. To establish and maintain a workhouse or houses of correction, to make regulations for the government thereof and to appoint the officers and keepers thereof.
24. To authorize the arrest and punishment of vagrants, stragglers and idle and disorderly persons found loitering or strolling about in public places, leading an immoral or profligate life, and to authorize the confinement of any such person, and persons who fail to pay any fine, in the workhouse or house of correction for a period not exceeding three months.
25. to do all of the following:
(a) To Direct and control the laying and construction of railroad tracks, bridges, switches and sidetracks in the streets, alleys and other public places of the town.
(b) To Require the same to be so laid and constructed as to interfere as little as possible with the ordinary travel and use of the streets, and other public places.
(c) To Authorize the construction of tramways, electric, steam or cable roads and railways in the town, and to regulate the operation thereof, and the fares to be charged thereon and to require the owners thereof to keep in repair the streets wherein the same may be laid, and to construct and keep in repair all bridges, culverts, crossways, ditches and sewers.
(d) To Regulate the speed of locomotives.
26. To levy taxes as hereinafter mentioned in this article.
27. To apply any surplus money in the treasury of the town to the extinguishment of the debt of the town, or to provide a sinking fund for that purpose.
28. to do all of the following:
(a) To Make, amend or repeal all ordinances necessary or proper for the carrying into effect of the powers vested in the corporation, or any department or officer thereof.
(b) To Enforce the observance of such ordinances, and to punish violations thereof by fine or imprisonment, or both, and by confinement at hard labor, in the discretion of the magistrate or court before whom a conviction may be had, but no fine shall be imposed exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars $2,500, nor imprisonment or confinement at hard labor exceeding six months.
(c) Unless specifically prohibited by statute, to classify ordinance violations as criminal or civil offenses.
29. To adopt ordinances for the government of the corporation, its officers and persons within its corporate limits needful for the good government and order of the municipalities, and to provide the manner of prosecution and define the punishment for the violation of such ordinance.
Sec. 2. Section 9-467, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
9-467. Building permits; issuance; distribution of copies; state preemption; utilities; subsequent owner; limitation; definitions
A. Any municipality requiring the issuance of a building permit shall transmit one copy of the permit to the county assessor and one copy to the director of the department of revenue. Permit copies shall provide the permit number, issue date and parcel number. On the issuance of the certificate of occupancy or the certificate of completion or on the expiration or cancellation of the permit, the assessor and the department of revenue shall be notified in writing or in electronic format of the permit number, parcel number, issue date and completion date.
B. The regulation of a utility provider's authority to operate and serve customers is a matter of statewide concern. The regulation of building permits as it relates to a building permit applicant's ability to use a utility provider that is capable and authorized to provide utility service is allowed solely in accordance with subsections C and D of this section. A building permit applicant's ability to use a utility provider that is capable and authorized to provide utility service is not subject to further regulation by a municipality.
D. A municipality issuing a building permit shall ensure that all applicable permits and associated fees assessed on a building permit applicant contain requirements and amounts that do not exceed the requirements and amounts for use of other utility providers and do not have the effect of restricting a the permit applicant's ability to use the services of a utility provider that is capable and authorized to provide utility service.
E. A municipality may not require an applicant for a building permit to hold a transaction privilege tax license or business license as a condition for issuing the building permit. A city or town municipality may require a person that has been issued a building permit and that does not otherwise hold a business license from the municipality to apply for a business license within thirty days after issuing the building permit.
F. Notwithstanding any other law, a municipality may not issue a building permit if the application for a building permit is for the construction or development of a building or structure that contains speakers or an amplifying system that has the capacity to emit sound that is equal to seventy decibels or greater and that emits sounds at seventy decibels or greater five times or more each day.
F. G. If a person has constructed a building or an addition to a building without obtaining a building permit, a municipality shall not require a subsequent owner to obtain a permit for the construction or addition done by the prior owner before issuing a permit for a building addition except that this section does not prohibit a municipality from enforcing an applicable ordinance or code provision that affects the public health or safety.
G. H. This section does not prohibit a municipality from recovering reasonable costs associated with reviewing and issuing a building permit.
H. I. This section does not affect any authority of a municipality to manage or operate a municipally owned utility.
I. J. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Municipality" means a city or town organized in accordance with law, including a home rule or charter city.
2. "Utility service" means water, wastewater, natural gas, including propane gas, or electric service provided to an end user.
Sec. 3. Section 49-141, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
49-141. Environmental nuisances
A. The director may take action under this section to abate environmental nuisances. As used in this section, an environmental nuisance is the creation or maintenance of a condition in the soil, air or water that causes or threatens to cause harm to the public health or the environment and that is not otherwise subject to regulation under this title. Subject to this limitation, the following conditions may constitute environmental nuisances:
1. A condition or place in populous areas which constitutes a breeding place for flies, rodents, mosquitoes and other insects which are capable of carrying and transmitting disease-causing organisms to any person or persons.
2. A place, condition or building which is controlled or operated by any governmental agency, state or local, and which is not maintained in a sanitary condition.
3. Sewage, human excreta, wastewater, garbage or other organic wastes deposited, stored, discharged or exposed so as to be a potential instrument or medium in the transmission of disease to or between any person or persons.
4. A vehicle or container which is used in the transportation of garbage or human excreta and which is defective and allows leakage or spillage of contents.
5. The maintenance of an overflowing septic tank or cesspool, the contents of which may be accessible to flies.
6. The pollution or contamination of any domestic waters.
7. The use of the contents of privies, cesspools, or septic tanks or the use of sewage or sewage plant effluents for fertilizing or irrigation purposes for crops or gardens except by specific approval of the department of health services or the department of environmental quality.
8. The storage, collection, transportation, disposal and reclamation of garbage, trash, rubbish, manure and other objectionable wastes other than as provided and authorized by law and rule.
9. Water, other than that used by irrigation, industrial or similar systems for nonpotable purposes, which is sold to the public, distributed to the public or used in production, processing, storing, handling, servicing or transportation of food and drink and which is unwholesome, poisonous or contains deleterious or foreign substances or filth or disease-causing substances or organisms.
10. A speaker or amplifying system that has the capacity to emit sound that is equal to seventy decibels or greater.
B. The director may adopt rules that prescribe minimum standards for the prevention and abatement of environmental nuisances. In adopting rules pursuant to this subsection, the director shall incorporate the criteria set forth in section 49-282.06, subsection A and shall ensure that the nuisance is abated so that it will not recur.