Arizona: Legislature’s Lawyers Call Lesko’s Bill Unconstitutional
February 29th, 2012 by 
In recent weeks, Vote Solar and our Arizona partners have sounded the alarm about legislation that would stop the state’s clean energy progress in its tracks. (See our previous blog post and a recent Arizona Republic editorial to learn about why Rep. Debbie Lesko’s HB 2789 is such a red-alert threat to the growth of solar markets in the state.)
Great news came yesterday, when the Arizona Legislative Council responded to lawmakers’ requests to assess the bill’s legality, stating in a public memo, “HB 2789 would allow the Legislature to usurp the executive authority of the Arizona Corporation Commission and impinge upon the commission’s exclusive ratemaking authority. Therefore, the bill is unconstitutional.”
Well, you can’t get much clearer than that: the Legislature’s own lawyers say that HB 2789 would violate the separation of powers in Arizona. Now we’ll have to wait and see if this spells the end of Lesko’s misguided effort, or if the bill will morph into some other form. We’ll keep you posted.
Vote Solar is a non-profit grassroots organization working to fight climate change and foster economic opportunity by bringing solar energy into the mainstream.
photo: ShellVacationsHospitality.
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