Arizona Requirements to Implement Increased Renewable Energy Standards Amendment (2018)

Arizona Requirements to Implement Increased Renewable Energy Standards Amendment
Election date November 6, 2018
Topic Energy
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
List of Arizona measuresArizona Proposition 125Arizona Proposition 127Arizona Proposition 305Arizona Proposition 306Submit

The Arizona Requirements to Implement Increased Renewable Energy Standards Amendment was not on the ballot in Arizona as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018.

The measure would have enacted increased renewable energy standards, while prohibiting the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) from implementing the standards if the ACC determined that the increased standards would have:

• decreased the affordability of electricity for customers;
• decreased the reliability of the electric grid; and
• decreased the well-being of the state.

The measure’s renewable energy standards would have increased from 12 percent in 2020 to 50 percent in 2030 and each year thereafter.

The measure would have defined renewable energy to include solar, wind, biomass, certain hydropower, geothermal, and landfill gas energies.

Text of measure

Constitutional changes

See also: Article 15, Arizona Constitution

The measure would have added a Section 20 to Article 15 of the Arizona Constitution. The full text of the measure is available here.

Background

Renewable Energy Standards Initiative (2018)

See also: Arizona Proposition 127, Renewable Energy Standards Initiative (2018)

The legislatively referred Requirements to Implement Increased Renewable Energy Standards Amendment would have competed on the ballot with a citizen-initiated Arizona Proposition 127, Renewable Energy Standards Initiative (2018). The ballot initiative would require electric utilities that sell electricity in Arizona to acquire electricity from a certain percentage of renewable resources each year. The amount would increase each year from 12 percent in 2020 to 50 percent in 2030 and each year thereafter. The measure would define renewable energy to include solar, wind, biomass, certain hydropower, geothermal, and landfill gas energies. Tom Steyer's group NextGen America is backing the competing initiative.

House Bill 2005

House Bill 2005 (HB 2005) was designed to make violations of the initiative's renewable energy standard a civil penalty, meaning electric utilities that violate the standard would be fined between $100 to $5,000. On March 21, 2018, the Arizona State Senate passed the bill 16-12. On March 22, 2018, the Arizona House of Representatives approved the bill 34-24. Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed the bill on March 23, 2018.

Sandy Bahr, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, argued that the goal of HB 2005 was to make violating the initiative low-risk to electric utilities. She said, "Everyone knows that if the cost of noncompliance is cheaper than the cost of compliance, entities will serve their shareholders, not consumers, and take the low road and pay the fines." Rod Ross, a lobbyist for the state's largest electric utility Arizona Public Service, said, "We feel like its important to protect the people of this state from an out-of-state initiative funded by a California billionaire that is attempting to raise our state's and our residents' energy prices, which is exactly what this initiative will do."

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Arizona Constitution

In Arizona, a constitutional amendment must be passed by a simple majority vote in each house of the Arizona Legislature during one legislative session.

The constitutional amendment as House Concurrent Resolution 2017 (HCR 2017) during the 2018 legislative session. On April 5, 2018, the state Senate approved the bill 16 to 11 with three members not voting. The amendment needed 16 votes to pass. The vote was along party lines, with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing the amendment. On May 4, 2018, the Arizona State Legislature adjourned the 2018 legislative session without a vote on the measure in the state House.

Vote in the Arizona State Senate February 28, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 16  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	16	11	3
Total percent	53.33%	36.67%	10.00%
Democrat	0	11	2
Republican	16	0	1

See also

2018 measures

• 2018 ballot measures
• Energy on the ballot

Arizona

• Arizona ballot measures
• Arizona ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• House Concurrent Resolution 2017