Cities and towns across Arizona would lose the ability to regulate some aspects of home design — both inside and out — under a bill scheduled to come up for debate in the state Senate on Monday.
Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services joined The Show to talk about what to expect this week at the state Capitol.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: So what exactly are lawmakers trying to preclude cities from doing in this bill?
HOWARD FISCHER: Well, remember that this is part of a long term effort to make homes more affordable. For example, we've allowed people to build casitas in their backyard. We've allowed for smaller lot sizes. We've allowed for so called middle housing where you've got single family home zoning, but you can allow duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes.
This goes ahead and is designed to address another part of the problem, which is what things are cities requiring developers to put in that really just drive up the price? You know, some of it has to do with, should you build a walled community? Should you have a gated community?
And what they're saying is cities can't require that. That doesn't mean your HOA can't require that. But they're saying to the city, no, you can't do that. You can't require the form of the roof. In other words, does it have to be tile? Can it be shingles, colors and color palette, window placement and style, decorative light fixtures, garages, things like that?
And the assumption is if you allow builders to build, I'll call a minimalist or at least less regulatory, that the homes will become less expensive.
BRODIE: Do we have a sense of how frequently cities are requiring those kinds of things now?
FISCHER: Some cities are. I think that you'll find places that have a lot of design ideas, whether that's, you know, what things should look like. I think you see a little of that in Phoenix. I think you see a little of that in places like Sedona. Some of that in Scottsdale, where they're trying to say communities should fit in.
So you shouldn't have, let's say, a bright turquoise home in the middle of all of that. Again, some of this is done by the HOAs, but some of it, I think is the idea of cities saying, we like red tile roofs or brown tile roofs. I don't know that there's any particular plus or minus about it.
I have a nice shingle roof and it seems to be working so far for me.
BRODIE: All right, so, Howie, lawmakers will also be taking up a bill that would ban fluoride in public water systems. This feels like one that, I don't know, you and I have maybe talked about a hundred times in the past.
FISCHER: Well, this goes back, I mean, you know, from, look, I'm 75. When I was a kid, they were discussing this, you know, is fluoride good or bad for you? I mean, fluoride in some forms in large quantities can be a poison. But you've also got chlorine that in some quantities could be a poison.
The belief is that or the science shows that fluoride can help harden teeth, help protect them against decay. But you have so many things now that have fluoride in it. I don't think you could find a toothpaste without fluoride. So the question is, should we be requiring everyone to have fluoride, which I suppose can have some side effects. Supposedly it can turn your teeth a little browner.
So we should be requiring this in the name of good dental health, or should we just be telling people, brush your teeth better? This is one of those questions there that, you know, what about public choice and what about being medicated against your will, if you will, right.
BRODIE: So, Howie, lawmakers will also be debating this week and voting on a number of proposals to ask voters about. One of them is another sort of perennial issue in terms of photo radar. But this proposal sort of comes with a little bit of a change from prior years, is that right?
FISCHER: Well, there are two different versions out there. I mean, they've tried to ban photo radar statutorily. And the cities that have, and particularly Paradise Valley, come in and say, it makes our road safer, and the governor routinely vetoes it. So they want to take it to the ballot and sell voters what should we have photo radar in the state.
Now, one of the versions that actually got out of the Senate that's going over to the House, says we will have that vote, but that vote only authorizes another vote. So, for example, Paradise Valley, if this would pass in November, would then have to have an election to determine do its residents want photo radar. That's much more local control thing than simply banning it outright.
The problem, of course, with all of these things is that they use a hammer where maybe just a very small chisel might work. For example, there are people who support photo radar for red light cameras. We have a hell of a problem here in Arizona, people running red lights.
But there are other folks who say yeah, but do you really need a speed camera in the middle of the street? Because, you know, the law in Arizona says reasonable and prudent. Well, reasonable and prudent depends on the conditions. If it's clear and dry and no one else is on the road, perhaps going 12 miles over might be reasonable and prudent.
Whereas if it's wet, going the speed limit is not reasonable and prudent. So they failed to separate that out. But again, it's again, using the broad brush approach of "photo enforcement bad," so we're gonna see if we can get voters to wipe it out.
BRODIE: Well, it'll be interesting to see how that goes if it gets to the ballot and how voters deal with it.
Howie, another issue that voters may get to decide is whether or not the Legislature's gotta wrap things up by April 30.
FISCHER: Oh, please. As my grandma would say, from your lips to God's ears ...
BRODIE: It's got your vote.
FISCHER: We've gotta, we haven't done this in about a decade. There are two separate bills. One simply says you have to wrap up your regular session by April 30, which fits pretty much the rules that they have for themselves that they can ignore. There are obviously loopholes there. So you finish off the regular session and then you come back in a series of special sessions.
The other seeks to address the problem in a different way. It says you have to have a state budget by April 30, which, again, we haven't had in years, partly because revenue pictures change, but you can still stay in session. You just don't get paid.
Not only the Legislature doesn't get paid, the governor doesn't get paid. The lieutenant governor, who will be elected for the first time, doesn't get paid. The state schools chief and the treasurer, who have nothing to do with the budget, don't get paid. And the idea is, if you take away their money, perhaps suddenly the muse will hit and strike and say, oh, we see a deal on a budget.
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