Tucson, Arizona  Thursday, 12 April 2001

http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/10412caplink.htmlCapitol Link In Phoenix

By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX - State lawmakers moved on two fronts yesterday to protect the privacy of Arizonans.

The Senate voted to forbid retailers from producing credit card receipts printed with more than five digits of the card. HB 2134 also forbids including the card's expiration date on the receipt.

Separately, senators gave preliminary approval to a study of whether new laws are needed to keep state and local governments from snooping on citizens.

That measure, HB 2511, simply seeks a report by the end of the year. But it could provide the ammunition for its sponsor, Rep. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, to come back with new laws next session.

At the heart of both issues is what information is available to others.

The credit card bill is the brainchild of Rep. Steve May, R-Phoenix.

May pointed out that credit card receipts often contain the full number as well as the card's expiration date. With that information, someone can use the card without permission, he said.

Those charges can be reversed, May admitted, but his own experience shows that can be a hassle.

May said the electronic devices used to read and process transactions in most stores can be easily reprogrammed to limit receipts to five digits.

The study commission on monitoring started as a ban on public agencies and employees' using monitoring devices to peer onto private property without a court order.

Opponents feared it would criminalize everything from the TV cameras set up along freeways to monitor traffic to cameras mounted in some police cars.

Blendu said governments have other ways of monitoring private property, including heat-sensing devices that can determine what is going on behind solid walls.

Marijuana

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to let any of the state's three universities study the feasibility of growing industrial hemp - a less potent version of marijuana.

SB 1519 is an effort to see whether it makes sense to grow the plant in Arizona. A report is due lawmakers by the end of 2002.

Hemp has been used historically for everything from rope to soap.

But it fell into disfavor because of the recreational uses made of the leaves, which contain a psychoactive substance. The study would have to determine how much of that substance is necessary for industrial use and whether there are simple ways for law enforcement to determine which plants are being grown for fibers and which are being grown to be smoked.

Senators need to approve House changes to the bill.

Rape

Charges of rape could be brought at any time after the crime under the terms of legislation given preliminary House approval yesterday.

SB 1488 specifies there is no statute of limitation for charging someone with any sex offense. Now, only the crimes of homicide, misuse of public funds and falsification of public records are entitled to such legal treatment.

The Senate already has approved an identical measure.

City elections

State senators refused to make it more difficult for city residents to block new ordinances.

Existing law requires referendum backers to get the signatures of 10 percent of those who voted in the last municipal election.

Officials from small towns with low turnout said that could allow only a handful of people to force an election.

HB 2420 would have set the bar at 10 percent of all those registered to vote - a move that would have sharply increased the number of signatures required.

Air quality

Owners of large diesel vehicles would pay a $10 surcharge on their registration fees to help pay to repair vehicles that fail the emissions tests required in Pima and Maricopa counties.

HB 2449, approved by the Senate, is a compromise with diesel owners who did not want to be forced to buy and use fuel that burns cleaner than required under federal law. Instead, they will pay the additional fee and the proceeds will allow the owners of large trucks - those over 8,500 pounds - to receive grants of up to $1,000 for repairs and engine retrofits.

The House has approved the measure.

Riverbed ownership

The House yesterday gave final approval to legislation revamping how a special commission determines what streams and rivers were navigable in 1912.

The issue is critical because Congress gave Arizona title to all navigable streams when statehood was approved in that year. Since that time, however, private companies - especially sand and gravel operations - and individuals have located on that land.

SB 1275 came after the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled two months ago that a previous system set up by lawmakers was so biased that it amounted to an illegal giveaway of those lands. The Senate already has approved the concept.
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