Governor Doug Ducey last week signed bills that his office described as "aimed at protecting job creators from excessive government regulations and burdensome licensing requirements." This included HB 2613 that de-licensed a number of professions, initially including geologists, and SB 1256 which eliminated licensing of assayers. The statement from the Governor's Office said, "In signing these bills, Governor Ducey kept good on his promise to begin the elimination of burdensome licensure of scores of odd jobs – regulations that are often designed to kill competition or keep out the little guy, including the elimination of licenses for talent agents."
"State licensure is the most restrictive regulation on individuals looking to earn an honest living. Licenses should only be required when they are truly designed to protect the public health and safety. With these bills, Arizona has started the process of chipping away at unnecessary licensing regulations."
A coalition of geoscience societies with support from some of the largest mining companies in the state opposed the de-licensing of geologists. This became one of the most intense battles of the session and resulted in licensing continuing but on a voluntary basis.
Earlier, Gov. Ducey approved the Agency Consolidation budget bill, SB1530, which eliminates state funding for the Arizona Geological Survey and transfers the duties of the Survey to the University of Arizona. The Governor's staff said this is part of his efforts to consolidate state government.
There was no additional funding provided to UA, so they are expected to fund the Survey from their own funds. AZGS has been told that the UA will provide one-time funding of $941,000 which is equal to the last state appropriation. After this coming year, AZGS will be responsible for finding 100% of its funding from grants and contracts.
AZGS will also give up most of its overhead on existing grants to the University. These funds had been about as much as our state appropriation, and used to support our core mission, so the net result will be a 40-50% reduction in funds for state services. We have started notifying staff members whose jobs will be eliminated as of July due to the loss of funding.
Very sad news...............sad to see geologists are considered an "odd job" and sad to see the demise of the AZGS. This is the beginning of the end of what had been such a strong geological survey. These actions are the result of legislators trying to prove a point without understanding the importance of geologists and the AZGS, or understanding the hard work that has gone into making the AZGS such a strong agency and developing good professional geologist licensing regulations. Very sad for the geology profession and is probably an indication of what is yet to come for other professions.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with your comment.
ReplyDeleteWe have just seen our bulldog governor's office for what it really is--controlling and consolidating without a plan except Ducey's way or the highway. The rudeness with which this consolidation happened and with no care for the consequences is appalling and reflects very poorly on true leadership from our Governor. A plan that looked at the paltry savings compared to lost contract revenue was needed, but never happened. Planning to assure success for the affected parties wasn't even a concern. It's time for the legislature to stand up to this kind of lack of foresight.
ReplyDeleteStatutes are being abruptly revised without any concern for unintended consequences. We lost a top rated and very efficient mineral museum, as well as its essential K-12 education programs, for a $15 million pie in the sky centennial project that could never happen. Now, an outstanding state geological survey is being jeopardized without a transition plan and no curiosity about why it was separated from the U of A in the first place. Was it perhaps so successful because it was not burdened with excessive overhead?
ReplyDeleteThe idea of consolidating AZGS into the UofA College of Science is not a bad one in and of itself. To do it without first meeting with both parties and checking to see if a viable plan could be outlined that was constructive rather than destructive,was a total failure of leadership from the Governor's office. As you look at the budget, what little has been there to support science is being taken away, while other areas liker history, with redundancy, and little self-supporting achievements, is given millions. AZ has many science and technology industries that need better science education and resources for our students. Taking them away just to eliminate a budget line item is not a worthwhile plan. Let's get this mess fixed, and support AZGS in maintaining its level of service and self-supporting achievement.
ReplyDeleteis not a plan worth cheering about.
If the governor wants to protect job creators, he should look at the fact that AZGS makes public data available. This is important to any industry which uses geological data and especially important to the small companies within those industries. Geological data isn't cheap to get. Big companies have libraries of proprietary data, little guys do not. The eventual demise or marginalizing of AZGS via this decision will just make it harder on small companies.
ReplyDeleteThe only justification for putting AZGS under the UofA was that 22 states have done it. (That means 28 states have not.) This is a hollow reason--we'd need to know how the Universities fund their Geological Surveys and if they function at the high level AZGS did. What is the most unsettling about what I thought was a good idea, is that it's a disaster for AZGS and the Governor's office may not care. Dumping this on the UofA without additional funding was also not fair to them.
ReplyDeletesure domp them and give them no funding. Change just for change is not a good idea. The governors office seems to rule by decree. Destroying a worthwhile endevour like azgs is in the short term may seem like a good idea to the executive branch but to industry and the citizens of this state it is obvious that geology and past state history means nothing to this governors"advisors". They are ignorant of what azgs does and have destroyed a fine and upstanding entity for the sake of what? Optics? I really thought that this governor would see how valuable minerals and mineral knowledge and information would be to this state. Apparantly he cannot see the forest for the trees and his advisors? Political hacks without any knowledge of what minrals mean to this stete? Even less. You notice all these comments are anonymous? Gee, I wonder why?
ReplyDeleteThe Governor's staff failed him. Before the executive budget zeroed out the the AZGS budget, someone should have prepared a fact sheet on the expected impact. Then, if the proposed consolidation was to be implemented after proper due diligence, the should have been a transition plan. The staff obviously did neither of these things because neither party was aware of the proposed consolidation until the executive budget was submitted to the Legislature.
ReplyDeleteThe Governor failed the citizens. The staff is only an extension of the Governor. Something is going on nationally with geological services. It seems to have started with Bruce Babbitt emasculating the USGS by eliminating geologists and making it another fish and wildlife department. Smacks of the anti-mining activists operating behind the curtains.
DeleteThe is a colossal whiff. The AZGS has long provided support to various industries throughout the state. It's one of the few government agencies that actually helps development instead of obstructing it. Ducey is in over is head.
ReplyDeleteIt was effective and it was helpful in a way government normally is NOT helpful. I think his staff let him down insofar as they had no plan other than reduce (that's not a bad thing but in this case it is very bad) There should have been a transition and funding plan in place that was reviewed prior to all this. Just a colossal mistake was made here in what the name of licensing easure? There are some things that must be licensed. Your doctor? Your lawyer? Your orthodontist?
DeleteHis staff let him down and they let the people of Arizona down also. Remember this, if it cant be grown it must be mined and that is doubly true in Arizona. geo sciences are a must. Think about this, your house was built on land that was not geologically sound and your house was built by an unlicensed builder. Do you really think that is a good idea? We and the governor have been let down ,big time. Needs to be fixed properly and in a professional manner.,
The Governor is correct; unwarranted licensing requirements are often used to limit competition. However, does he think that means ALL licensing requirements are bad? Would he want to drive over a bridge designed by an unlicensed engineer, be defended by an unlicensed lawyer, or be treated by an unlicensed medical doctor? Does he really think that geologists were licensed to limit competition?
ReplyDeleteI am very disappointed by the complete lack of understanding and discussion with the affected parties in this legislation. The AZGS has been a leader in its field and this change will have a serious detrimental affect on its mission. Historically AZ has been a hotbed of mining scams and I fully expect this to return with the delicensing of geologists and assay laboratories.
ReplyDeleteMining and geology are easy targets. The majority of Americans are anti-mining and don't understand or appreciate what geologist do. So politically, there is no major backlash from the constituents on these, unlike the backlash he'd feel from people on education, healthcare or immigration.
ReplyDelete