By Howard Fischer
Mail | Twitter: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX – House Speaker Ben Tom of Peoria negotiated a deal with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to keep Arizona from forcing motorists away from carbon fuels in order to gain Republican support for a deal that could extend the Maricopa County road tax.

And while a spokesman for the governor would not comment on the arrangement following a vote before the legislature adjourned, a Sierra Club lobbyist did.

"It's insane. It's wrong,'' Sandy Bahr said.

Arizona lawmakers and the governor are giving up the right to try to force motorists away from carbon fuels as part of a deal to extend the half-cent sales tax in Maricopa County.

A provision in the deal Toma said was negotiated with Hobbs precludes the state from restricting the use or sale of a vehicle if it is "based on the vehicle's energy source.''

But the language goes even further, blocking local governments from imposing their own standards.

The net effect would be to bar Arizona from enacting legislation like California which spells out that all new cars sold in 2035 and beyond are zero-emission vehicles. That includes battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles.

Gov. West Moore of Maryland earlier this year announced an identical regulation for his state. And similar plans are being considered in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater would not comment about anything in the agreement. But Toma said the restriction is justified.

"At this point, we felt that was legitimate,'' the Peoria Republican told Capitol Media Services of adding it to the measure.

"Quite frankly, with all this talk about banning combustion engines or limiting combustion engines we are seeing in some of these other states, we felt that was the wrong policy for Arizona,'' Toma said. "It was part of the negotiation. It's in the bill.''

He said that Republicans think that deciding what people can drive is not the role of the state.

"We believe in the free market,'' Toma said.

"Ultimately, people can buy electric vehicles,'' he said, noting that there are a lot more options than more than a decade ago when the only realistic option was Tesla.

"If people want to buy electric vehicles for all the reasons they think they're better, by all means, let them do that,'' Toma said. "But we shouldn't be banning the free market or limiting the free market in any way.''

Senate President Warren Petersen said he shares that viewpoint.

"Whether to drive an electric vehicle is a decision that should be made by our citizens, not the government,'' said the Gilbert Republican.

And the Democrats?

House Minority Leader Lupe Contreras said members of his party had little choice but to agree to go along.

He said Democrats had higher priority issues in terms of what they wanted to ensure what was included in the Maricopa County tax legislation. That specifically included ensuring that there are sufficient dollars in the plan to fund not just the highways but also mass transit which will get 37% of the estimated $20 billion raised over the levy's 20-year life.

"We had to get as many things as we could get that were positive for the majority of Arizona,'' he said.

And then there is the political reality.

"We're in the minority,'' said the Avondale Democrat. And he said things could be changed in the future - assuming that Democrats would take control of both the House and Senate, something that hasn't occurred since the 1960s.

Bahr, the Sierra Club lobbyist, called the provision in Arizona outrageous, especially now with what she said is the evidence that the extreme weather conditions are due to climate change which, in turn, is being driven in part by tailpipe emissions.

"And yet every step of the way they either don't act or, in this case, take action that actually gets in the way,'' she said.