Capitol Media Services

Solar panels

State lawmakers voted Monday to make it more difficult for homeowner associations to block residents from installing solar panels or similar devices.

Current law already says covenants and deed restrictions that ban solar devices are unenforceable. But Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, said some associations are using "loopholes'' in that language, such as concerns about aesthetics, to prevent property owners from finding ways to generate electricity or hot water from the sun.

The provision Campbell added to SB 1254 spells out that no rule can prevent installation or restrict its use to make it less efficient. It also says if a dispute winds up in court, the loser pays the winner's legal fees.

Kevin DeMenna, lobbyist for Community Associates Institute, which represents homeowner associations, said his organization generally opposes any state laws which overrule the regulations enacted by residents of a given community.

Self defense

Reversing course, the House voted Monday to try to retroactively apply a 2006 law to give additional legal protections to those charged with crimes.

The law until last April said anyone who claims self defense must prove that to a jury. The new law turns that around, saying it i up to prosecutors to prove a defendant did not act in self defense.

But Arizona court have ruled that change applies only to crime committed after the law took effect last April. That did not include Harold Fish who shot a hiker in Coconino County in 2004.

A jury did not accept his argument of self defense and found him guilty of murder.

It also does not include David Rene Garcia, awaiting trial in the 2004 murder of a woman at his Tucson apartment.

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a slightly different version of the same proposal earlier this year, saying she was concerned it could undo too many closed cases. It is unclear whether this version of SB 1166, which will go to her after a final Senate vote, will meet with her approval.

Militia

On a 34-21 margin the House voted to create a state militia which could be used by the governor in time of emergency.

Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, said the militia would provide a backup in case the Arizona National Guard was placed under the president's control, as is allowed under a 2006 federal law. SB 1132, which already has been approved by the Senate, exempts this all-volunteer militia from federalization.

Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said the people who would join the militia would be those who the National Guard would not take.

"The folks that are going to volunteer and join this organization, they already have their assault rifle, they already have their homemade bomb, and they already have the book on how to blow things up,'' he said. "The only thing we're giving them here in this particular bill is the ID to give them the legitimacy they're going to need.''