Will Humble Climate Change, Wills Blog

Corporation Commission Set to Drastically Cut Rooftop Solar Buyback Rates Tomorrow

The Inflation Reduction Act provides good incentives for folks to invest in rooftop solar systems – offering homeowners a 30% tax credit on the purchase of the system. That brings the ‘payback’ time way down from 11 years to 7 years at current utility rates (depending on the utility of course).

When rooftop solar people make more electricity than they need they can either buy a battery to store it or sell it back to the utility at something called a Rate Comparison Proxy rate (for APS ratepayers).

At the moment, APS rooftop people can sell their power back to the grid at $.076 per kWh. The Arizona Corporation Commission allows APS to reduce that buyback rate by 10% per year in accordance with the Value of Solar decision from the Commission a few years ago.

See: Arizona has rooftop solar energy pricing that works. Why fuss with it?

Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers wants much deeper cuts.

A couple months ago proposed cutting the APS’ buyback rate by an additional 37%. The new rate would only be $.053 per kWh. That proposal is on the ACC agenda this Wednesday.

See Myers’ Proposal to Drastically Cut Buyback Rates

People buy rooftop solar systems for many reasons. Some financial, some ethical and some for a combination of both. While the federal tax credit of 30% in the Inflation Reduction Act is an important factor, energy buyback is also a factor, especially when it comes to customers sizing their systems.

Achieving carbon neutrality to mitigate climate change will require a public policy full court press. Discouraging rooftop solar customers from investing in systems that generate more energy than they sometimes need reduces the clean rooftop solar energy that could be generated.

We wrote comments into the Arizona Corporation Commission docket urging the Commission to vote NO on Myers’ proposal. You can Email your comments to the ACC by sending them comments via this link 

I also urge you to take a few minutes and send your comments directly to the Commission for the docket. You can also call in to the meeting or go in person. This Toolkit teaches you how to do it. It’s not complicated.

Will Humble Assurance & Licensure, Wills Blog

ADES’ Adult Protective Services Failed to Protect Vulnerable Adults During the Ducey Administration

A new report this week commissioned by the Arizona Auditor General found that Arizona’s Adult Protective Services system was not adequately protecting vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect.

Arizona Auditor General: Examining the Delivery of Services to Vulnerable Adults in AZ Protective Service System

The report found AZ’s system “lacked direction” and conducts lengthy investigations that result in rates of substantiating abuse, neglect and exploitation that are “well below” national levels. For example, during the study period (during the Ducey Administration) APS substantiated less than 1% of reports of abuse and neglect compared with national substantiation rates of between 29% and 33%.

The report suggests it’s not just poor leadership and accountability that led to the scathing results in the report. Staffing levels appear to be one of the root causes. APS caseworkers handled an average of 58 cases per caseworker in fiscal year 2022 compared with best-practice standards of 25/caseworker.

Arizona’s system of protecting vulnerable adults lacking

The report calls for an independent evaluation of the APS investigation process to help determine the causes of the low substantiation rates and poor-quality investigations.

One encouraging note is that ADES didn’t dispute the findings – the standard practice during the previous administration. That suggests the new agency leadership is interested in fixing things – or at least admits that the shortcomings exist.

The ineffectiveness of the APS system during the prior administration is a huge public health problem because when follow-up of complaints is slipshod, and staff is under-resourced, vulnerable adults end up staying in dangerous and neglectful environments.

Will Humble Professional Development, Wills Blog

Public Health Journalism this Week

New report says DCS reluctant to take punitive enforcement action against foster, group homes | Arizona Capitol Times (azcapitoltimes.com)

Audit: Arizona’s system of protecting vulnerable adults is lacking (azcentral.com)

Clean air advocates urge EPA to regulate heavy-duty trucks (azmirror.com)

Scaled-back COVID-19 dashboard marks end of difficult era for Arizona (azcentral.com)

More than 330 people have died because of the heat in Maricopa County (azcentral.com)

Criticism of Arizona’s Medicaid fraud crackdown is growing (azcentral.com)

Will Humble Injury Prevention, Wills Blog

Phoenix Considering Reinstating Photo Enforcement: Does it Work?

Red light cameras save lives. Photo speed cameras probably don’t.

From 2001 to 2019 the City of Phoenix set up a handful of red-light cameras at strategic intersections with frequent violent crashes. The city council discontinued use of red-light cameras in ’19 because of concerns about “privacy, effectiveness and discrimination”.

The police department is now considering asking the Council to reinstate that authority. Data collected by Phoenix PD suggests that the 12 cameras that had been used prior to 2019 resulted in a 31% drop in red light running crashes at the cross-streets they were used and a 57% drop in red light running crashes in the directions the cameras were facing.

Red-light cameras could return to Phoenix to help police 

The Department is considering several proposals. Some are evidence-based, but some aren’t.

  • Red-light running cameras (evidence-based)
  • Speed cameras at green lights (NOT evidence-based)
  • Fixed midblock speed cameras posted on long stretches of road (not evidence-based)
  • Portable speed towers (not evidence-based)
  • Mobile speed vehicles (not evidence based except around schools)
What’s the public health evidence?

A landmark study for photo enforcement was done by Retting et.al. and published in the American Journal of Public Health examining the impact that photo enforcement had in Oxnard CA after they implemented their photo enforcement program.

Intersections that had red light cameras installed had a 29% reduction in injury crashes.  Right-angle crashes (which often happen because of red light running) were reduced by 32% and right-angle crashes involving injuries were reduced by 68%.  Overall accidents at the intersections were reduced by 7%.

There is less clear evidence that speed cameras are effective public health interventions. There’s almost nothing in the literature that I could find one way or the other for speed cameras.

However, a few years ago a research team that included Dr. Chengcheng Hu, director of biostatistics for the Phoenix campus of the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Dr. Steven Vanhoy, a recent graduate of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix, and several colleagues from Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, offers some insight.

The researchers examined crash data along a 26-mile segment of Interstate-10 in Phoenix where speed cameras had been placed every 2 miles as well as a 14-mile control segment where no cameras had been deployed.

They compared crash data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2009 (when cameras were in place) to data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2011 (after the cameras had been removed).  They found that the removal of the photo radar cameras was associated with a two-fold increase in admissions to Level 1 Trauma Centers from car crashes in the areas where the cameras were removed.

Nobody likes getting a traffic ticket, but photo red light enforcement can significantly reduce severe injuries if placed in the right intersections. There’s less evidence that photo speed enforcement works, and when used as a revenue generating tool (as it is in Paradise Valley) undermines public support for photo enforcement as a public health intervention as a whole (e.g. photo red-lights).

Will Humble Professional Development, Wills Blog

Congratulations to Our 2023 AzPHA Awardees!

 

Join Us at Our Thursday October 26 Award Event!

 

Thursday, October 26, 2023

5:00pm – 8:30pm

University Club of Phoenix

39 E Monte Vista Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Tickets only $60 and includes food and drinks

Register Today

2023 Awardees

Senator Theresa Hatathlie

Policymaker of the Year

Dr. Theresa Cullen

Senator Andy Nichols Honor Award

Arizona Auditor General

Pete Wertheim Public Health Leadership Award

Auditor General Lindsey Perry Accepting for the Team

Haley Coles

Rising Public Health Champion Award

Alida Monteil (Posthumously)

Alida Monteil Indigenous Health & Advocacy Award

Will Humble Climate Change, Wills Blog

Arizona’s Air Pollution Health Crisis

Free In-person Morning Scoop at Alexi’s Grill (3350 North Central Avenue #120, Phoenix AZ)

REGISTER FOR IN-PERSON EVENT OR VIEW YOUTUBE PRESENTATION

In this Morning Scoop, we’ll discuss Phoenix’s ranking as one of the most polluted cities in the U.S. for ozone and particulate pollution and how it disproportionately affects communities of color. Moving to clean energy practices and policies has been seen as a vital way to reduce air pollution and improve lung health in the process.

  • Dr. Reginald Bolding, Founder of Arizona Coalition for Change & Former House Minority Leader
  • JoAnna Strother, Senior Director, American Lung Association
  • Will Humble, MPH, Executive Director, Arizona Public Health Association
  • Aaron Lieberman, Founder and CEO, Buzze
Will Humble Climate Change, Wills Blog

AZ Corporation Commission Considering whether to Drastically Cut Compensation for APS Rooftop Solar Customers Generators

Some members of the Arizona Corporation Commission want to change how solar owners are compensated for their extra power. Any changes would be bad news for rooftop solar.

The ACC plans to vote on whether or not to consider changes at their upcoming meeting on October 11 and 12. Solar Neighbors United is hosting an action webinar next Wednesday, October 4, to rally solar supporters to make our voices heard at the ACC.

At the webinar, the SUN team and our partners in Arizona will: Explain what’s at stake; Walk you through how to participate in the ACC’s process; and Answer questions.

Webinar: Stop the attack on solar Wednesday, October 4 6 p.m. Register for the webinar

If the ACC moves forward with reevaluating solar export rates at their upcoming meeting, the future of rooftop solar in Arizona will be at risk. The ACC could slash export rates for solar. They could roll back the protections that give homeowners the confidence they need to invest in solar. Arizona’s growing solar industry would suffer.

See AZPHA Blog: Rooftop Solar Barely Survives Drastic Cut to Energy Buyback Rates (for now)

Will Humble State Legislature, Wills Blog

Hobbs Does End Around the Senate

After the shenanigans a couple of weeks ago at the “Director’s Nominations” Committee it became crystal clear that Governor Hobbs nominees to lead state agencies won’t be getting a fair shake from the Committee or the Senate. We posted a blog recently arguing that the Governor should use loopholes in the statute to get her nominees onto more stable ground.

Last week the governor did just that. In fact, she basically implemented Option 3 from our playbook: Time to Play Hardball with Agency Director Nominations? Here’s a Playbook

The statutes about senate confirmation requirements are sufficiently vague and supply loopholes that could give Team Hobbs stability and governance options in the absence of Senate feasance.

The statutes about senate confirmation requirements are sufficiently vague and provide loopholes that gave Team Hobbs options to provide stability and governance options. See: 38-211 – Nominations by governor; consent of senate; appointment 

Governor Hobbs’ letter to Senate President Petersen outlined her arguments for why the move was necessary: Governor Hobbs Letter to Senate President Petersen & Governor Katie Hobbs Pulls Nominees from Partisan Political Circus Created by Extremist Jake Hoffman

Here’s what went down: Hobbs first withdrew the nominations of all the agency directors that she had previously sent to the Senate. She then appointed a guy named Ben Henderson as the Interim Director for each of the agencies. Mr. Henderson proceeded to name the person who had previously been nominated to be director to the title of Executive Deputy Director.

For example, Karen Peters – who had been the ADEQ Director – is now the “Executive Deputy Director”. From what I understand, Ben Henderson is still technically the Director, but everyone knows it’s really Karen Peters.

There’s no change for now for those agencies in which the Director’s choice had not been formally sent to the Senate. For example, Hobbs tweeted that she is naming Jennifer Cunico to be the ADHS Director, however she never actually sent her name to the Senate for confirmation. As such, her title is unchanged – and she is still the “Acting Director” according to the Org Chart: AZDHS Org Chart

Editorial Notes: The next part of this story will likely be told by the Office of Administrative Hearings & Judicial branch. One possible scenario could play out like this: Let’s say ADEQ denies an aquifer protection permit to an applicant in the near future. That applicant may grieve the decision and challenge it in the Office of Administrative Hearings.

The OAH Judge’s Order would then go back to the Agency for a final decision. If still denied, the applicant may appeal the ruling to the court system, arguing that an agency director isn’t in place as required by law. The judge would then need to sort out whether that agency administrative decision was valid or not.

Sen. Jake Hoffman scolds a Hobbs’ nominee for plagiarism. No, really

Arizona Senate panel rejects Gov. Katie Hobbs’ housing director

Senate committee doesn’t ‘vet’ nominees. It sabotages them

Will Humble Professional Development, Wills Blog

Public Health Journalism This Week

How Arnold v. Sam changed Arizona’s mental health system (azcentral.com)

Arizona mobile health teams bring medication, services to patients (azcentral.com)

New tools to battle RSV: What to do this fall to fight the virus (azcentral.com)

Free COVID-19 tests by mail. How to get yours (azcentral.com)

Medicaid in Arizona: Who’s covered in the health insurance program? (azcentral.com)

Will Humble Prevention, Public Health, Wills Blog

NAU’s New Medical School Plan is Right on the Money

Several months ago, the AZ Board of Regents and the three presidents of the state universities got together and committed to put together plans to alleviate the current and future healthcare workforce shortage. The most acute need is and will continue to be the shortage of primary care practitioners.

2022 Arizona Medically Underserved Areas Report

Primary Care Needs Assessment Report

They named the initiative the AZ Heathy Tomorrow plan, and the stated aims are to increase investment by each of our state’s public universities (both through partnerships with the private sector and state & federal government) to meet the longer-term healthcare needs of Arizona.

Arizona is currently short 667 primary care providers. That’s expected to grow to 2000 in the next few years without intervention.

The UArizona announced their part of the plan a few months ago- which focuses on doubling the number of medical school graduates and expanding its partnership with Banner Health to create a fully integrated academic medical center. UArizona’s plan also plans to use telemedicine and its rural health.

A couple of months ago ASU outlined their plan, which envisions a new medical school that will “… integrate clinical medicine, biomedical science and engineering”, growing its partnership with the Mayo Clinic, and expanding the nursing workforce. That plan seemed to focus more on high-end specialty medicine rather than the more acute needs – the shortage of primary care practitioners. Sadly, ASU’s plan didn’t mention anything about increasing the number of residency positions – which is the actual key to getting more workforce in the state.

See: What’s the Solution to AZ’s Doctor Shortage? More Medical Students or More Residencies?

The bottleneck in getting more physicians practicing in the field in AZ isn’t the number of medical school students in the pipeline…  it’s mostly the number of residency slots that are available in AZ & geographic and specialty distribution of those residencies.

NAU’s Plan is Right on the Money

Thankfully, NAU hit the mark this week with exactly the right kind of plan, called NAU Health. It’s the only one of the 3 AZ Healthy Tomorrow plans that aims to improving health outcomes in rural, Indigenous, and underserved communities- and is the only one that squarely focuses on primary care. It’s also the only plan that highlights the need to build new community-based residency programs – which is the actual key to building the workforce.

NAU’s College of Medicine will also be intentionally designed to “… create accelerated pathways and affordable options for Arizona residents seeking an MD that will enable them to practice in-state while accruing minimal debt”.

NAU envisions a tuition coverage program like the Arizona Teachers Academy where graduates who stay to practice in Arizona after graduation will have educational costs fully covered. The also intend to build a curriculum that includes cultural competency and “… integrates behavioral health perspectives to improve outcomes for patients and their communities”.

That’s super important because the more debt a student leaves medical school with the more they are incentivized to go into a specialty (specialists and proceduralists get paid a lot more than primary care practitioners).

They’ll also have a “Pathways to Practice” system – an accelerated by 3-year medical education program.  The NAU College of Medicine will emphasize teaching and practice as opposed to a more highly specialized research model often employed by medical schools.

NAU launches College of Medicine to address Arizona’s critical shortage of primary care physicians

Kudos to NAU for their thoughtful plan. It’s right on the money because it:

  1. focuses on primary care;
  2. is designed to lower the debt load of graduates (so they can afford to practice family medicine);
  3. recognizes that residency and preceptor development is a key to getting graduates to practice in AZ;
  4. is teaching rather than research-based; and
  5. will include cultural competency and will integrate behavioral health perspectives into the curriculum.
Well Done Team NAU!

See NAU’s Plan: NAU Health | Office of the President

NAU plans to build new medical school | 12news.com

Northern Arizona University announces plans to create medical school

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