Proposal would let land owners build wall without permits

Private property owners in Arizona could build their own sections of a border wall along the boundary with Mexico without needing any city or county permits if a proposal from a state lawmaker is approved.

The bill, introduced by Arizona House Majority Leader Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, comes after a group called We Build the Wall began raising private funds to construct a section of border wall in New Mexico.

The group drew attention and money to its work with the help of prominent right-wing figures on its advisory board, including former White House adviser Steve Bannon and baseball star turned conservative pundit Curt Schilling.

Local officials temporarily brought work to a halt there last year when they found the organization did not have the permits ordinarily required to construct a wall more than six feet tall.

The Gilbert lawmaker said he wants to avoid similar problems if a group undertakes such a project in Arizona.

Petersen argued his proposed law would cut red tape for land owners and groups that get the permission of land owners to build a border wall.

“It’s worth making it easier to advance the wall,” he said, pointing to drug and human trafficking across the international boundary that he described as a problem for the whole state. Nogales and part of the border.

Ruiz raised concerns about how a wall might affect flooding in some areas or disrupt wildlife migration.

And he asked, what if a apart?

“Regulations are in place for a reason,” he said.

It would be more helpful, Ruiz suggested, for the federal government to hire more judges to handle a mounting backlog of immigration and asylum cases.

After critics raised concerns about the quality of a border wall constructed through a sort of do-it-yourself process free of the usual permitting process, Petersen announced Monday he would amend his bill to require owners submit an affidavit with local officials.

The affidavit would need the signature of a licensed engineer, certifying the wall was built according to plan and safety specifications.

Arizona shares about 373 border with Mexico.

Much of that is tribal and federal land. Swathes of it are remote and treacherous. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the impacts that constructing a wall might have on ecologically sensitive areas along the international boundary, like at Organ Pipe Cactus Monument, where construction already is underway over the objections of nearby tribes.

But Petersen’s bill also would make it easier for a nonprofit group to build a section of border wall on state land along the border, creating a “presumption that permission exists.”

Groups would still have to apply to build a wall on state land but the burden would be on state officials to make a case for denying permission, he said.

Fifteen other members of the state House of Representatives have signed on to the bill as co-sponsors along with one senator, all Republicans.

The Legislature convenes Jan. 13. wall falls miles of