A vote on a National Scenic Area for the Sedona area failed in Congress on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 23.
House Resolution 4823: The Sedona-Red Rock National Scenic Area Act of 2010 needed a two-thirds majority of votes in the House of Representatives. It fell 21 votes short of the needed 279 votes to pass, with 258 in favor and 160 opposed.
The “aye” votes numbered 246 Democrats and 12 Republicans, opposed to 160 Republicans who voted “nay.”
Eight Democrats and six Republicans abstained. All five of Arizona’s Democrats in the House voted in favor of the bill while its three Republicans voted against.
The bill was considered under the “suspension of the rules,” a Congressional procedure often used to pass noncontroversial and/or nonpartisan legislation.
For a bill considered under suspension, a two-thirds vote is required — rather than 50 percent plus 1. Debate is limited to 40 minutes and no amendments can be added.
A bill that fails a vote under suspension can still be considered and passed by a simple majority, but the vote could take at least several weeks to reach the House floor.
The NSA legislation and a related bill — House Resolution 5110: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Boundary Modification Act of 2010, which would enlarge the national monument south of Phoenix — both emerged from the House Natural Resources Committee without objection and without amendments by either Democratic or Republican committee members. Both failed to win a supermajority, or, in this case, a two-thirds majority vote.
The NSA designation would encompass roughly 160,000 acres in the Coconino National Forest around Sedona.
Opponents claim the bill will hand over control of the Coconino National Forest to Congress and hamper efforts to build schools and infrastructure projects.
Proponents say the NSA will prevent future land trades.
“We’re disappointed that it didn’t go well,” Keep Sedona Beautiful President Tom O’Halleran said of the vote. “But we had to remember it did get a majority. That’s why in reconsideration [on the House floor], I’m fairly confident it will get a majority vote.”
“Even when I was in the Senate, supermajority votes were rare,” said O’Halleran, a former Arizona state representative and state senator who represented District 1 as a Republican.
O’Halleran said the bill received local support from voters of both major parties and local governments.
“There is no way that this is not a bipartisan approval. Even those in opposition say that the area needs to be preserved,” he said. “It does one and only one thing: Stop land trades.”
O’Halleran blamed the failure in part on gridlock in Washington, D.C., due to the current election cycle. If the bill had been proposed by a Republican rather than a Democrat, O’Halleran said, the votes would have been reversed.
“In an election year, between September, October and November, they’re fighting over political turf, not reality,” he said.
Opponents of NSA designation did not return phone calls by press time.