HB 2497 Summary

• Requires counties with populations exceeding 500,000 to establish a voluntary lawn and garden equipment emissions reduction program with vouchers for retiring old equipment.

• Provides vouchers of at least $200 for commercial lawn mowers, at least $100 for residential lawn mowers (to purchase electric or manually operated reel mowers), and at least $50 for gasoline-powered lawn or garden devices.

• Retired equipment cannot be reused in Arizona and counties may contract with independent contractors to develop and implement the program.

• Requires counties to submit annual progress reports by December 1 detailing equipment retired, cost-effectiveness per ton of emissions reduced, program improvement recommendations, and administrative costs.