From the Director: Legislature Adjourns One Day Early

 Although a short session, it was extremely hectic and described by some long-term legislators as the busiest short session they have encountered. Over 2600 new bills were introduced, 1221 in the Senate and 1419 in the House. All of these issues were considered, as well as many bills originally introduced in 2005, the first year of the biennium.

The session concluded with a number of successes for cities, some significant, others modest, some during the waning hours, and very few with negative city implications. We have briefly outlined these bills in this Bulletin.

Clearly, our largest disappointment was the failure to secure passage of Streamlined Sales Tax legislation. The Governor requested the legislation, and the Senate approved the bill 48 – 0. House leadership chose not to bring the bill before the full chamber. While disappointing, this was not unexpected. We knew in November that House leadership was not comfortable advancing this bill in 2006. There were no concerns with the policy, just the politics of the issue and the perception of a "tax" vote heading into an election year. The Speaker has told us this will be one of the first bills passed in 2007.

The Governor now has until March 31 to act on bills. Once she has completed her review and actions, we will prepare our final 2006 Bulletin providing a comprehensive review of legislation impacting cities and towns. We expect this Bulletin to be mailed to you by the end of April.

Thank You!!

A quick thanks to all of you who helped us advance AWC’s legislative agenda during the past few months. I have said it before and I’ll say it again: our success is a direct result of the contacts you make throughout the year with your legislators, letting them know how legislation impacts your city. The AWC lobby team is extremely valuable and effective, but this is only possible because legislators know they speak for you.

Thanks again for all of your help!

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