From the Director: Board Adopts Emerging Top Legislative Priorities

On September 26, the AWC Board of Directors adopted five emerging top legislative priorities for the 2009 session. They are:

• Infrastructure Funding
  State Infrastructure Funding: increase Transportation Improvement Board and Public Works Trust Fund funding; permanently fund the Community Economic Revitalization Board for urban and rural projects; provide Local Infrastructure Financing Tool flexibility and reauthorization; enhance urban Brownfield redevelopment; and enhance funding for parks, open space, trails, and ball fields.

Local Infrastructure Options and Flexibility: allow design build authority for projects under $10M; update bid limit authority; expand uses of the Real Estate Excise Tax; authorize a street utility; and modify the Transportation Benefit District legislation.

Municipal Stormwater Funding: the 2007-2009 Biennial Budget provided additional grant funding to assist implementing cities. For the next biennium and beyond, the state needs to partner with cities to help fund implementation of these permits at levels greater than the 2007-2009 biennium.

• Oppose the Requirement to Tape Executive Sessions and Oppose the Attempt to Limit Public Agencies Attorney Client Privilege
  In 2008, a bill was introduced that would have required all public agencies to record in entirety all executive sessions and retain the recordings for two years. Recordings of executive sessions would be considered public records not subject to public inspection or copying under the public records law except by court order, and only under judicial review. The bill sponsors have stated that the bill will be reintroduced in the 2009 session.

Legislation has been introduced (and is expected to be reintroduced this next year) that would limit a public agency's attorney-client privilege to only communications related to an actual lawsuit and only while the controversy remains pending in court. This is viewed as an effort to drastically narrow the attorney-client privilege and restrict records that can be claimed as attorney work product.

• Oppose Diversion from Public Works Trust Fund
  Support more funding for infrastructure and economic development, not the redirecting of existing funds.
• Mitigating the Medical Costs for Offenders
  AWC will seek: removal of the two-year sunset provision which clarifies the charging entity is responsible for offender medical costs; passage of legislation which expands the uses of the extraordinary criminal justice account to be used for extraordinary medical costs for offenders; and support proposals to provide additional funds for offender medical costs.
• Fiscal Aid for Distressed Cities and Counties
  As a result of the repeal of the MVET due to I-695 and declining State backfill, ESSB 6050 was passed in 2005 to provide some assistance for low-tax base cities and counties - 173 cities currently receive funds from this account. The account is funded by the Real Estate Excise Tax and will receive reduced funds as the real estate market continues to cool. AWC will seek an increase to the City-County Assistance Account, but not at the expense of the Public Works Trust Fund. Establish a "floor" so distributions to qualifying cities do not drop below a certain amount.

AWC will be preparing promotional pieces for these priorities and advance them at the remaining Regional Meetings. The AWC Board adopted the priorities early so that city officials can talk with their legislators during the coming months.

In an effort to help, the first of these promotional pieces, Washington’s Crumbling Infrastructure, will be mailed to you by next week. An electronic version is available on our website at www.awcnet.org.

The Board will continue to look at the other components of our legislative agenda and will adopt the final package at their meeting on November 21. This package will include "other priority issues" and "issues to endorse." "Other priority issues" are important issues for cities; however, they do not raise to the level of importance of the top priority issues. "Issues to endorse" are issues that would be good for cities (or at least for some cities) if they passed, however, AWC staff should not divert energy away from higher priorities to work on these issues.

The Legislative Committee and its various subcommittees continue to meet and will have final recommendations to advance to the Board by November 21. If you have specific legislative proposals for the Legislative Committee to consider, please email them to Jim Justin at jimj@awcnet.org with a copy to Sheri Sawyer at sheris@awcnet.org. Thank you in advance for your contribution to AWC’s policy development process.

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