AWC priority bills – most moving

Flexibility and stormwater proposals appear to be gathering momentum as we approach the midpoint of the legislative session. The same does not appear to be true for street maintenance utility. Tuesday, February 9 is day 30 of the 60 day session. It is also the day that fiscal bills must be approved by the fiscal committees including transportation committees in both the Senate and House. If these bills do not meet this deadline they are dead unless they are deemed necessary to implement the state budget. All three or at least components of our top priorities are fiscal related; fiscal flexibility, storm water and street utility. The stormwater proposal, allocating some moneys to the state general fund, appears to avoid the 9th deadline. Local government fiscal flexibility and street utility do not enjoy this luxury.

Flexibility

SB 6424 appears to be the vehicle for fiscal flexibility in the Senate. We are aggressively working to secure movement of this bill from the Senate Ways and Means Committee by Tuesday. A public hearing was held on the bill and a similar measure on February 2. We expect this bill to be modified and have outlined in the Municipal Finance section of this Bulletin the latest information on bill content.

House sponsors of the fiscal flexibility proposals have indicated they will be introducing a new separate bill that will include many of the provisions in other AWC supported bills. At a minimum we expect it will include provisions of the Senate bill. It is likely to have other provisions including the fix to the Brokered Natural Gas Use Tax court decision and a county unincorporated utility tax.

Other flexibility proposals including extension of GMA timelines and public record issues are also moving. Please see details on these issues in this Bulletin.

Get specific with flex calls to your legislators. Watch the video and take Representative Ross Hunter’s advice.
Watch this video!

Stormwater

A specific bill will be introduced any day now. The bill will provide needed assistance to cities to meet our stormwater obligations. Fiscal aid may start slow but will grow over the years. Opposition to this bill will be fierce, and we will need your assistance. Again, proposal details are outlined in this Bulletin.

Street maintenance utility

While we continue to "work" the bill, it appears HB 2618 may not be advanced from the House Transportation Committee by the 9th deadline. Business opposition to the proposal has been aggressive, and the desire by legislative leadership to limit the number of "tax" votes has severely damaged our ability to secure you a needed transportation tool.

We should know a great deal more on each of these issues next week including specific bill numbers – watch for updates on our website and in future Bulletins.

I know we continue to ask for your help, and many of you have made several contacts – your legislators are telling us so. Please continue this work – it does make a difference.

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