AWC Legislative Bulletin - Volume 32, No. 14
April 17, 2009  (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
Senate committee budget passes out of committee – heading into the last week of session
What you can do now
Next week’s Legislative Bulletin
How to access funds from the federal recovery act
Energy & telecommunications
Environment and water
General local government
Infrastructure, transportation & economic development
Law & justice
Municipal finance
Personnel & labor relations

Senate committee budget passes out of committee – heading into the last week of session

With just over a week remaining in the 2009 legislative session, negotiations on the budget are taking place in earnest. The Senate Ways & Means Committee passed out its version of the 2009-11 operating budget on April 15. Difficult choices and significant cuts are being made. However, as with previous versions of the budget, with the exception of infrastructure funding, many of the major budget resources important to cities remain intact in the proposed budgets. Many issues are still in play as the Legislature heads into the final week of the session.

The last day of the regular legislative session is Sunday, April 26. Several new bills have been introduced in the last week as part of potential compromises that will be part of the final budget, and the pace on policy bills related to the budget is moving very quickly.

Below are some of the impacts to cities, as well as our “ask” of the Legislature. Please use this information for talking points when you talk with your legislators.

  • Both the House and Senate committee-passed budgets retain full funding for Streamlined Sales Tax mitigation – please retain this vital funding to support the previous policy change.
  • A higher level of funding for public health is ensured in the Senate budget (which retains the core backfill of $48 million, most of the $20 million allocated during the previous biennium and the Local Capacity Development Funds). The House funding level is dependent on fee increases – please provide the Senate funding level.
  • Transfers several important infrastructure programs to the state’s general fund (including the Public Works Assistance Account and Local Toxics Control Account) and reduction of other important infrastructure programs. We do not support these withdrawals from the Public Works Trust Fund and other infrastructure programs, but they appear to be the realities of this legislative session. We will work to ensure that these programs are fully funded in the next biennium (read more below) – please provide some backfill for these programs as the Senate has done and ensure that these programs come back in the next biennium.
  • Continuation of the City-County Assistance Account, with the Senate proposing an additional $10 million for distributions during the next biennium to make up for REET revenue shortfalls – please provide the additional allocation proposed in the Senate budget. 
  • An expansion of liquor sales resulting in additional state revenues, with some of the additional profits allocated via the Liquor Revolving Account to cities and towns – cities support continuation of the formula allocating liquor profits and taxes to local governments.
  • Continuation of funding to train law enforcement officers to meet state mandated requirements – please retain funding for this training, it is imperative we are able to put new officers on the street as quickly as possible. 
  • Reduction of the auto theft prevention to $9.8 million, which was included in the Senate budgets, but the Senate budget transfers $2 million for sex offender address verification – please retain at least $10 million in the account to adequately fund the new program that is proving to be effective. 
  • Reduction of funding for verification of sex offender addresses and residency in the Senate budget to $7 million, rather than the $10 million included in the House budget – please include the House budget appropriation in the final budget. 
  • The Senate budget cuts funds for Growth Management Act assistance and Urban Forestry, which were also reduced in the House budget (as well as Buildable Lands funds in the House budget) – please delay or place on hold the corresponding obligations until adequate resources can be appropriated.

The House budget included some additional items of interest to cities that were not in the Senate passed budget including a directive in the House budget for state audit costs to be reduced by 5% for the upcoming biennium for local governments and a requirement that the auditor reduce audits of local governments under $10 million revenue per year no more than one per biennium, unless requested or fraud is suspected.
As noted, both budgets eliminate the Public Works Trust Fund and allocate $368 million for other purposes.

The Local Toxics Control Account and Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) also experienced significant reductions. We are extremely concerned with this reduction in infrastructure funding that directly translates into jobs, tax revenues for state and local governments, and is used to meet state and federally imposed environmental regulatory requirements.

For a greater analysis of funding levels and cuts to other city funds and programs, please see the AWC website, www.awcnet.org.

We will be working to ensure that adequate levels of funding are maintained and inadequate levels are bumped up in the final version of the budget.