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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOW 2005-01-10 Item 5B - Council - 2005 Legislative Priorities COUNCIL AGENDA SI'NOPSIS k J a r S y rrita� I1mwNo. i°I .J.ir 10 dfeetinR Date 1 Prepared by 1 Jiafor, Teth;i• I Cgxr,:itr iew �N. 01/10/05 I L-L- 1 1 1 t►: /902, I I I I b I I I I ITEM INFORMATION CAS NUMBER: Ref 05-002 (ORIGINAL AGENDA DATE: 1/3/05 AGENDA ITEM TITLE State legislative priorities for consideration CATEGORY Dir rt.ian Maio,: Resolution Orinaw e Bid Award Public Hearing Other ft Date 1/3/05 1fg Date Mg Darr MIA Daft 3Lg Dart Mtg Dote 3fa Dare I SPONSOR Coto:: =i 1Lrror Adm Sr:s DCD Finance ❑Fie 4ga; P&R Pollee PIE% SPONSOR'S This is an opportunity to discuss the AWC options to decide if you will support or oppose &'M LARY them. We can use these issues in discussions with our state legislators in the upcoming session. REVIEWED BY COW Mtg. CA &P Cmte F &S Cmte Transportation Cmte Utilities Cmte Arts Comm. Parks Comm. Planning Comm. DATE: RECOMMENDATIONS: SPONSOR /ADML\. Discuss issues and support them or decline to support them. CoMLMn 1T-E N.A. COST IMPACT FUND SOURCE EXPENDITURE REQUIRED AMOUNT BUDGETED APPROPRIATION REQUIRED Fund Source: Comments: MTG. DATE RECORD OF COUNCIL ACTION 1/3/05 Regular Meeting; discussion held on related resolution which was then approved. AWC Legislative priorities, through Council consensus /agreement, were forwarded to the January 10, 2005 Committee of Whole meeting. MTG. DATE ATTACHMENTS 1/3/05 Memo dated 12/27/05 from L. Lauterbach 1/10/05 Memo dated 1/6/05 from L Lauterbach AWC Prinriti PS 1 To: City Council From: Lucy Lauterbach Date: January 6, 2004 Subject: Leqislative Priorities The AWC Priorities listed below are as Pam Carter said, issues that AWC will lobby on in the Legislature this session. Whether Tukwila should support them is your decision. Obviously we will oppose streamlined sales tax unless we are compensated for lost revenues and unless it doesn't take effect until the federal government institutes a tax on internet sales. Direct Gas Tax Distribution to Cities AWC is working to allow direct gas tax distribution to cities. We currently get some funds through the state, but AWC would like us to get part of the increase that was passed last year that now goes all to the state, as well as work to increase the gas tax for funds that would go directly to cities and counties as well as to the state. Local Transportation Options A number of components are being considered by AWC. They are listed below. 1. Fuel Efficiency Tax-taxing vehicles that have poor fuel efficiency. 2. Local Option Fuel Tax-cities now have the ability to have a citizen-voted gas tax of 10%. AWC will try to get that increased to a 20% voted tax. 3. Street Utility Authority- cities once had the ability to pass a street utility with taxes on property to fund it. Court action found those utilities to be illegal. AWC will work to allow it again. 4. Vehicle License Fee-this tax that went to the state and to cities was reduced by an Eyeman initiative. AWC will try to replace those lost funds with new vehicle licensing fees 5. Vehicle Weight Fee-a revenue to be based on vehicles' weights (except farm equipment). 6. Expand the Regional Transportation District Authority (RTID) beyond its Current boundaries of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Street Light Authority This may be rolled into the local options issue above. AWC has found a model in Minnesota they think may work here. It would allow cities to pass a street utility that would allow charges for street lights and other street costs that were disallowed in the court case. Jim Morrow opposes this, saying there's no fair way to charge for a street that so many different people use. He believes it's fair for the cost to come from the city's general fund. Alan Doerschel would support any method of recovering the cost of street lights or other street costs. Municipal Court Issues This is a multi-faceted approach to several bills affecting courts. AWC will try to: Legislative Prionties Page 2 - Find money to help courts pay for judges, indigent people's cases, juror fees, and increased filing fees. All these are paid for by cities now. The money would be optional, and it would be optional for cities to apply for the funds. -Allow local jurisdictions to decide whether or not to accept additional subject matters that could be added to their bailiwicks. - Allow cities to contract together for court services and allow for the appointment of part-time municipal judges. Our law firm has asked the City to support this, as several of their smaller cities do contract with neighboring cities for court services. Though Tukwila doesn't do this now, we could do it in a small way in the future. Also, our judge and court are "part time" because our judge is not elected. It's important we retain this working arrangement. Judge Walden works 32 hours/week. -Oppose the bill to elect all judges. We would prefer our judge be appointed. Gambling/Local Zoning It's important to Tukwila we be able to zone casinos. Currently cities can ban all casinos or allow casinos everywhere in their city. A new bill would give cities zoning authority for casinos. Capital Facilities Strategic Investment A new capital facilities investment fund would build state funds for large local infrastructure projects that add or retain local jobs, stimulate the economy, or add economic development. The funds would come from credits on part of the sales tax. Pension Contribution Rates As you know, the cost of pension contributions has risen sharply recently. AWC will work toward allowing cities to raise the pension contribution rates more gradually, make annual rate adjustments, and establish a floor below which contributions could not fall. Alan and Kevin support this move. Multi Family Housing Property Tax Exemption Cities with populations over 30,000 have been able to give 10-year property tax exemptions for new, rehabilitated, or converted multi-family housing projects. AWC will work to allow all cities to do this. This could be one more tool to use in cleaning up some of the apartments in Tukwila. Amend General Contractor/Construction Management Legislation This effort would try to offer the option for design/build/construction management in public works projects to more cities than can currently use this process. Cities over 70,000 can use it. Jim Morrow is a proponent of design /build, and would like to be able to use it. The process is that a contract is let for a project that includes both the design, building, and construction management of the entire project. Awe Legislative Priorities for 2005 7 On December 17, 2004, the Board of Directors of the Association of Washington Cities adopted the following Legislative Priorities for 2005: High Priorities Direct Gas Tax Distribution to Cities AWC will pursue a new gas tax distribution to cities. In addition, AWC will pursue increased grant funding from the Transportation Improvement Board, WSDOT- Highways and Local Programs Division, and other sources, and for freight mobility. Local Transportation Options AWC will pursue a variety of local transportation options, including: 1. Fuel Efficiency Tax - taxing vehicles that are inefficient. 2. Local Option Fuel Tax - increasing the local option from 10% to 20% of the state gas tax. 3. Street Utility Authority - pursue legislation to allow re-enactment of this authority. 4. Vehicle License Fee - replacing funds lost due to Initiative 776. 5. Vehicle Weight Fee - imposing a weight fee on all vehicles (exempting agricultural equipmenUvehicles). 6. Expand Regional Transportation Improvement District Authority to Jurisdictions Outside of King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. Street Light Authority AWC will seek revenue sources to replace lost street light utility funds, including a broad Street Utility that would encompass street lights. Municipal Court Issues AWCwill: . Pursue state funding for municipal court judges' salaries, indigent defense, increased juror fees, and increased filing fees, as contained in the Board for Judicial Administration legislative package, ensuring that a local jurisdiction maintains the option of whether or not to accept the money if additional strings are attached. . Pursue preserving local decisions regarding whether additional subject matter is to be added to municipal court caseloads. . Continue to protect the authority for cities to contract together to provide court services and the authority to appoint part-time municipal court judges. . Oppose the requirement to elect more judges, including those that serve in the contracting cities. AWC 2005 Legislative Priorities - 1 - Downtown Revitalization AWC will seek additional state assistance for economic development programs for downtowns - both technical and financial assistance. We will pursue enhancement of the Department of Community Development's various "downtown programs." AWC will also attempt to enhance the Community Economic Revitalization Board's (CERB) resources and programs. Gambling/Local Zoning AWC will again seek the passage of legislation clarifying cities' land use and zoning powers with respect to any land uses involving gambling activities. We have introduced legislation the last few years attempting to clarify local governments' ability to zone gambling activities. Cities can currently ban gambling entirely, but some question cities' authority to zone the activity. Capital Facilities Investment AWC will work with the Legislature to create a new "Capital Facilities Strategic Investment Fund." The purpose of the fund will be to provide state financial assistance for costly local government infrastructure projects that create new or assure the retention of existing jobs, and stimulate community and economic development. Other Priorities Public Duty Doctrine and Liability Reform AWC will pursue passage of the Public Duty Doctrine and other liability reforms - joint and several, caps on non-economic damages, allowing seatbelt information to be made available to the juries, and providing limits on exposure for providing employer reference checks. Six-Year Operation and Maintenance Excess Levies- Constitutional Amendment AWC will ask the Legislature to place a constitutional amendment before the voters which would provide cities and other local taxing districts the ability to seek voter approval of multi-year operation and maintenance excess levies, for a period up to six years. According to the state constitution, cities may only ask voters to approve maintenance and operations excess levies (which are exempt from statutory limits) for a one-year period. School districts and fire districts are currently authorized to request levies for a multi-year period. Sufficient Water/Water Right for Growth AWC will seek legislative and administrative opportunities to help resolve gridlock in the processing of new water rights. This is a complicated issue impacted by both policy and budget considerations within the Department of Ecology. AWC 2005 Legislative Priorities -2- Pension Contribution Rates The State Actuary is recommending>significant pension contribution rate increases over the next six years. AWC will advance legislation which raises pension contribution rates gradually, makes annual rate adjustments, and establishes a rate "floor" that the Pension Funding Council will not move below during their rate-setting process. This phase-in would make it easier for cities and other local governments to manage and budget for the increases. GMA Revisions AWC will initiate and pursue a variety of changes to the Growth Management Act to make sure it continues working in cities of various sizes that are characterized by widely disparate rates of growth and infrastructure needs. . Change the frequency of GMA review and update responsibilities from every 7 years to every 10 years. . Allow smaller and slower-growing cities to update less frequently than larger and faster growing ones. . Clarify what the state expects when cities are mandated to consider the use of best available science when reviewing and updating local environmental protection regulations. . Clarify that cities may zone for residential uses at a variety of densities within their communities, as long as their overall density is more than a certain minimum density established either by the Legislature or through some collaborative means within each county. . If not allowable under current law, initiate and pursue an amendment to last year's legislative pre-emption of city and town authority to disallow siting of manufactured homes on individual lots in single-family zones that would let them apply a dollar value criteria, requiring that the manufactured home be valued at least as much as the average house on the block. In addition, AWC will aggressively block state efforts to control what neighborhoods look like. . Ensure that cities have discretion to exempt some development from transportation "concurrency" requirements. . Expand the list of capital projects eligible for use of locally imposed Real Estate Excise Taxes (REET) and make the list the same for both the first and second %0/0 REET, Eliminate the restriction on using them for operations or maintenance costs in the smallest cities - those under 1500 in population. Oppose changes to current GMA Impact Fee authorities that restrict the timing of collection. City & County Economic Development Authority AWC will advance legislation clarifying the ability of cities and counties to enter into economic development projects with other public and private entities, not just nonprofit corporations. AWC 2005 Legislative Priorities - 3 - Multifamily Housing Property Tax Exemption AWC will seek legislation to extend to all cities the 1 O-year property tax exemption for new, rehabilitated or converted multifamily housing projects. Currently, the exemption only applies to cities above 30,000 in population or the largest city in a GMA planning county with no city of 30,000 population or greater. Sales Tax Flexibility AWC will advance legislation that amends ESB 5659, passed in 2003, that provided cities additional voter approved sales tax authority up to .3%. The amendments will delete the mandate that one-third of the new money be spent on criminal justice programs and the mandate that new money not supplant existing funds. Voter Approval to Freeze Property Tax Rate AWC will advance legislation to allow a city to ask their voters to "lock in" or "freeze" an existing property tax rate for a period of up to six years. Legislation passed in 2003 allows a local government to seek approval from their voters for a levy lid lift and identify the associated annual growth rate for a period of up to 6 years, but does not allow a city to ratify a current property tax rate over a period of years. Annexation Reform AWC will pursue and endorse legislation that authorizes additional methods of annexation and provides new tools to facilitate the annexation of lands, including: limiting Boundary Review Board review when joint planning and/or interlocal agreements have been achieved; creating more streamlined annexation methods for small annexations; revising the petition method of annexation to require signature of property owners of 60 percent of the value of the property in the proposed annexation for both code and non-code cities and towns; and encouraging counties to identify potential annexation and incorporation areas in their county-wide planning policies. AWC will also pursue legislation that allows annexation to move forward, without a referendum, if a county and city (I.e., current and future governing authorities) agree though an interlocal agreement on how and when annexation will occur. Amend General Contractor/Construction Management Legislation to Increase the Number of Eligible Cities and Modify the Water Quality Joint Development Act AWC will seek a broader use of the design build and general contractor/ construction management public works process. Currently, only cities over 70,000 in population have access to this process. AWC will seek to either lower the population threshold or move to a criteria based process that allows our cities to demonstrate they can effectively use this process. AWC 2005 Legislative Priorities -4- The Water Quality Joint Development Act of 1986 authorizes local governments to enter into service agreements for,the design, financing, construction and operation of wastewater facilities. AWC will pursue legislation to update and clarify some provisions based on actual field experience and is seeking expansion of these procedures to include drinking water supply and treatment systems. Gas Tax Distributions for All Street Transportation Purposes AWC will seek changes to existing law to remove restrictions on how cities allocate their gas tax on city streets proceeds, to provide more flexibility. Current law requires existing gas tax distributions to be allocated for construction and/or maintenance purposes, depending on the size of the jurisdiction. Cost of Providing Transportation Infrastructure on State Highways (cities over 22,500 population) Cities over population 22,500 are required to assume the costs for maintenance, signalization, ADA and most traffic control functions on managed access state highways (non-Interstate) that go through their respective jurisdictions. AWC will propose a study to determine the fiscal costs of maintaining state highways, and seek legislative funding to offset those transportation responsibilities and costs. Other Issues Streamlined Sales Tax The AWC Board appreciates the work of the AWC Streamlined Sales Tax Committee and their efforts to reach agreement on a mitigation formula. The Committee did agree on a number of issues associated with taxation of remote sales but could not agree on a specific mitigation formula and recommended that AWC "take no position on the issue." The AWC Board recognizes the sensitivity of this issue and believes it is in the best interest of the city family for the Association to "at this time, remain engaged but take no position." AWC 2005 Legislative Priorities - 5-