TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Legislative Committee
SUBJECT:
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Policy statements for the interim and 2020 Oregon Legislative Session.
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
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ISSUE:
1. Shall the City Council approve the attached legislative policy statements as policy direction for the interim and 2020 Oregon Legislative Session?
2. Shall the City Council authorize the City Council Legislative Committee to act on behalf of the Council during the 2020 Legislative Session in adopting positions on bills outside the scope of the policy statements?
RECOMMENDATION:
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1. Approve the attached legislative policy statements as policy direction for the interim and 2020 Oregon Legislative Session.
2. Authorize the City Council Legislative Committee to act on behalf of the Council during the 2020 Legislative Session in adopting positions on bills outside the scope of the policy statements.
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SUMMARY:
The Oregon State Legislature convenes February 3, 2020 for a 35-day session. Adoption of the attached policy statements provides the overarching framework for City officials and contracted lobbyists to officially represent the City on bills during the 2020 session, or short session, in the absence of specific recommendations on bills.
Given the brevity of the 2020 Legislative Session and the speed at which legislation moves, the Legislative Committee is recommending that the City Council delegate the authority to adopt official City positions on legislation to the Council Legislative Committee. If approved, this change will enable the City to be responsive to legislative opportunities and threats throughout the short session.
On November 22, 2019, the City Council Legislative Committee met to consider Legislative priorities to guide interim and 2020 legislative activities (Attachment 1). The Legislative Committee is comprised of Mayor Bennett and Councilors Andersen, Hoy, and Nanke, with Councilor Kaser serving as alternate.
FACTS AND FINDINGS:
For the 2020 Session, the Legislative Committee approved specific policy priorities:
• Funding capital projects to protect Salem’s drinking water
• Support for timely Department of Revenue implementation of local government-initiated payroll tax measures
• Funding for local government to reduce hardships that lead to homelessness and chronic homelessness such as support for:
o Mobile crisis intervention, a navigation center, and sobering center pilot projects,
o Additional funding support for mental health, and
o Additional funding for permanent supportive housing.
• Support for the Yaquina Hall affordable housing project to mitigate costs of delay in schedule and loss of tax credits, such as donation of the building and funding the $1.5 million gap.
In addition to the specific 2020 policy priorities, the City’s llegislative policy statements address broad topics of economic development, financing and revenue, human resources, telecommunications, public safety and land use (Attachment 1). In preparation for this session, positions have been added to the policy statements to support opportunity zones, preserve municipal airports, support for more resources for homelessness and affordable housing, support for a carbon reduction framework, and an expansion of right-of-way management protections.
In addition, Marion County has asked the City for support on two initiatives: (1) Court Care, childcare in domestic abuse situations, and (2) preservation of mobile home parks. With the Council’s approval, staff will work with Marion County to scope our shared position for these issues and in developing more funding support for mental health.
Staff will bring updates to the Council throughout the 2020 Legislative Session and provide a summary report at the Session's end. As positions are developed for individual bills, staff will use a system of prioritization to identify the City’s opposition (“O”) or support (“S”) for a bill. For a high priority bill with a fiscal or policy impact, classifying the bill with a “1” will allow for the Mayor, councilors, and staff to work to support or oppose the bill. For medium priorities, a “2”, staff will watch for changes and may become involved if time and resources permit. For a bill of little to no priority to Salem, a “3” will not warrant staff effort. Given limited resources, these bills will be set aside and not referred to the Committee or Council unless amendments change their anticipated impact.
To make the best use of Council and staff resources and allow the City to respond more expeditiously to moving legislation, the Council approves policy statements which are intended to guide public officials and the City's contracted lobbyist in responding to and formulating positions on issues expected to come before the Oregon Legislature.
To continue a coordinated and unified response during the upcoming session, the Mayor and Councilor are asked to share legislative contacts with staff via an email to the Courtney Knox Busch (cbusch@cityofsalem.net <mailto:cbusch@cityofsalem.net>). The email should identify the date of the legislative contact, the delegate(s) with whom contact was made, bill(s) discussed, and a summary of the position(s) and comments shared. Staff will forward the communication to the City’s contracted legislative consultant, the Legislative Committee, and City Council as appropriate.
Courtney Knox Busch
Strategic Initiatives Manager
Attachments:
1. 2020 Legislative Policy Statements