Preparations for the 2017 legislative session. Page 1 of 2 '—",'ne , Aboutus , 9.: trier ~..A‘ to 1 Logrn Advocacy Trairmg at Data St Heailt‘ Rt Property 5. Serv ces Education Resources Bene?ts Llaci .ty Advocacy » News and updates » Legislative Issues Advocacy Search Legislative issue areas by clicking on the topic areas Welcome to AWC’s online library of Legislative Bulletinand Cityvoice news articles and other listed below. Find Legislative updates. Bulletinarticles, Cityvaice articles, and other updates. FJE.’ ‘f'“i:..)( ‘. Luglolatlvn Issues Preparations for the 2017 legislative session. From the Government Relations Director Even as summer arrives, there is more going on in preparation for the start of the 2017 legislative Budget & ?nance session on January 10 than you might think. When legislators return and statewide ofiice holders Energy settle in, there willbe much at stake for cities large and small - such as slate-shared revenues, programs that help or hinder maintaining our infrastructure, and allowing cities to make choices to Environment & land use keep their communities safe, strong and vibrant. Check out some "snapshots" of what's in play. Federal state revenues are on the rise, but that doesn't mean there's enough to go around —An updated state revenue forecast was released last week and projected there will be just over $300 General government million more oorning in by next June than originally forecast. Modest growth in our economy is Housing projected, and a strong real estate market and continued consumer spending plays a large part in that. However, when looking at an overall state general fund budget of more than $38 billion, this Human services small uptick doesn't come close to meeting demands. Infrastructure Also last week the states budget director infonned state agencies preparing budget requests for the Marijuana 201 ‘M 9 Operating and Capital budgets to essentially ask for no more than they currently get, and to focus on ways to save and stretch those resources. In his letter dated June 10. the budget director Open government noted that both state agencies and their local partners (that includes cities) “should otherwise expect Personnel to manage within current projected state resources. Competition for available resources willbe intense.” Public safety 5. criminal justice Legislators continue to grapple with K-12 funding — A bipartisan Joint Education Funding Task Transportation Force continues to meet in attempt to find common ground to address the Mccleary K-12funding gap that has been front and center the last several years. While continuing to be held in contempt by the state Supreme Court, legislators are trying to ?nd ways to raise or reallocate somewhere around $3.5 billionto adequately fund teacher salaries. We're following their conversations closely. New revenue options for them can help or hinder cities, and ifthey start toying with state property taxes, it could get very complicated and dicey. Legislative and statewide candidates are out and about and it's a great time to catch them — Just over 300 people have ?led for 98 House seats and 26 of the 49 Senate seals. Competi?ve races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Auditor.Attorney General, and others are also in play, along with US. Senator Patty Murray and all 10 US. Congressional seam.The August 2 primary willnarrow competitive races to the top two e regardless of party affiliation. AWC conducted a legislative candidate questionnaire and received over 100 responses. They‘re posted online here for your iniorrnation. We thanked all candidates who responded, and for those who haven't, there's a great opportunity for you to engage them around town and to use the blank questionnaire on our website to have a conversation. More than likely, theyll answer questions if asked in person. Numerous task forces and working groups are delving in to city Issues — AWC is actively engaged on your behalf in a wide variety of these efforts, many of which have reports or recommendations due to the next Legislature by year's end. Among them are those dealing with the use of deadly force in community policing, ways to centralize and simplify administration of city business licenses and B80 taxes (see a separate article on this topic), evaluating ways to unify databases of rail crossings to identify those most in need of improvements to address safety and traffic congestion, and evaluating a potential merger of the LEOFF 1 and teachers‘ pension systems, We're also involved in discussions about allocation of new federal transportation dollars (again see a separate article on this topic), ways to re-engage the state to help fund key local infrastnrcture, address lingering public records requests issues, removal of fish passage barriers, and the list goes on. Fourth edition of AWc's Strong cities Pocket Guide about to be released — This next edition is at the printer and willbe distributed shortly. This pocket-sized resource is full of new and time-tested ideas on how to work with legislators, media, and your community to help make and keep your city strong. Gearing up to hear more what you care about — As you read this, we're joining over 500 city ofiicials in Everett for AWC’s Annual Conference. We’l| be listening to what they care about and how we can help them. We're asking our Board of Directors for some direction on a range of topics and http://www.awcnet.org/Advocacy/Newsandupdates/Legislativelssues/Tabld/677/ArtMID/1 6/20/2016 Preparations for the 2017 legislative session. Page 2 of 2 will be gearing up for the ?rst meeting of an updated AWC Legislative Committee. The Committee‘: job will be to share their views of what's needed and help us prepare to go back to our Board in late September where they'll adopt legislative priorities for the 2017 session. Alter that. we'll be hitting the road and traveling around mestate to hear from you and talk about how to keep cities strong. More to come and happy summer! categories: From the Government Relations Director TV r e About us Publications Member Pooling Pragrams Awc conferences Partners AWC Board of Directors Cityvision magazine Employee Bene?t Trust AWC Annual Conference Partner with AWC Membership Cityvoioe Risk Management Service Agency Clty Action Days Associate members Get involved Legislative Bulletin Workers Comp Retro Labor Relations Institute Center for Quality Communities Media center Drug & Alcohol Consortium Member Expo Municipal Research and Services Center Contact us National League of Cities 16:7‘E Search 1076 Franklin St. SE Site Map Copyright ‘ 2015 Association of Washington Cities Olympia, WA 98501 Privacy Statenlevlt Terms 00 350.753.4137 use _ 1_g_r)o_552,a981 Employee Services Portal http://www.awcnet.org/Advocacy/Newsandupdates/Legis1ativelssues/TabId/677/ArtM1D/16/20/2016 Questionsabout cities posed to all legislative candidates Page 1 of 2 Home , A!"OLtl:‘1 , Partwe with i Logiri Aclvr=c:r:-,/ Trairwig & Data Ni Health Rt P"cpe‘>,' & '.''.»’or 9". Set“ ces Erlucaron Resource-.. Benefits L ab" iy Camper nfiori Advocacy » News and updates » Legislative issues r\dV0Ca"Y Search Legislative issue areas by clicking on the Welcome to AWC's online library of Legislative Bulletin and Cityvoice news articles and other topic areas listed below. Find updates. Legislative Bulletinarticles, Cityvaice articles, and other updates. wce_.5.:-’.. ( ~.“,:'-TA‘..li-‘Cl L .1 It Laglslntlvo mun Questions about cities posed to all legislative candidates From the Government Reia?ons Director As AWC did two years ago during elections for the State Legislature, we're asking each of the 301 Budget & finance candidates who have ?led to run for the Legislature to answer ?ve key questions about keeping Energy cities strong. The ?ling deadline for 98 House and 24 Senate seats closed at 5 pm on May 20, and on May 23, we are emailing each candidate a brief survey that we hope they respond to. We are Environment & land use also sending a mailed copy. and we‘ve asked for responses back by June 10. As responses come in.we'll post them on our website. Federal We've asked about their views on (1) state—shared revenues; (2) basic infrastructure funding; (3) General govemment homelessness, affordable housing and mental health services; (4) public records; and (5) local Housing control. Our goals for this survey are to help educate candidates on our key issues and to provide city of?cials with questions to pose to candidates in advance of the August primary and November Human services Q?nelal9l9°“°l"- Infrastructure when we did a similar survey two years ago, we had a 45 percent return rate and received Marijuana responses from 25 percent of those who won their elections. One lesson learned is that incumbents are less likelyto respond to the survey in writing but willoften respond when asked the questions OPE"Q0‘/emment directly by one or more city ofticials. don't see Ifyou your candidates‘ responses online, go ask them Personnel and have a conversation about what is important to each of you. ' ‘ ' Pubi‘‘C 5a fet y & mmma l t‘Ice Take a look at the survey here and we'll keep you posted on responses during our mid-week Jus Cityvoice newsletter. You can also check our website as we post responses by legislative district. Transportation An early glimpse at the races There is a battle shaping up for control of both the House and Senate. Currently, there are 50 Democrats and 48 Republicans in the House, and 25 Republicans and 24 Democrats in the Senate, although one Democrat caucuses and votes with the Republicans. Conventional wisdom in an unconventional election year assumes the House willstay in the hands of the Democrats and the Senate in the hands of the Republicans.