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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPacket, State Legislative Issues TOWN COUNCIL MEETING INFORMATION TOWN OF MARANA MEETING DATE: March 7, 2006 AGENDA ITEM: K.3 TO: MAYOR AND COUNCIL FROM: Michael A. Reuwsaat, Town Manager SUBJECT: State Leeislative Issues: Discussion/Direction/Action regarding all pending bills before the Legislature DISCUSSION This item is scheduled for each regular council Meeting in order to provide an opportunity to discuss any legislative item that might arise during the current session of the State Legislature. Periodically, an oral report may be given to supplement the Legislative Bulletins. ATTACHMENTS Legislative Bulletins, Issues 6 and 7. RECOMMENDATION Upon the request of Council, staff will be pleased to provide recommendations on specific legislative issues. SUGGESTED MOTION Mayor and Council's pleasure. JCB/03/02/2006/8:55 AM IN THIS ISSUE Eminent Domain Bills Continue to Move, Regulatory Takings Added to Bills ............ Repeal of the Municipal Tax Code Commission Pursued .. 2 County Island Fire Service Bill Signed into Law. . . . . . . . . .. 2 New Liquor License Class Being Proposed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2 Cable Bills Begin to Move. . .. 2 Municipal Tax Incentives Update ,................ 2 T ransportation/ Public Safety Bonding Capacity Increase Sent to the Senate , . . . . . , . . . . .. 3 Photo Radar Bills Killed in Committee. . . . . , . . . . . , . .. 3 Retaining Arizona Physicians . 3 R&D Tax Credits Continue to Move . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 Statewide Plumbing Code Repeal . , . , . . . . . , . . . . . . .. 3 league of Arizona ~II~ Cities AND To\vns Legislative Bul/etin is published by the League of Arizo11Jl Cities and Towns, Forward your comments or suggestions to: League of Arizo11Jl Cities & Towns 1820 West Washington Street Phoenix, Arizo11Jl 85007 Phone: 602-258-5786 Fax: 602-253-3874 Email: league@rng.state.az.us Internet: www.azleague.org LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN Issue No.6 February 17, 2006 * ACTION ALERT * EMINENT DOMAIN BILLS CONTINUE TO MOVE, REGULATORY TAKINGS ADDED TO BILLS A new development regarding the eminent domain legislation occurred this week with the amending of two resolutions to include regulatory takings provisions. In addition to limiting eminent domain authority, HCR2031 and SCR1 019 would enable property owners to sue government if a land use law, such as rezoning, diminishes property value based on a "highest and best use" standard for the property. If passed, the eminent domain and regulatory takings provisions would be placed on the November ballot. In addition, an effort is underway to place similar language on the ballot through an initiative. As previously reported, multiple proposals limiting the government's eminent domain powers have been offered this legislative session. Many of these are very broad in scope and would impact "traditional" condemnation for infrastructure purposes such as roads, bridges, sewer lines, etc. Arizona cities, towns, counties and the business community that rely on infrastructure development are concerned that the breadth of these proposals will increase the time and cost of necessary public works. Further, the use of eminent domain for these clearly public purposes has not been a cause for concern. The League of AZ Cities and Towns and many other stakeholders have met with Leadership from both the House and the Senate and have begun to work out a compromise that would protect general condemnation authority and address redevelopment through new requirements that will provide further safeguards for property owners while maintaining the municipal authority to condemn to eliminate slum and blighted conditions. Several bills regarding eminent domain authority passed out of the House Federal Mandates and Property Rights Committee on Monday. The bills that passed that committee this week are: HB2410 - requires the city or town council to adopt a resolution with a two-thirds vote declaring that redevelopment takings will not be transferred to a private owner. This bill passed 5-1 with Rep. Tom Prezelski voting 'no'. HB2445 - removes the authority for cities and towns to condemn for slum clearance and redevelopment. This bill passed 5-0-1 with Rep. Tom Prezelski voting 'present'. HB2675 - states that redevelopment may only be used in slum areas rather than blighted areas. Also specifies that these takings must be used to address health and safety issues rather than for economic development. This bill passed 5-0-1 with Rep. Tom Prezelski voting 'present'. HB2736 - requires the city or town to repay property taxes on property condemned for redevelopment. Also requires the court to award all fees to the city or town if their appraisal is more than 10% lower than the property owner's appraisal. This bill passed 5-0-1 with Rep. Tom Prezelski voting 'present'. There are also several eminent domain bills that are beyond the initial committee hearing and are moving rapidly through the process. HB2062, HB2063, HB2064, HCR2002 and HCR 2003 have all passed out of the House and are now assigned to committee in the Senate. SB1110 and SCR1002 have passed out the Senate and have been sent to the House. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your legislators early next week and reemphasize that we are willing to discuss reforms to redevelopment but they need to stop the bills that impact general condemnation authority. Also, please emphasize that the regulatory takings language found in HCR2031 and SCR1 019 should be stricken. Regulatory takings is a separate issue from eminent domain and the enactment of takings language this broad would severely impede planning and zoning authority. * ACTION ALERT * REPEAL OF THE MUNICIPAL TAX CODE COMMISSION PURSUED Senator Dean Martin, pulled a procedural maneuver in Committee yesterday that advanced bill language in 5B1217 that would eliminate the Municipal Tax Code Commission and create a uniform local sales tax base. The bill was posted on the Senate Finance Committee agenda as a vehicle for a strike everything amendment or "striker" completely unrelated to the Municipal Tax Code Commission. By posting the bill in this manner, Senator Martin was indicating that the striker would be considered and not the original bill. Yet, when the bill was considered, Senator Martin moved for consideration of the original bill without consideration of the striker. He also refused to take testimony. Obviously, the repeal of the Municipal Tax Code Commission, is a major attack on local control over local taxes. The manner in which this bill advanced was also inappropriate as it was done clearly to bypass any input from cities and towns. ACTION REOUESTED: Please contact your Senators and express your opposition to SB1217 and your concern and opposition over how this bill advanced out of committee. COUNTY ISLAND FIRE SERVICE BILL SIGNED INTO LAW Governor Napolitano signed HB2145, which mandates the Town of Gilbert to be the fire service provider of last resort to the county islands within the town. This bill was an emergency measure and therefore goes into effect immediately. Because of the bidding qualifications added to the bill, it is highly anticipated that no bids will be submitted and Gilbert will be mandated to provide the service as the provider of last resort. * ACTION ALERT * NEW LIQUOR LICENSE CLASS BEING PROPOSED HB2740 creates a new class of liquor licenses, between the restaurant and bar classifications. Establishments that cannot reach the 40% food sale threshold required to get a restaurant license would be able to automatically apply for the new 'grill' license if at least 20% of their sales is food. This bill will not only create more licenses and establishments, it will be done without input from the city or town with jurisdiction. As this bill is written, once a restaurant license is granted by the State Liquor Board, the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control has the authority to issue the grill license without board action or input from cities and towns. No quota on the number of grill licenses is provided so the Department may grant an unlimited number. This bill was held in the House Commerce Committee on Wednesday and will be heard next Wednesday. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact members ofthe House Commerce Committee and express your concerns with this bill before Wednesday. The Members are Representatives Reagan, McComish, Barnes, Burges, Groe, Knoponicki, Cajero Bedford, McCune-Davis and Meza. CABLE BILLS BEGIN TO MOVE Many months of cable negotiations resulted in Rep. John Nelson introducing HB2812. This bill outlines how cable-licensing contracts can be negotiated at the local level for all new or renewed contracts. The bill allows cities to maintain their current 5% licensing fee as allowed by federal statute but uses the industry's limited definition of gross revenue. The bill also limits cities to 4 public channels. The bill passed out of the House Counties, Municipalities and Military Affairs Committee with a 7-2-3 vote on Tuesday. More onerous language is being pursued through a strike-everything amendment added to SB1421 by Senator Dean Martin, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. This bill as amended limits license fees to 4% based on the more limited definition of gross revenue and limits the license requirements to 2 public channels. This bill passed out ofthe Senate Finance Committee lastThursday with a 6- 0-3 vote as amended. Both bills now await floor action in their house of origin. MUNICIPAL TAX INCENTIVES UPDATE SB1243, sponsored by Sen. Ken Cheuvront, passed out of the Senate this week with a 16-11-3 vote. This bill penalizes cities in and around Maricopa and Pinal Counties for using tax incentives by reducing their state shared revenue by the same amount. This bill passed out of the Senate last session and then failed in the House. Rep. John Nelson's HB2737, which limits, but does not prohibit or penalize municipal tax incentives, is also moving through the House. Both bills contain exemptions for infrastructure, historical preservation, redevelopment and environmental remediation projects. The League will continue to keep close watch on these bills as they continue through the process and opposed to SB1243. lEGISLATIVE BUllETIN PAGE 2 February 17, 2006 TRANSPORT A TION/ PUBLIC SAFETY BONDING CAPACITY INCREASE SENT TO THE SENATE HCR2001 is a League resolution to increase the bonding capacity limit for transportation and public safety projects. The bonding capacity for these projects will go from 6% to 20% of assessed valuation within a municipality's jurisdiction. This growth will allow roads and public safety projects to keep up with the rapidly growing population. This bill passed out ofthe House with a 34-23-3 vote on Monday. The resolution was sent to the Senate, where it has been assigned to the Government Committee. If passed, the issue would be placed on this November's ballot for the voters to decide. PHOTO RADAR BILLS KILLED IN COMMITTEE Tuesday was a great day for cities that utilize photo enforcement technology. The Senate Transportation Committee voted to kill all four photo enforcement bills that were heard. Sponsored by Sen. Dean Martin, all of these bills worked to prohibit or reduce the impact of photo enforcement as a tool cities use to enforce traffic laws. SB1460 required cities only have a flat fee contract with photo enforcement vendors. SB1473 required that a law enforcement officer witness any photo enforcement citation on the freeway for it to be valid. SB1500 forced the Department of Weights and Measures to calibrate every photo enforcement device in the state once every six months, even though there are no current standards for calibration. SB1507 prohibited photo enforcement on the freeway and diverted a blank amount from the Highway User Revenue Fund for 100 DPS officers. That appropriation was estimated between $12 and $23 million. A special thank you to the Senate Transportation Committee for supporting the cities and their right to enforce their traffic laws and keep their citizens safer. The House Transportation Committee also scheduled several photo enforcement bills for its meeting on Thursday. HB2180 creates an impossible method for the State to develop its own statewide photo enforcement system on its freeways. Despite testimony that supported the idea but addressed the impossible hurdles created by this bill, the Committee passed this bill 6-3. HB2411 allows a speed violator caught by photo enforcement to attend traffic school an unlimited amount of times in order to avoid points on his/her driver's license. It also limits the fine a city can change to $50. The Committee voted 3-5-1 to fail this bill, recognizing that the best incentive for people to drive safely is the potential of losing their license and raising their car insurance rates. These bills were sponsored and supported by Rep. Andy Biggs. Also sponsored by Rep. Andy Biggs is HB2512, which requires a city to pay a $200 records fee to MVD for each request related to photo enforcement. HB2722 takes the city court's portion of the defensive driving school fee and gives it to the State Highway Fund to help pay for DPS officers. Rep. Pamela Gorman sponsored this bill. Both of these bills work to make photo enforcement cost prohibitive to cities and were held in committee. The League of AZ Cities and Towns, many cities (including Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale), the equipment vendors and many other stakeholders banded together to create a very cohesive argument against each bill. We will continue to work together to fight the photo enforcement bills that remain as they move through the process. RETAINING ARIZONA PHYSICIANS League resolution SB1351 passed out of the Senate Health Committee this week with a 5-1-1 vote. The resolution directed the League to support legislation that would encourage doctors to locate and practice within our State as well as retaining current Arizona physicians. The legislation creates a higher burden of proof in liability lawsuits against doctors. Lowering liability risks, and consequentially physician insurance rates, will make Arizona a more attractive State to practice medicine and will potentially help our residents regarding the affordability of health care as well. R&D TAX CREDITS CONTINUE TO MOVE League resolution HB2677, which increases the tax credits for research and development activities, passed its second committee this week with a 6-2 vote in the House Ways and Means Committee. Increasing these tax credits will allow Arizona to remain competitive in the biotechnology industry and expand our economy. It will also help those cities already encouraging these industries to locate in our State. STATEWIDE PLUMBING CODE REPEAL The Senate Commerce Committee passed SB1497 8-0 this week. Sponsored by Sen. Thayer Verschoor, this bill repeals the statewide plumbing code that was mandated by the Legislature in 1997. This statewide mandate on local building standards has been a colossal failure. It took the Commission over five years to pass their original code which was already well outdated at the time of adoption. The language in the current state code was developed in 1994. Repeal of the statewide code will restore local control to this local issue. LEGISLATIVE BUllETIN PAGE 3 February 17,2006 IN THIS ISSUE Eminent Domain/Regulatory Takings Fight Continues ..... Liquor "Grill License" Bill Passed Out Of Committee ......... 1 Another Annexation Restriction Receives Consideration . . . . . . 2 HURF Update, , . . . , . . . . . . . 2 Photo Enforcement Update .. 2 Legislative Update, , , . . . , . . . 2 League of Arizona ~I~ Cities AND Tovvns Legislative Bulletin is published by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. FOlWard your conunents or suggestions to: League of Arizona Cities & Towns 1820 West Washington Street Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Phone: 602-258-5786 Fax: 602-253-3874 Email: league@mg.state.az.us Internet: www.azleague.org LEG IS LA liVE BU LLEll N Issue No.7 February 24, 2006 *ACTION ALERT* THE EMINENT DOMAIN/REGULATORY TAKINGS FIGHT CONTINUES The League and representatives from other public and private sector entities have met with legislative leadership and many other legislators this week with a focus on limiting the scope of the eminent domain discussions and removing the regulatory takings language that has been recently added. We appear to be making progress on eminent domain, as leadership has indicated a willingness to focus the issue on redevelopment rather than our general condemnation authority. For regulatory takings, legislative support is starting to decline, yet some would rather revise the language rather than remove it entirely. In addition, a ballot initiative drive is underway which will include regulatory takings. Our goal is to stop the consideration of all of the bills that would amend the State Constitution and other state statute titles that affect all general condemnation authority. We are working with leadership to use some of the provisions from the other bills that will limit reforms to redevelopment. Such a compromise would create additional safeguards for property owners while still allowing cities and towns to condemn to eliminate slum and blight. The regulatory takings language that was recently added to SCR1019 and HCR2031 is highly problematic for cities and towns as well as the general welfare and quality of life of our citizens. These provisions will essentially eliminate zoning and costthe taxpayers exorbitant amounts of money as cities and towns will be susceptible to lawsuits for virtually every future land use decision. ACTION REQUESTED: Please continue to contact your legislators to emphasize that we are willing to discuss redevelopment condemnation reform and that bills impacting general condemnation authority should be stopped. Also, please insist that the regulatory takings language be removed from the bills; it is a separate issue that will have grave consequences. SCR1019 and HCR2031 could be considered on the floor of both chambers early next week so please contact your legislators as soon as possible. LIQUOR "GRill LICENSE" Bill PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE HB2740 passed out of the House Commerce Committee on Wednesday with a 6-1 vote. It was amended with a same-subject strike everything amendment to only allow these new license types to be awarded until June 30, 2010. The amendment also makes the minimum food requirement 27% rather than the 20% in the original bill. The bill still does not address city concerns about 'grill establishment' proximity to schools, churches, etc. and also does not allow for direct input from cities and towns. The bill passed out of committee with the condition that the sponsor will continue to work with all stakeholders (including cities and towns) to address the many concerns of all the stakeholders. The draft floor amendment language for this bill creates a new class of license that can only be obtained if the holder already has a restaurant license and fails an audit by the State Liquor Department. Once the business fails the audit and requests this new class of license from the Department, the Department must contact the city or town, which will have 90 days to conduct a council hearing. If the council votes no, the business can still appeal to the state liquor board. The amendment also contains language that prevents these businesses from being located within 300 feet of schools, churches or recreation areas. However, this does not apply if the business was located in the area first and one of these facilities moves in. The negotiations will continue on this bill and the draft language discussed above will likely change before the bill goes to the House floor for a vote. We will keep you updated on new developments. ANOTHER ANNEXATION RESTRICTION RECEIVES CONSIDERATION. The House Transportation Committee considered and passed a strike everything amendment to HB2212 on Thursday which converted the bill into a moratorium on annexation proposals for areas that were the subject of previous failed annexation attempts. The bill preempts annexation petitions from being filed for 90 days after the completion of an unsuccessful attempt if any of the territory from the unsuccessful attempt is included in a new petition. In addition to making an already complicated process more cumbersome, the bill would discourage efforts to alter annexation proposals on behalf of impacted property owners. Petitions are often withdrawn and resubmitted with alterations based on feedback from the public. This process enables cities and towns to accommodate property owners that may wish to be added to the proposed annexation boundaries as well as property owners that may wish to be drawn out of an annexation proposal. The legislation moves annexation policy in the wrong direction by making annexation more difficult and limiting the ability of cities and towns to accommodate the needs and desires of the public. Representative John Nelson, the sponsor of the amendment, indicated a willingness to amend the bill further. We will keep you updated on future developments. HURF UPDATE Both 5B1298 and HB2332 repay funds borrowed by the Legislature back to the HURF Fund. In total, the bills would repay more than $115 million that was borrowed over Fiscal Years '04-'05 and '05-'06 to supplement the General Fund. This money is critical to cities and towns to fund road maintenance and construction that is needed across the State. These bills passed out of both Transportation Committees but have yet to be heard in Appropriations. It is still likely that they will become part of a budget package. PHOTO ENFORCEMENT UPDATE We had a great week in both the House and Senate Transportation Committees. There are only 5 of the 13 photo enforcement bills left moving through the process. 5Bl146: This bill prohibits any type of photo enforcement technology on a state controlled access highway. Senator Allen amended this bill on the floor to delay the effective date to allow Scottsdale's Loop 101 project to be completed. However, this bill will still ban a technology that Scottsdale is now helping the State study. It does not make sense to ban its use before the data is collected. Information will be available by next session about the effectiveness of photo enforcement on the freeway and then an educated decision could be made. This bill passed the Senate 17-11-2 and is now waiting for committee assignment in the House. 5B1410: This bill requires that any money collected by a city for citations issued on the freeway (those issued by officers are included, not just photo enforcement tickets) beyond what was collected in 2005 be diverted to pay for DPS operations. This bill requires that each city set up a system to determine which tickets were issued on a freeway and when the 2005 threshold amount has been reached. This bill passed out of Senate Transportation and has not yet received a hearing in Senate Appropriations. HB2174: This bill as passed by the House creates additional signage requirements relating to photo enforcement on the highway and on city streets. We appreciate Rep. Robson's willingness to work with the cities to address their concerns about the original requirements in the bill. This bill passed out of the House 43-13-3 and has been assigned to the Transportation Committee in the Senate. HB2180: This bill passed out of the House Transportation Committee last week with a 6-3 vote. This bill creates a statewide photo enforcement system for use on the state highways, which also preempts municipal programs. Fundamentally the concept is not entirely bad but the process created in the bill for DPS and ADOT to implement the program is very cumbersome and may not be viable. This bill was held in the House Majority Caucus this week. HB2251: This bill requires that any money collected by a city for photo enforcement on a state highway must instead go to the State Highway Fund to help pay for DPS. In effect, this bill prevents the city from having a revenue-neutral, violator-funded photo enforcement program. Instead the city would have to use taxpayer money to subsidize an effort to keep their citizens safe. This bill was retained on the Committee of the Whole calendar on Thursday. We continue to oppose any bill that preempts a city from taking the necessary actions to keep its citizen's safe and any bill that causes the expense of that enforcement to be shouldered by the taxpayers rather than the law breakers. lEGISLATIVE UPDATES 5B1269 passed through the Committee of the Whole in the Senate on Monday. This bill allows cities to contract with private businesses to enforce parking regulations. This will allow city police to focus more on other pressing law enforcement needs. The bill was amended by Senator Jarrett on the floor to prevent family members and relatives of elected officials in that jurisdiction from being awarded the contract. 5B1351, which is consistent with the League resolution to enhance the recruitment and retention of medical doctors in Arizona, passed out of Rules and is now awaiting floor action in the Senate. 5B1413 appropriates $850,000 from the General Fund to the six smallest cities and towns in the state to increase their funding floor to the state shared revenue levels that would have been received by a municipality with a population of 1,500. This bill is waiting for floor action in the Senate. 5B1497, which repeals the statewide plumbing code and restores local control on this issue, passed out of Rules and is on the Consent Calendar awaiting a final vote in the Senate. HB2677 increases the tax credits for research and development activities in the state. This bill passed out of Rules and now is waiting for floor action in the House. LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN PAGE 2 February 24, 2006