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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/02/2006 Blue Sheet State Legislative Issues TOWN COUNCIL MEETING INFORMATION MEETING DATE: TOWN OF MARANA May 2, 2006 AGENDA ITEM: K. 1 TO: MAYOR AND COUNCIL FROM: Michael A. Reuwsaat, Town Manager SUBJECT: State Le2islative 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. A TT ACHMENTS Legislative Bulletins, Issues 14 and 15. 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/04/24/2006/3:50 PM IN THIS ISSU E Eminent Domain Discussions Continue As Bills Still Moving .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Impact Fees Legislation . . . . . . 1 Blue Stake Marking Preemption Continues To Move ........ 2 Sponsor Refuses Amendment Limiting Website Posting Requirements ............. 2 Budget Talks Move Forward .. 2 League Resolution Passes On Reconsideration ........... 3 League of Arizona ~I.~ Cities AND Towns Legislative Bulletin is published by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. Forward your comments 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 LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN Issue No. 14 April 14, 2006 * ACTION ALERT * EMINENT DOMAIN DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE AS BillS STI II MOVI NG Three eminent domain bills, HB2675, HB2736 & HB2062, were once again scheduled for Senate COW this week. These bills conflict with the efforts of numerous stakeholders and legislative leadership to draft a comprehensive eminent domain reform package. HB2675 passed out of Senate COW on Wednesday with no discussion and is now ready for final read. The other two bills were retained on the calendar on Thursday with indications from leadership that they want to give their members an opportunity to consider a bill with our language as an alternative to these bills. Several legislators are actively engaged in finding an existing bill that they can use to amend with our language and hopefully consider next week. In the meantime, the scheduling and movement of the other bills negates the efforts to reach a reasonable compromise that will provide additional safeguards to property owners while still enabling government to remove slum and blight and address other public needs such as road and sewer construction. While recent concerns surrounding eminent domain have been limited to redevelopment, such as considered in the Kelo decision, and the potential for property to be transferred to another private owner, both HB2736 and HB2062 are not limited to redevelopment and would impact all condemnation actions. These bills will drive up the costs and encumber the process for developing roads and other public infrastructure. These projects are vital, particularly with our explosive population growth, and the process for condemning for public infrastructure projects is not driving the recent public concerns regarding eminent domain. Action Requested: Please continue to talk to your legislators and ask them to oppose HB2675, HB2736 and HB2062 and continue to support the efforts to advance the reform package developed by the numerous stakeholders in coordination with legislative leadership. * ACTION ALERT * IMPACT FEES lEGISLATION HB2381, as advocated by the Homebuilders Association of Central Arizona, makes substantial changes to the development fee and construction sales tax process in addition to restricting the use of these revenues. The initial language for this bill was introduced relatively late in the session and, despite having spent hours discussing this issue with HBACA representatives, there has been an inadequate amount of time to thoroughly review and fully develop the reforms proposed by the bill. While we have substantive problems with much of the current proposal, we are also concerned that if the bill were enacted, the lack of adequate review time could result in unintended consequences that could be detrimental to municipalities and homebuilders alike. The League has proposed to hold this bill for the remainder of the session and work cooperatively with HBACA over the interim to develop a reform package that would not be encumbered with the resource and time constraints that both of our organizations are experiencing with the current legislative session. This bill is waiting to go to Senate COW and we are expecting significant amendments, though we have not seen any proposed language at this time. We continue to oppose the bill and are talking with as many Senators as possible to make sure our concerns are known. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose HB2381. We have offered to work with the homebuilders over the summer when we will have adequate time to thoroughly review and develop reform legislation. * ACTION ALERT * BLU E STAKE MARKI NG PREEMPTION CONTINUES TO MOVE HB2708 passed Senate COW on Thursday. This bill limits the ability of cities and towns to implement additional safeguards for the blue stake process that were enacted by the Legislature last year. Due to public safety concerns, primarily driven by the potential for rupturing natural gas lines, a group of stakeholders lead by SW Gas developed a comprehensive reform package to enhance the blue stake process. In part, the reforms assure that more infrastructure is marked and the accuracy of those markings has been enhanced. As sewer operators, cities and towns agreed to take on a considerable amount of additional responsibilities as a result of last year's legislation. One of the responsibilities is to insure that new underground infrastructure is constructed with location devices. Based on the options provided by state law, many cities and towns opted to implement the use of sewer c1eanouts as the preferred location device. Sewer c1eanouts are the most reliable, the most accurate, relatively inexpensive, and the quickest to locate when responding to a blue stake call. Also, the additional c1eanouts provide the property owner with added maintenance value as they enhance the ability to unclog a line which no other location device provides. HB2708 would preempt the ability of cities and towns to use c1eanouts as location devices. Last year's legislation was enacted due to public safety concerns. HB2708 scales back our ability to address those public safety concerns and we are opposing the bill. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your Senators and request that they oppose HB2708. * ACTION ALERT * SPONSOR REFUSES AMENDMENT LIMITING WEBSITE POSTING REQUIREMENTS SB1209 requires any city or town with a website to post notice of meetings, as well as all meeting minutes within two days of approval. In addition to the bill placing a mandate on what should be decided at the local level the League was particularly concerned about th~ potential burden on smaller cities that maintain relatively static websites limited to basic information about their city. The bill was amended in COW to exempt cities and towns under 25,000 to address our concern that mandates regarding the posting of information within certain timelines will discourage smaller municipalities from creating or maintaining websites. The emergence of websites has provided cities and towns with an additional means to disseminate information to the public and smaller cities need to be able to utilize that tool without mandates on the information made available. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Karen Johnson, has refused the House changes and a conference committee on the issue has been requested. It is our understanding that she does not agree with exempting the smaller cities from the requirements. The League will encourage the conference committee members to keep the amendment on the bill. The Senate members of the conference committee are Senators Harper, Johnson and Cheuvront. The House appointees are Representatives Payton, Burgess and Slnema. The committee meeting has not been scheduled yet but will likely occur next week. Action Requested: Please contact your legislators, particularly those on the conference committee, and request that the population cap remain on SB1209 as smaller cities and towns do not have the resources to satisfy the requirements of the bill. BUDGET TALKS MOVE FORWARD Budget negotiations continue as leadership in both houses have been meeting with small groups of legislators to discuss their budget priorities. Caucus discussions on specifics have not happened in earnest and nothing has b:en . released on paper. However, preliminary diSCUSSions between legislative leadership and the Governor have also started. This indicates that the pro~es~ might be farther along than what was anticipated earlier In the week. While there is still considerable work to do on the budget, at least all of the parties are engaged LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN PAGE 2 April 14, 2006 and communicating with one another. We will continue to update you on future budget developments. Of particular concern is a potential tax relief package that will likely include property and income tax cuts that will directly impact cities and towns. Based on our discussions with state leaders, we are not anticipating state shared revenue cuts and we also expect some level of additional funding for transportation. We will keep you updated. Based on the progress this week, we will likely see substantial developments next week. lEAGUE RESOLUTION PASSES ON RECONSI DERATION SB1269 passed a third read vote on Thursday 38-21. This bill was reconsidered after failing last week due to a confusing explanation on the House floor. This bill authorizes municipalities to hire private vendors to enforce parking laws. Contracting vendors for this purpose is a potentially more efficient use of the taxpayer's dollars and trained law enforcement official's time as such contracts will enable police officers to focus on other law enforcement duties, such as crime prevention, that require more specialized training than issuing parking tickets. This legislation is not without precedent, as State law already authorizes the use of volunteers to enforce disabled parking laws and tow truck operators to assist in parking enforcement. This bill was amended in the House and therefore will face one more vote in the Senate or possibly more amendments if the Senate does not agree with the changes. We will continue to support the bill to give you the option to privately enforce your parking laws. LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN April 14, 2006 PAGE 3 IN THIS ISSU E Impact Fees Legislation Still Waiting for Floor Action . . . .. 1 Eminent Domain Bills Stalled as Compromise is Discussed. . .. 1 Liquor Bill Continues to Wait for Senate Floor Action ........ 2 Blue Stake Bill Ready for Final Vote ................... 2 Tax Reduction Proposals Begin to Take Shape in the Budget Negotiations. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 Gun Control Preemptions Moving ................. 3 Conference Committee on SB1209 Makes Further Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 Governor Vetoes Inclusionary Zoning Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 League of Arizona ~II~ Cities AND Towns Legislative Bulletin is published by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. Forward your comments 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 ISLA liVE BU LLEll N Issue No. 15 April 21, 2006 * ACTION ALERT * IMPACT FEES LEGISLATION STILL WAITING FOR FLOOR ACTION HB2381, as advocated by the Homebuilders Association of Central Arizona, makes substantial changes to the development fee and construction sales tax process in addition to restricting the use of these revenues. The initial language for this bill was introduced relatively late in the session and, despite having spent hours discussing this issue with H BACA representatives, there has been an inadequate amount of time to thoroughly review and fully develop the reforms proposed by the bill. The League has proposed to hold this bill for the remainder of the session and work cooperatively with HBACA over the interim to develop a reform package that would not be encumbered with the resource and time constraints that both of our organizations are experiencing with the current legislative session. This bill is still waiting to go to Senate COW and we are expecting significant amendments. While none have been provided directly to us from the homebuilders, we have seen a draft circulating which actually worsens the sales tax provisions ofthe bill by enabling homebuilders to offset their impact fees by any sales tax that they have paid. We continue to oppose the bill and are urging legislators to oppose. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose HB2381. We have offered to work with the homebuilders over the summer when we will have adequate time to thoroughly review and develop reform legislation. * ACTION ALERT * EMINENT DOMAIN BILLS STALLED AS COMPROMISE IS DISCUSSED The efforts of numerous stakeholders and legislative leadership to draft a comprehensive eminent domain reform package continued this week as several legislators are actively engaged in finding an existing bill that they can use to amend with the compromise language that will hopefully be considered next week. Leadership has indicated that they want to give their members an opportunity to consider a bill with our language as an alternative to the other bills and no other bills continued to move this week. The remaining bills aside from our compromise present many problems that will encumber the ability of cities to provide services to their residents. They will drive up the costs and encumber the process for developing roads and other public infrastructure. These projects are vital, particularly with our explosive population growth, and the process for condemning for public infrastructure projects is not driving the recent public concerns regarding eminent domain. Action Requested: Please continue to talk to your legislators and ask them to support the efforts to advance the reform package developed by the numerous stakeholders in coordination with legislative leadership and oppose all other eminent domain legislation. * ACTION ALERT * LIQUOR Bill CONTINUES TO WAIT FOR SENATE FLOOR ACTION HB2740 was not brought to the Senate floor for the second week in a row. It is our understanding that amendments are being drafted but have not been completed. We have not seen the language for these amendments but anticipate that there will be no substantial change to the provisions of the current bill. Overall, the process that would be created by the bill could encourage businesses to circumvent current liquor laws rather than address the issue that the bill is allegedly trying to address. Proponents have indicated that they want to provide some protections for restaurants that barely fail an audit due to slightly low food sales (in the high 30% range). The League offered the sponsor amendment language giving these kinds of businesses a limited time frame to increase their food sales to the acceptable level of 40%. This amendment was not accepted. Problems that remain in this bill include: With this bill, there will be no incentive to maintain proper food sales. As amended in committee, this bill still allows the holder of a restaurant license to operate at 30% food sales within the currently required 300 ft. distance requirements from churches and schools. This bill allows establishments with as much as 70% alcohol sales to operate indefinitely within the restaurant license classification. This bill eliminates the neighborhood's ability to contribute to the discussion and raise an objection, a right they have currently when liquor licenses are issued. "Restaurants" approved by the Director and the local jurisdiction at 39% could then operate at 30% with no penalties and potentially could operate at less than the 30% with no chance of another audit for at least 1 year. This bill should not apply retroactively to benefit businesses that have already failed an audit and are not currently in compliance with the law. Along with the League, many neighborhood associations and law enforcement are opposed to this bill. ACTION REQUESTED: Please continue to contact your Senators and request that they oppose this bill. * ACTION ALERT * BLUE STAKE Bill READY FOR FINAL VOTE HB2708 passed the Senate and is ready for a final vote in the House to consider the Senate changes to the bill which will limit the ability of cities and towns to implement additional safeguards to the blue stake process that were enacted by the Legislature last year. Specifically, the bill preempts the ability of cities and towns to use sewer c1eanouts as location devices. Cleanouts are: The most reliable markers as other devices can be installed improperly, damaged when buried, or move over time. The most accurate method as they provide a physical link from the surface to the sewer line below. . The safest method as they are the quickest to locate enabling emergency repair crews to identify line locations sooner. The only markers with added benefit to property owners by providing another access point to unclog lines. As sewer operators, cities and towns agreed to take on a considerable amount of additional responsibilities as a result of last year's legislation. One of the responsibilities is to insure that new underground infrastructure is constructed with location devices. Based on the options provided by state law, many cities have determined that sewer c1eanouts as the best location device to implement. In addition, sewer c1eanouts are also relatively inexpensive. We estimate approximately $82.00 for parts and $50.00 for labor to add a c1eanout. For a new home, this $132.00 total would typically be included in a long-term mortgage and would have a negligible impact on the monthly payment. This bill will have a final vote in the House, probably early next week, and then will go to the Governor's desk ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your Representatives and the Governor to express your opposition to this legislation. LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN PAGE 2 April 21, 2006 TAX REDUCTION PROPOSALS BEGIN TO TAKE SHAPE IN THE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS It appears that there will be a tax reduction package from the Legislature which consists of reductions to income and property tax. Although no formal proposal or bill has been made public, it appears that the current proposals call for the state to reduce the income tax by $200 million each year over the next three years. This would cause a significant reduction to state shared income tax that cities and towns receive for FY 07 - FY 09. The other portion of the tax reduction package concerns property tax. The likely proposal is to cut state property tax funding for schools (which does not directly affect cities and towns). However, in addition, there is a proposal to freeze city and town property tax levies at their current levels, which would affect the levies you are considering now as part of your FY 07 budget process. Our message to the Legislature is clear: Cities and towns, like the state, need to be able to repair the damage done to their vital services and programs from the disastrous revenue declines of the past several years. If the state wants to make income tax cuts, they should uphold the will of the voters and hold the cities and towns harmless. Please contact your legislators and tell them that cities and towns should be held harmless against all tax reductions proposed by the state. A fact sheet with talking points on these issues is attached to the bulletin. * ACTION ALERT * GUN CONTROL PREEMPTIONS MOVING Two bills that could negatively impact municipal gun control laws and the ability of local law enforcement to protect public safety are still moving through the legislative process. HB2649 limits the ability of the state, excluding the Legislature, and any state agency or political subdivision to enact any laws, rules or ordinances relating to the possession or storage of firearms. In effect, no city ordinance may be stricter than state law regarding gun control procedures and enforcement. The Senate passed this bill last week with a 20-8 vote. The sponsor, Rep. Rick Murphy, has refused the Senate changes and a conference committee will be scheduled. After conference committee action, it will face a final vote in each house and then go to the Governor. HB2076 requires the city or the sponsor of a public event who does not permit deadly weapons into the establishment or event to provide an accessible, temporary and secure storage facility for the weapons, beginning January 1, 2009. It also allows a person to carry a deadly weapon within the map pocket of a vehicle without a permit to carry a concealed weapon (CCW permit). This storage portion of this bill presents many funding and liability concerns that are not addressed in the bill. The map pocket portion represents a threat to citizens and law enforcement, since it would be legal to have a weapon that is not visible but easily reachable. This bill has passed out of Rules and waits to be caucused before it goes to the Senate floor. The bill has been amended and will have to back to the House before it would reach the Governor's desk. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your Legislators and the Governor to express your opposition to the bills. * ACTION ALERT * CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON SB1209 MAKES FURTHER CHANGES SB1209 requires any city or town with a website to post notice of meetings, as well as all meeting minutes within two days of approval. In addition to the bill placing a mandate on what should be decided at the local level, the League was particularly concerned about the potential burden on smaller cities and towns that maintain relatively static websites limited to basic information about their city. The bill was amended in House COW to exempt cities and towns under 25,000 to address our concern that mandates regarding the posting of information within certain timelines will discourage smaller municipalities from creating or maintaining websites. The emergence of websites has provided cities and towns with an additional means to disseminate information to the public and smaller cities and towns need to be able to utilize that tool without mandates on the information made available. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Karen Johnson, refused the House changes and a conference committee on the issue took place on Wednesday. Despite encouragement from the League, the conference committee members voted to water down the amendment to cities shifting the population cap from 25,000 to 2,500. While this protects 16 of our smallest municipalities, we think the population cap should have been greater. This bill now faces one more vote in each house to approve the change and will then go to the Governor's desk. Action Requested: Please contact your legislators and ask them to oppose this bill on final read. In addition, please contact the Governor to express your concerns. LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN PAGE 3 April 21,2006 GOVERNOR VETOES INCLUSIONARY ZONING BILL The Governor vetoed SB1479, which prohibited a city or town from requiring developers to build a certain number of homes at certain pricing levels, a practice often referred to as inclusionary zoning. While incentivizing affordable housing construction, such as providing developers with tax credits, is typically preferred, incentives may not always be enough to address housing problems. The Governor's Task Force on Incentives for Affordable H ousi ng has been meeti ng si nce J an uary to create gu idel i nes and recommendations that all of the stakeholders in the affordable housing issue can utilize. This task force met with representatives from many cities and towns from around the state this week to get feedback on how their proposals will affect municipal housing efforts and policies. The meeting was very constructive and the insights from that meeting will be helpful in further task force meetings. A final recommendation is due to the Governor by the end of May. The League thanks the Governor for vetoing this premature attempt to stall municipal efforts to address the affordable housing efforts and will continue to participate in the Affordable Housing Task Force to create more solutions to the problem. lEGISLATIVE BUllETIN April 21, 2006 PAGE 4 Proposed Tax Cuts in State Budget As tax reduction proposals are being discussed during the budget process, Arizona cities and towns ask that state tax cut proposals do no harm to local services. Some of the proposals currently under consideration are: Income Tax . An across-the-board 5% reduction to income tax rates over the next three years would result in a loss of $180 million to cities and towns across the state. . The voter-approved initiative creating income tax revenue sharing established the principle that cities and towns should be held harmless against state income tax cuts. This precedent was upheld during past income tax changes (1995-1996, 1999-2000,2002-2004) and needs to be included in any current plan. . Cities and towns, like the state, are working to repair the damage done to their services and programs resulting from severe revenue declines of the past several years. Cities and towns provide the most needed essential public services such as police, fire, water, libraries, parks, garbage pickup, roads and streets, etc. Property Tax . There is a proposed reduction in property tax revenues from a three-year phase- out of the county equalization rate. The permanent reduction in revenue from this item is $210 million over three years. Cities and towns are not oDDosed to this reduction. . In addition, there is a proposal to change the property tax structure by "resetting" the base year on which property taxes are calculated and collected from 1979-80 to 2006-07. Cities and towns are not entirely oDDosed to this althou2h it Dunishes those communities that have not levied their maximum allowable rates every year. . Another proposal calls for a freeze on 2006-07 and 2007-08 property tax levies, forcing cities and towns to maintain their levies at the 2005-06 levels. Supporters say this freeze will keep local governments from "backfilling" the $210 million reduction that would be come available from the elimination of the county equalization rate. These concerns are unfounded because only 17 of the 47 cities and towns with property taxes currently levy their maximum amount. Even if they all did, which is not likely, the total potential increase would be $17 million statewide, only a fraction of the $210 million reduction from the county equalization rate repeal. While a "freeze" would provide negligible protection against backfilling property taxes, it would result in a si2nificant revenue loss for individual cities and towns. since they would not be able to include growth and inflation in their levy adjustments. It is also impractical because cities and towns will have set their 2006-07 rates and adopted their budgets in compliance with existing state law before this new law takes effect. Arizona cities and towns ask that they be held harmless on income tax cuts as well as freezes on their property tax levies.