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ADOPT THE 2019 STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMS
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt by motion the 2019 State Legislative Program and 2019 Federal Legislative Program and authorize the City Manager to pursue the objectives outlined in these Programs through advocacy efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
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Summary
Maintaining a strong presence in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. is important to the City of Stockton to ensure that we receive funding, advance beneficial legislation and prevent harmful legislation or rulemaking. This is most effectively done through the use of consulting services to represent the City of Stockton in carrying out its legislative program and advocating its public policy positions, concerns, needs, and recommendations at the federal and state level.
The City has developed legislative programs that outline its advocacy priorities and positions as determined and adopted by the City Council. This allows the City to be responsive to developments in state and federal issues and to pursue funding and legislation that benefits our community. The State and Federal Legislative Programs have proven to be valuable tools to direct the legislative advocacy efforts of the City.
The legislative programs presented for Council consideration and adoption have been updated for the 2019 legislative sessions to adjust to the City’s priority efforts, leverage our new legislative advocacy contracts, reflect lessons learned and address emerging issues.
DISCUSSION
Background
Throughout each year, the State Legislature and the United States Congress initiate legislation, some of which affects local municipal government. The League of California Cities and contracted legislative advocacy firms keep the City of Stockton informed on proposed legislation from these bodies. The National League of Cities (NLC) also provides information and advocacy for municipalities at the federal level. At times, it is in the best interest of the City to take a position on proposed legislation or funding opportunities. In recent years, the City Council has adopted legislative programs to provide the parameters and authority for staff and designated City advocates to pursue City of Stockton interests with the state and federal governments on a timely basis in a rapidly changing environment.
Since 2012, legislative programs have been developed by staff in the City Manager’s office based on previous legislative positions taken by the City, the adopted City Council Goals, benchmarking of other comparable municipalities, and in anticipation of key issues coming forward in each respective year. The legislative programs are also revised in consultation with City departments and state and federal legislative advocates and then presented to the City Council for consideration and adoption.
The result is that City efforts and the services provided by our legislative advocates have been more focused and our efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. have been more impactful.
Some examples of priorities pursued through our Federal legislative programs in recent years include significant infrastructure and public safety funding, reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program saving homeowners millions of dollars, forestalling of damaging stormwater and floodplain regulations, keeping the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds out of a proposed tax reform bill, and most recently advocacy with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reallocate grant funds. Examples of priorities pursued through our State Legislative Programs include successful public safety and sustainable development grant awards, legislative fixes for problematic floodplain requirements, facilitation of legislative and regulatory adjustments to ease the dissolution of the Redevelopment Authority, direct allocations of flood management infrastructure funding to our region, and most recently successful efforts to acquire police air support funding and legislation providing a long-term lease for the Stockton Shelter (with CalTrans) to allow for new capital investment.
In recent years, the legislative programs were shared by our legislative advocates with all members of our respective legislative delegations as well as key staffers in both state and federal executive departments. This made our positions and priorities very clear and public before legislation began to be drafted and project lists established. Having Legislative Programs has allowed the City to act strategically and timely.
Present Situation
Over the past year, City staff have engaged with our legislative advocates to assess the needs and opportunities of the City, determine areas of improvement and prepare legislative priorities for the coming year. The proposed 2019 State Legislative Program and 2019 Federal Legislative Program (Attachments A-D) were developed by staff in the City Manager’s Office in consultation with the City Council, City staff and with feedback from our legislative advocates. In addition, revisions were made based on experiences from the 2018 legislative sessions and in anticipation of emerging issues in the coming year.
The legislative programs continue to follow the outline established in previous years including legislative principles, priorities and positions. Legislative principles are foundational statements of broad legislative objectives or philosophies that form the basis for establishing legislative priorities and positions. Legislative priorities are the key issues that the City and contracted advocates will be pursuing; it is the task list or scope of work for advocacy in a given year. Legislative positions are statements related to other legislative themes or issues that have come up in the past or that the City anticipates will come up in the future. They are not priority issues, but in the event that legislation arises and the City needs to issue a letter of support or opposition, the position of the City has already been established.
The intent is to develop and adjust the legislative programs each year prior to the beginning of each legislative session. Legislative priorities may vary significantly from year to year while legislative positions will change somewhat each year and legislative principles should remain fairly constant. For the most part, the proposed legislative programs for 2019 do not have a great deal of revisions to the City’s 2018 legislative principles and positions. However, updates have been made to the annual Legislative Priorities based on feedback from our new legislative advocates.
Revisions to the 2018 State Legislative Priorities represent refinement in our action plans to best position the City to take advantage of new State funding. With the City participating in the Big City Mayors coalition, the City has an increased presence advocating for funding to address housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. In addition, the State priorities shift focus to advocacy that supports revitalization of Stockton’s downtown core and Stockton’s neighborhoods, including tax-increment financing legislation and support for programs like Sustainable Communities, Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) and Opportunity Zones.
Regarding Federal Legislative Priorities, while the current administration has been in place for two years, many unknowns remain as to the priorities and positions of the Federal government. The proposed 2018 Federal Legislative Program maintains the City’s position on keys issues and establishes assertive action plans for new opportunities based on the themes that are emerging as priorities for the current administration. In addition, there is considerable interest at the Federal level to allow legislators appropriate opportunities for direct funding allocations. The Federal priorities position the City to take full advantage of these funding allocations when they become available.
For proposed legislation either consistent with the City’s legislative programs or consistent with legislative positions the City has taken in the past, adoption of these Legislative Programs will provide the necessary authorization that will allow City staff to prepare position letters for the Mayor’s signature. In the event that the Mayor is not available, the Vice-Mayor or City Manager will be authorized to sign position letters in place of the Mayor. All members of City Council will receive copies of position letters that are sent. The City’s advocacy firm may also be authorized to express the City’s position in person to legislative representatives.
Once adopted, the 2019 State and Federal Legislative Programs will provide the parameters and authority for staff and advocates to pursue City of Stockton interests with the state and federal governments. This will allow the City to act quickly and efficiently in cases where the City has simply been unable to represent our interests in the past. And as stated before, it will also notify our delegations in advance of our positions and priorities on key issues. Overall, adoption of the 2019 State and Federal Legislative Programs will allow the City to be more organized, transparent, and efficient in our advocacy efforts at both the state and federal level.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
There is no financial impact to the City of Stockton related to this agenda item.
Attachment A - 2019 State Legislative Program - Redline
Attachment B - 2019 State Legislative Program - Final
Attachment C - 2019 Federal Legislative Program - Redline
Attachment D - 2019 Federal Legislative Program - Final