City of Alexandria, Virginia
________________
MEMORANDUM
DATE: FEBRUARY 6, 2024
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
THROUGH: JAMES F. PARAJON, CITY MANAGER /s/
FROM: SARAH G. TAYLOR,
ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER/LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Update on the 2024 Virginia General Assembly Session.
BODY
_________________________________________________________________
ISSUE: Update on the 2024 General Assembly Session.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council approve the proposed positions on bills of impact to the City included in Attachments 1, 2, and 3 (Oppose, Support, and Watch lists respectively), as recommended by Council’s Legislative Subcommittee (Mayor Wilson and Councilman McPike) at the February 2, 2024 meeting.
DISCUSSION: The 2024 General Assembly Session began on Wednesday, January 10. The 2024 Session is a “long” 60-day Session and will adjourn sine die on Saturday, March 9. Other dates of note for the 2024 Session include: Friday, January 19 was the last day to introduce bills and certain joint resolutions; Tuesday, February 13 is “Crossover,” the last day for each house to act on its own legislation, except Budget Bills Sunday; February 18 is “Budget Sunday” when the Senate Finance and House Appropriations complete action on the Budget Bills; Thursday, February 22 is the deadline for Houses of origin to complete action on Budget Bills; Wednesday, February 28 is the last day to act on Budget Bills and revenue bills of other house and appoint conferees; and Monday, March 4 is the last day for committee action on remaining bills.
This year 412 bills have been reviewed by staff for potential impact to the City and based on their analyses recommended positions were presented to the Legislative Subcommittee for consideration. Those bills are included in the attached documents for your approval.
Legislative Package - The City’s 2024 Legislative Package (Attachment 4) has the proposals organized into two sections - Legislative Principles and Legislative Priorities.
The section of Legislative Principles are broadly crafted and focus on comprehensive legislative strategies rather than specific legislative tactics. A number of pieces of legislation that align with and support the City’s Legislative Principles have been filed, including bills related to voter access, energy efficiency, marriage equality, common sense gun legislation, recycling, mitigation of inland flooding, eviction prevention, and the preservation and expansion of affordable housing.
The City’s Legislative Priorities are, generally, specific revenue and legislative proposals that the City has identified as the issues of greatest impact to the City. These are the issues the City intends to continue expending significant political capital on and the issues that we intend to ask our General Assembly delegation to engage in on behalf of the City.
Legislation filed to date that aligns with and supports the City’s Legislative Priorities includes legislation to:
• Extending the mandated July 1, 2025 deadline for the Alexandria Combined Sewer Overflow project (HB 71, SB 372);
• Expanding local authority to preserve affordable housing (HB 1398, HJ58);
• Creation of the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority including financing fund and local sales tax revenue authority (HB 1514, and SB 718);
• Supplemental fees to offset shortfalls in ASAP budgets (HB 774);
• Create incentive programs to encourage the adoption of energy efficient technologies (HB 953);
• Expanding law enforcement recruitment opportunities to include those on the path to U.S. citizenship (HB 776).
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Recommended Oppose Positions on Bills of Impact to the City
2. Recommend Support Positions on Bills of Impact to the City
3. Recommend Watch Positions on Bills of Impact to the City
4. City of Alexandria 2024 Legislative Package
STAFF:
Alexis Quinn, Business Operations Manager, Legislative Aide