City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: NOVEMBER 11, 2019
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Public Hearing and Consideration of Proposed City Legislative Package for the 2020 Virginia General Assembly Session.
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ISSUE: Public Hearing and Consideration of the proposed City Legislative Package for the 2020 General Assembly Session.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
(1) Receive the proposals for the City’s 2020 Legislative Package, as recommended by Council’s Legislative Subcommittee and included in Attachment 1;
(2) Schedule the Legislative Package proposals for public hearing on Saturday, November 16, 2019;
(3) Schedule a work session with Alexandria’s General Assembly delegation for final review of the Legislative Package immediately preceding the Tuesday, November 26, 2019 Legislative Meeting; and
(4) Schedule final adoption of the Legislative Package for Tuesday, December 10, 2019.
BACKGROUND: Each year, the City of Alexandria produces its General Assembly Legislative Package. The goal of the package is to organize, prioritize, and communicate the City’s legislative and budget priorities to the community, stakeholders, and legislators. In addition, because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, localities only have the authority expressly granted to them by the General Assembly by state statute or in their charter. Localities in Virginia, including Alexandria, therefore often request legislation to grant them enabling authority for specific powers they do not already have, which are included in the Legislative Package.
The requests in the draft Legislative Package generally originate from the City Council, City staff, and boards and commissions, with additional input coming from the public through the public hearing process. For the past several months, staff has been working with Council members, City departments, and boards and commissions to develop legislative and funding proposals for the City’s 2020 Legislative Package.
On October 15, 2019, City Council’s Legislative Subcommittee met with subject matter experts on City staff to discuss the proposals submitted for consideration for inclusion 2020 legislative package. The proposals described in Attachment 1 have been recommended by Council’s Legislative Subcommittee for your consideration.
DISCUSSION: The draft 2020 Legislative Package as presented today has the proposals recommended by the Legislative Subcommittee organized into two sections - Legislative Principles and Legislative Priorities. The section of Legislative Principles is structured around the City’s Strategic Plan and creates a clear nexus between the City’s goals and the legislative and funding measures necessary for us to achieve these goals. The Legislative Principles are, generally, broadly crafted and focus on comprehensive legislative strategies rather than specific legislative tactics. The 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.
In addition to November 12’s input from Council, the Legislative Package will receive input from the community and other outside stakeholders at the Public Hearing scheduled for November 16. Finally, we will hold a Work Session with the City’s Legislative Delegation on November 27 to get input on their priorities for the 2020 session, the post-election makeup of the General Assembly, and their feedback on the Legislative Package.
As we look toward the 2020 General Assembly session, pre-filing of bills will begin on November 18, 2019, and staff will begin reviewing bills soon thereafter. On December 17, 2019, Governor Northam will submit his biennial budget for FY 2021 to FY 2022. Staff will report to Council on the Governor’s recommendations shortly after they are released.
The 2020 General Assembly Session will be a “long” 60-day Session, beginning January 8, 2020 and ending March 7, 2020. Note that in a “long session” the General Assembly will consider legislation as well as finalize the budget for the FY21 to FY22 biennium.
The City Council Legislative Subcommittee will begin reviewing pre-filed bills on December 18, 2019; these meetings will become weekly meetings starting on January 3, 2020 and will continue until the Friday after the final day for bill introduction. These meetings allow the Legislative Subcommittee to review legislation that may have an impact on the City with the input of City staff subject matter experts and recommend positions on this legislation. These positions are subsequently communicated to the Alexandria delegation in the General Assembly for their consideration.
The City’s Legislative Director, Sarah Taylor, continues to represent the City at the General Assembly and will report to you regularly on the status of the City’s legislative priorities as well as other legislative and budget issues that are sure to arise during the 2020 General Assembly Session.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Proposed City Legislative Package for the 2020 Virginia General Assembly Session
2. Presentation on 2020 Proposed Legislative Package
STAFF:
Laura Triggs, Deputy City Manager
Sarah Taylor, Legislative Director