Title
Staff Report for 2017 Draft State Legislative Platform and Summary of 2016 State Legislative Activities
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The City Manager recommends that the City Council review and adopt the 2017 Draft State Legislative Platform and Summary of 2016 State Legislative Activities
BACKGROUND
On October 21, 2013, the City Council authorized the creation of a City Council Ad-Hoc Committee to provide guidance on the development of a state legislative platform as well as a process through which a consultant would be selected to provide state-level advocacy services on behalf of the City.
Following a competitive request-for-proposals and consultant selection process directly guided by the Ad-Hoc Committee, on February 18, 2014, the City Council unanimously authorized the City Manager to execute a 1-year consulting services agreement with Townsend Public Affairs (TPA) for state-level advocacy services. The scope of work for this agreement includes all aspects of state level advocacy, including legislative analysis, strategy and development, grants assistance, development of relationships with state law makers and agency staff, and other related work. Based upon the excellent service provided since that time, the City Council unanimously extended its contract with TPA in each subsequent year, with the current contract set to expire on February 28, 2017.
Analysis
Over the past year, the Mayor, members of the City Council and City staff have worked closely with Townsend Public Affairs on a range of legislative initiatives at the state level. Now that the 2016 state legislative session is over, staff requests that the City Council review and adopt the attached documents. The first attachment (“2016 State Legislative Activities Summary”) provides a retrospective summary of various efforts and initiatives that took place on behalf of the City of San Leandro over the past legislative session. The second attachment (“2017 Draft State Legislative Platform”) provides a summary of the City’s proposed policy priorities for the upcoming 2017 legislative session. This latter document was informed by the City Council’s 2016 adopted legislative platform, and is updated for 2017 to reflect new and emerging policy issues following input from City department heads and staff.
The purpose of the 2017 Draft State Legislative Platform is to provide standing authority for the Mayor, Council Members, City staff and the City’s advocates to take action on behalf of the City on pending legislative matters when time constraints or other logistical hurdles preclude bringing such matters before the City Council in advance. Second, it provides the City’s advocates a better understanding of the Mayor and City Council’s policy preferences regarding a variety of legislative and intergovernmental issues that may arise during the course of the year. Related efforts could include issuing letters on behalf of the City to the Governor or State Legislature in support or opposition to proposed legislation, organizing meetings with the Governor’s Office, state or regional agencies, elected state representatives, or otherwise advancing the City’s interests on various matters that are dependent upon or impacted by the actions of the State or regional agencies. Because the State legislative environment is inherently dynamic, the City Council retains the opportunity to further amend the 2017 platform over the course of the year ahead should unforeseen needs or issues arise.
ATTACHMENTS
• 2016 State Legislative Activities Summary
• 2017 State Legislative Platform and Policy Guidelines
PREPARED BY: Eric Engelbart, Deputy City Manager, City Manager’s Office