CC Resolution No. 2341RESOLUTION NO. 2341
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS, ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF BAYTOWN'S LEGISLATIVE
AGENDA FOR THE 2015 STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE
SESSIONS; AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE THEREOF.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS:
Section 1: That the City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, hereby establishes
the City of Baytown's Legislative Agenda for the 2015 State Legislative Session, which is
attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and incorporated herein for all intents and purposes.
Section 2: That the City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, hereby establishes
the City of Baytown's Legislative Agenda for the 2015 Federal Legislative Session, which is
attached hereto as Exhibit `B" and incorporated herein for all intents and purposes.
Section 3: This resolution shall take effect immediately from and after its passage by
the City Council of the City of Baytown.
INTRODUCED, READ and PASSED, by the
City of Baytown this the 22nd day of January, 2015.
A'
BRYSCH, City ISM k
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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7 ��.0•ND�at�`L
G ACIO RAMIREZ, SR., C' y Attorney
vote of the City Council of the
H. DONCARLO�, Mayor
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Exhibit "A"
BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
1BOOWN 84TH TEXAS LEGISLATIVE SESSION
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
✓ Support efforts to improve workforce development programs that will build a workforce in
Texas to fill current and future technical job openings with Texas workers.
✓ Support legislation that will improve and sustain the Texas Skills Development Fund and other
job training programs to facilitate competitiveness with programs like Louisiana's Fast Start
and Georgia's Quick Start programs.
LOCAL CONTROL
✓ Oppose legislation that would erode municipal authority in any way.
✓ Oppose legislation that would impose a revenue cap of any type or negatively expand
appraisal caps.
✓ Oppose legislation that would expand requirements for issuance of any city debt or that
would erode the ability of a city to issue debt in any way.
✓ Oppose legislation that erodes municipal authority in the areas of municipal annexation,
municipal zoning or extraterritorial jurisdictions (ETJs).
REVERSE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AID
✓ Oppose legislation that would require municipalities to fund former State and Federal
programs without providing a means to recapture the associated costs.
✓ Oppose legislation that would impose additional state fees or costs on municipal court
convictions or require municipal courts to collect fine revenue for the state.
✓ Oppose legislation that would remove or negate the strictly voluntary nature of TxDOT
highway turnbacks, including relevant state budget strategies.
POLLUTION CONTROL PROPERTYTAX EXEMPTION
✓ Oppose legislation that would extend the "Prop 2" pollution control property tax exemption
to processes, facilities, or end products.
LOCAL PARKS FUNDING
✓ Support legislation that would restore full funding for the Texas Local Park Grant Program.
ELECTRIC AND (iAS RATEMAKING
✓ Oppose legislation that would eliminate cities' jurisdiction over electric and gas utility rates
and /or eliminate the reimbursement of cities' rate case expenses.
SYNTHETIC CANNABIS
✓ Support legislation proposed by the local law enforcement and criminal justice community
that provides effective tools and authority to address the growing problem of synthetic
cannabis in our state.
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BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
BAYS 84TH TEXAS LEGISLATIVE SESSION
TRANSPORTATION
✓ Support legislation that would authorize the collection of municipal sales and use taxes for
street maintenance for an indefinite term instead of the four years provided by current law.
✓ Support legislation that distributes Federal transportation funding in a way that provides local
governments with long term funding, sends the funding directly to localities, gives local
leaders a stronger role in the decision making process and streamlines the entire process.
TOURISM
✓ Oppose legislation that would change the school start date to any date earlier than the fourth
Monday in August.
PEG FUNDS
✓ Support legislation that would expand the use of public, educational, and government (PEG)
fees to include operational and related costs associated with PEG channels.
PAYDAY LENDING
✓ Support legislation that would prevent further exploitative payday and auto title lending
practices.
OIL AND GAS REGULATIONS
✓ Oppose legislation that would diminish municipal authority to reduce the effects of oil and gas
development on city residents.
STATE WATER SHORTAGE
✓ Support legislation that would expand the authority of cities to operate all variants of
desalination, including legislation that would allocate state funding to desalination.
CITY SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY
✓ Oppose legislation that would erode a city's sovereign immunity.
CONDEMNATION
✓ Oppose legislation that would further erode a city's ability to condemn property for a public
purpose.
RIGHTS-QF -WAY
✓ Oppose legislation that would decrease a city's authority to be adequately compensated for
the use of its rights -of -way.
✓ Oppose legislation that would erode municipal authority over the management and control of
rights -of -way.
Exhibit "B"
I BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
BS 114TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
WORKFORCE ,DEVELOPMENT
✓ Support efforts, such as reauthorization of the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical
Education Act, to improve workforce development programs that will build a workforce in
Texas to fill current and future technical job openings with Texas workers.
✓ Support workforce resources and programs that allow state and local levels of government to
create programs that work for their state or locality, not one - size - fits -all national programs.
PUBLIC SAFETY
✓ Maintain or expand federal resources for public safety grant programs that provide core
services provided by the City of Baytown:
■ Federal Homeland Security Grant Programs (Urban Areas Security Initiative, Port
Security, Buffer Zone Protection, and State Homeland Security);
■ Police Grant Programs (COPS and Byrne /Justice Assistance); and
■ Fire Grant Programs (Assistance to Firefighters, Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response, and Fire Prevention and Safety).
PUBLIC WORK
✓ Support implementation of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority (WIFIA)
as authorized with the enactment of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act
(WRRDA) to assist localities in need of resources for flood control, water supply, and
wastewater infrastructure.
✓ Support the continued exemption of Public Water Systems and Water Treatment Facilities
from the Department of Homeland Security CFATS regulation.
✓ Provide funding for hardening of existing infrastructure to mitigate natural and man -made
disasters.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
+/ Oppose additional funding reductions to the Community Development Block Grant Program
(CDBG) and legislation that lowers the CDBG administrative cap below 20 %.
RRIONUI
✓ Oppose legislation that would require municipalities to fund former State and Federal
programs without providing the associated resources.
PESTICIDES
✓ Support a legislative amendment to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
( FIFRA) to clarify that pesticides or any biological control organism permitted under FIFRA will
not be considered a pollutant and therefore avoid facing unnecessary restrictions by the EPA
through the Clean Water Act.
BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
BAY, T� 114TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
MARKETPLACE FAIRNESS ACT
✓ Support legislation to address a loophole in the tax code and allow states and local
governments the ability to require out -of -state (online) merchants to collect and remit sales
tax at the time of purchase.
FRANCHISE FEES
✓ Oppose efforts that reduce or eliminate a municipality's ability to collect franchise fees for use
of rights -of -way.
MUNICIPAL BOND INTEREST
++' Oppose legislation that would limit or remove the exemption on the taxing of municipal bond
interest.
FLEXIBILITY TO ALLOCATE PEG FEES
✓ Support legislation (similar to the Community Access Preservation, or CAP Act of 2013, 5.1789)
that would eliminate the distinction between "capital" and "operating" with regard to how
public, educational, or governmental (PEG) channels /studios utilize their support fees.
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT (NEPA) REGULATIONS
✓ Support efforts to streamline and reform duplicative and burdensome requirements currently
mandated by NEPA.
ARTS AND CULTURE
✓ Support continued funding for NEA and EDA grant programs to improve arts and cultural
opportunities in our community and to restore historic areas of our city.
LOCAL AUTHORITY / PEG
✓ Oppose any legislation that would require local governments to adopt federal collective
bargaining standards.
✓ Oppose any federal preemption of state defined - benefit plans, such as the Texas Municipal
Retirement System.
PRIORITY TRANSPORTATION INITIATIVES
✓ Support a multi -year reauthorization of the Federal Highway Bill that would preserve funding
for localities to improve local transportation infrastructure.
✓ Support measures that allow for local control of transportation resources, eliminating
unnecessary State and Federal administrative costs and creating efficiencies.
✓ Support federal programs, such as the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), that
provide federal support for city -wide sidewalk and trail connectivity projects.
✓ Support construction of an 1 -10 Direct Eastbound Onramp from Spur 330.
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