CC Resolution No. 2457RESOLUTION NO. 2457
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS, ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF BAYTOWN'S LEGISLATIVE
PRIORITIES FOR THE 2017 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 Priorities for the 2017 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 Priorities for the 2017 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 affirmativete of the City Council of the
City of Baytown this the 26th day of January, 2017. /�
ATTE
LETICIA BRYSCH, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ACID RAMIREZ, SR., Ci ttomey
H. DONCARLOS, Mayor
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Exhibit "A"
BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
BAYS 85TH TEXAS LEGISLATIVE SESSION
LOCAL CONTROL
✓ Oppose legislation that would erode municipal authority in anyway.
✓ 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.
MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION
✓ Oppose H.B. 424 related to municipal annexation and ensure that any legislation impacting a
city's ability to annex provides an exemption for industrial district areas.
ELECTRIC AND GAS RATEMAKING
✓ Oppose legislation that would eliminate cities' jurisdiction over electric and gas utility rates
and/or eliminate the reimbursement of cities' rate case expenses.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
✓ Support legislation that provides additional funding opportunities for communities to provide
grants and low interest loans for small business development and retention.
✓ Oppose legislation that would erode a city's incentive options to enhance its economic
development efforts to promote retention and expansion of existing retailers, restaurants,
developers, commercial businesses and primary employers and to attract new business.
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 away 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.
ABAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
8�S 85TH 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.
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
✓ Oppose legislation that would preempt or prohibit the regulation of payday and auto title
lenders by a city.
OIL AND GAS REGULATIONS
✓ Oppose legislation that would diminish municipal authority to reduce the effects of oil and gas
development on city residents.
AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO INFORMATION FOR CITIZENS
✓ Support legislation that provides affordable e -resources to libraries, schools and colleges for
education and workforce readiness.
✓ Support legislation that allows communities in Texas to provide affordable high-speed
internet access.
PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS
✓ Oppose legislation that would impose new or expand existing property tax exemptions that
substantially erode the tax base; including industrial pollution control exemptions.
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-OF-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.
QUALITY OF LIFE
✓ Support legislation that expands a city's ability to regulate low-income housing, halfway
houses, and the abatement of substandard structures.
Exhibit "B"
BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
BAYS 115TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
✓ Support full remediation of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Super Fund site to ensure area
residents have safe water conditions for fishing and other recreational purposes.
✓ Oppose efforts by the EPA to implement new ozone standards before allowing the 2008 ozone
standards to fully take effect, balancing economic growth and environmental protection.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
✓ 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.
✓ Support the continuation of funding for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the American
Community Survey, along with efforts to broaden and deepen workforce and labor data at the
zip code level.
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 WORKS
✓ 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%.
✓ Support full funding for the T -HUD bill, which supports many important community
development efforts in Baytown.
FLEXIBILITY TO ALLOCATE PEG FEES
✓ Support legislation (similar to the Community Access Preservation, or CAP Act of 2013, S.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.
to BAYTOWN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
BAYT� 115TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
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.
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 legislation that would reduce or eliminate a municipality's ability to collect franchise
fees for use of rights-of-way.
PUBLIC FINANCE
✓ Oppose efforts to limit or remove the exemption on the taxing of municipal bond interest.
✓ Oppose legislation that would prohibit any special district of the city from being able to sell
tax-exempt bonds.
UNFUNDED MANDATES
✓ Oppose legislation that would require municipalities to fund former State and Federal
programs without providing the associated resources.
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
✓ 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 the 1-10 and John Martin/Garth Road On and Off Ramp Re -Configuration Project,
focused on spurring economic opportunity in the area.
✓ Support measures that allow for local control of transportation resources, eliminating
unnecessary State and Federal administrative costs and creating efficiencies.