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Legislative OverviewToday marks the 54th day of session. The state budget has been this week's focus. Late Wednesday, the Governor and legislative leadership announced that they had reached an agreement. As a result, Thursday saw lengthy Appropriations hearings on a package of budget bills in both chambers. Floor sessions are slated for today, although it is unclear if bills have the necessary votes for passage at this time. Below is a detailed article on budgetary items that municipalities face.BudgetThis week, Governor Ducey and legislative leaders reached agreement on budget framework for FY 15-16. Budget bills were heard in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Thursday afternoon and evening, and were scheduled for Caucus, Rules, and COW on Friday. As of press time, it is unknown if all bills have enough votes to pass. However, leadership is pressing to have the bills approved and sent to the Governor with clean-up language to follow in subsequent bills.As contained in the original Governor's budget, cities and towns are still being assessed for partial operations of the Department of Revenue. Over the last few weeks, as directed by the Executive Committee, we have been working with staff in the Governor's Office on an MOU that itemizes a fee-for-service arrangement with measureable performance standards from DOR for our payments. Unfortunately, that language did not appear in the budget bills, but we are working on amendments to add these provisions. The bills containing the assessment are HB 2673 and SB 1471. The city assessment portion is in Section 7. Waste CollectionOn Monday, SB 1079 solid waste collection; multifamily housing was heard and held in the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Sponsored by Sen. Gail Griffin (R-Hereford) this bill seeks to classify multi-family housing as commercial property for the sake of waste collection, thereby opening it up to private hauling companies. The League has been opposed to this measure due to concerns about the consistency of service, private haulers focusing solely on the most lucrative contracts, and the ability to depreciate equipment under decreased service levels. The bill will be heard again and voted on this coming Monday.Guns in Public BuildingsHB 2320 firearms; permit holders; public places passed the Committee of the Whole last week, but has not moved. Sponsored by Rep. Brenda Barton (R-Payson) this bill requires public buildings and events to have electronic screening devices and security guards at public entrances if the public entities decide to deny entry to an armed person with a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon. The League is opposed as the cost of implementing these procedures is extremely expensive.Intergovernmental AgreementsOn Wednesday, the Senate Government Committee passed HB 2324 intergovernmental agreements; public agency indemnification, by a vote of 7-0. The bill states that an intergovernmental agreement may require one public agency to defend, indemnify or hold harmless the other public agency for liabilities, damages, losses and costs only to the extent caused by negligence, recklessness or intentional wrongful conduct. There is broad support for this bill and the League is working with the Governor's Office on an amendment to clean up potential unintended consequences. We expect that amendment to be adopted in the Committee of the Whole. The League is grateful to Representative Weninger (R-Chandler) for his sponsorship of this League Resolution.Legislative Bill Monitoring(All bills being actively monitored by the League can be found here.)SB 1079: solid waste collection; multifamily housing HB 2570: municipalities; vegetation requirements; prohibition HB 2320: firearms; permit holders; public places SB 1133: TPT; municipalities; customer refund claims HB 2324: intergovernmental agreements; public agency indemnification HB 2447: (now) real property managers; consolidated returns HB 2563: health facilities; substance abuse recovery |
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Legislative Bulletin is published by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. Forward your comments or suggestions to league@azleague.org. |
