|
||
|
||
Legislative OverviewOn Monday, January 11, the second regular session of Arizona's 52nd Legislature convened. Many mayors, council members and municipal staff attended the Opening Day ceremonies. In addition to the excitement and activity associated with welcoming legislators, Governor Doug Ducey delivered the annual State of the State Address. You can find his speech here: On the Rise.Governor Ducey unveiled his budget today, and we have done a preliminary review of the documents. Our analysis indicates that there are no major year-over-year changes to the budget areas that impact cities and towns. The two areas municipalities will have an interest in are the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) allocation and the amount that is billed to cities and towns to fund the Department of Revenue's (DOR) transaction privilege tax collections. HURF remains at the same level as last fiscal year and fees to be paid to the DOR also remain unchanged. Be advised that the amount billed to your individual city or town for the DOR fee may change based on changes in your population. The Governor's tax reform plans were not included in the Executive Budget. We will notify you as soon as we have any information about this issue. There are no changes in the distribution of revenue sharing funds. Here is a link to the governor's proposal: azgovernor.gov/budget. Session DeadlinesEvery session has deadlines pertaining to bill submissions and hearings. These are established by rule and are subject to change. This year, the schedule is as follows:January 2016 Monday, the 11th - First day of session Thursday, the 14th - House 7-bill Introduction Limit Begins (5 p.m.) February 2016 Monday, the 1st - Senate Bill Introduction Deadline (5 p.m.) Monday, the 8th - House Bill Introduction Deadline (5 p.m.) Friday, the 19th - Last day to hear bills in the chamber of origin March 2016 Friday, the 19th - Last day to hear bills in the opposing chamber April 2016 Tuesday, the 20st - 100th Day of Session Monday TeleconferencesThe League will continue to host a weekly teleconference to report on the status and impact of various legislative bills in the 2016 session. The calls are scheduled for Monday mornings promptly at 10:00 a.m. Mayors, managers and other city or town officials and staff who are interested in legislative activities are invited to participate. Call-in numbers and a brief agenda will be sent out prior to the calls. If you would like to receive the Monday agendas, please contact league@azleague.org and request to be added to the distribution list for the Monday teleconference.Legislative BulletinThe League will electronically distribute the Legislative Bulletin every Friday during the legislative session. The Bulletin serves as a way for the League to communicate to elected officials, staff and other interested parties about activities at the Legislature that are relevant to cities and towns. If you know of any municipal official or staff member that would like to subscribe to the Bulletin please have them send their name and email to league@azleague.org and request to be added to the Legislative Bulletin distribution list.As in the last few years, the Bulletin will highlight the top half-dozen or so topics and bills. Other legislation that the League is actively engaged on will still be monitored and updated; however, that information will be available on our Legislative Bill Monitoring page on the League website. The Bulletin will link to the legislation that has been updated in our Legislative Bill Monitoring Section. This format should make it more convenient for you to keep up to date on the latest legislative activities, while still providing a resource for more detailed information. Legislative InternThe League is pleased to welcome Morgan Dick as our legislative intern for the 2016 session. Morgan's background is in youth sports management at the Valley of the Sun YMCA, and leadership as a campus tour guide at Arizona State University. Currently, Morgan is a junior at ASU and will be receiving her bachelor's degree in both Political Science and Spanish Linguistics, along with a certificate in Civic Education. Morgan will be assisting the League's legislative staff for the duration of the spring 2016 semester.Your VoiceThe 2016 edition of Your Voice at the Capitol, our listing of senators and representatives, is available here. Please use this document to access your delegation. Early contact with your legislators is strongly recommended in order to establish a relationship with the elected officials representing your district. Maintaining good communications with your legislators provides them with invaluable insight as to how proposed legislation may affect their communities.Additionally, you can contact our legislative division at (602) 258-5786 or email using the information below: Patrice Kraus, Legislative Director: pkraus@azleague.org Dale Wiebusch, Senior Legislative Associate: dwiebusch@azleague.org Legislative Bill Monitoring(All bills being actively monitored by the League can be found here.)SB 1017: municipal service access cards; requirements |
||
|
Legislative Bulletin is published by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. Forward your comments or suggestions to league@azleague.org. |
