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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Legislative Review Committee - 03/21/2023 - City Manager’s Office City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com Legislative Review Committee Minutes Tuesday, March 21, 2023 3:00-4:00PM Councilmembers present: Mayor Arndt, Councilmember Canonico (chair), Councilmember Peel, Councilmember Gutowsky Staff present: Ginny Sawyer, John Duval, John Phelan, Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Megan DeMasters, Megan Valliere Guests present: Ed Bowditch (lobbyist), Jennifer Cassell (lobbyist), Michael Stella (intern for Bowditch & Cassell) 1. Approval of minutes from February 21, 2023 meeting a. The Mayor moved to approve the minutes from the February 21st, 2023, meeting. Councilmember Peel seconded. Motion passed 3-0. 2. Bill review a. Ed provided a mid-session update for the LRC. As of the day of the meeting, March 21st, it was the 72nd day of the session with about seven weeks left. Ed shared that there is quite a bit of work ahead of the legislature, and things are picking up in terms of volume of work. Legislative leaders have shared with senators and representatives that few, if any, controversial bills will be allowed late status this year. b. The Legislative Review Committee reviewed bills that LRC members, City staff, and lobbyists are monitoring. The following table details the specific bills that LRC discussed. Bill/Bill Topic Prime Sponsors LRC Discussion Action Taken, Recommendation or Consensus from LRC Bills on which the City has taken a position (or has been asked to consider taking a position ) HB23-1101 - “Ozone Season Transit Grant Program Flexibility” Reps. Vigil and Bacon Sens. Winter and Hinrichsen The City supports ozone grant program flexibility. An amendment was added that would allow CDOT to redraw transportation planning regions. It looks like this portion of the bill will become a study instead, and the bill should receive final approval from the conference committee on partisan lines. The City has taken a support position on this bill. HB23-1169 - “Limit Arrests for Low-Level Offenses” Rep. Bacon Rep. Bacon is making some changes to the bill to make sure local governments understand it is not her intention to include municipal offenses for which there is no state equivalent in arrest prohibitions. There is currently no Senate sponsor for this bill. The City has taken an oppose position on this bill. HB23-1190 - “Affordable Housing Right of First Refusal” Reps. Boesenecker and Sirota Sen. Winter Rep. Boesenecker is working on several amendments to this bill. It passed the House and shouldn’t have any issues in the Senate. The City has taken a support position on this bill. SB23-058 - “Job Application Fairness Act” Reps. Willford and Young Sens. Danielson and Jaquez Lewis Would prohibit employers from inquiring about an applicant’s age, date of birth, or transcripts that indicate date of graduation from an education institution on an employment application. CML is currently seeking amendments that clarify municipalities’ ability to request these documents after initial application. The LRC decided to continue to monitor this bill. SB23-111 - “Public Employees’ Workplace Protection” Rep. Woodrow Sen. Rodriguez CML is requesting that municipal partners join in opposition to this bill, which they are describing as a next step toward collective bargaining. The current fiscal note indicates that the proposal would take money out of the employment support fund. The LRC decided to continue to monitor this bill. SB23-150 - “Require Labelling Disposable Wipes” Sens. Roberts and Will Reps. Froelich and Frizell Would require producers of pre-moistened wipes to put on the packaging language to the effect of “do not flush, these products will clog sewer lines.” A representative from the City testified in support of this bill in both the House and the Senate. It should pass with no issues. The City has taken a support position on this bill. SB23-172 - “Protecting Opportunities And Workers' Rights Act” Reps. Weissman and Bacon Sens. Winter and Gonzales This bill is being described as a new version of the POWER Act from the 2021 session. The bill would increase the quantity of reasons an employee could sue their employer, and the definition of harassment in the bill is very broad. CML has taken an oppose position. The City is still formally in a monitor position, though Mayor Arndt expressed willingness to oppose this bill. SB23-175 - “Financing Of Downtown Development Authority Projects” Reps. Boesenecker and Taggart Sens. Jaquez Lewis and Rich This bill allows the extension of DDAs for 20 years. Jenn and Ed will share our support for the bill with the appropriate individuals. The City has taken a support position on this bill. Additional bills discussed HB23-1215 - “Limits on Hospital Facility Fees” Reps. Sirota and Boesenecker Sens. Mullica and Cutter This bill would limit the facility fees that can be charged by hospitals for various outpatient services. Our partners at UC Health are concerned about the budgetary impacts of this legislation. Jenn said that she will relay our concerns to Rep. Boesenecker. Continue to monitor. HB23-1242 - “Water Conservation in Oil and Gas Operations” Reps. Boesenecker and Joseph Sen. Cutter As originally drafted, would require oil and gas operators to reduce their use of fresh water and increase their use of reused/recycled water. Due to a strike below amendment, Rep. Boesenecker is dramatically reworking the bill. N/A HB23-1245 - “Campaign Practices for Municipal Elections” Rep. Parenti This bill would change campaign finance rules for statutory municipalities, not home rule municipalities. N/A SB23-198 - “Clean Energy Plans” Rep. Weissman Sen. Winter John Phelan is working to align the City, CAMU, PRPA, and CC4CA on this bill. PRPA and CAMU have issues with some provisions related to interim goals and planning language that encroaches on their authority related to public processes. John will keep everyone updated on this bill as discussions take place. N/A Micro-trenching bill (not yet introduced) Rep. Titone CML opposes this bill. There is a strong possibility it will not even be introduced this session due to a leadership-imposed limit on late bill status for controversial bills. The LRC said that if this bill is introduced, the City will take an oppose position. Workers’ Comp bill (not yet introduced) Rep. Boesenecker Jenn has a meeting with Rep. Boesenecker on 03/24/2023 to discuss this and other bills. We are under the impression Rep. Boesenecker will not introduce this bill until he reaches some sort of compromise between the Claimaints’ Bar/AFL and the bill’s large opposition coalition. N/A CORA bill (not yet introduced) Rep. Snyder Sen. Hansen The bill in its current form still carves out reduced CORA rates for media. CML strongly opposes any cost differentiation for media. LRC decided to continue watching and waiting for this bill, and staff will continue to monitor when it gets introduced. Housing/Land Use Bill (not yet introduced) Reps. Jodeh and Woodrow Sen. Moreno Given the complicated interaction of our own land use engagement process and the timing of this piece of legislation, the LRC decided that it shouldn’t take a position separate from the full Council. The group decided to schedule time for the full Council to discuss the legislation once the bill text is available for everyone to read. Monitor until the full Council can discuss. Cleanup bill for HB21-1110 - “Colorado Laws For Persons with Disabilities” Sen. Bridges The Governor’s Office wants to ensure that public entities do not start removing information from their websites as a result of the 2021 accessibility law. Expecting Sen. Bridges to run a cleanup bill that will maintain the provisions of the bill but will allow a have a cure period and will limit the quantity of lawsuits that can be brought against organizations for any one instance of noncompliance. The cleanup bill will not change the compliance deadline of July 2024. N/A 3. Other Business and Announcements a. Councilmember Peel requested that the Agenda for LRC be provided in a way that doesn’t require her to download it from our system, which takes a long time and isn’t always easy to read. Ginny said she can print a few copies for our next meeting and also noted that the agenda is available on the LRC subcommittee webpage at https://www.fcgov.com/citymanager/legislative. b. The group discussed how we should respond to endorsement/support requests. Ginny clarified that if something fits squarely within the adopted Legislative Policy Agenda (LPA), City staff act in accordance with the document in terms of support/oppose positions. Staff will often maintain a monitor position when bills are potentially controversial and wait for LRC/Council input, even if the LPA would indicate a support/oppose position. Staff does not take positions on bills that address topics not covered in the LPA. Ginny shared that we try to be very judicious with the number of positions we take on bills each session. Minutes approved April 25th, 2023