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Legislative Review Committee Agenda
December 11, 2017
3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Commons Conference Room, City Hall, 300 LaPorte Ave., Building A
1. Agenda Review
2. Approval of minutes from November 13, 2017 Meeting
Attached: November 13 Minutes
3. Preview of 2018 Legislative Session (45 minutes)
• Senator John Kefalas update and planned bills
• Representative Jeni Arndt update and planned bills
• Jennifer Cassel general session preview
4. Other business (10 minutes)
• Letter to federal delegation urging support of funding EPA’s Water Security
Division – staff recommends support.
Attached: Draft letter from Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies
• Confirm LRC meeting time and day for 2018
Other attachments:
• FYI, no action required - Copy of rulemaking comments submitted by City staff
related to oil and natural gas
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Legislative Review Committee
Meeting Minutes
November 13, 2017 3:00 p.m.
Commons Conference Room
Councilmembers Present: Ken Summers, Ray Martinez, and Bob Overbeck
Staff Present: Jeanne Sanford, Ginny Sawyer, Jeff Mihelich, Tyler Marr, Alyssa Johnson, Carrie
Daggett, Lindsay Ex, Lisa Rosintoski
Others Present: Kevin Jones, Dan Betz, Dale Adamy
The meeting came to order at 3:05 pm.
Approval of Minutes
LRC approved the minutes of the October 23
rd
meeting unanimously.
Colorado Communities for Climate Action (CC4CA) Update
• LRC considered the 2017-2018 CC4CA Policy Priorities, which require unanimous
adoption by all involved communities. 20 policies were identified for this session, with
18 aligning directly with the City’s legislative policy agenda.
o City Attorney Daggett did not find any potential legal concerns in her analysis of
the policy priorities.
o LRC discussed the role of sponsors for each of the policy priorities. Sponsors are
not being actively identified as this is only the second year of legislative
monitoring at CC4CA.
o LRC discussed that the policy priorities would not require stricter or additional
compliance as policy mechanisms are maintained by the City.
o Councilmember Overbeck moved to approve the CC4CA policy agenda.
Councilmember Summers seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
• CC4CA Local Government Official Training on November 29 in Westminster
o An email was sent to the committee by Sarah Kane regarding CC4CA’s
participation in contract renewal with frontline.
o It was noted that representatives from the Councils of Westminster and Golden
will be in attendance.
o LRC committee members requested that Sarah Kane contact them regarding their
RSVPs.
Discussion on Private Activity Bonds
• Councilmembers Overbeck and Cunniff raised concerns about private activity bonds in
tax packets under consideration in Congress. This legislation may impact affordable
housing in Fort Collins because the City has historically utilized its allocation of tax
exempt private activity bonds for affordable housing projects.
• It was noted that CML has taken an oppose position and NLC has also taken a stance.
• A memo from Finance will be included in this Thursday’s packet that will outline the
anticipated broader impact to the City. The legislation will continue to be monitored.
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Other Business
• Update on staff meetings with legislators:
o Legislative breakfast will occur in the spring.
o Ginny and Tyler reported that the state representatives who they have met with
regarding the draft legislative policy agenda have generally provided positive
feedback, specifically with respect to policy alignment.
• LRC discussed the proposed email response to Broomfield Councilmember regarding oil
and gas rulemaking and statewide protections.
o Councilmember Overbeck proposed the following addition to the response:
▪ “If you choose to convene a regional meeting for stronger statewide
concerns on oil and gas, we welcome the opportunity to join.”
▪ Councilmembers Summers and Martinez approve of the addition.
o Ginny will send the email response on behalf of LRC, copying City Leaders.
• LRC discussed the benefits of reviewing Broadband-related legislation in light of the
Broadband ballot measure passing in Fort Collins.
o It was mentioned that the City’s legislative policy agenda includes a Broadband
section.
o LRC requested that LPT members review the Broadband category in the policy
agenda and suggest any possible additions.
o Due to high likelihood of pertinent legislation at state-level, LRC discussed the
need to review statewide priority documents as well.
Adjourned at 3:49 PM
Dear Representative/Senator _________:
House and Senate leaders will soon negotiate a final FY18 funding bill for the
Environmental Protection Agency. On behalf of [utility name], I encourage you urge
appropriators to include continued level funding for the EPA Office of Water’s Water
Security Division (WSD) in the final omnibus appropriations legislation.
Each year [utility name] and thousands of other water and wastewater systems
nationwide rely on the tools, training, workshops and educational guides produced by
WSD. These non-regulatory knowledge resources help utilities protect critical water and
wastewater infrastructure from terrorism, cyber attacks and natural disasters and to
recover from related incidents and emergencies.
In recent years, WSD has worked with the water sector and local response agencies to
develop exercises that help utilities test and strengthen their emergency response plans.
WSD has also hosted workshops on power resilience, emergency response and
management, mutual aid agreements, and interdependencies with other critical sectors.
These free events and other WSD activities improved the ability of utilities to plan for
and respond to impacts from the recent hurricanes.
Despite these valuable activities, the Trump Administration’s FY18 budget proposed
eliminating funding for WSD. But the Senate chairman’s mark of the FY18 Interior,
Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill would provide homeland security
activities within EPA’s Science and Technology account with $33.122 million – an
amount that would fully fund WSD next year.
On behalf of [utility name], please encourage congressional leaders to include the
Senate’s $33.122 million funding level for homeland security activities supported
through EPA’s Science and Technology Account. This stable funding – equal to the
final FY17 appropriation – will allow the continuation of WSD’s highly effective
workshops and trainings, electronic assessment tool updates, decontamination and
contamination response investments, and other contributions to sector preparedness.
Thank you for your assistance on this important matter.
Sincerely,