Cities and local governments are the governments closest to the people - providing services to citizens, such as police and fire protection, emergency medical services, streets and traffic management, solid waste services, water and wastewater treatment, stormwater management, parks and recreation centers, animal control, and a host of other services that help to maintain a community and its quality of life. With that said, the Texas Legislature has the power to touch every aspect of city government in both positive and negative ways. As such, the City has developed a legislative program that aims to protect and enhance the City’s ability to provide quality services and programs and ensure the health, safety and welfare of the public by actively participating in the legislative process.
Accordingly, during preparations for the City's biennial legislative agenda as part of the City's Intergovernmental Relations program, the City has prepared a draft Legislative Agenda for the 86th Legislature, which will begin in January 2019. The purpose of the Legislative Agenda is to provide state elected leaders with City Council's positions on legislative topics that will be discussed and debated during the 2019-2020 biennium. The Legislative Agenda also provides direction to City Intergovernmental Relations staff on which issues to monitor and how to respond to proposed legislation that could impact the City – all with the goal of ensuring the City is able to pursue and implement the priorities of Sugar Land residents. As such, the 2019 State Legislative Agenda focuses on several key priorities, including:
- Supporting legislation that allows for locally elected officials to make decisions that are beneficial to the interests of City residents;
- Opposing legislation that is detrimental to the City’s ability to pursue citizen priorities or respond to local citizen concerns; and
- Supporting legislation that reduces the overall tax burden on residents and businesses without reducing vital funding for critical public safety services and other services on which residents depend and expect.
Additionally, it also includes one "proactive" position statement in which the City will seek introduction and passage of legislation that accomplishes the goals of Resolution No. 18-26, which was adopted by City Council on August 21, 2018. The resolution requests the Texas Municipal League to seek introduction and passage of legislation in the 86th Legislative Session granting cities the right to obtain information on incidents within their jurisdiction that affect the public health of the general public and first responders and obligating state agencies to provide immediate notice to cities when incidents occur that may result in an immediate public health risk or compromise critical infrastructure within the City.
The purpose of this workshop is to preview the upcoming legislative session and review the draft 2019 Legislative Agenda, which has been reviewed with the City Council IG Committee. Upon receiving direction from the City Council, the next step will be to bring forward a resolution formally adopting the 2019 State Legislative Agenda at a future meeting.