City Council Meetings

Moses Lake City Council Dustin Swartz, Mayor | Judy Madewell, Deputy Mayor | Don Myers, Council Member | Mark Fancher, Council Member Deanna Martinez, Council Member | David Skaug, Council Member | Victor Lombardi, Council Member Tuesday, July 15, 2025 Moses Lake Civic Center – 401 S. Balsam Study Session Call to Order – 4:00 p.m. #1 State Legislative Process Workshop pg 2 Presented by Briahna Murray, GTH Government Relations Adjournment Next Regular Meeting July 22, 2025. NOTICE: Individuals planning to attend the in-person meeting who require an interpreter or special assistance to accommodate physical, hearing, or other impairments, need to contact the City Clerk at (509) 764-3703 or Deputy City Clerk at (509) 764-3713 at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.  7/10/2025 CITY OF MOSES LAKE GORDON THOMAS HONEYWELL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS GTH-GOV JULY 15, 2025 1 GOAL OF PRESENTATION  Review the Purpose of a City Legislative Program  Legislative Agenda Development  Effective Advocacy as a Team  Next Steps 2 1  7/10/2025 PURPOSE OF A LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM Funding Defense Offense 3 OFF TO A GOOD START… Funding:  $810,000 for Well 29  $172,000 for Well 17 Average appropriations was $604,000 for individual community projects Defense:  Modest engagement: removed from the parking mandate bill  Budget cuts to state-shared revenues could have been much worse Offense:  Challenging to advance, this is where we can lean in 4 2  7/10/2025 OFF TO A GOOD START… Funding: This is nice, but how do we get more?  $810,000 for Well 29  $172,000 for Well 17 Average appropriations was $604,000 for individual community projects Defense: While good, we could do more… or not…  Modest engagement: removed from the parking mandate bill  Budget cuts to state-shared revenues could have been much worse Offense: More of this!  Challenging to advance, this is where we can lean in 5 FUNDING 6 3  7/10/2025 FUNDING - BACKGROUND  Three state budgets: Operating, Capital, and Transportation  State Fiscal Year: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2027; 2026 is a Supplemental Budget Year  Budget Development Process:  OFM Requests Feedback from Agencies (deadline September 15, 2025)  Critical and emergent costs…. Efficiencies, reforms, administrative savings  Governor releases his proposed budget in December  Legislators deliberate, each chamber releases a proposal, and usually submit a final budget to the Governor  Governor can veto sections, but not line items 7 FUNDING - BACKGROUND  Operating:  Programmatic funding; must be spent within the fiscal year and must be administered by a state agency  Capital:  Local and Community Projects (i.e. project earmarks)  Approx $1 million, last dollar in, utilized state grant programs first, compelling project. longer time to spend funds  Funding requests from other stakeholders in the 13th Legislative District can impact  Projects of Regional/Statewide Significance  State agency engagement, coalition building  Transportation:  Nexus to state transportation system  Focus on existing projects 8 4  7/10/2025 FUNDING: RIGHT-SIZE REQUEST FOR BUDGET REALITIES  2026 Supplemental year: Either request a small amount OR prepare for 2027  Operating (programmatic): Extremely limited funding in 2026; maybe more funding in 2027. Historically a challenging budget to receive city-specific funding within.  Capital: Request under $500,000 for 2026 OR highly recommend developing large request for 2027  Transportation:  Nexus to state system  Struggling to fund current commitments  $23.903 million allocated to Port of Moses Lake ($8.479 million 23-25; $8.557 million in 25-27)  Recommend signaling long term need and/or focusing on preservation/maintenance  Increasingly need to have broad coalition support 9  Given parameters, what projects immediately come to mind? 5-MINUTE  Preference between requesting a small DISCUSSION amount in 2026, or a large request for 2027? 10 5  7/10/2025 FUNDING: WHAT DO NEXT STEPS LOOK LIKE?  Based on feedback, city staff recommend requests for inclusion on the legislative agenda for your consideration  If it is a smaller request… similar to last session, but hopefully earlier!  If it is a larger request:  Framing of request, begin building coalition  Request support/buy-in from 13th LD Legislators  Outreach to relevant committee chairs/ranking members  Engage Governor’s Office outreach staff  Engage relevant state agencies  Coalition-wide request to the Governor in the Fall… remember the September 15th deadline?  Lobby the State Legislature 11 LEGISLATION DEFENSE & OFFENSE 12 6  7/10/2025 POLICY MAKING: BACKGROUND A member of the Senate Senate Policy Senate Fiscal Senate Rules introduces a Committee Committee Committee Senate Bill Vote of the Full House Policy House Fiscal House Rules Senate Chamber Committee Committee Committee Delivered to the Vote of the Full Governor to be House Chamber signed into law 13 DEFENSE Activity Focused on Session:  Monitoring legislative proposals  Reviewing legislative proposals  Providing feedback  Via lobbyist, sometimes testimony or phone calls to legislators  Even if majority party disagrees, local legislators find great value in the feedback  May lose the war, but win the battle (via amendments) How to Prepare?  Develop policy statements on what you stand for...  Refine internal legislation review processes  Option to lean heavily on AWC in this space 14 7  7/10/2025 PARTNERSHIP WITH AWC  Strength in numbers  Positions may not align perfectly  Assistance on issues impacting all cities  Participation is helpful to their efforts  Currently developing their legislative agenda 15  What are some items that the Legislature has approved that negatively impacted the City? 5-MINUTE  Are there some principles or areas of emphasis important to the City? (e.g. local DISCUSSION control, unfunded mandates, or public safety, employment liability)  How much do you want to lean on AWC? 16 8  7/10/2025 OFFENSE – INTRODUCING A BILL  Offensive policy proposals can…  Be just for messaging, or  An effort at true change  General Principles  Aligned with the political environment  Defined problem statement  Be specific in what you request, but flexible in what you can live with  Expect it to take more than one session  Start early – like now!  Be prepared to allocate significant time  Easier with partners 17 5-MINUTE  Are there any specific proactive changes to state law that you would want to recommend? DISCUSSION 18 9  7/10/2025 LEGISLATIVE AGENDA DEVELOPMENT Focused • Top priorities: Funding & Proactive Bills • Policy Statements Politically Relevant Two-Year + Outlook Connected to City Services/Issues 19 ROLE OF THE COUNCILMEMBER ESTABLISHING THE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA TEAM EFFORT GETS THE BEST RESULTS  Coordination is essential  Relationships with legislators  Remote testimony options  Trips to Olympia 20 10  7/10/2025 NEXT STEP Research Assess Political Viability Identify potential topics for the 2026 legislative agenda to allow city staff and lobbyists to: Stakeholder Outreach Engage AWC 21 NEXT STEP  Once we have an idea of what we are asking for…  Tours with our local legislators  Prepare supporting materials  Engage stakeholders, agencies, legislators as appropriate 22 11  7/10/2025 DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS? 23 12