Thank you to the more than 100 city officials who signed on to AWC’s letter to budget leaders highlighting city funding priorities.

The legislative budget process has been unique this session: for the first time in a decade the Legislature isn’t dealing with a fiscal crisis. Ten years ago, legislators, like cities, were faced with the fallout of the Great Recession. Then, just as the economy began to recover, the school funding crisis hit with the need to put significantly more monies into schools due to the McCleary decision. This year, with a positive revenue forecast in March and an infusion of federal funds, legislative budget writers have a lot more to work with than expected even back in January. While they aren’t rushing to spend all the federal funds at this time, they have included many positive provisions in the budget proposals for city priorities. However, there are a few areas where more funding is still needed.

AWC has developed a budget comparison hot sheet that highlights where cities prefer one approach over another and where more funding is still needed. You can also find more detailed information about the impacts to cities from the various budget proposals via our budget matrix.

Budget leaders began negotiations late last week; they will spend this week and probably the next hammering out a final deal for a vote in the last few days of session. This will likely mean a rush of a few budget-related bills passing in the final week as well.

While all these negotiations are underway, please keep talking to your legislators about city funding priorities and ask that they share the information with their budget leaders.

City funding priorities

City assistance
Cities appreciate the Legislature’s commitment to continue to fund revenue sharing with cities. The House budget sets aside an additional $58 million for cities for costs related to new legislative mandates, including changes in policing and new Growth Management Act (GMA) planning requirements. Cities are grateful for this investment to alleviate the costs of the new mandates. We urge the Legislature to retain this critical funding in the final budget.

Police reforms and law enforcement training
Cities have been engaged stakeholders in legislative work around police reforms and support many of this year’s proposals. However, several of the reforms require real investment at both the state and local levels to achieve tangible goals. We urge full funding for the various agency needs that are necessary for successful implementation, including:

• $609,000 to develop a use of force model policy (HB 1310).
• $111,000 to develop model policies for use of police tactics and equipment (HB 1054).
• $4.5 million for managing state oversight and accountability of law enforcement and creating a new process for decertifying police officers (SB 5051); however, the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) estimates an additional $1.7 million needed to cover these costs.
• $920,000 for developing training for police officers and their duty to intervene (SB 5066).
• $750,000 for CJTC to develop the cognitive command training tool, a web-based app accessed via a handheld or desktop device, to facilitate timely, efficient training for police officers. The app can reduce local training costs by reducing travel and time away from regular duties.

We ask for the additional funding requested by the CJTC to fully fund the implementation of SB 5051 and the development of the online training app.

Cities also ask for full funding of 15 classes per year for the Basic Law Enforcement Academy. Cities continue to experience turnover and retirements in our departments, necessitating hiring new recruits. 15 classes per year will help alleviate training delays and put officers on streets in a timely manner.

Growth Management Act
Several proposals are advancing through the legislative process that add new city planning responsibilities under the GMA. We ask that the Legislature include the necessary additional state and local agency funding critical to supporting the new planning mandates.

• $17.2 million for implementing HB 1117, integrating salmon recovery into GMA.
• $6.3 million for implementing HB 1099, integrating climate change into GMA.
• $325,000 for implementing HB 1220, requiring more extensive affordable housing planning under GMA.

Cities ask that the legislature ensures full funding for these new planning requirements in the final budget and the commitment to necessary funding in upcoming years so that we can adequately implement these important policy goals. We are continuing to work to define exact funding needs for this biennium in recognition of grant timing issues with the Department of Commerce.

Blake decision and legislative action on possession of controlled substances
The recent Blake decision by the State Supreme Court has upended our statewide approach to the legality of possession of controlled substances. Cities understand that the Legislature is now grappling with how to respond and what policy to adopt. Cities support a treatment-based approach and urge the Legislature to provide the necessary funding to stand up a comprehensive statewide system.

Housing & utilities support
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, communities throughout the state were already facing a housing affordability and stability crisis and an overburdened homelessness response system. Clearly, the crisis has become more acute. Cities support the significant investments being made to address housing stability through rental assistance, as well as funds for affordable housing and emergency housing programs.

The housing crisis created by the pandemic is also a utilities crisis – the emergency shutoff moratorium for utilities has caused a near doubling of delinquent accounts at city-owned utilities. Utilities need specific dedicated funding to help residents with these delinquent accounts so we can keep the lights and water running without negatively impacting all ratepayers.

Infrastructure funding
Year after year, infrastructure funding continues as one of cities’ most significant needs. The Public Works Assistance Account (PWAA) is a crucial funding source in our efforts to provide necessary infrastructure for our communities. We encourage the Legislature to fund the PWAA in addition to other critical infrastructure programs.

Local transportation needs
Cities understand that the transportation budget has been hit hard by the pandemic; nevertheless, we encourage the Legislature to retain funding for important programs that support local transportation maintenance and improvements, including the Transportation Improvement Board and Safe Routes to Schools. City leaders from across the state recognize the need for a statewide transportation package to address the growing state and local transportation needs.