It’s the middle of July and most people are focused on enjoying the weather and getting away on summer vacations. While that is also true for those in the legislative arena, there is still a lot of activity this interim.

Over the course of the summer months, there are a number of task forces and committees meeting to discuss legislative issues in preparation for 2019. AWC staff do their best to track these numerous meetings and report back relevant information to our members through this Bulletin.

And, of course, this is prime-time campaign season with the primary election fast approaching. This summer, AWC conducted a survey of all legislative candidates through our candidate questionnaire. Candidate’s responses to the questionnaire are now available. If your local candidate didn’t complete the questionnaire, you can still use it as a tool to sit down and talk to them about city issues.

Summer is also a great time to invite your local legislators out to tour your community – show them the construction projects you are working on, talk to them about what your focus will be during your upcoming budgeting process, and reinforce the importance of the city state partnership in creating successful communities.

Finally, AWC staff are busy working with the members of the Legislative Priorities Committee discussing and evaluating issues for the 2019 AWC Legislative Agenda. The committee received a wide variety of issues to consider from cities around the state. Currently the committee is divided into subcommittees to discuss issues in-depth and make recommendations back to the full committee. The full committee will meet later in August to make recommendations to the AWC Board for consideration at the September meeting.

We will continue to keep you informed about this process and our preparations for 2019.