AWC’s legislative priorities process underway

These are dynamic times in our Washington, as well as the other one. Important public policy issues are being debated in living rooms and communities across the land. In advance of the November election season, candidates are working to shape their messages and convince voters that they can and should be trusted to represent their interests.

At AWC, we’re working on several fronts to identify what state leaders can and should do to help our 281 cities thrive. We are connecting with the hundreds of individuals running for state House or Senate seats through our candidate questionnaire. This questionnaire informs potential legislators of key city issues and asks how they would address them if elected.

We’ve also begun the process to identify the handful of issues that will become AWC legislative priorities for the 2019 legislative session. AWC’s President Pat Johnson, in consultation with Vice President Don Britain, appointed 49 city elected and appointed officials from a wide variety of cities across the state to serve on the Legislative Priorities Committee. This committee’s initial task is to prepare a short list of priority issues and supportive information for the AWC Board of Directors to review and adopt in late September. Following the Board’s deliberations and adoption, AWC will share and discuss these priorities with our membership, legislators, and other interests.

The Legislative Priorities Committee is breaking into five subcommittees to start considering what issues should rise the top. We are scheduling subcommittee meetings recommendations will be ready to share with the full committee during a meeting later in the summer. The five subcommittees include:

• Economic development/Public works/Transportation subcommittee
• Homelessness/Human services/Affordable housing subcommittee
• Land use and environment subcommittee
• Public safety/Personnel/Open government subcommittee 
• Fiscal/General government/Energy/Telecommunications

Legislative candidate survey open for replies until July 4

Each legislative candidate election cycle, AWC asks all candidates to answer five questions about issues that are important to cities. The questionnaire helps candidates think about key city issues they will face if elected. Their answers help city officials better understand legislative candidate perspectives on city issues.

AWC posts candidate responses on our website. Take a look and see if one or more from your area has responded. As an organization that does not endorse nor rate candidates, and does not contribute to campaigns, our previous experiences are repeated again this cycle. That is, few candidates choose to respond to the questionnaire. If you don’t see the candidates from your district listed, contact them and ask them to complete the questionnaire. If they decline to respond, take the opportunity to initiate a meeting in person and ask them the five questions and others of importance to your community. More often than not, candidates will be open to that one-on-one conversation or even a discussion with the city council.

Candidates also often want your support. If you choose to support candidates in your private capacity (as is allowed by law) you may want to consider holding your endorsements until you’ve received satisfactory answers from candidates about what they have done or will do to maintain a strong city-state partnership.

A note about city officials’ involvement with elections

As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, AWC does not endorse. However, city officials may engage in political activity in their private capacity. City officials are encouraged to read and understand the Public Disclosure Commission’s guidelines prior to endorsing a candidate or supporting or opposing a ballot measure.

A heartfelt thanks

As shared earlier this year, my time as AWC Government Relations Director is coming to a close. After seven rewarding years as Government Relations Director and a total of 32 with AWC, I am retiring at the end of this month. I’m pleased to welcome Candice Bock as the next director. Candice is well known among AWC members, legislators, and others. She’ll be a great advocate for cities and hits the ground in her new role during the AWC Conference in Yakima next week. Welcome back, Candice!

It has been an honor to be a member of the AWC Team and I look forward to participating in my last AWC Annual Conference next week. My heartfelt thanks to all for what you do to make cities strong.