National Municipal Policy Adopted at Congress of Cities
December 05, 2011
by Federal Relations Staff
The 2011 NLC Congress of Cities and Exhibition culminated last month with the 88th Annual Business Meeting. In addition to electing new officers for the organization, nearly 700 delegates from cities and towns across the country approved additions and changes to the National Municipal Policy (NMP) for the coming year. The NMP consists of policy statements that guide NLC’s federal advocacy efforts on a wide range of issues impacting municipalities, including transportation, federal funding, sustainability and tax reform.
Prior to the Annual Business Meeting during the conference, NLC’s seven policy and advocacy committees and the organization’s Resolutions Committee also considered the updates to the NMP, which city leaders had debated and developed over the course of the year. Many of the updates were especially timely given the four main themes of the conference: economic development, sustainability, infrastructure and families.
For instance, NLC delegates passed resolutions supporting green affordable housing, tax-exempt financing for infrastructure projects, a comprehensive national surface transportation plan, an interoperable public safety communications network and acceleration of broadband deployment nationwide. An additional resolution ratified in Phoenix highlights NLC’s positions on an issue that remains front and center both in Arizona at across the nation: comprehensive immigration reform.
At meetings in Washington in December and January, NLC’s leadership will use the NMP to set the organization’s federal legislative priorities for 2012.
A more detailed overview of the policy and advocacy committees’ work follows.
After focusing its work this year on studying federal tax policies that would promote city fiscal health during these challenging economic times, the Finance, Administration and Intergovernmental Relations Committee (FAIR), chaired by Homewood, Ala., Councilman David Hooks, introduced a resolution calling for a balanced approach to deficit reduction. The resolution asks Congress and the Administration to partner with cities and towns in all related efforts and to maintain critical investments in our nation’s hometowns.
In addition, the FAIR committee recommended three changes to the NMP: (1) clarification that the American Community Census has been implemented by the U.S. Census Bureau; (2) addition of an introduction to the existing section on Federal Budgetary Practice; and (3) incorporation of a resolution calling for reforms to federal court imposed consent decrees into permanent NLC policy.
The Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee (EENR), chaired by Cleveland Councilman Matt Zone, focused its work this year on the topics of natural gas and the potential impact on drinking water resources; electric vehicle infrastructure and the need for smart grid technology; and sustainability as it relates to public health — including the nation’s farm and food systems. Additionally, an EENR subcommittee took a special look at the NLC nuclear policy language in light of the earthquake and Tsunami that shut down several Japanese nuclear reactors earlier this year.
The committee recommended several changes to the NMP, including adding new policy sections on smart grid and product stewardship and amending sections pertaining to nuclear energy and natural gas. Additionally, the committee incorporated resolutions pertaining to climate change adaptation, invasive species, product stewardship, appliance standards and hardrock mining and reclamation into permanent policy.
Finally, EENR recommended renewing five existing resolutions that were adopted at the Annual Business Meeting related to water infrastructure financing and regulatory prioritization, sustainability, the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill and ecosystem restoration, Property Assessed Clean Energy Programs, local building code authority and Milfoil. The committee approved four new resolutions on tax-exempt facility bonds for water and wastewater, ensuring that the Keystone Oil Pipeline will protect the environment, supporting sustainability principles in the upcoming farm bill and supporting the One Health Initiative.
Over the last year, the primary focus of the Community and Economic Development Committee (CED), chaired by Coolidge, Ariz., Vice Mayor Gilbert Lopez, was to research economic development and job creation strategies and opportunities for cities and towns operating under severe fiscal restraints. The committee also continued to devote attention to highlighting successful local examples of integrated planning and sustainable development for the purpose of evaluating federal policies and programs that encourage integration of housing, transit and energy efficiency goals among all levels of government.
The CED committee recommended renewal of two resolutions at the conference. The first urges Congress to support programs and federal investments in green affordable housing and financing—including programs like PACE that enable cities and towns to offer low-cost loans to homeowners for installing cost-saving energy efficiency improvements. The second calls on Congress to maintain support for sustainable development programs within the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Human Development Committee (HD), chaired by Eugene, Ore., Councilor Betty Thomas, focused this year on a range of issues from economic recovery and jobs to modernization of the Social Security system to improving educational attainment for all students.
Based on these discussions, the HD committee recommended incorporating into permanent policy two resolutions: one urging federal support for parenting skills programs for school-age children and their parents, and the other urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to address potential blood shortages by issuing guidelines that ensure that all healthy persons are able to give blood.
The committee also recommended changes to existing policy on Social Security in response to ongoing concerns about the financial integrity of the Social Security system, urging the federal government to maintain current benefits for all recipients to ensure that they have the financial support they need.
Furthermore, HD added language to the section on health care policy that urges the federal government to partner with cities and towns on a national health and wellness strategy, and updated immigration policy calling on the federal government to enable undocumented students to obtain U.S. citizenship through educational attainment.
The committee also recommended renewing resolutions supporting comprehensive immigration reform, endorsing plans to end chronic homelessness, urging the federal government to address disparities within the bone marrow registry and calling for federal action to end the nation’s jobs crisis.
Finally, the committee recommended the adoption of new resolutions calling on the federal government to increase investments in education and to adopt programs to reduce obesity and improve the overall health and wellness of citizens. All of these recommendations were approved by the voting delegates.
The Transportation Infrastructure and Services Committee (TIS), chaired by Rancho Cordova, Calif., Council Member David Sander, focused much of its work this year on transportation reauthorization, recommending changes to the NLC surface transportation reauthorization policy and reiterating the need for a national vision for surface transportation that encourages local innovation, transportation alternatives and decision making, and financing options, and recognizes the role of transportation as the economic backbone of a community. The committee also highlighted in its policy recommendations the importance of freight in a national transportation network.
Additional recommended updates to the NMP, which were subsequently adopted by voting delegates at the Annual Business Meeting, reflect the committee’s work surrounding sustainability, transportation financing and regional planning — including a focus on the key role of Metropolitan Planning Organizations in making transportation decisions, a call for streamlining regulatory processes without sacrificing environmental quality, support for the expansion of the federal TIFIA credit assistance program and emphasis on the need for additional federal transportation revenues to offset the continued decline in federal gas tax receipts.
The TIS Committee also recommended adding a section on the need for a federal freight and mobility policy to maintain the efficiency of the national transportation system and U.S. economic competitiveness, while moving goods and people efficiently and effectively.
Over the course of the year, the Public Safety and Crime Prevention Committee (PSCP), chaired by Lumberton, N.C., Councilman Erich Hackney, examined emerging public safety concerns for local governments. Specifically, the committee focused its discussions on cybersecurity, human trafficking and advocating for the construction of a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband communications network. The committee also built upon its work from previous years by reviewing proposed policy surrounding prescription pharmaceuticals, including the impact of illegal use by citizens and improper disposal in communities across the country.
Based on these discussions the committee recommended, and delegates adopted, new policy language on cybersecurity, the extradition of criminals from abroad and increased access to prescription drug take-back programs. In addition, the delegates approved renewing six public safety-related resolutions and adopted three newly proposed resolutions that stake out new policy areas on cybersecurity, human trafficking and supporting interstate compacts to combat pill mills.
The Information Technology and Communications Committee (ITC), chaired by Lenexa, Kan., Councilmember Andy Huckaba, spent considerable time this year discussing important local technology and telecommunications issues — such as the impact of the National Broadband Map and implications of social media on data privacy and cybersecurity. Recognizing the intersection between its work and the work of other committees, the ITC Committee also met jointly with the EENR committee to discuss smart grid technology and opened a dialogue with the FAIR committee on the telecommunications tax structure.
ITC recommended two changes to the NMP, which were approved: the first encourages federal action to eliminate unsolicited wireless communications, and the second strengthens existing policy calling for the federal government to consult regularly with local governments and industry representatives on revisions to federal standards to keep them current as new technologies evolve.
Additionally, ITC recommended the renewal of two existing resolutions: (1) support for community broadband, and (2) support for expanded access to high-quality broadband as a basis for economic development. The committee also spent significant time discussing the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s Notice of Inquiry (NOI) Relating to Acceleration of Broadband Deployment, through which the agency sought input from local governments on a number of issues involving local public rights-of-way management, compensation and wireless facilities siting requirements, and recommended one new resolution opposing the NOI. These recommendations were also approved at the Annual Business Meeting.
All of the policies and resolutions brought forth by these committees and ratified at the Congress of Cities will inform NLC’s legislative priorities and advocacy efforts for the year ahead.
The full NMP is available for viewing on the NLC website.