Pasco plans legislative priorities for 2016 session

Pasco city officials know when state legislators reconvene in January, their main focus will continue to be education funding.

But City Council members and staff aren’t backing down on issues of specific relevance to Pasco, including district-based voting and finding $11 million in matching funds for the Lewis Street overpass project.

On Monday, the council got a rundown of its proposed legislative priorities for the 2016 session.

Legislative consultants Briahna Murray and Alex Soldano said this 60-day session mostly will be about amending the budget that was adopted in 2015.

Murray, vice president of Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs, also noted it will be “a very challenging year to advance controversial issues” because there is a major election around the corner, both at the state and national levels.

So with that political climate in mind, Murray said they worked with City Manager Dave Zabell and city staff over the last few months to determine what issues Pasco wants to push, realizing they’re really laying the groundwork for the 2017 session.

Some requests previously have been on the city’s list. They include a law that would require better notification to home buyers in urban growth areas if the previous owners have signed utility agreements waiving the right to fight annexation. The city also wants to reform the state’s public records laws to reduce the city’s costs. It also opposes legislation that would require part-time municipal court judges to be elected, rather than appointed.

Soldano noted the Department of Natural Resources’ pending sale of 330 acres on Road 68 is a prime real estate opportunity for both commercial and residential development.

The city is working on plans to build the street right-of-way through the property. But getting the water and sewer utilities extended in advance would make it a much more lucrative offer for prospective developers, he said.

Pasco will be asking for money in the 2017-19 capital budget to complete that installation, which also “would increase the return-on-investment for the state,” the staff report said.

Council members will approve the legislative priorities at its Dec. 7 meeting. At that time, they also will renew a $60,000 annual contract with Gordon Thomas Honeywell in Washington, D.C., for federal consulting work.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Pasco plans legislative priorities for 2016 session."