AGENDA INFORMATION SHEET
DEPARTMENT: Materials Management
ACM: Bryan Langley
AGENDA DATE: August 16, 2016
SUBJECT
Title
Consider adoption of an Ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas authorizing the City Manager to execute a professional services agreement between the City of Denton and Focused Advocacy, LLC to assist the City of Denton in advancing its State Legislative Program, assist Council and staff in addressing proposed legislation, and make the City aware of any legislative or administrative initiatives believed to be detrimental to the interests of the City; authorizing the expenditure of funds; and providing an effective date (File 6182-in the annual not-to-exceed amount of $166,000 for a four (4) year total not-to-exceed $664,000).
Body
BACKGROUND:
As we prepare for the 85th Texas Legislature, staff has been working with our two legislative consultants-Focused Advocacy, LLC and Solutions for Local Control, LLC during the interim period. Recent trends of the Texas Legislature have been that each new session brings an increased number of city-related bills filed, with the majority proposing impediments to the ability of cities to govern from a local perspective. For the last several sessions, legislative leaders have continued to file and support bills that would lower or broaden the current cap on annual increases in property tax appraisals, impose a local revenue cap, enact costly unfunded mandates, or erode municipal authority to conduct local affairs. As Denton continues to grow, our legislative exposure continues to increase with potentially greater negative impacts to our budget, and more importantly, on our ability to deliver services in the best interest of our citizens. For the 84th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature (2015), legislators filed 6,476 bills, and more than 1,600 were city-related.
Staff feels that now, more than ever, it is important to continue our relationship with proven legislative consultants as part of our le...
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