From the Director: Interim Work Important – City Contacts Needed

Years ago once a session concluded and the interim began, legislators would return to their jobs, lobbyist would leave Olympia and the legislative process would come to a near halt. This is not the case now and not the case for some time.

The interim is now that period of time when legislators, staff, interest groups and others fully explore and study those issues that can’t be resolved during a single session and the hectic pass of 15 minute meetings. Most major issues take 3 plus years to resolve and the bulk of the work is done during the interim. Streamlined Sales Tax is a good example. This legislation takes effect July of this year, but the bill was passed in 2007. The issue was first introduced in 2003. The issue was very controversial among cities as originally introduced, and the agreement regarding mitigation was structured during the summer/fall of 2005 after a year and a half of work.

Now is the time for you to begin meeting with your legislators on issues of importance to your city and the broader city family. Legislator time may be particularly tough to secure this interim given the upcoming elections, an earlier primary and the ramifications of the recent court ruling regarding the top two primary. So please, start now – make a phone call and schedule a meeting.

These meetings are most effective when you focus on local impacts. While we have just begun our legislative process we are sure to advance infrastructure funding as a major priority. Tell your legislators how your city needs additional resources to secure an infrastructure for public safety and economic development purposes.

AWC will help on this issue and others. We are currently preparing messages and other information regarding our infrastructure needs. We will distribute this information to you next month and provide additional information every month this interim you can share with your legislators in an attempt to secure their support for additional resources in 2009. Please watch for this information from AWC!

Your contacts do make a difference so pls make a call and schedule a meeting. Please feel free to contact us if you need any help or information on issues you would like to discuss with your legislator.

Thanks in advance for your help this interim! We look forward to seeing you in Yakima at the Annual Conference in June.

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