A RESOLUTION setting forth the 2012 State Legislative Agenda of the City of Seattle.

WHEREAS, the City of Seattle's Legislative Agenda is built with input from our City departments, elected officials, regional governmental agencies, statewide interest groups, and advocates; and

WHEREAS, the City will lobby the Legislature in cooperation with these entities; and

WHEREAS, the 2012 legislative session will last sixty days and will result in the adoption of supplemental operating, capital, and transportation budgets, as well as changes to state policy; and

WHEREAS, given the current economic slowdown and the serious decline in resources at the federal, state and local levels, the need for government entities to streamline activities, seek more cost-effective approaches for providing key government services, and consider new methods for funding important government services is even more critical; and

WHEREAS, despite the difficult economic times, elected officials of Seattle believe the state has a major role in funding critical services protecting our citizens and our quality of life, and that ensuring access to public benefits will help vulnerable individuals and families succeed; and

WHEREAS, the City will advocate to maintain state funding for human services, public health, public safety, education, and environmental programs; and

WHEREAS, Seattle will work with other local governments to protect direct state funding to local governments and support additional local authority to provide resources for transportation, public safety, human services, and public health programs; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THE MAYOR CONCURRING, THAT:

Section 1. All issues on the City of Seattle State Legislative Agenda are important and will be worked on during the 2012 state legislative session. However, the Agenda is separated into three sections to lend some hierarchy and provide guidance to Legislators, City elected officials, and lobbyists. The sections in the Agenda are defined as follows:

Primary focus These issues are most important, directly impact the City of Seattle, and will be the primary focus of our efforts throughout the 2012 legislative session:

1) Mitigating and Adapting to the Impact of State Budget Cuts: The State faces a $1.4 billion budget shortfall it must address. The process of closing the projected 2011-13 deficit will result in another round of deep cuts. We will work with the State to make shifts in the budget that help us adapt to the new realities we will face as a result of the ongoing budget crisis.

2) Protecting the most vulnerable: The City of Seattle will fully participate in the supplemental budget process. We aim to protect human services, public health, and other critical areas such as the Housing Trust Fund. Seattle supports efforts to raise new revenue in order to preserve core programs and services. We support legislation to reduce the sexual exploitation of children, including efforts to address the online exploitation of children, and funding for programs that help prevent exploitation and rehabilitate its victims.

3) Education: We support efforts to reform education on a statewide basis and to provide funding for early learning, K-12, and higher education.

4) Economic development: We support new local options to fund expanded transit, funding for infrastructure investment that leads to job creation, continued investments in job training, and tax incentives for the film industry.

5) Public safety: We support continued funding for supervision of offenders who have been released into the community, including the Neighborhood Corrections Initiative, and funding for programs that help offenders transition successfully back into society. We support legislation that provides a comprehensive statewide regulatory framework for medical marijuana. Seattle supports strengthening DUI laws to address repeat offenders. Seattle supports changing state law so that drivers' licenses are not suspended solely for failure to pay noncriminal traffic ticket penalties.

6) City fiscal health: Work with the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) to protect existing state and local shared revenues and all existing local revenue authorities. We support efforts to simplify local tax reporting, provided municipalities retain all existing authorities and local revenues remain tax neutral.

Areas of Significant Interest -We will try to make progress on this list of issues in the 2012 legislative session; however, we realize that legislative approval for many of these items may take several years. See Exhibit 1 for a list of these issues.

Areas of Ongoing Concern -Legislative action on these issues would make a difference to Seattle. Some of these issues would only require small technical changes to State law and we will ask our Seattle legislators to lead the effort on moving these issues forward during the 2012 legislative session. See Exhibit 1 for a list of these issues.

Section 2. The City of Seattle 2012 State Legislative Agenda attached to this resolution as Exhibit 1 is adopted.

Adopted by the City Council the ____ day of ____________________, 2011, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this________ day

of ______________________, 2011.

_________________________________

President ___________of the City Council

THE MAYOR CONCURRING:

_________________________________

Michael McGinn, Mayor

Filed by me this ____ day of ________________________, 2012.

____________________________________

Monica Martinez Simmons, City Clerk

(Seal)

Attachment: Exhibit 1

Traci Ratzliff Legislative Dept., 2012 legislative agenda November 14, 2011 Version #1

CITY OF SEATTLE

2012 State Legislative Agenda

MAYOR

Mike McGinn

CITY COUNCIL

Richard Conlin, Council President

Sally Bagshaw

Tim Burgess

Sally J. Clark

Jean Godden

Bruce Harrell

Nick Licata

Michael O'Brien

Tom Rasmussen

STATE TEAM

Office of Intergovernmental Relations

Marco Lowe, Director

Jasmin Weaver, Deputy Director

Craig Engelking, State Legislative Director

Kelsey Beck, State Legislative Liaison

SESSION PRIORITIES -2012

Areas of Primary Focus

Mitigating and Adapting to the Impact of State Budget Cuts: The State faces a $1.4 billion budget shortfall it must address. The process of closing the projected 2011-13 deficit will result in another round of deep cuts. We will work with the State to make shifts in the budget that help us adapt to the new realities we will face as a result of the ongoing budget crisis.

Protecting the most vulnerable: The City of Seattle will fully participate in the supplemental budget process. We aim to protect human services, public health, and other critical areas such as the Housing Trust Fund.

Seattle supports efforts to raise new revenue in order to preserve core programs and services.

We support legislation to reduce the sexual exploitation of children, including efforts to address the online exploitation of children, and funding for programs that help prevent exploitation and rehabilitate its victims.

Education: We support efforts to reform education on a statewide basis and to provide funding for early learning, K12, and higher education.

Economic development: We support new local options to fund expanded transit, funding for infrastructure investment that leads to job creation, continued investments in job training, and tax incentives for the film industry.

Public safety: We support continued funding for supervision of offenders who have been released into the community, including the Neighborhood Corrections Initiative, and funding for programs that help offenders transition successfully back into society.

We support legislation that provides a comprehensive statewide regulatory framework for medical marijuana.

Seattle supports strengthening DUI laws to address repeat offenders. Seattle supports changing state law so that drivers' licenses are not suspended solely for failure to pay noncriminal traffic ticket penalties.

City fiscal health: Seattle will work with the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) to protect existing state and local shared revenues and all existing local revenue authorities.

We support efforts to simplify local tax reporting, provided municipalities retain all existing authorities and local revenues remain tax neutral.

Areas of Significant Interest

Human Services and Health

Periods of economic downturn affect people from every walk of life, but their effects are felt most keenly by the vulnerable. To the greatest extent possible, we ask the State to preserve programs that protect the most vulnerable and reduce future social costs by providing the tools needed for self-sufficiency. We have identified Maternity Support Services, public health funding, Community Health Clinics, Apple Health for kids, the programs formerly known as Disability Lifeline, the Senior Services Act, and Immigrant Services as areas of particular importance to Seattle.

As the federal government implements the HEARTH Act and HUD changes the way they allocate funds for homeless programs from a formulaic to competitive process, we support modifications in state law that will provide us with the tools we need to better compete for federal funds.

Housing and Homelessness

Seattle believes that housing---its availability and affordability---is critical to the quality of life of our residents and neighborhoods. In addition, Seattle supports State efforts to assist with the implementation of the TenYear Plan to End Homelessness. Therefore, we support legislation that temporarily increases document recording fees in order to fund low-income housing.

We also seek changes in tenant screening law that improve fairness, transparency and accountability in the tenant screening process, including improved protections for victims of domestic violence, and that provide fee relief for prospective tenants.

Transportation

We support an environmentally sustainable transportation system with stable funding for transit and options to expand transit service in the future. To address long-term funding needs, Seattle supports efforts to craft a statewide transportation package, for voter approval, that:

? Includes a significant share of funding for cities to help pay for local maintenance backlogs;

? Includes sustainable funding for transit operations;

? Results in expanded transit service in areas with the greatest demand;

? Prioritizes safety and maintenance projects, and

? Meets both the City's and the State's greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets.

We support new local options for transportation funding that could be used to help expand transit including light rail within the City, modifying the City's parking tax authority to allow for a more equitable application of the tax, and more progressive options regarding MVET.

To help better manage on-street parking and support access to local businesses, we are seeking additional tools to prevent misuse of disabled parking placards

We will support full funding for the SR 520 Replacement Project that improves safety, improves the movement of transit, bikes, and pedestrians throughout the corridor and is consistent with the Memorandum of Understanding between WSDOT and the City of Seattle.

We will support legislation that changes auto insurance regulations in order to facilitate peer-to-peer car sharing.

Public Safety

In addition to the issues identified in our highest priorities, we also support the continued use of automated traffic safety cameras and legislation that improves transparency and accountability.

We support legislation allowing cities to set speed limits as low as 20 miles per hour in residential and business districts.

We support a waiver of the two party consent rule pertaining to police video cameras, identical to the exemption for Digital In Car Video (DICV) and legislation that authorizes a Body Worn Camera pilot project for police officers.

We support investments in youth violence prevention and intervention, new tools to prevent and reduce gang violence, and domestic violence prevention and services.

We believe that local governments should have the ability to regulate firearms or weapons in public places to ensure the safety of their communities and local circumstances.

We support funding for Win 211, which helps the public access important information and government programs and services after disasters.

Education

In addition to supporting efforts to reform education, the City supports maximum possible funding for Early Learning and Basic Education. During challenging economic times, it is also critically important to support community colleges, technical colleges, and state universities as they provide access to retraining and workforce development opportunities.

Areas of On-going Concern

Economic Development

We support legislation to allow state chartered credit unions to accept public deposits above the current limit of $100,000 for any one depositer of public funds in any one credit union.

Seattle supports tax increment financing as a tool to encourage economic development and community improvement projects, and supports a set aside for low-income housing. We support reauthorization of the Alternative Public Works Act.

The arts sector is an important driver of economic development in Seattle. In order to maintain current funding levels for arts, cultural and heritage programs, Seattle supports retaining all admission tax revenues generated by the University of Washington Husky football team during their temporary relocation to CenturyLink Field.

Seattle supports revising Section 3 of ESSB 5834 to restore Seattle's ability to collect parking tax revenues from the baseball stadium public facility district.

Sustainability and Environmental Protection

We support a new, long-term state funding source for local stormwater management programs to help improve water quality and protect salmon. To assure state contribution for cleanup of local toxic sites, we support protection of the Local Toxics Account for its statutory purpose.

Seattle supports the Energy Independence Act (RCW 19.285) which was passed by the voters as I-937 in 2006. Seattle City Light anticipates meeting its renewable and conservation targets. We support changes to the Act that would provide great flexibility for utilities to meet their targets without undermining the initiative. Consideration should be given to clarifying definitions of eligible renewables and conservation; review of options for preapproval or certification of projects; a greater emphasis on conservation and energy efficiency; review of the geographic scope of eligible resources and technical implementation matters.

General Government

Seattle, in concert with the AWC, seeks the ability to recover costs associated with public records requests, clarification that the Public Records Act does not require ongoing or continuing responses, and an automatic exemption for witnesses.

Race & Social Justice

We support efforts to promote racial justice in economic opportunity, criminal justice, education, health, environmental protection and in government policies, programs and procedures.

We support efforts to protect the rights of and services provided to immigrants.

Seattle supports marriage equality.

Hazardous and Solid Waste

We support development of common industry standards for recycled products, funding for recycling facilities, promotion of product stewardship, and legislative initiatives to reduce waste and increase recycling. We support product stewardship for surplus pharmaceuticals, carpet, paint, mercury-containing lighting and additions to the products covered by E-Cycle Washington as well as framework legislation to ensure manufacturers' responsibility for waste products.

To help promote waste reduction, we are also seeking elimination of the requirement that phone companies publish and distribute telephone directories and support efforts to create a statewide opt out system for commercial telephone directories.

Law & Criminal Justice

We also support safeguards for protected groups from harassment and violence through misuse of the Public Records Act.

We also support efforts that would allow courts of limited jurisdiction to order convicted defendants to pay restitution.

Planning & Development

Seattle believes in the right to impose fees to fund necessary facilities and services related to the impacts of development and to require appropriate infrastructure such as open space and sidewalks associated with new development. We support the expansion of incentive zoning to include provisions that encourage new open space, preserving current open space, creating multi-modal transportation infrastructure, and preserving landmark structures.

We support efforts to clarify that local jurisdictions may regulate land use and development to protect public health, safety and welfare through development regulations.

Seattle supports efforts to update the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) so that it works more efficiently and promotes growth within urban growth areas, while still affording the same levels of environmental protection.

Craig Engelking/RC/TR OIR 2012 State Legislative Agenda EXH 1 Version #4

Exhibit 1 to OIR 2012 State Legislative Agenda RES

Craig Engelking OIR 2011 State Legislative Agenda EXH A November 19, 2010 Version #1

Exhibit A to OIR 2011 State Legislative Agenda RES