Resolution No. 5081 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Exhibit A PROCESS FOR REVIEW AND PRIORITIZATION OF LEGISLATION FOR THE 2013 LEGISLATIVE SESSION The 2013 session will start on February 4, 2013. The Legislature convenes annually in February at the State Capitol in Salem. Sessions may not exceed 160 days in odd - numbered years and 35 days in even - numbered years. Five -day extensions are allowed by a two - thirds vote in each house. In odd - numbered years, the Legislative Assembly convenes on the second Monday in January, to swear -in newly elected officials, elect legislative leaders, adopt rules, organize and appoint committees, and begin introducing bills. REVIEW OF LEGISLATION BY CITY STAFF LEGISLATIVE COORDINATORS In past years, bills have been assigned by the IGR staff to appropriate staff throughout the city. This has resulted in the generation of a tremendous amount of work, both for staff, as well as for the IGR committee, often with limited or no tangible benefit. Very few bills that we take positions on merit targeted lobbying efforts on behalf of the city of Eugene. This year, we will be approaching the legislative session in a much more targeted way, with the goal of being more efficient, and effective in our lobbying efforts. The most obvious change in the process will be that IGR staff will no longer routinely assign bills to legislative coordinators for comments and positions. Instead, we will rely primarily on departments to identify significant legislative issues /bills that merit taking a position on and actively lobbying. Department /division staff will be asked to rely on professional affiliations and jurisdictional counterparts across the state to stay in touch with legislative issues arising in their area of expertise. In addition to bills identified by departments, bills will be identified in a two other primary ways, through the League of Oregon Cities, and through paid lobbyists. The League of Oregon Cities has recently implemented a new bill tracking software system, which will be a significant new resource this session. Additionally, the city council or city manager may identify issues that come to their attention for IGR staff. It is strongly believed that all significant legislation of potential impact to the city will be identified through this approach. Once an issue /bill is identified by department staff, legislative coordinators will assess consistency of the issue with adopted City policies and past legislative positions, and will provide comments and a recommended position and priority for referral to the IGR committee. Bills /legislative issues brought to IGR staff should be limited to those determined to be high priority; that is, the bill would have significant impact on City operations, services, or finances in such ways as to fundamentally impact department administration, organization, personnel, allocation of City resources, or local decision - making, either negatively or positively. Examples of legislative issues that have already been identified for this session include PERS reform, telecom, and public safety. Legislation related to these issue areas could have significant {00083961;1) Exhibit A - Page 1 of 3