[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: CML Policy Committee report

[kohls at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt

Colleagues,

CML's Policy Committee met last week for the second time before the legislative session begins.  We -- KC and Matt -- represented Boulder as voting members of the committee, and Carl Castillo joined us as an alternate member.  A pdf of the agenda and detailed descriptions of the legislative issues CML is following is attached.  Carl also provided us with staff comments on a number of these issues.

With two of us present, we were able to take turns commenting on a number of the issues.  While we generally agreed with the CML staff recommendations and Policy Committee decisions (which must be ratified by the CML Board; also, many, if not most, of these items will evolve as they make their way through the legislative process), there were several issues that concerned us:

*        PERA employer contribution "timeout": We indicated our support but only if we are ensured that cities that don't use this option are not financially penalized in any way.

*        Medical marijuana: We were concerned that this could suggest that marijuana should be treated as a recreational drug, like liquor, instead of the medicine it is supposed to be.

*        Low speed electric vehicles: We were concerned that large differences in vehicle speeds are dangerous, and that there should be local options.  It turned out that this issue was raised by a town whose own electric vehicles were being affected, so we suggested narrowing this to just deal with that specific problem.  Although the committee gave staff discretion to support, a discussion with staff at the end of the meeting indicated they thought they could meet our concerns.

*        Bicycle traffic laws: The committee agreed to give staff discretion to oppose, but we noted that - at least for stop signs (we agreed that bikes must stop at red lights) - the reality is that bikes do not come to a full stop, that this works well for bikes for a number of reasons, and that the existing laws essentially never get enforced.

*        International Energy & Conservation Code: Not surprisingly, the committee agreed to oppose this, but we got unexpected support from a councilmember from Westminster.  We suggested that a statewide requirement to adopt the 2012 (or 2009) IECC would save energy and create a level playing field for all communities, and that since the state already requires adoption of the 2003 code this is simply an obvious update.  Again, at the end of the meeting, staff indicated they understood our concerns (which is why it is sometimes useful to make comments during the meeting, even if the vote doesn't change) and would take them into consideration.

One other note: CML, as you would expect, has long fought to have the state's program that returns a large portion of severance taxes on minerals/extraction to locally affected communities be fully funded.  Over recent years, this funding has been significantly reduced as the state "diverts" the revenues to shore up the state budget.  Boulder isn't directly affected by this, and I (Matt) have always wondered if, in fact, the impacts and costs really outweighed the benefits (jobs, increased sales and property taxes, etc.) to such an extent that the huge state subsidies were really justified.  I got a chance to ask Henry Sobanet (Director, Office of State Budget and Planning) about this after his short presentation - and his fairly long and thoughtful response was that nobody really knew the actual costs and benefits, that localities could, in theory, raise their taxes/fees to handle some of the costs, and that a study to better calculate this would be very helpful.  Needless to say, opposing CML's position on this (which we don't do) would not be popular, but given that the alternatives require cutting state support of education, I think we need to continue to at least ask questions.

--Matt & KC
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: CML Policy Committee Agenda 12-08-2011.pdf
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 301084 bytes
Desc: CML Policy Committee Agenda 12-08-2011.pdf
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20111214/e4b6385b/attachment.obj