Agenda Packets - 1990/06/18 - Laserfiche WebLink

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LOBBYING Legislative policy adoption and lobbying have become the major focus for the Association, growing steadily over the years. When the Association was formed in 1974, it had two standing policy committees and 35 legislative policies. Today the Association has five standing committees, and the membership has adopted over 100 legislative policies for the current biennium. In addition, several ad hoc study committees for specialized topics (i.e. land use legisla- tion, metropolitan significance rules, group homes) have been formed in the past few years. Intrusion by the legislature into local affairs has increased dramatically in recent years. At the same time, other municipal lobbying groups, most notably the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, have aggressively promoted tax poli- cies that are detrimental to the collective interests of the metropolitan area. Consequently, the AMM lobbyists have been challenged to accomplish more and more at the legislature, without any significant increase in resources. Legislators with whom the Task Force met described our lobbying staff as com- petent and well respected. At the same time, the legislators admitted that the aggressive, and sometimes even abrasive tactics used by other municipal lobbying groups have probably led to more success in accomplishing their agendas. In response to these concerns, the AMM for the first time hired contract lobbyists during the 1990 session. Legislators expressed their frustration with the increasing regionalism of city lobbying groups, and urged us to show a concern for the entire State at the same time we more actively pursue the interests of the metropolitan cities. It was also suggested that having a better data base for lobbying would be helpful in pressing the AMM position. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. The AMM should seek to be seen as the organization with the authority and credibility to speak• on behalf of a 1 cities in the seven -county metropoli- tan area. 2. The AMM has become "spread too thin" in the number of policy issues it is lobbying, and needs to limit active involvement to three types of issues: a) Issues of concern only to metropolitan cities - i.e. interaction with Metropolitan Council and operating agencies, Chapter 509 Watershed Management Organizations, etc. b) Statewide legislation with unique impacts in the metropolitan area - i.e. land use, solid waste, tax increment financing, etc. c) Statewide issues where the interests of the metropolitan area may be different than, and at times even contrary to, those in the remainder of the State - i.e. local government aid formulas Specific suggestions for limiting our most active legislative agenda items to these topics are included in the section on committees and the policy adoption process. 5-