by Lindsay Peyton
Before Washington legislators gather for session in Olympia in January, the City of Burien has some legwork to do.

To ensure that the city’s top priorities are understood by representatives, council members and staff plan to meet with elected representatives in November and December.

During their discussions, a legislative agenda is adopted annually to set priorities and goals.

Mike Doubleday, the city’s federal lobbyist, and Jennifer Ziegler, state government relations, presented the plan during the council’s regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 3.

“We had a short legislative session last year,” Ziegler said. “There’s been an enormous amount of interim activities underway and a significant amount for work on a multitude of issues.”

She added that the 2017 legislative session is a biennial budget year.

“The state is under a contempt order from the state supreme court for failure to fund basic education,” she said. “We expect a huge amount of time spent talking about education.”

For its legislative agenda, Burien will push for a comprehensive basic education program – and school construction programs that meet the needs of the Highline School District.

Ziegler said that homelessness, mental health, affordable housing are also hot items on the agenda.

“It’s become more and more significant every year,” she said. “I think counties would have told you this has been an issue for them for awhile, but we’re seeing it increasingly being an issue in cities. It doesn’t matter the size or location of the city. Folks are struggling with these issues all across the state.”

The city agreed to support legislative initiatives that provide state funding for mental health and addiction services – and efforts that respond to homelessness.

Another topic Ziegler pointed out to the council was an interest in reforming the public records act. She explained that stakeholders are interested in reducing the costs of these requests without affecting transparency. Burien agreed to support legislation aimed at improving public records requests.

She also highlighted a criminal justice training commission funding request. The current amount reserved to train new officers is not sufficient to meet the need, she said.

Ziegler said one of Burien’s top priorities on the state level will be pursuing $2 million in capital funding for Moshier Sports Field. This would replace the grass with artificial turf to increase the use of the field from 4,000 hours to 10,000 hours per year.

The city will also seek $2.4 million in funding to add more classes to the Basic Law Enforcement Academy.

Doubleday discussed federal priorities for the district.

He said a top priority is to monitor the congressional reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration legislation.

“This was reauthorized in July but only for 18 months,” he said. “There were various issues with the bill. I think we want to keep our eye on it to see what kind of land use and noise and aircraft emission issues might get stuck in the bill.”

Doubleday said the city will also work with a federal delegation and the Port of Seattle to identify funding needed to impacts for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan.

“Now would be a good time for the city to weigh in, find out what’s going on and offer comments,” he said.

The reduction of airport noise and emissions is another concern of the city. Doubleday said that a handful of bills have been mentioned for consideration already.

“At this point, they’re stuck, but they are being introduced,” he said. “So at least it’s on people’s minds.”

He added that the Federal Aviation Administration is ramping up its work on clean energy and lower emissions work.

“It’s not as quick as some people would like, but it’s certainly moving forward more than it has been,” he said.

Doubleday said Burien would like legislation to allow transportation grants to mid-sized cities – and also plans to work to monitor the fiscal year appropriation process.

Mayor Lucy Krakowiak suggested starting a matrix for any additional issues council members might want to add to the legislative agenda.

For more information, visit http://burienwa.gov.