Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the State Legislation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sedona council hears state-legislation update; short-term rental bill likely to fail, food-tax question may go to voters
Summary
City staff updated the council on pending state legislation including a short-term rental bill that appears not to have been scheduled for a senate committee hearing, a municipal food-tax measure that may go to voters after changes, and a settlement-review bill that would impose review thresholds on municipal agreements.
Sedona city staff briefed the City Council on several bills at the state legislature and on lobbying activity that could affect the city's policy and budget options.
Kurt (city staff) told the council the short-term rental bill the city supports (identified in staff materials as HP 2023) was not placed on any Senate committee agenda and "so it'll die, if it's not heard in the in one committee before the end of this week," as the legislative deadline approached. He said the bill had passed the House but, without a committee hearing in the opposite chamber, it is unlikely to advance.
Councilors also heard that a concurrent resolution on municipal food taxes (identified in staff materials as HCR 2021) was approved by the Senate Finance Committee 7-0 and, because the Arizona League of Cities and Towns amended the measure, the league had moved to neutral. Kurt said the amended approach would allow cities with existing municipal food-tax rates to retain them while requiring voter approval for any new or higher municipal food tax above a 2 percent cap.
On transparency and settlement agreements, the council discussed a bill described in the packet as HB 22 22 that would require review of municipal settlement agreements above certain thresholds. Kurt said the bill had been softened from earlier language: under the current draft, settlements under $500,000 would require no submission; settlements between $500,000 and $1 million would need to be submitted for review (without an approval veto); and settlements over $1 million would require submission for broader legislative and executive review. "It's just review and recommendations now," Kurt said, describing the change from an earlier version that had granted a formal approval right.
Councilors asked whether the requirement applied to every litigation settlement and how the statute would function if the legislature were not in session. Staff said the bill as described in the packet applies to municipal and county settlement agreements and that the process would include a submission timeline; staff said there would be a 90-day submission or waiting period described in the draft but acknowledged some timing questions remain if the legislature is not meeting.
Other items discussed included state committee hearings on transportation priorities advanced by the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG). Kurt said NACOG would present local priority projects in a transportation committee hearing and that Representative Bliss had indicated support for Sedona's Forest Road roundabout and the ADOT funding request. Kurt said city lobbyists were monitoring several bills and planned to brief the council in person in two weeks after the session's hearings conclude.
The council did not take formal votes on these bills at the meeting; staff recommended continued monitoring and follow-up by the city lobbyist and staff.
