El Paso Commissioners adopt federal legislative agenda, urge engagement on transportation, elections and immigration
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Summary
The court voted to adopt a 10-item federal legislative agenda aligned with NACo priorities — including multiyear surface transportation reauthorization, election infrastructure funding, and immigration reform — and authorized staff to pursue letters and CPF project submissions.
The El Paso County Commissioners Court on Feb. 9 adopted a federal legislative agenda that mirrors many priorities set by the National Association of Counties (NACo) and includes 10 county-specific proposals and several congressional project funding ideas.
Elisa Tamayo, the county’s government affairs manager, briefed the court on NACo’s 2026 platform: strengthening intergovernmental partnerships; passing a multiyear surface transportation reauthorization; advancing a bipartisan farm bill; enhancing disaster mitigation and recovery; supporting flexible federal investments such as CDBG; fully funding PILT or exploring federal payments for public lands; promoting behavioral health and homelessness solutions; preserving local land-use authority and review participation (including NEPA); advancing AI governance and county tech capacity; and investing in county election infrastructure and worker safety.
County staff then presented 10 specific federal proposals submitted by departments and elected offices, including restoring harm-reduction funding; seeking protections for "sensitive locations" from immigration enforcement; a transit parity/resolution for equal highway and transit funding; federal cannabis policy positions; data center transparency and local control over data center siting; and comprehensive immigration reform (including support for a dignity-act style bill). Commissioners discussed which NACo priorities to emphasize and how to allocate staff and commissioner participation on NACo committees.
The court approved a motion to adopt the county’s federal legislative proposals and asked staff to prepare an agenda for proactive engagement: sending letters to the congressional delegation, coordinating potential fly-ins to Washington, and compiling CPF (congressional project funding) submissions for March–May deadlines. Commissioners noted the importance of prioritizing a small set of high-impact asks (surface transportation reauthorization and election infrastructure were singled out) and requested better staff support to engage NACo committees and maintain up-to-date local data on roads and infrastructure needs.
Before the meeting’s end, after a legal briefing in executive session, the court also approved a separate letter calling on Congress to withhold any funding for the Department of Homeland Security without "meaningful and significant guardrails" and to address what the county described as CBP/ICE surges; that letter will be sent to the county’s federal delegation.
