February 1, 2010

The Executive Committee of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, during its January 21 meeting, adopted the following emergency resolutions:

The Conference adopted the detailed recommendations of its Stafford Act Reform Task Force that call for changes in Stafford Act law and policy and committed through the Task Force to present the recommendations to the Administration and Congress and work with them to quickly make administrative changes and develop and enact legislation embodying them. The Task Force is chaired by New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin; Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson serves as Vice Chair.

The Conference respectfully urges Congress and the Administration to maintain the current capital gains tax treatment or classification for tax purposes of promoted or carried interest used by real estate partnerships. Current legislative proposals in Congress would re-characterize promoted interest, currently treated as capital gains, as ordinary income, thereby discouraging real estate partnerships from investing in cities and distressed communities. The resolution was sponsored by Charleston (SC) Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr.

The Conference calls on the U.S. government to continue to lead the world's response to meeting the immediate needs of the Haitian people and the long term needs of their nation; and to do everything possible to facilitate the safe adoption of Haiti's orphaned children with no unnecessary delays. The resolution further calls on the State Department to use the Haitian earthquake crisis to raise awareness of the plight of orphans throughout the world and the need to provide them with relief, and to support the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption that expresses the need for orphans to be placed in family environments. The resolution was sponsored by North Miami Mayor André Pierre, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

The resolutions submission deadline for the 78th Annual Conference of Mayors in Oklahoma City is Wednesday, May 12 at 5:00pm Eastern Daylight Time. This is the same deadline for standing committee membership changes.