By Conference Staff
October 3, 2005

The leadership of The United States Conference of Mayors, meeting in Long Beach September 22-24, urged President Bush to send an emergency aid package to Congress which includes general operating assistance for hurricane devastated cities.

As stated in a letter to the President by Conference President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill, “The mayors of these cities have lost most of their tax base and will soon be without the funds needed to pay first responders, public works employees, and other key local personnel that are leading the recovery effort. These local personnel are truly national assets in the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and these cities must not be allowed to go bankrupt.” (see letter this page)

In addition, the mayors are requesting a meeting with the President to “work with you to help correct the flaws in a system that does not allow for immediate city-federal contact and immediate federal response in the event of natural disasters or terrorist attacks.”

Over the course of the meeting, the mayors were briefed by White House Intergovernmental Affairs Director Ruben Barrales and Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary Steven Nesmith on the federal response effort. Barrales and Nesmith updated the mayors on the new federal housing assistance plan (see story on page 10). The mayors stressed the importance of being at the table for all discussions regarding changes to the local-federal partnership related to disaster preparedness and response.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had planned on attending the meeting before Hurricane Rita headed to his area, and sent his Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Kenya Smith to update the mayors on the New Orleans recovery effort.

And, the mayors discussed the recovery effort in Mississippi and Alabama with Mobile (AL) Mayor Mike Dow and Meridian (MS) Mayor John Robert Smith, who are helping to coordinate the mayoral assistance effort in these states.

During the meeting, the mayors also expressed concern that Congress not cut funding for key city programs that fight poverty and create jobs, in an effort to offset costs for hurricane recovery.

In addition to the hurricane discussion, O’Neill outlined a series of summits she will convene over the next year under the theme “Cities for a Strong America.”

O’Neill said, “These summits will focus on long-term issues that I believe require greater leadership from mayors, and much more attention from Washington and the nation.”

“We have the statistics to show that metro economies drive the national economy. Our challenge is to leverage these facts into action in Washington,” she added.

Issues that will be covered in the summits include water infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, workforce and skills gaps, tax reform, energy, and gangs.

The first summit took place last week in Albuquerque September 30 as part of the Urban Water Summit. A transportation summit in Denver on November 3 is next.

In addition, O’Neill discussed with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who participated in the meeting, having the gangs summit held in Los Angeles in the spring of 2006.

The Executive Committee of the Conference adopted an amended resolutions and standing committee membership process, which was then presented to the entire leadership meeting.

The amended process contains firm deadlines and procedures for:

1) submission of resolutions prior to the Annual Conference;

2) committee membership selection; and

3) committee and floor action on resolutions.

The amended document will be sent to the entire membership, and implementation will be discussed during the Winter Meeting in January of 2006.

Membership Committee Chair Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth Kautz and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran unveiled the Conference’s comprehensive membership strategic plan at the Fall Leadership Meeting. Cochran opened with an overview of the history of the organization and discussed the many benefits the organization offers to its members. He reported on membership activity over the past fifteen years, and acknowledged the mayors for their efforts in building an organization that has a strong and united voice in Washington. Cochran also briefed the mayors on a new communication technology called V-mail (video e-mail), which the Conference of Mayors uses to reach out to its members and prospective members. Mayors can also use this new technology for constituency outreach.

Kautz closed the meeting by discussing the comprehensive membership plan that includes strategies on membership recruitment/retention, membership benefits and a membership recruitment incentive. In outlining the “One Mayor – One Member” recruitment campaign, which runs from October 2005 through May 2006, Kautz announced that mayors who recruit one new member will have their 2006 Annual Meeting registration fee waived. Kautz also released a report detailing the overall status of membership. In referencing the report, Kautz highlighted the non-member cities eligible for membership and challenged the mayors to recruit one new member from their state.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, new Chair of the Mayors and Business Community Task Force, said, “In city after city, we have seen how public private partnerships have resulted in new and creative approaches to solving the difficult challenges facing cities.”

While applauding the phenomenal growth of the Business Council to more than 100 members, he called on the mayors to share his vision to make the Business Council stronger by reaching out to businesses in their community to join. He asked mayors to help “take the Business Council to the next level.”

Goodman not only stressed membership growth, but also the need to “increase the quantity and quality of interaction with business.” Accentuating the need for more dialogue between mayors and businesses, he emphasized the importance of sharing best practices and reaching out to all industry sectors to “make our Business Council a microcosm of the business communities in our cities.”

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, chair of the Conference Tax Reform Task Force, told mayors that the federal tax code is too complicated and cumbersome. As a result, he said that families and businesses spend too much time and money on tax preparation each year. “It stacks the deck against working and middle class families and in favor of those who can hire accountants and lawyers to reduce their tax liability and lobbyist to change tax laws to their benefit.” Mayors were reminded that President George Bush appointed an advisory panel on tax reform to examine the tax code. The Task Force is calling on the Administration to use this as an opportunity to restore the American people’s trust in their tax system. To accomplish this, the Task Force recommends that federal tax reform focuses on five basic principles:

• Promoting business investment, economic growth, and job creation;

• Rewarding work and individual opportunity;

• Simplifying the code for most taxpayers;

• Defending state and local tax sovereignty; and

• Paying for reform now.

The Task Force also recommends a ten-point plan, consistent with these principles, which calls for simpler tax exempt bonds, a single consolidated jobs tax credit, a research and development tax credit bonus, a single consolidated family tax credit, a single consolidated college tax credit, an improved saver’s credit, an above-the-line home mortgage deduction, automatic pre-calculated ready-returns, preserving state and local tax deductibility and rejecting unfunded tax mandates, and paying for federal tax reform now.

Prior to the Leadership Meeting, O’Neill asked all of the policy standing committees to hold conference calls to identify priorities for the coming year. Following are highlights of the presentations made in Long Beach on the findings of each call:

Cedar Rapids (IA) Mayor Paul Pate reported that both the House and Senate have rejected the Administration’s proposal to consolidate CDBG with 17 other economic development programs and transfer them to the Department of Commerce. At present, the mayor further reported, the House has passed its appropriation bill funding CDBG formula grants at $3.887 billion. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved CDBG formula grants at $3.774 billion. As the full Senate moves toward deliberation of the HUD funding bill, the Conference is working with other national groups to get a floor amendment to fund formula grants at last year’s level of $4.1 billion.

Pate also reported on the Conference of Mayors support of the Affordable Housing Program in H.R. 1461, the “Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005.” The Affordable Housing Fund would be financed from five percent of the annual tax profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The funds could be used for grants for the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of rental housing and for homeownership for first-time homebuyers, in both urban and rural areas.

Richmond (CA) Mayor Irma L. Anderson provided a brief update on the priorities for the Standing Committee for Children, Health and Human Services as discussed by the committee members in early September. All legislative priorities are supported by policy positions passed by this committee and the full body of the Conference of Mayors at our last Annual Meeting held in Chicago. Legislatively and programmatically, the Committee will focus on the reauthorization of the Head Start program; reauthorization and full funding of the Ryan White CARE Act; in addition the committee will develop an action guide for mayors to develop comprehensive healthy cities programs.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told mayors that the Conference and other government groups are opposing efforts by the telecom industry to eliminate special telecom taxes and replace them with the general purpose sales tax. Representatives from the telecom industry have been unwilling to compromise on this issue and a draft proposal including this concept has been circulated in the House. It is unlikely Congress will act on such a proposal any time soon.

Cornett also told mayors that the Streamlined Sales Tax Project is making progress. Twenty-two states have joined the Project to simplify the collection of state and local sales taxes on Internet and other forms of remote sales. Under current law, out-of'state retailers are not required to collect state and local taxes. Many, however, have agreed to do so starting October 1 for states participating in the tax simplification Project. After the Project demonstrates that the collection of taxes on remote sales can be done simply and easily, Congress is expected to pass legislation making the collection mandatory.

Cornett told mayors that Senator George Voinovich (OH) is working with the Conference and others to draft legislation to strengthen the unfunded mandates law by changing the definition of a mandate to capture more federal cost shifts and by requiring a super majority vote to impose a new mandate on state and local governments.

On the eminent domain issue, Cornett said Congress is proceeding with hearings on eminent domain in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London. He said there is strong bipartisan support for legislation restricting state and local use of federal funds in connection with the use of eminent domain to promote economic development. The Conference is urging Congress to avoid imposing undue restrictions on local use of eminent domain.

Arlington Heights (IL) Mayor Arlene Mulder reported on behalf of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee that Congress and the Administration continue to cut funding for first responder and law enforcement programs. “Congress is now saying that because much of the funding appropriated in past years has not been spent by the states – as we predicted – they are going to cut back on the funds they appropriate this year,” Mulder said. This sentiment was echoed by Homeland Security Task Force Co-Chair Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley.

On a more positive note, the Senate recently voted to increase money for the Justice Assistance Grant program, which was slashed in the House. And some progress is being made on issues like reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and on anti-gang legislation. Both Mulder and O’Malley urged the Conference and mayors to focus additional attention at the federal and state levels on efforts to monitor sexual predators.

Under the leadership of Transportation and Communications Chair Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper, the committee reviewed key policy elements of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which provides more than $286.4 billion for the expansion of public transportation systems, as well as large scale transportation projects. Hickenlooper told the mayors that, “This law is a major victory for mayors across the nation.”

Hickenlooper then noted, “Four years after September 11, mass transit, including commuter and bus, intercity rail, port security, air cargo shipments, and hazardous freight rail remain vulnerable to attack, and safeguarding these systems may be many years away without increased political pressure from mayors.”

Highlighting the grave challenge to local government’s management authority over its rights-of-way, Hickenlooper said, “Over the last four months, three major bills and one discussion draft of proposed telecommunications rewrite bill has been introduced in Congress with a common theme of preempting local franchising authority and weakening compensation by federalizing franchising authority.”

Energy Committee Chairman Austin Mayor Will Wynn reported on a number of energy issues, including the recently passed energy bill, which President Bush signed into law August 8. Wynn reported that the energy legislation – the first of its kind in over ten years – includes new authorizations for a number of energy programs that benefit local governments, including an increase in authorization for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). He also reported that through the successful lobbying efforts by the Conference notably absent from the bill was a waiver that would have provided liability protection to the producers of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive known to contaminate ground water and drinking water systems. He praised the mayors for helping defeat the harmful MTBE provision that, if enacted, would have imposed a multi-billion dollar unfunded mandate on cities.

Reviewing priorities for the next year, Wynn said that the Committee would strongly advocate for the inclusion of $1.276 billion emergency LIHEAP funding in the comprehensive supplemental request. The Committee will also work to defeat harmful provisions in the recently introduced energy bill (H.R. 3893) that not only preempt state and local governments’ authority to site refinery facilities in their communities, but seeks to modify the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review requirements.

Billings (MT) Mayor Charles Tooley gave the report of the Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee and outlined three areas of priority in the upcoming year: urban design, youth fitness and tourism. The committee will work with the Mayors Institute on City Design and hurricane affected mayors in their efforts to rebuild cities impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Conference will announce its new awards program on youth fitness with Coca-Cola at the Winter Meeting. The committee’s chair, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, will host a meeting on travel and tourism in the spring of next year.

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman emphasized the critical role that water and wastewater infrastructure play in communities. Over 1,200 drinking water systems and countless sewer systems were affected by the hurricanes. Goodman said, “The problem we face is how to find the financing to replace and rebuild the nation’s water and sewer infrastructure to both meet future needs and to comply with federal and state mandates.” One potential solution is the removal of Private Activity Bonds from the State Volume Cap. A bipartisan bill (H.R. 1708) has been introduced on the hill to do this, which would cost approximately $147 million over ten years, but could leverage $6 billion in investment.

Goodman also urged the mayors to do what they could to implement recently passed resolutions that call for cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

On brownfields, Goodman said, “We were successful in our lobbying efforts to include in the Transportation bill a technical correction that allows cities who voluntarily purchased brownfield properties prior to the brownfields bill being signed into law, to no longer be considered ‘potentially responsible parties’ and thus eligible to receive EPA grants and loans.” He also discussed Representative Mike Turner’s Brownfields Tax Credit proposal which would allow $1 billion of tax credits to be distributed to businesses who participate in their state’s voluntary cleanup program.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, Chair of the Jobs, Education and Workforce Committee, shared with the mayors the priorities of the Committee. Beginning with implementation of No Child Left Behind and how it impacts the achievement gap, graduation rate, Slay emphasized the role of mayors in educating children living in cities starting with pre-kindergarten/early childhood. He also mentioned the issue of redesign of high schools, which was discussed in the Education Summit held earlier in the week.

Slay then strongly advocated for a major new investment in our nation’s youth of at least $1 billion over current funding, for revitalization of the Summer Jobs program. He also indicated that a major focus of the committee is to maintaining local authority and resources for the Workforce Investment System, especially the current governance structure, during the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and maintaining a separate WIA youth formula program for in- and out-of'school youth, including 14 and 15 year olds.

Finally, Slay stressed the importance of maintaining the current level of funding in both education and workforce programs.

International Affairs Committee Chair and Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf outlined committee priorities, including the importance of focusing more closely upon immigration. “Immigration is an important policy area shared by several committees since it includes the work force, human rights, housing, criminal justice, and other issues,” she noted.

Other priorities include continuing to bring attention to international human rights issues, such as genocide in Sudan and starvation in Niger; pointing out and supporting areas of the world that need continued or increased U.S. assistance; supporting The United States Conference of Mayors international relationships, such as cooperation with Metropolis, the network of local governments based in Barcelona; and monitoring key trade issues that affect local government. Oberndorf also said that the committee will continue to work on the issue of U.S. recognition of Cuba, an issue that has strong advocates on each side.