SMALL CELL FACILITY PERMITTING

• Earlier this week the House voted 75-17 to advance HB 1050. This bill is the only small cell facility permitting bill advancing this legislative session.
• The bill now states that underground utility ordinances/resolutions that were passed last year as a result of SEA 213-2017, applies only to areas designated as residential prior to May 1, 2017, and where all utilities in such areas are already buried underground.
• Senator Messmer is the Senate Sponsor. Aim will continue to work with all stakeholders on a solution that likely won’t come until the final hours of the legislative session on March 14. That’s 41 days from now, but who’s counting?

PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINTS

• A bill is moving whereby counties in which multiple PSAPs exist will require a distribution to the municipal PSAP based on call volume, unless the local units are currently operating under an interlocal agreement.
• On the good news front, SB 67 cleared the senate Commerce and Technology committee this week and is headed to the floor in the coming week.
• This bill surely has a long road ahead. However, Aim will support the measure and work towards keeping this fair and much overdue language intact.

AIM OPERATIONAL INITIATIVES

• Knock on wood…most Aim operational initiatives that attempt to help municipal government operate more efficiently are still progressing through the legislative process.
• HB 1004 which contains multiple efficiency measures and has the support of House leadership, HB 1256 includes language regarding title of RDC property, SB 296 is the order to repair bill, and SB 269 is the rural sewer district notification bill.
• While there have been some amendments to these bills, each are continuing to move with strong Aim support.

LOCAL RESTRICTIONS

• At the statehouse, there are several bills still alive that endeavor to restrict local home rule pertaining to our ability to regulate various occupations and services, or enforce regulations for certain contractors that are more stringent than those required by the state.
• SB 419 and HB 1245 have provisions that restrict local regulation of professions such as construction, demolition, plumbers, well diggers, and other contractors. HB 1096 applies to MS4 communities and restricts the ability of locals to restrict construction site runoff beyond what is currently required at the state level.
• Aim, per usual, is concerned about the erosion of local decision making and will continue to work with lawmakers to address their concerns without passing these invasive measures.

“Yesterday on the Senate floor, SB 268, was considered…it was really a horrible bill that gives county commissioners authority over cities and towns in terms of approving or disapproving of annexations. Not only is that a bad precedent to set, it is a bad precedent to set in general – to give another parallel unit of government control over cities and towns in this case. Happy to report that our lobbying efforts worked, your lobbying efforts worked…the bill was defeated yesterday on the Senate floor, 28-20”

– Matt Greller, CEO of Aim