9.8. SR 012-21-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CCC'97 will feature policy and leg- islative sessions, workshops, and roundtables on Capitol Hill with Congressional leaders to focus on the key issues the President and Congress will grapple with next year that will affect your city. These sessions are designed not only to provide you with insights about where the Administration and Congress are with regard to issues important to you and your citizens, but also to ensure that you have a direct opportunity to ask questions and make your views and concerns known. Some of the key issues which will be addressed during the conference include: ELECTRIC DEREGULATION First, Congress deregulated local phones, long distance phone service, satellite television, and cable televi- sion X%w, the President and Co. , and the states are focusing on deregulating electridty. What do changing marketplaces and regulatory approaches mean to these services and more specifically what will the impacts be for cities and towns? Not everyone will be a winner. The changes state le~slatures and Congress will consider could force rating downgrades, losses in investor-owned utility revenues to city hall, or large rate increases to some of your citizens. What has hap- pened and what will happen to the classic old structures of many such "utility-like" services in the new world of deregulation and new technology where state, federal, and judicial worlds collide with unprecedented lobbying expenditures and fast grow- ing new industries? Will your city and its citizens be winners or losers? TAXING CITIES Federal taxes will be a hot issue in 1997. Should Congress pull the old federal income tax out by its roots and replace it? Should Congress adopt sweeping tax cuts financed by deep cuts in priority municipal programs? Or ' ld the President and Congress agn new federal tax expenditures? What would changes to the federal tax structure mean to local taxes and rev- enues? What offsetting federal spend- lng cuts would the federal government make? What might happen to our municipal tax-exempt bonds, to feder- al highway and airport taxes, and to the deductibility of state and local taxes? This will be a truth or conse- quences session for local leaders. THE ENVIRONMENT After years of efforts by city leaders, Congress and the President enacted Safe Drinking Water mandate relief for cities in 1996. In 1997, Congress and the President are likely to turn to action on Clean Water and Supeffund. Key players from Congress and the Administration will explore what the main issues will be, what the potential impacts might be on cities and towns, and respond to your questions. CITIES, HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT With Congress and the President set to act on the nation's housing and community development programs, Congressional and Administration experts will examine the legislative options for 1997 and what those options might mean for city leaders. Some have proposed consolidating the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program with the HOME state and local housing block grant program. Others have discussed cutting funds and block granting pub- lic and assisted housing funds to states. What is likely to happen? What are the potential consequences for cities? NATURAL DISASTERS The shock of recent, catastrophic loss- es from earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, and floods around the nation has prompted Congress to reconsider funding for emergency relief, just as homeowners' insurance providers have limited or curtailed sales in disas- ter-prone areas, virtually halting ISTEA REAUTHORIZATION The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) expires in 1997, and the President and Congress must act on this key law to determine the future federal role for highway and transit funding in cities across the nation. This landmark legislation gave local governments decision-making author- ity regarding national transportation funds. Find out how this law wilt be rewritten over the upcoming year. Hear from members of Congress who support the preservation of ISTEA and from those who believe that state governments should have greater power in national transportation poli- cy. Ask questions to the key policy players about potential impacts on your city. PUBLIC SAFETY With growing concern about increased drug use and juvenile crime, ' what actions will the federal govern- ment take in 1997 to address local anti-crime and violence problems? This session will feature experts from the U.S. Justice Department and the Congress to discuss federal legislative initiatives and options, and what they might mean for cities and local lead- ers. Will the President and Congress retain the public safety block grant program? What new federal initia- tives might be considered to assist cities in confronting drugs and gangs? SPECIAL DISTRICTS - BARRIERS TO MUNICIPAL GROWTH? A water district or other special service district with a federal loan can stand in the way of your community's growth. A number of cities and towns have found that such districts can prohibit a city from providing full municipal ser- vices in areas annexed to a cit3' and home sales. What will the (~ do so with the support and encour- Administration propose? What will [~) agement of the federal government. Congress do to address compensa- d~b Some cities and towns believe that tion and loss for damage to public llll cash-rich districts have gone into property and infrastructure, as _~ debt with federal loans primarily wall as increasing claims from ~ to block a city from providing o ero of private property. /Ifil [ I ~x~x~ municipal utilit3 or other ser- , vices in newly annexed about this federal program and the prospects of changing it. SPECTRUM FOR PUBLIC SAFETY Beth thc President and Congress are certain to return to the issue of spec- trum in 1997, an issue involving who will have access to this finite, public medium critical to municipal public safety telecommunications. In 1996, the President and Congress agreed to the sale of $2.9 billion of spectrum to the private sector, and the Presidential candidates proposed the sale of an additional $40 billion in 1997. In September 1996, the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC), composed of federal, state, and local public safety leaders and the private sector, issued a report, as directed by the President and Congress, stating that the current spectrum allocation is insufficient to meet today's municipal emergency response, police; fire, emergency res- cue. and other local public safety needs. This session will provide an opportunity to bear from key federal leaders about the actions they plan to take to respond to this report and what that response might mean to your police, fire, and emergency response departments. ENTITLEMENTS AND CITIES Early in 1997, the President will send the new Congress a proposal to bal- ance the federal budget over the next six years. That budget is almost cer- tain to propose cuts in key city pro- grams, but how much and where? Will the proposal call for the budget to be balanced on the backs of local services and taxes, and how will the President deal with the sacred cows of federal entitlement spending, like Medicare and Social Security? Will they be on the table? And how will Congress react? Could there be another shutdown of the federal gov- ernment? What will be the issues and consequences for local budgets? Make yom' voice heard areas. Attend this meeting and hear from federal and today! other experts _i I i! ~l i ,i