One Week To Go until the '10 Session

We are now one week out from the 2010 legislative session and the preparations for the session are well underway.

Please make sure you check this blog regularly for municipal updates on the session. While we will inevitably be watching several bills this session we try and keep our updates focused on the 10 or so major policy issues that will be dominating the agenda for the cities, towns, counties and the legislature.

This year we have already been spending an immense amount of time on the following issues:

1. State Budget: Because of the difficult financial and economic circumstances that we all face, the budget will be a major driving force for all decisions at the legislature this year. We plan to provide up to the date feedback on budget negotiations, legislative initiatives related to the budget and any municipal impacts associated with the budget balancing effort
2. Retirement Reform: While this has dominated most of our summer, it is only going to get more intense and the session begins. We will keep you up to speed on the 4 reform bills that will be making there way through the legislature
3. Anti-Trust: There is a growing concern about the lack of clarity in the current exemption that is afforded to cities and towns in anti-trust litigation. We will be proactively addressing this issue to help clarify the current exemption, and will be sure to provide frequent updates on our progress
4. Water: There are several water bills this year ranging from domestic provider preference in water rights to tax treatment of public and private water companies. Because cities and towns are one of the largest owners of water in the state we always spend a lot of time on these issues. Watch for the updates as they come in.
5. Land-Use: We anticipate a fairly slow year on land use issues, but the perennial billboard issues and impact fee issues will likely pop-up, and as they do we will be there to report on their progress or lack thereof.

In addition to the blog, please check our website (www.ulct.org) where we will also post our updated status sheet of all legislation that we are tracking. Hopefully between these two resources (Blog and status sheet) we can keep you apprised of the occurrences of the next 45 days.

Enjoy!