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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.B- City Manager DOC ID: 1760 CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO—REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Report/Information From: Charles McNeely M/CC Meeting Date: 04/02/2012 Prepared by: Brandon Mims, (909) 384-5122 Dept: City Manager Ward(s): All Subject: Federal Legislative Advocacy Update, Innovative Strategies(Federal Lobbyist) Financial Impact: None. Motion: Receive and file the report. Suuaortina Documents: Federal Advocacy Update (DOC) Updated: 3/2912012 by Linda Sutherland Page I Innovative Federal Strategies,-,z Comprehensive Government Relations MEMORANDUM TO: MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO FROM: INNOVATIVE FEDERAL STRATEGIES LETITIA WHITE AND HEATHER HENNESSEY DATE: MARCH 22,2012 RE: FEDERAL ADVOCACY UPDATE m is Innovative Federal Strategies is very proud to be on the City of San Bernardino's team and to a serve as your staff in Washington. We believe that we have an excellent working relationship with City staff and Council Members, and we look forward to another great year in 2012. As the second session of the 112'h Congress begins, we would like to take a moment to review some of y the work that we have done with the City in the past year and brief you on our next steps. 0 CITY'S FEDERAL PRIORITIES FOR 2012 AND FUNDING REQUESTS FOR FY 2013 We appreciate the time that City staff was able to devote to working with us early in the year to n set your legislative priorities for 2012. The projects on that list represent a wide variety of $ funding needs that are critical to your citizens including transit funding, funds for law T enforcement programs, support for local businesses, energy efficient upgrades to City facilities and support for water recycling. As the Fiscal Year 2013 Appropriations process begins at the OU federal level, IFS was able to take the list that we developed and transmit suggestions for"good- a government" funding increases to Capitol Hill. In the absence of earmarks, which are still m banned by Congress, our advocacy focuses on ensuring that the federal programs relied upon by the City are as fully funded as possible. Below is a brief timeline of the actions taken so far and LL what we expect to happen during the remainder of 2012: a E • January/February 2012 — worked with City of San Bernardino leadership and staff to develop a list of legislative priorities for 2012; a • March 2012 — submitted "good government" programs to Capitol Hill that could be increased to support the City's priorities; • April to July 2012 — Congress will hold budget hearings and draft the FY 2013 Appropriations bill, and we will monitor the process and inform City staff of developments that affect our priorities; I 511 C Street,NE.Washington,DC 20002.202-347-5990.Fax 202-347-5941 Innovadve Fedend Stategies LLC Page 2 ® • August 2012 — Congressional recess and the Republican and Democratic National Conventions; • September to December 2012 — Appropriations bills for FY 2013 should be signed into law (this projection could be disrupted by partisan disputes and election year politics); and • 1" Quarter 2013 — FY 2013 funding starts to flow through the agencies and the City competes for federal funding As you can see from the timeline above, our actions early this year have set the stage for next year's funding situation. Transmitting our clear priorities to Capitol Hill gives our Congressional m delegation the information needed to advocate on our behalf during the next few months. We v will continue to stay in close contact with our Congressmen and Senators and report all developments to City staff. ; FEDERAL GRANTS rn m J In the tough budget climate,we feel strongly that the City should carefully look into all possible c competitive grant opportunities. For that reason, in addition to the grant opportunities listed in the newsletter that we send each week, we send individual grant notices directly to the staff that we feel will be of specific interest to San Bernardino. We strongly encourage staff to let us is know when they apply for grants so we can obtain Congressional letters of support for the grant application. For example, the City of San Bernardino applied for a National Institute of Justice grant this year and we were pleased to help get a letter of support from Congressman Lewis' office to accompany the grant application package. Also,the City's Fire Department has applied °> for a SAFER grant from FEMA, and both Congressmen Lewis and Baca wrote support letters on our behalf. N D N WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND MONTHLY REPORTS a c m Every Monday City staff receives our Weekly Updates newsletter. This newsletter informs the tE staff of the latest grant opportunities as well as what happened the previous week on Capitol Hill °m and in the Administration. It also details what we expect to see if the week ahead. Our newsletter also lists Agency webinars or other things of interest. In addition to the weekly newsletter, IFS is happy to provide the City with monthly reports which provide an overview of Congressional activity for the month as well as specific items of interest to the City. We are also pleased to provide City staff with real-time updates on matter of importance, including legislation, policy decisions, news articles of interest, meetings and, of course, those grant opportunities. Specifically, in the past six months the hot topics have been the following: V Packet Pg. 642 Irmor alive Federal Strategies LLC (� Page 3 • The Debt limit ceiling • Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations, the Continuing Resolution, the Minibus and Omnibus Appropriations Bills and Federal Government Shutdowns • The President's Jobs Proposal • The Transportation Reauthorization Bill; and • California Redistricting We have provided timely and worthy news articles on these and other topics from Capitol Hill p "insider" publications and well respected national news media with the relevant portions o highlighted or underlined for quick reading as well as a brief synopsis of the article. At the request of the City staff, we have been pleased to produce reports on other information. One recent example of this would be the comparison of funding levels for the Department of Labor's m Workforce Investment Act. At the City staffs request,we have drafted and sent City staff letters of invitation for our California Senators and their staff to visit the City. We have worked with Congressional staff to have the Congressman attend a groundbreaking ceremony and also 0 perform a speech for another event. IFS has tracked and kept the City appraised on bills of interest such as HR 1002,the Tax Fairness Act,and HR 2599, PACE Assessment Protection Act, d © and has reminded Congressional staff of the City's views when the occasion arises. IFS is also pleased to keep House and Senate staff apprised of all of the good news, like the progress on the Transit Center, coming from the City. m U VISITS TO THE CITY AND TRIPS TO CAPITOL HILL v a We were happy to visit with City staff and the Mayor on several occasions over the past year m both in California and Washington. Mayor Morris, who is very well respected on Capitol Hill, w came back to Washington, DC, in March of 2011 and lobbied for important City programs that were vetted by City staff and approved by the City Council. We were pleased to set up and v accompany the Mayor to his House and Senate meetings as well as provide him with the white s papers describing the City's programs. In the absence of earmarks, the Mayor joined the crusade to increase the pots of money for transportation and transit as well as for energy efficiency upgrades and Department of Justice programs. Increasing the pots of money will allow us to compete for larger amounts of grant funding. Innovative Federal Strategies has also worked with the City, Congressional and Agency staff in the past months to follow up on federal money that the City has received in the past for the Verdemont Community Center and the I-215/University Parkway project to help resolve issues and ensure that the money is flowing. Innovative Federal Strategies LLC Page 4 © SANTA ANA SUCKER TASK FORCE One thing that kept us very busy in 2011 was providing legislative and policy support to the City's efforts regarding the Santa Ana Sucker critical habitat designation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. On behalf of the City of San Bernardino's Water Department, Innovative Federal Strategies has led the lobbying arm of the Santa Ana Sucker Task Force. Our legislative efforts resulted in two opportunities for the Santa Ana Sucker Task Force's leadership to testify before Congressional committees during 2011. The first hearing took place in April of last year in Washington, DC, before the Interior and Environment Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. The second opportunity to testify was in October at a field hearing in Southern California of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources. In preparation for both hearings, we drafted the written and spoken testimony that ; was submitted by the Task Force, briefed Congressional offices prior to the hearing and handled all follow up items. m Furthermore, we were successful in helping to secure legislative language regarding the Santa Ana Sucker in the FY 2012 Interior Appropriations bill. The language will help the City's Water rn Department and other local agencies receive fair treatment from the US Fish and Wildlife Service as they seek the federal permits required to comply with the critical habitat designation. o In furtherance of that effort, IFS arranged and attended numerous Congressional meetings to brief Members and staff about the importance of the language and the damaging effects of the Service's current ruling on the Sucker's habitat. v n Aside from our work on the Santa Ana Sucker issue, we have also continued to provide government relations services for the City's Water Department. IFS monitors grant opportunities, providing them to Water Department leadership for review. We also track the federal budget and appropriations process and provide legislative updates as the process moves a forward, and we monitor the Congressional climate for opportunities to authorize the m Department's Recycled Water Initiative. LL Again, working for the City of San Bernardino has been our great pleasure. We look forward to a very productive 2012. z s Q i Packet Pg. 644